English Seminar
Code
711121053
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas, Secção de Estudos Ingleses e Norte-Americanos
Credits
12
Teacher in charge
Miguel Alarcão, Teresa Pinto Coelho
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
A
-To obtain basic knowledge on Postcolonial Studies and master some of the key concepts in postcolonial theory
-To be able to apply some of the concepts to the interpretation of the novels to be studied
-To be able to apply some of the concepts to the individual oral project as well as to the written research paper
-To consolidate the knowledge of research methodologies and to apply them in the individual written research paper
-To orally present an individual research project on a topic of one of the novels to be studied
-To be able to write an individual extended research paper on a topic shared by two novels chosen by the student as long as they illustrate the theme ´island´ taken in its broadest sense.
B
a) To provide students with an overall view of the age-old relationships between Portugal and England/Great Britain from the establishment of Portugal as an independent nation state to the end of the liberal and civil wars encompassing literary, historical, political, economic and commercial offshoots.
b) To establish links with authors, texts, periods, movements and themes further explored in the courses on the literature and culture of both countries involved.
c) To stimulate and enhance competences and abilities required by/associated with research, namely the autonomous production of knowledge through the development of critical selection, analysis and evaluation of relevant information.
Prerequisites
Compulsory attendance of at least 75% of the classes taught, both by regular and working students.
Subject matter
A-´(Post)colonial Islands in the British Novel´
I - Introduction to Postcolonial Studies
1.1. Said´s work and its critics
1.2. Postcolonial theory: some key concepts - ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity, etc.
1.3. Post-colonial and postcolonial
II - Research methodologies: how to undertake research and write a research paper
III - Towards a postcolonial reading of Robinson Crusoe
3.1. The island in Western thought
3.2. Robinson´s island as a space of colonization
3.3. The Robinson / Friday Encounter
3.4. Robinson Crusoe and the Robinsonade
IV - The Victorian Robinsonade: Treasure Island
4.1. Stevenson and the expansion of the British empire in the late nineteenth century: the Scramble for Africa
4.2. The island and the image of imperial desintegration
V - Twentieth century rewritings of Robinson Crusoe
5.1. Gender and the island in Muriel Sparks´s Robinson
5.2. Coetzee´s Foe and South African politics
VI - Towards a comparison of the novels to be studied
B
I) Introduction.
II) From the conquest of Lisbon to the scramble for the seas (1147-1580).
III) The age of restorations (1640-1820).
IV) The age of revolutions (1820-1851).
Bibliography
Teaching method
Class A
- Theoretical classes on the topics to be studied and on Postcolonial Studies - c. 30%
- Consolidation of the knowledge of research methodologies: - c. 20%
- Oral presentation of a research project followed by debate - c. 50% (depending on class sizes)
- Production of a written individual research paper (8-10 pages, annexes and bibliography excluded) - not in class; work done by the student at home
- Supervision of both the oral project and of the written research paper - mostly outside class hours (tutorials)
Class B
This course consists mostly of lectures and oral presentations, a short period (10-15 mins.) being set aside, at the end of each class, for questions, comments and debate. Suggestions and materials for further reading will be handed out, together with the regular monitoring of the students´ researches.
Evaluation method
Class A
- oral group project - 50% of the final mark
- written research project - 50% of the final mark
Class B
A short essay (4 pages), written in class (50%).
Oral presentations, individual or otherwise, of a research project (50%).