ENGLISH 769 : Representing Imagining

Arts

2020 Semester One (1203) (30 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Investigates representation in imaginative writing. Principal texts are from 1928 to the present and from North America, UK, Aotearoa New Zealand, France, and the Caribbean. Topics include genre and expectations; ideologies of originality and copying; discursive mixing; authenticity; wholeness and brokenness; translingualism; the page, the codex and the digitas; and the economy of the imaginative subject.

Course Overview

This course takes on fundamental questions about how creative language connects to and differs from other uses of language and how literary works reflect the limits and opportunities of their cultural contexts, their technical and human bodies, and the natural earth. How do modern writers and readers perform representational styles, from the familiar to the new? How do we respond to recognisable writing and to “imagining what we don’t know”? How does imaginative writing conjure and interrogate representation? Can representation collapse or vanish? If it can, what events or imaginative purposes – ecstatic, traumatic and/or otherwise – position us in the unrecognisable and/or unspeakable?

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Capability 5: Independence and Integrity
Capability 6: Social and Environmental Responsibilities

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Apply readings in critical and theoretical approaches that help contextualize the literary readings. (Capability 2.2)
  2. Recognise and interpret the cultural, linguistic, and historical diversity and global connectedness of New Zealand. We will study literary works from Aotearoa, North America, South Korea, multiple online, and Australian aboriginal sources. Our situated global context will be a recurrent topic in seminar analyses of the literary texts. (Capability 2.2 and 6.2)
  3. Express and present information and ideas clearly, coherently, and persuasively in a variety of contexts of literary analysis and critical writings about lingual representation. Students will discuss in class, create response writings in smaller assignments, write two long research essays, and present an oral seminar analysis of a defined text and set of questions and situating critical research. (Capability 1.1 and 4.2)
  4. Demonstrate intellectual flexibility, self-assessment and self-directed learning for the purposes of producing high-quality work inside and outside class. Students will read complex texts for seminar discussion, oral presentation, and short and long written responses; in this work, students are expected to be able to work independently and generate sophisticated responses that amalgamate their learning from the different class texts as well as from self-researched outside sources. (Capability 5.2)
  5. Conceptualise and formulate questions based on synthesising information and ideas from features of literary language including word choice, genre type, and multimedia implications. (Capability 4.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Essay 25% Individual Coursework
Essay 25% Individual Coursework
Participation 10% Individual Coursework
Presentation 20% Individual Coursework
Seminar reading responses x 2 10% Individual Coursework
Seminar reading responses x 2 10% Peer Coursework

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 30 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in, thus 20 hours per week, including class time, is to be devoted to this course.

For this course, you can expect 3 hours of seminar time, 7 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 10 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Digital 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.

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 against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

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 at 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.

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.

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 you may be asked to submit your 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. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 20/12/2019 02:55 p.m.