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79364-01 - Proseminar: Narratives of Home (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Tamara Dima Imboden (tamaradima.imboden@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In 'All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes' (1986), Maya Angelou wrote “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Home, Angelou’s words suggest, represents security and trust – in one’s surroundings, and in one’s identity. Is home simply a metaphor for safety, though? Over the last decades, research on the topic has shown that the answer is anything but simple. In her theoretical overview of the concept, Shelley Mallett points out that home has been theorized as “(a) place(s), (a) space(s), feeling(s), practices, and/or an active state of being in the world”; moreover, it can be “conflated with or related to house, family, haven, self, gender, and journeying”; it can be inhabited, missed, lived, created or made (“Understanding Home” 65). Home is thus kaleidoscopic in its possible meanings, making it an extremely productive concept through which to read literary texts. In this Proseminar III, we will read a variety of fictional narratives relating to the topic of home. The class will look at Aisha Abdel Gawad’s 2023 novel 'Between Two Moons', and at a diverse range of texts from different genres (short stories, film/tv series, poetry) to consider how home is framed in fiction, but also how the diverse theoretical approaches to home can help us understand these texts. We will explore home in the context of family and gender dynamics, diaspora (home in the ‘host’ country and the ‘mythic homeland’; home as ‘imagined community’), and home as a space of unsettlement (Covid-19, the Uncanny). By the end of the semester, students will have a broad understanding of both the theoretical concept and its uses as a motif in literary texts. |
| Learning objectives | By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced and multifaceted theoretical understanding of home, as well as an overview of the diverse ways this motif is employed in a variety of literary texts. |
| Bibliography | The class will read 'Between Two Moons' by Aisha Abdel Gawad (if possible, 2024 Vintage Books edition). Any other required novels will be uploaded here in early July. |
| Comments | More details regarding primary texts will be uploaded in early July. Please register by sending an email to tamaradima.imboden@unibas.ch by 7 September. Places are limited to 25 and will be distributed on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | It is strongly recommended that this course is taken only after the successful completion of the "Introduction I + II: Literary Studies" proseminars. |
| Course application | Please register by sending an email to tamaradima.imboden@unibas.ch by 7 September. Places are limited to 25 and will be distributed on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 17.09.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 24.09.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 01.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 08.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 15.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 22.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 29.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 05.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 12.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 19.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 26.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 03.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 10.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Thursday 17.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Module: Introduction to Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation and one written assignment (a detailed outline of an argument). |
| 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 |