ENGL 3106 - Writing Southern Worlds

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2021

This course will introduce students to and deepen their understandings of literatures of the south and world literary debates. Students will encounter a range of representational forms - including fiction, poetry and film - from various locations in the geographic, global and/or post-colonial south, and including works from Africa, Australasia, the Caribbean, South America, South Asia, and islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans. They will also engage with key questions arising from various theories of the south and different ideas of southness (including the geographical south or southern hemisphere, the Global South, and the postcolonial south) along with related debates on world literature (including positions that foreground global circulation, metropolitan acclaim, and the world-making potential of literature). Through careful attention to the specificities of particular texts and locales, we will be asking and responding to questions such as: What is a world? How does literature represent or make worlds? What defines the south? Can we speak of a southern aesthetic? What prospects on the world are presented by literatures of the south?

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Course Details

Course Code	ENGL 3106
Course	Writing Southern Worlds
Coordinating Unit	English, Creative Writing, and Film
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	At least 12 units of undergraduate study.
Incompatible	ENGL 2047
Assumed Knowledge	ENGL 1101 and/or ENGL 1106
Assessment	Research Essay 40%, 8 x Short Exercises 60%

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Meg Samuelson

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate specialised knowledge and understanding of literatures of the south
2. Demonstrate knowledge of key literary theories relating to world literature, postcolonial literature, the global south, and the southern hemisphere
3. Demonstrate comprehension and analytic skills in written and oral forms
4. Demonstrate independent research skills as well as the ability to collaborate effectively with peers in discussion groups

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 2, 3
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1, 2, 3, 4
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	3, 4
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1, 2, 3, 4
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	1, 2, 4
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	3, 4

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Set works:

Set novels in order of study (students to source copies, or borrow from the library etc):
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names
Caryl Philips, Crossing the River
Abdulrazak Gurnah, By the Sea
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Alexis Wright, Carpentaria*
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

*Carpentaria: students are strongly encouraged to buy and read this rich and rewarding novel in full, but it is long so we will select approximately four focal chapters (and make them available through Course Readings)

We will also read short fiction or poems (available through Course Readings) by:
Pablo Neruda
J.M. Coetzee
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Derek Walcott
Kamau Brathwaite
Grace Nichols
Witi Ihimaera
Patricia Grace
Keri Hulme
(and others)

Recommended Resources

Recommended theoretical and secondary readings will be made available through MyUni.

Learning & Teaching Modes

1 hour online 'lecture' x 12 weeks
2 hour seminar x 10 weeks

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

WORKLOAD – STRUCTURED LEARNING TOTAL HOURS
1 x 1 hr lectures per week 12 hours per semester
1 x 2 hr seminar per week 20 hours per semester
SUBTOTAL = 32 hours

WORKLOAD – SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING TOTAL HOURS
6 hrs reading per week 72 hrs per semester
3 hrs research per week 36 hours per semester
2 hrs assignment preparation per week x 8 16 hours per semester

TOTAL = 156 hours per semester

Learning Activities Summary

WEEK	LECTURE & SEMINAR TOPIC	SET WORKS
1. 4 Mar	World literature and literatures of the south: An Introdution (LECTURE ONLY - NO SEMINAR)	N/A
2. 11 Mar	ADELAIDE CUP (NO LECTURE OR SEMINAR)	N/A
3. 12 Mar	Writing the South	Poetry and short fiction by Neruda, Borges, Wicomb, Coetzee, Clark
4. 25 Mar	The Marvellous Realities of the South	Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
5. 1 Apr	Submarine Southern Worlds	Poetry by Walcott, Brathwaite, Nichols
6. 8 Apr	Navigating the Black Atlantic	Philips's Crossing the River
7. 29 Apr	Mapping the Indian Ocean World	Gurnah's By the Sea
8. 6 May	Plotting an Estuarine Ecosystem	Ghosh's The Hungry Tide
9. 13 May	Maori Words and Worlds	Poetry and short fiction by Ihimaera, Grace, Hulme
10. 20 May	Reimagining Australia	Flanagan's Death of a River Guide
11. 27 May	Framing Africa-in-the-world	Bulawayo's We Need New Names
12. 3 Jun	Writing Women's Worlds across North and South	Excerpts of auto-ethnography by Abu-Lughod and others

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment will take the form of (a) short exercises completed throughout the semester and (b) a research essay completed after teaching has concluded.

More details will be provided in MyUni.

Assessment Detail

No information currently available.

Submission

No information currently available.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

This course was first offered in 2019 and student feedback was extremely positive, with many reporting high levels of satisfaction with the opportunity to be exposed to a wider range of writing than they had encountered thus far. Students also particularly appreciated preparing short written responses throughout the semester, which helped them to engage more consistently and be better prepared for discussion in class.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
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Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator