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| Semester | spring semester 2018 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Christiane Schlote (christiane.schlote@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | It is not only in times of environmental disasters, from the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon oil spills to the Keystone Pipeline leaks, that the world is literally drenched in oil, but oil has become an indispensable ingredient of modern life. Yet, according to Amitav Ghosh, despite the ubiquity of oil and its dramatic nature, the literary engagement with the oil encounter has remained "imaginatively sterile". In this seminar, we will examine cultural texts which may be seen as providing alternative narratives to the seeming muteness of the oil encounter. From within the framework of postcolonial, migration and ecocritical theories, we will discuss literary, dramatic, filmic and artistic responses to oil and its concomitant economic, ecological and socio-cultural effects, including oil geopolitics, the relation between war and natural resources, labour migration in the Gulf states and 'peak oil', in a broad selection of global petrofiction texts, ranging from a wide variety of African literatures to Scottish drama, Persian Gulf narratives and James Bond films. |
| Learning objectives | Students will be introduced to the genre of petrofiction and familiarised with key issues and concepts in the broader field of petrocultures. |
| Bibliography | Students should acquire the following texts: Helon Habila, "Oil on Water", and Kwei Quartey, "Murder at Cape Three Points". Theoretical and additional primary texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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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 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 |
| 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 |