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46893-01 - Research seminar: Africa, British Empire and Icons of Englishness (4 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2017 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Christiane Schlote (christiane.schlote@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Recalling his boyhood in the 1930s, the British historian and travel writer John Julius Norwich once stated that empire "was all around us, celebrated on our biscuit tins, chronicled in our cigarette cards, part of the fabric of our lives. We were all imperialists then." Apart from the British Empire's enormous political, socio-economic and cultural impact, it has also been closely linked with the study of English as an academic discipline. Elleke Boehmer has called the empire "in part a textual exercise" and, according to Shashi Tharoor, P. G. Wodehouse remains one of the most popular English-language authors in India. In this course, we will explore the impact of the British Empire on British literature and culture from the late Victorian period to World War II with a particular focus on the role of popular culture in the production of imperial images of Africa. We will examine concepts and topics such as 'banal nationalism', class, colonial nostalgia, cultural imperialism, empire films and the imperial Gothic by re-reading works by writers and artists including Robert Baden-Powell, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Henry Rider Haggard, Beatrix Potter, Edgar Wallace and P. G. Wodehouse from a postcolonial perspective and within the context of the period's major socio-political upheavals. |
| Learning objectives | Students will be familiarised with key concepts of British imperialist discourse and critically engage with the relationship between the British Empire and late Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture. |
| Bibliography | Students should acquire the following texts: Agatha Christie, "The Man in the Brown Suit", and Henry Rider Haggard, "King Solomon's Mines". Theoretical and additional primary texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | For MA and PhD students only |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Culture and Society (Master's degree program: African Studies (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul English & American Literature (Master's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular and active participation, reading assignments, oral presentation, optional seminar paper |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |