Learning outcome

After successfully completing the course, the candidate will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The candidate has:

• A broad understanding of the main trends in Anglophone literature since 1945
• A sound knowledge of the context of Anglophone literature in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean
• A broad understanding of the historical relationship of this literature to the more traditional English-language literature of the United Kingdom, the United States and the settler colonies
• Insight into theories and critical perspectives that are relevant to this literature
• An understanding of the role that the English language has played in the relevant geographical areas, together with the relationship between English and local languages.

Skills

The candidate can:

• Apply central literary and cultural theory in the analysis of curriculum texts
• Relate the literary curriculum texts of the specific cultural context from which they emerged, and relate them to the critical discourse around anglophone literature in general
• Discuss literary texts as world literature and discuss and problematize this literature’s relationship to English literature from countries such as the UK and USA
• Be able to communicate this knowledge in English teaching in schools and illuminate the relationship between this more recent literature and the traditional Anglo-American literature

General competence

The candidate:

• Has a broad understanding of the complexities of, and reasons for the emergence of English literature worldwide in the period after World War 2
• Can contextualize the ongoing development of this literature in the light of the knowledge of the subject
• Has strengthened their linguistic skills and their understanding of the global English-language culture
• Has competence to orient themselves in the relevant literature field with a view to finding appropriate texts for use in teaching

Course Description

This course focuses on the body of Anglophone literature that has emerged in recent decades in the former British colonies in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean. We will read a selection of texts in various genres of fiction from these areas, together with selected theoretical texts that discuss and problematize this literature’s history, cultural context and aesthetic identity. The texts will be read both as regional literature, i.e. as aesthetic expressions relating to specific historical and cultural contexts, but also as English-language world literature. We will also attach some importance to the role that the English language has played in these regions and its status today.

Teaching and Learning Methods

Teaching and learning methods consist mainly of lectures, seminars and student presentations. The course requires a high degree of active participation by the students in the seminars.

Assessment Methods

Each student must give an oral presentation during the course. This will be given a pass / fail mark, and must be passed in order to sit the final examination. The final assessment consists of an oral examination which will be based on the course syllabus (40%), and a two-week take-home examination (60%); both examinations will be graded from A to F.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean