THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA FACULTY OF ARTS FACULTY OF ARTS COURSE DESCRIPTION FOR MA IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTIONS MASTERS OF ARTS (MA) Specialities: English Language Literature in English Duration of studies: Two years (four semesters) What is unique about doing a Master Degree in The UBa: Studying in a budding University with blossoming ambitions, you are sure to be exposed to competent teachers who provide mentoring through all phases of your dissertation work. You d appreciate other study and research opportunities not yet emphasized in our higher institutions of learning in Cameroon like joining a research group, and having a chance to attend guest lectures, symposia and seminars on trendy topics in your field of study and research areas of interest. Vision: The Postgraduate School offers you a sound and diversified clearly structured and researchoriented two-year academic and professional MA Degree programme. Aims, content, and Structure: In May 2015 the Postgraduate School was established at The University of Bamenda. The Postgraduate MA programme starts every year in October, and aims to offer a clearly structured innovative and enhanced academic and professional MA programme of high academic excellence in two years. The innovative curriculum exposes participants to additional academic and practical skills that heightens their creative exuberance and also integrates them into the state of the arts academic debates. Seminars, research groups, workshops, symposia and conferences would be organized to ensure that participants acquire sound and diversified knowledge in their research disciplines. In addition to practically oriented courses addressing matters such as academic writing and presentation techniques, both the curriculum and the mentoring team ensures that the participants are provided support in all matters relating to the different stages of their dissertations including: organization, structure, methodology, linking theoretical framework to analysis, content of the thesis in general and its defence. The purpose of the MA Programme is thus to develop and strengthen the existing research and research training milieu in the mentioned subject areas. In addition, it will stimulate the cultivation of crossdisciplinary research areas, drawing on the competence and experience of scholarly traditions of the disciplines. The curriculum of the MA Programme is organized to support the MA students work on individual projects and to put them in contact with relevant researchers and research spheres. The main objective is to ensure that the candidates are both solidly anchored in the given disciplines and qualified to take advantage of the inter-disciplinary perspectives in contemporary research in the fields of language, literature and the arts. Masters Programmes in the Department of English place strong emphasis on critical, analytical and interdisciplinary skills in the students area of specialization, advanced research methods and theories, a sensitivity to language and culture; and a rich and rounded humanistic education. The language of instruction is English. The Postgraduate School team also assists 2
participants in preparing scholarship applications. Admission Requirements: Applicants for this degree should fulfil the following requirements: a) Hold a good BA Degree or its equivalence in the area of specialization from any recognised University. b) Submit completed applications with the following supporting documentations: a statement of purpose, one official copy of the transcript from each university previously attended, and three letters of recommendation. c) Demonstrate strong interpersonal and speaking skills as well as the ability to conduct independent research. d) Candidates with degrees from related disciplines would be required to take some specified courses at the undergraduate level unless they show proof that they minored in the discipline concerned. Graduation Requirements: The MA degree in the above specializations is awarded to a student who obtains a minimum of 120 credits comprising ninety (90) compulsory and thirty (30) minor credits. The student must write and defend a dissertation of 120-200 pages on a subject within the area of specialization authorized by the Department. Candidates must earn all required credits, pass a comprehensive examination and successfully defend a thesis based on a well-researched topic in the appropriate discipline. Employment Opportunities Holders of the PhD are prepared for careers in institutions of higher education, (lectureship) research centres and the professions. Others include: Independent researcher and independent consultant. LANGUAGE ENGL 601: Research Methodology 6 credits (40-20) Objectives: At the end of the course students should be able to: - choose a research topic - know how to cite information using APA and MLA style sheets - know how to state a hypothesis and research questions - know what is required in an abstract and review of literature - know how to state the conclusion or findings that give rise to further research for purposes of continuity. Content: To equip students with various research skills in the study of the disciplined concerned. Research methodology of literature is an essential part of the course. A deepened knowledge of research methodology is required at this level. Since research is built on the academic shoulders of other scholars they should learn to acknowledge their sources of information or material at any given time. Outcomes: Students with a firm grasp of research methodology will write their dissertations with relative ease and enjoy the exercise. ENGL 602: English Stylistics and Discourse Analysis 6 credits (40-20) Objectives: The course will: 3
- expose students to the different linguistic parameters used to analyse a text; - help students analyse the writing styles of different authors; - help students explain the reasons for particular linguistic choices made by the writer; - help students apply the principles of stylistics on both literary and non-literary texts. Content: The course examines the origin and development of stylistics as an academic discipline. The linguistic analysis of both literary and non-literary texts (literature, politics, law, science) will be undertaken. The course also deals in the use of English in typically social contexts in expressing, feelings, wishes. It is also a trend in appropriating a firm idiomatic expressions and semantic extensions of some expression. Outcomes: By the end of the course students will be able to use linguistic parameters to understand both literary and non-literary texts. By the end of the course the student should be able to apply pragmatic theories to daily life contexts. ENGL 603: Contemporary Theories and Criticism From Chomsky 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: It is assumed that the student is well grounded in pre-chomsky theoretical debates on language. However, there will be an attempt to review this in order to establish the background for the course. At the end of the course students will be able to - explain the different theories - identify the differences between the theories - apply these theories - bring out the strengths and weaknesses of each theory - understand the status of Chomskyan linguistics today - speculate on the nature of language theories after Chomsky Content: This course will examine the different theoretical approaches to the study of language. It will study the prescriptive and descriptive approaches, formal and functional theories and the application of these theories to the study of language in order to provide a context for the assessment and understanding of more contemporaneous theories. Outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to use these theories to analyse language. ENGL 604: Cameroon English 6 credits (40-20-00) The course will focus on Cameroon English (CamE) within the framework of World Englishes. It shall highlight the phonological, grammatical and lexical specificities of Cameroon English vis-à-vis Standard British English and other varieties of the language. ENGL 605: Advanced English Speech 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives:At the end of the course students should be able to: - identify and rectify the difficulties they have in English pronunciation; - demonstrate a full knowledge of phonological features of English; - know and adapt their speech organs to the production of correct sounds in English; - know how to teach oral communication skills. Content: Revision of English sound segments, English prosodic features including stress, intonation and rhythm. This course treats characteristic speech patterns that may be indicators of nationality and vocation e.g. Forensic linguistics. Outcomes: By the end of the course students should have learned the correct English sounds, develop fluency and clarity of speech and acquired oral communication skills to communicate effectively. ENGL 606: English Semantics and Pragmatics - explain the basic concepts in pragmatics; 4
- apply the different pragmatic theories; - interpret utterances in different social contexts; - explain how users interpret utterances in communication - identify text features necessary for cohesion and coherence - analyse both written and spoken texts - explain how language operates in social and ideological contexts Content: The course will introduce learners to practical applications of discourse techniques to real world situations. This deals with a broad range of types of texts both spoken and written. The study examines the organisation of language above the sentence level and will emphasize the practical analysis and description of ways of interpreting discourse: coherence, cohesion, conversational interaction in English and understand the use of elements of language in the teaching of English. Outcomes: At the end of the course the students should be able to employ different approaches to analyse discourse. ENGL 607: English Usage and Meaning 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: At the end of the course students will be able to: - write with a clear audience and purpose in mind; - construct good sentences, coherent and well organised paragraphs for a variety of rhetorical situations; - write with a knowledge of grammar, usage and punctuation. Content: This course examines more specialised writing e.g. reports, long essays, minutes, various types of letters, invitations, public announcements, speech writing, and personal diary keeping. Attention will be paid to correct and specific language use and other technical mattes connected with each kind of writing. The course will also examine meaning in spoken and written English, formal and informal, and underscores the various phonological, lexical, syntactic forms through which users of English express meaning. Outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to express themselves effectively in both the spoken and written forms. ENGL 608: New Englishes 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: At the end of the course the students will be able to: - identify the different varieties of English; - identify the different areas where New Englishes is spoken; - give reasons for the spread of English; - explain how New Englishes differs from the Standard British and American Standard English. Content: This course examines the spread, characteristics and functions of English in non-native environments e.g. Asia, Africa, the Caribbean. The course will also examine the formal properties (lexical, phonological, grammatical) that differ from those of British and American Standard English. Outcomes: By the end of the course the students should be able to identify New Englishes and the standard varieties in daily life usage. ENGL 609: Communication Theories 6 credits (40-20-00) This course will be based on Grice s maxims of quantity and quality in communicating. ENGL 610: Advanced English Syntax 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course will enable the students to: - identify and analyse the different theories on syntactic analysis; - know the arguments for and against these syntactic theories; - know how to apply advanced principles of grammar in sentence construction. 5
Content: This course will examine issues of coordination, subordination, embedding in English (clause analysis) and the different theories of grammar. Outcomes: By the end of the course the students will be able to determine constituents of language and the theories. This information will help them excel in their use of the English language. ENGL 611: Classroom Interactions and Management This course will exploit theories that deal with patterns of interaction, questioning, grouping, and the role of management of conflicts. It will also have to do with group dynamics and sociometry. ENGL 612: Phonology The course deals with advanced patterns of speech distribution. This will of course be based on suprasegmental features like rhythm, intonation, pitch, stress, etc.; and speech features like assimilation, elision, etc. ENGL 614: English Language Pedagogy 6 credits (40-20-00) This course focuses on language teaching theories and methods like grammar translation, audiolingualism; and interdisciplinary methods like content, shelter, and task-based approaches. Contemporary methods like the competency-based approach will be brought in; focusing on the development of the skills listening, writing, critical reasoning skill, without forgetting the enabling sub-skills like grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. ENGL 613: Entrepreneurship 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course aims to help students acquire a solid knowledge of entrepreneurial concepts, translate these into practice; think critically about major theories in their own contexts, have a good command of analytical methods, and apply effective solutions to entrepreneurial problems opportunities, and challenges Content: (Re)defining entrepreneurship in core / peripheral contexts, e.g. the case of barefoot entrepreneurs Revisiting classical/current theorists (Cantillon, Say, Knight, Smith, Schumpeter, Weber, Marx, Austrian School, Von Mises, Friedman, etc) New attitudes to entrepreneurial concepts: risk-taking, innovation, creative-destruction, social change, identification of opportunities, venture initiation, social responsibility, etc. Entrepreneurship and gender issues, neo/institutional contexts Opportunities thesis and post-structuralist contexts Organisational reality (dominant assumptions, ideologies, grand/meta narratives) in actor-network theory, discourse analysis; everyday working practices; International entrepreneurship as venture narratives: its gaps, issues, postcolonial trends Outcomes: On successful completion of the course, students will be able to identify and evaluate factors conducive to entrepreneurial activities, and develop critical thinking skills through micro-stories, case studies, exposure to successful entrepreneurs, guest speakers, business plans, in-class discussion, assignments, use of creative art: films, music, fashion, advert. ENGL 615: Computing 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: Computer science is a fast-moving field that brings together many disciplines especially in the humanities. Generally, the course should provide students with the opportunity to develop personal projects in varieties of current software such as spreadsheet, database, word processing, multimedia, Internet and other applications for microcomputers. 6
Content: Specifically the course offers the students highly priced skills for academic research. It is an introduction to the field of humanities computing with a special emphasis on language and literature. Digital texts and digital libraries offer us new opportunities for searching and accessing literary material. But more interesting and exciting than the mere searching of digital texts is the ability to leverage computation in order to process and analyse textual data, to provide new methods for reading, analysing, and understanding literature and language and related disciplines. Key aspects of the course will include the functions of a computer system, data processing, hardware and software, computeraided research, digital computing, etc. Outcomes: After taking the course, students should discuss basic and relevant information pertaining to computer technology. Acquire computational skills for conducting graduate research in the humanities Learn about the preparation and processing of digital texts in language and to explore methods which help them explain and interpret literary texts, genres, and movements. Manage various kinds of information, doing scientific research on and with computers; making computer systems behave intelligently; and creating and using communications and entertainment media. ENGL 616: Language and Gender Objectives: By the end of the course students should be able to; - Identify gendered texts in English language course books and be able to deal with the material in nonsexist ways - Assist learners in identifying and using gender sensitive language - Eliminate subtle gendered discrimination in class by being gender inclusive in all activities - Assess learner needs, and plan and teach lessons which take account of learners gendered preferences and current needs. - Demonstrate language knowledge and awareness and appropriate teaching strategies that are gender inclusive. Demonstrate knowledge about gendered language skills and how they may be Content: The course enables participants to understand the concepts of gender and feminism in relation to English Language and language teaching. It trains students to be gender sensitive to the course book and materials they use in English language teaching and also in their teaching methods and techniques in classroom situations Outcomes: Upon completion the students should be able to identify gendered texts and should be gender sensitive. ENGL 606: English Semantics and Pragmatics The course helps the student to be able to: - explain the basic concepts in pragmatics; - apply the different pragmatic theories; - interpret utterances in different social contexts; - explain how users interpret utterances in communication - identify text features necessary for cohesion and coherence - analyse both written and spoken texts - explain how language operates in social and ideological contexts Content: The course will introduce learners to practical applications of discourse techniques to real world situations. This deals with a broad range of types of texts both spoken and written. The study examines the organisation of language above the sentence level and will emphasize the practical 7
analysis and description of ways of interpreting discourse: coherence, cohesion, conversational interaction in English and understand the use of elements of language in the teaching of English. Outcomes: At the end of the course the students should be able to employ different approaches to analyse discourse. ENGL 617: Research Seminar 6 credits (40-20-00) Presentation of Topics and Research Proposal Objectives: The course sets out to deepen and further strengthen students knowledge and skills in research methods with reference to specific topics. Content: Research topic(s); research proposal; refining research topic; essential features of a research proposal: statement of research problem research questions, hypothesis, theoretical framework, aim, definition of terms, review of related literature, structure of work etc. Outcomes: By the end of the course the students should be able to (a) produce a better research proposal (b) justify the use of the elements of a research proposal for example, hypothesis, review of related literature, theoretical framework, etc. ENGL 619: Project, Research and Writing 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: By the end of the course students should be able to define research. - They should know what the following are: a term paper, a long essay, a dissertation and a thesis. - They should be able to choose a topic. - They should know the format of research papers for language and literature. - They should be able to know the different style sheets used in research papers like APA (American Psychological Association style) and MLA (Modern Language Association style) Content: Research methodology. Choosing a topic, formulation of research questions, preparing a working bibliography. Outlining and writing the paper. Applying the appropriate style sheets (APA or MLA) ENGL 618: Editing and Publishing Objectives: This course aims at enabling students to: - Identify and discriminate the characteristics of various writing forms - Demonstrate mastery of cohesion and coherence in view of organic unity and in different writing patters - Edit and proofread different written text types using appropriate symbols - Phrase or rephrase titles and headlines for various appeals - Be familiar with the norms of effective written communication - Responsibly evaluate and synthesize material from different sources, backgrounds, perspectives and styles - Use authority, point of view, voice and style in different forms of writing - Appropriately use syntax and style for academic, professional or societal imperatives. Content: This course introduces students to the theory and practice of editing and proofreading written discourses especially the humanities. It exposes them to a variety of text types and engages them in a hands-on approach to discourse critiquing, correcting and proofreading. They will both critique and take up writing processes from discourse ideation, sources, research, reporting to interactive responses to written works. They will be groomed in revision of write-ups especially meant for publication and be grounded in the knowledge of ethical, cultural and aesthetic considerations. In addition they will be made to demonstrate cultural and aesthetic considerations. In addition they will be made to demonstrate understanding text amendment by completing multiple-tasked assignments and exercises. They will also be provided with proofreading and editing symbols, common grammar and spelling mistakes as well as highpoints on consistency in English usage and style sheets. Assumed prior knowledge and 8
skills will include exposure to diverse writing forms (including classics of the humanities), skilled usage of grammar, punctuation and wide vocabulary. Outcomes: The course will heighten the students awareness of linguistic and aesthetic propriety. It will enable to construct logical and coherent arguments and recognize lapses or effective writing wherever applicable. They will be therefore better evaluators of written texts in terms of presentation and content. This way, personal write-ups and those they evaluate will better meet quality publication readiness. Scientific studies and findings will more appropriately and effectively reach and be received by target audiences. ENGL 620: Creative Writing Objectives: Creative writing courses teach students the fundamentals of writing short stories, poems, plays, screenplays and other works of fiction or creative non-fiction. These courses can be taken through a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programmes. Introductory courses involve studying selected readings, while more advanced classes focus on independent student work. The course exposes students to a variety of types of writing and provides them with opportunities to create their own works. Creative writing majors often take courses focusing individually on fiction, poetry, screenwriting and nonfiction writing. They may also study literary theory, Shakespearean literature and advanced composition. While all creative writing programs prepare students to work as literary artists, graduate programmes often provide opportunities for pursuing a teaching career. Such programmes may include a teaching practicum or internship, in addition to the typical thesis or dissertation requirements. ENGL 622: Intercultural Communication This will be a composite course involving multicultural relationships and the dialogue that develops, or fails to develop, from this. Linguistic and generic overlaps will be considered in order for the students to better understand the intricacies of the 21st century. ENGL 626: Second Language Acquisition and Theories The course explores field of SLA and reviews the different theories that explain additional language learning phenomena. It shall highlight learning strategies as well as the theories that that underlie them. ENGL 628: Language teaching Theories The course will focus on the methods used in teaching such as Grammar Translation Method, Direct method, the Audiolingual method, the total physical response, the silent way method, communicative method, etc. ENGL 630: Language Testing In this course students will be urged to focus on the rationale for testing; distinguish language teaching from testing; distinguish between the types of tests like diagnostic, prognostic, achievement, etc.; and finally techniques of testing. ENGL 632: Language Skills Development The course will emphasise on how to prepare and present lessons on the different skills. This will involve speaking, listening, writing, and reading. ENGL 634: Classroom Interactions and management 9
The course engages students in the various types of interaction and how to manage different classroom situations in the teaching of English language. ENGL 636: Materials Development and Course Book Evaluation This course will focus on the techniques and strategies in writing ELT material; the rationale for evaluation, the criteria, and issues like cultural relevance in course book, and gender relations in the course book. ENGL 698: Dissertation 42 credits LITERATURE SPECIALISATIONS LITT 601: Contemporary Theories and Criticism 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The aim of the course is to expose students to contemporary literary theories and how they can be effectively applied to specific literary texts. Content: The difference between literary theory and literary criticism; our concern will be on, but not limited to, the following literary theories: New Historicism, Postcolonial theory, Marxism, Cultural Materialism, Socio-Artistic Approach, Psychoanalytic Approach, etc. Emphasis will be on the practical application of literary theory to specific texts at the level of literary criticism. Outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to (a) differentiate between literary theory and literary criticism (b) demonstrate the ability to move from theory to practice with reference to specific literary works. LITT603: Research Methodology 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: Arming students with knowledge and skills in research methods, choosing a topic, refining and structuring it, formulating research questions, and coming up with a good research proposal (containing the key elements of a proposal). The course also embodies issues like intellectual honesty, plagiarism, hypothesis etc. Content: By the end of the course students should be able to: produce a good research proposal; justify the elements of a research proposal; know the consequences of intellectual dishonesty and plagiarism. Outcomes: Students will have a firm grasp of research methodology and research ethics. LITT 605: Computing 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: Computer science is a fast-moving field that brings together many disciplines especially in the humanities. Generally, the course provides students with the opportunity to develop personal projects in varieties of current software such as spreadsheet, database, word processing, multimedia, Internet and other applications for microcomputers. Content: Specifically the course offers the students highly priced skills for academic research. It is an introduction to the field of humanities computing with a special emphasis on language and literature. Digital texts and digital libraries offer us new opportunities for searching and accessing literary material. But more interesting and exciting than the mere searching of digital texts is the ability to leverage computation in order to process and analyze textual data, to provide new methods for reading, analyzing, and understanding literature and language and related disciplines. Key aspects of the course 10
will include the functions of a computer system, data processing, hardware and software, computeraided research, digital computing, etc. Outcomes After taking the course, students should discuss basic and relevant information pertaining to computer technology. Acquire computational skills for conducting graduate research in the humanities Learn about the preparation and processing of digital texts in language and to explore methods which help them explain and interpret literary texts, genres, and movements. Manage various kinds of information, doing scientific research on and with computers; making computer systems behave intelligently; and creating and using communications and entertainment media. LITT 607: Entrepreneurship 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course aims to help students acquire a solid knowledge of entrepreneurial concepts, translate these into practice; think critically about major theories in their own contexts, have a good command of analytical methods, and apply effective solutions to entrepreneurial problems opportunities, and challenges Content: (Re) defining entrepreneurship in core / peripheral contexts, e.g. the case of barefoot entrepreneurs Revisiting classical/current theorists (Cantillon, Say, Knight, Smith, Schumpeter, Weber, Marx, Austrian School, Von Mises, Friedman, etc) New attitudes to entrepreneurial concepts: risk-taking, innovation, creative-destruction, social change, identification of opportunities, venture initiation, social responsibility, etc. Entrepreneurship and gender issues, neo/institutional contexts Opportunities thesis and post-structuralist contexts Organisational reality (dominant assumptions, ideologies, grand/meta narratives) in actor-network theory, discourse analysis; everyday working practices; International entrepreneurship as venture narratives: its gaps, issues, postcolonial trends Outcomes:On successful completion of the course, students will be able to identify and evaluate factors conducive to entrepreneurial activities, and develop critical thinking skills through micro-stories, case studies, exposure to successful entrepreneurs, guest speakers, business plans, in-class discussion, assignments, use of creative art: films, music, fashion, advert, LITT 609: Readings Classical Civilization 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: A comprehensive study of the literature of Ancient Greeks and Romans is required with focus on the ways the historical and cultural expressions of the epochs constituted shaping influences. Content: The masterpieces of the Greeks, the Romans and other ancient civilizations will be studied with particular emphasis on the following: The Theban Plays, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Homer s The Iliad, Ovid s Metamorphosis, Virgil s The Iliad and The Aeneid, Hesoid, Apolynus and The Golden Ass, along with other ancient genres like the epic, tragedy, comedy, the Pastoral, etc. SPECIALIZATION I (British Literature) LITT 602: Multicultural British Writers 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: To introduce students to British Literature of the post-empire era, and its diversity, especially as it includes authors from the former British Colonies. The course studies varied from British authors from different postcolonial and multicultural backgrounds. It will focus on the dynamic 11
intersections between the traditions, history, language and culture of Britain as the world s most influential imperial power and the enormous diversity of its colonial possessions around the world. LITT 604: Shakespearean to 19C British Drama 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: By the end of the course students, who study Shakespearean drama should be able to: - Appreciate the difference between Aristotelian and Shakespearean views on tragedy. - Know the world views of the Elizabethans and the Jacobeans. - Distinguish between tragic history and comic plays as per William Shakespeare s classification. Content: The course focuses on the plays of William Shakespeare. While emphasis shall be laid on his tragedies, comedies and tragicomedies plays by other British dramatists will be considered. Outcomes: The students will discover their talents in theatre and becomes actors. Apart from becoming actors they can form theatre groups and make a career from it. They should also be able to write plays if their creative muses are aroused. They will understand life better in terms of its briefness. LITT 606: Readings in 17 th and 19 th centuries British Poetry 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course aims at exposing students to the rich diversity of poetic output of these centuries which embody the Restoration, Neoclassical and early Romantic periods with their different poetic traditions. Outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to discuss confidently questions on the works of the chosen authors in particular and then question on the periods in general. LITT 608: Readings in 18 th and 19 th century British Novel 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course is designed to expose students to the periods that witnessed the rise and blossoming of the British novel, and to give them a sense of appreciation of the golden, magical time when the production of the conventional, realistic British novel reached its peak. Content: Encompassing the Augustan, Romantic and Victorian periods, these time-frames have produced novels which, from the perspective of content and form, breadth and depth, have hardly been matched by those of another period or periods in British literature. The course comprises the key novels of iconic writers like Defoe, Fielding, Austen, Scott, the Bronté Sisters, Dickens, George Elliot, Thomas Hardy etc. It is practically impossible to treat the novels of all these authors in a single course. The best approach is to give students the broad range of these novels and then to zoom in on the novels of one or two authors in a seminar for one year, and in another year we focus on another one or two authors, and so on. Students should apply to these texts theoretical and critical principles imbibed in the course on contemporary theories and criticism. Outcomes:By the end of the course the students should be able to answer questions on the selected authors, in particular, and questions on the broad periods in general. LITT 610: Seminar 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course focuses on more general and specific issues. First, it seeks to introduce students to practically oriented seminars, workshops or symposia dealing with matters such as academic writing, presentation techniques, power point presentation, writing articles, university teaching methods, writing reviews, editing, project writing, writing fellowship applications, assisting students to determine good topics and suitable theoretical frameworks, as well as problems and techniques of 12
academic writing. Secondly, the course seeks to provide opportunities to students to present the different parts/stages of their dissertations via colloquiums and listen to suggestions which is a key to enabling them obtain their MA degree within the required semesters. Content: In attempting to address more specifically the individual research projects of students, it offers participants support in all matters relating to the organization, structure, and content of their dissertation and defence. A preparatory course for the dissertation defence is introduced to offer assistance to students in preparing the presentation and provides an opportunity for a trial run during which the student presents the central theses of his/her research and defends it during a seminar/workshop. Outcomes: At the end of the course, student should have a mastery of presentation techniques as well as apply them to their research; and strategies for avoiding and overcoming problems in writing and motivation, etc. LITT 611: Readings in 20 th century British Poetry 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: 19 th and 20 th Century English Poetry is rich, varied and challenging. With the 19 C innovators like W.B Yeats and G. M. Hopkins, poets freed themselves from formal constraints of the genre and developed new techniques which were now described as modernist. Content: To study in detail the major trends in the works of major English Poets, paying particular attention to the characteristics of given periods, as well as the features of each of the poets. Although emphasis will be on post-war poets, the course starts by highlighting fundamental theories and features of Romanticism; as well as Romantic Reaction to Augustinism. Outcomes: At the end of the course students will: Understand the reasons for breaking away from the Romantic tradition that preceded Modernism Acquire knowledge of the characteristics of modern poetry Establish a link between the new poetic conventions and the socio-political and aesthetic crises of the 19th and 20th Centuries Reinforce the skills of the interpretation and appreciation of poetry. LITT 613: Modern and Post Modern British Novel 6 credits (40-20-00) The course contrasts the modern and the traditional novel, and draws attention to the modern and postmodernist literary representations in the British novel. It explores the patterns of literary developments common to the British novel from the twentieth to the twenty-first centuries, in their social, intellectual, political, cultural and theoretical contexts, with specific focus on the relations between ideological factors and novelistic themes and forms. British novelists have had to struggle, in the aftermath of post war to forge new sense of life, language, character, setting, themes, narration, etc, and particularly new linguistic forms and languages in which to express the modern and postmodern consciousness. The results are sometimes startling, even shocking, in their confrontation of old orders of thought, representating the new and writing. Literary, cultural issues, and particularly new/evolving forms of representations are addressed through critical analysis of the works of, but not limited to writers such Virginia Wolf, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and other contemporary British novelists. LITT 615: Twentieth Century British Drama 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: By the end of the course students who study twentieth century British Drama should be able to: Draw a line of distinction between absurdist and tragic drama. Know why twentieth century drama is pessimistic in nature. Know the various branches of absurdist drama such as Existential, social and messianic. 13
Know the views of Martin Esslin, the leading critic on absurdist drama. Content: The course focuses on the theatre of the absurd with particular emphasis on the works of absurdist British playwrights with Harold Pinter as a legendary example. Outcomes: The students will discover their critical talents in this genre of drama The students vision of life as absurd will be laid bare in the works studied. LITT 617: Trends in Irish Literature 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course aims at offering students the opportunity to concentrate on the literature of Ireland while gaining an understanding of some of the trends and leading figures of Irish literature. Content: The course will concentrate on major trends in Irish literary Revival, contemporary literature and politics. It will involve major figures like William Butler Yeats, and explore key moments in Irish literature as well as the ways in which Irish literature impacted national identity and wider literary trends. Authors like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, John McGahern, Flann O Brien and Jonathan Swift will be studied in detail. LITT 619: Fictions of Race, Class and Gender 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course aims to deepen the student s knowledge of the main blueprints of gender in British literature. Thus by the end of this course, the student is expected to master key issues in British feminism, masculinities, feminist literary theory and criticism and the major feminist writers and critics. He/She must be drilled in the poetics of British feminist literature: major British feminist novelist, poets and dramatists. This course also aims to drill the student in the fictional discourse that dramatizes the complex ways by which gender interacts with race and class as systems of oppression and discrimination. He/She should understand that women in the developing world experience the legacy of socio-cultural oppression, in addition to the political issues that are entangled with the decolonization process. On the whole, the student should understand that this fiction emphasizes on the junctures of race, class and gender as the main focus of black/third world feminism which differentiates it from White and other forms of feminism Content: Study of the selected works of feminist prose, feminist poetry, and feminist dramatists. SPECIALIZATION II (American Literature) LITT 612: Movements in American Literature 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: To expose students to the various literary movements in America. Content: A selection of prose, poetry and drama from the colonial times to the present will be studied. The course will also explore the religious, historical, social and political concepts that influenced or were influenced by literature LITT 614: American Postcolonial Literature 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The main objectives of the course are to introduce students to the idea of American civilisation as a junction of postcolonial sensibilities. How, for instance, was emerging trends in American literature influenced by the Anglo-European background to which the early writers were related? How do we rationalise the reaction of American writers from this direction, after Ralph Waldo Emerson? And in the eventual configuration of the United States of America, how can African American and Native American literatures be defined according to colonial and/or internal colonial prescriptions? These questions will hopefully inspire the student to re-examine canonical notions and their peripheral implications, including conceptual nuances. 14
LITT 616: Postmodern American Literature 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The primary objective of this course is to engage with the American literary scene of the last 50 years of the 20 th century, an era in which notions of a stable tradition or canon have been in many ways overwritten. The course will explore the fluctuations in authorial points of view that have characterized the postmodern condition, examining the various ways in which writers of various temperaments have addressed ways of being in the contemporary world. Content: This course explores how post-modernists of the second half of the 20th century keep the avant-garde techniques developed by their modernist ancestors but use them to craft literature that breaks high and low cultural boundaries and plays with the subject of literature and the nature of reality itself. Many of the attitudes that inform the thinking and writing of this epoch could only have arisen after significant shifts in the culture at large in the decades following the Second World War. Relative economic prosperity, the rise of youth culture, demographic shifts (the flight from cities, the rise of suburbs), changes in fashion, music, and the arts, and increasing suspicion about traditional values and mores have all contributed to this late twentieth, early twenty-first century historical moment. Outcomes: Students potentials harnessed to: Demonstrate an understanding of literary trends and movements in American literature since 1950; Complete a paper demonstrating the ability to research effectively and synthesize research into an argument that offers analytical insight into American literature since 1950; Demonstrate familiarity with key American writers since 1950; 4) Demonstrate an understanding of how this specific literary period fits into the larger scope of American literature. LITT 618: Seminar 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course focuses on more general and specific issues. First, it seeks to introduce students to practically oriented seminars, workshops or symposia dealing with matters such as academic writing, presentation techniques, power point presentation, writing articles, university teaching methods, writing reviews, editing, project writing, writing fellowship applications, assisting students to determine good topics and suitable theoretical frameworks, as well as problems and techniques of academic writing. Secondly, the course seeks to provide opportunities to students to present the different parts/stages of their dissertations via colloquiums and listen to suggestions which is a key to enabling them obtain their MA degree within the required semesters. In attempting to address more specifically the individual research projects of students, it offers participants support in all matters relating to the organization, structure, and content of their dissertation and defence. A preparatory course for the dissertation defence is introduced to offer assistance to students in preparing the presentation and provides an opportunity for a trial run during which the student presents the central theses of his/her research and defends it during a seminar/workshop. Content: There shall be workshops on the following: Structuring the chapters of their dissertations, determining the connection between the theoretical aspects of the theses and their application, Academic writing (format, types, features, accuracy in writing, transitional words/phrases), time planning, presentation techniques, editing, decoding a topic, paragraph structure, writing introductions and conclusions, preparatory course for defence, etc. Outcomes: At the end of the course, student should have a mastery of presentation techniques as well as apply them to their research; and strategies for avoiding and overcoming problems in writing and motivation, etc. 15
LITT 620: Readings in 19 th and 20 th centuries Modern Drama 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: A study of the ways Modern American dramatists use dramatic conventions to reveal aesthetic, religious, cultural, social and political values. Content: Selected plays by Eugene O Neill, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin and August Wilson, etc. Outcomes: Heightened student interest in American drama and in the interpretive and analytical devices of the drama. LITT 619: Fictions of Race, Class and Gender 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course aims to drill the student in the fictional discourse that dramatizes the complex ways by which gender interacts with race and class as systems of oppression and discrimination. He/She should understand that women in the developing world experience the legacy of socio-cultural oppression, in addition to the political issues that are entangled with the decolonization process. On the whole, the student should understand that this fiction emphasizes on the junctures of race, class and gender as the main focus of black/third world feminism which differentiates it from White and other forms of feminism Content: A critical study of the selected works of Barbara Christian, Barabara Smith, Audre Lorde, Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Janette Turner Hospital, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Ntozake Shange, etc. LITT 620: Black Women Writers 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course is a cross-cultural inquiry into the writings of Black women in Africa and the Diaspora. These women's works will be read within the framework of marginal and postcolonial discourse within their different locations. An examination and comparative analysis will be based not only on similarities but also differences on historical, spatial, and cultural imperatives. Emphasis will be on the different ways in which the selected writer's respective environments and particular circumstances have conditioned their perceptions of issues such as colonization, marriage (monogamy/polygamy), friendship, widowhood, identity, nationalism, motherhood, violence against women, their struggles for rights as Blacks and as women, resistance, ideology, generational and locational conflicts, education, career etc. By the end of the course students should be able to discuss how these black women writers through their works simultaneously stand as representations and mark the arenas of engagement for social change; their contribution to the development of their societies, their political aptitude, and their artistic adeptness. Content: Study the writings of Black women like Beah Richards, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, Alice Walker, etc. Outcomes: This course is designed to give students the opportunity to develop a critical or analytical approach to the study of black women writers in Africa and the Diaspora; to develop their ability to read and respond to a variety of primary sources and to integrate knowledge from different sources, their awareness of historical contexts for black women's writings, their understanding of contemporary society, and their understanding of values and/or assumptions we bring to the study of black women writers; and to develop the curiosity to explore black women s literature, culture, and history further. LITT 623: Readings in Native American Literature 6 credits (40-20-00) 16
Objectives: The course aims to drill students in the major themes and styles of Native American literature. Beginning from the pre-colonial history, civilisation and orature of Native Americans, it undertakes a detailed examination of American Indian cultural renaissances such as pan-indianism and tribal specificity which subtend the quest for the identity, wholeness and survival of the entire American Indian peoples. In this connection the course stresses on the inextricable link between written Native American literature and the American Indian Oral Tradition. Emphasis is also laid on Native women writers and their expression of the politics of race, class and sex. Content: Study American Indian orature, art and culture through a reading of select writers like Leslie Marmon Silko, Natalie Curtis, William Brandon, Baylor Byrd and Tohono O Odham, Brant Beth, John G. Neihardt, Virginia Armstrong, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Crow-Creek Sioux and Zitkala Sa. Outcomes: By the end of this course, the student is expected to master the history, civilisation and orature of Native American peoples via a detailed study of some selected poetry, prose and drama. He/she should be grounded in Native American cultural renaissances such as pan-indianism and tribal specificity. He/she should master the major themes and styles of American Indian literature and the inextricable link between this literature, orature and American Indian traditional art. LITT 625: Readings in the American Novel 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: This course will examine the development and diversity of fictional forms in the twentieth century; present the social and historical forces that have affected American fiction writers of the twentieth century; and Consider the achievements of the individual authors whose works will be studied. Content: The course focuses on the 20C novel, its forms, and patterns of ideas, techniques, and cultural context. It examines a wide range of works from the beginning of the 20C to the present, traces the formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, innovations in the novel's form, fiction's engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture. The reading list will include but is not restricted to the works of Wharton, Cather, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Ellison, Nabokov, Bellow, Salinger, and Baldwin. LITT 627: Seminars in African-American Poetry 6 credits (40-20-00) Objectives: The course aims to develop students critical and analytical thinking and writing skills by engaging them in a profound reading, analysis and presentations on the poetic creations of the African Americans. Hence the student is supposed to master the key-concepts of the poetry such as double consciousness, the politics of race, gender, class and identity which subtend the poetry. They should also master certain specific artistic and aesthetic features of the poetry such as the blues, spirituals, quilting, jazz-and-blues-haiku, etc. Content: This course explores the history, philosophies, major thematic significances as well as the analytical and critical thinking that subtend African American poetry from the heyday of slavery till present. It examines African American poetic canonicity: the artistic, spiritual, socio-cultural and intellectual currents which have moulded African American poetry from Phillis Wheatley, the slave poet, through the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s, the Black Aesthetics of the 60s and 70s till present. As such the course identifies the major socio-cultural and artistic movements within the African American literary tradition and how these movements have shaped the contours of the poetry. On the whole the course undertakes a complete historical, artistic and/or aesthetic survey of the African American poetry from its very inception in 1773 till present. 17