ENGLISH 221 : New Zealand Literature

Arts

2024 Semester One (1243) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Offers an historical survey of major writers and key issues in New Zealand literature. Students will not only read some of the best writing our country has to offer but will develop, through the literature studied, a richly detailed overview of New Zealand experience from the period of first contact until now.

Course Overview

English 221: New Zealand Literature explores a selection of classic and contemporary works by great writers in relation to ideas about history, place, memory, and culture. We look at how versions of the past have been constructed through literature and explore the significance of those constructs for New Zealanders today. We consider what Pierre Nora describes as the tensions between memory and history and provide a rich and complex map of divergent texts. Authors featured in the course include Witi Ihimaera, Tina Makereti, Janet Frame, Allen Curnow, Frank Sargeson, Katherine Mansfield, Hone Tuwhare, Patricia Grace, Albert Wendt, Jack Ross, Alice Tawhai, David Ballantyne, and more.

Students will study a selection of poetry, non-fiction, short stories, pūrākau, and novels. These genres, however, like languages, often blur. We introduce strategies for transcultural reading, Indigenous literary theories, and new historicist approaches to narrative. We explore problems of European settlement and consider how encounters between Tangata whenua and Tauiwi have influenced writing In Aotearoa. Such issues are by no means confined to a distant past: we find them continuing, with variations, throughout the course, including writings from recent immigrants living within the New Zealand diaspora. 

We also examine an intriguing selection of speculative fiction and ghost stories that draw attention to intense encounters with familiar and unknown environments. The poetry section canvasses acclaimed authors across themes and movements. Entanglements of nature-culture and notions of belonging are explored through Aotearoa ecopoetry.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in English Restriction: ENGLISH 355

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: People and Place
Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 7: Collaboration
Capability 8: Ethics and Professionalism
Graduate Profile: Bachelor of Arts

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Apply close-reading skills, narrative theory, and cultural understanding to NZ texts from different periods and different genres. (Capability 1, 3 and 4)
  2. Relate NZ texts to a critical understanding of their rhetoric, narrative structure, and cultural positioning. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
  3. Analyse how NZ texts give shape to and are shaped by the times and places in which they are set, and evaluate the contemporary implications of the stories they tell. (Capability 1, 3 and 4)
  4. Articulate and discuss ideas in group work and essay writing. (Capability 6, 7 and 8)
  5. Demonstrate an historical and culturally informed understanding of relations between tangata whenua and tauiwi through a study of literary texts. (Capability 1, 2 and 3)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Essays 50% Individual Coursework
Take-home Test 40% Individual Coursework
Class Participation 10% Individual Coursework

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures, a 1 hour tutorial, 4–5 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 2–3 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is required at scheduled activities, including lectures and tutorials, to receive credit for components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is not required for the Take-home Test.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Required readings will be clearly listed in the course Reading List, Timetable, and Modules. Texts will be available from the university library in print form, as eBooks, and/or digitised on Canvas to ensure equitable and convenient access. Students may also choose to invest in the purchase of print copies directly from the publisher, Ubiq, or second-hand bookstores.

  • All students are required to purchase a copy of Living in the Maniototo by Janet Frame. Very affordable print and digital options are available here: https://www.virago.co.uk/titles/janet-frame/living-in-the-maniototo/9780349006703/. This novel is available from the library in print form only.
Key Texts:
Pūrākau
Navigating the Stars by Witi Ihimaera [Chapters 1, 17 & 18]
Essay
• ‘Indigenous Literary Studies: Aotearoa New Zealand’ by Tina Makereti
Colonial memoir
Old New Zealand: A tale of the good old times by Frederick Maning
Novels
Sydney bridge upside down by David Ballantyne
Black Rainbow by Albert Wendt
Living in the Maniototo by Janet Frame
Poetry
Early days yet: new and collected poems 1941-1997 by Allen Curnow
Small holes in the silence: collected works by Hone Tuwhare
No other place to stand, edited by Jordan Hamel, Rebecca Hawkes, Erik Kennedy & Essa May Ranapiri
Ko Aotearoa Tātou/We are New Zealand, edited by Paula Morris, James Norcliffe & Michelle Elvy
Unseasoned Campaigner by Janet Newman
Selected short fiction
Katherine Mansfield Selected Stories
Frank Sargeson Stories
Ghost Stories by Jack Ross
• ‘Killing Ginger’ by Alice Tawhai
• 'The Parson Who Thought She or He was a Bishop' by Patricia Grace
• 'Kaibutsu-San' by Keri Hulme
• ‘The Waterfall’ by Renee Liang

NOTE: Italics indicate a book title; quotation marks indicate an individual story, poem, or article.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

The student feedback from 2022 was very positive, with high levels of engagement and enjoyment across the cohort. Feedback was received through two Student & Staff Consultative Committee (SSCC) meetings, personal communications, and SET evaluations. Suggestions for improvement and the convenor's reflections have influenced the development of this course in the coming year. 

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Published on 26/10/2023 08:26 a.m.