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EL40IQ: THE CORPO-REALITY OF POSTCOLONIAL DYSTOPIAS (2024-2025)

Last modified: 4 Days, 7 Hours, 9 Minutes ago


Course Overview

This course analyses a range of twenty-first-century postcolonial dystopian texts that focus on ‘other’ bodies and thematize corporeality and the spectrum of exploitation that is tied to the flesh. Bringing into focus contemporary anxieties around the fertile, racialized, and ‘other’ bodies in literary dystopias, the course theorises bodies as sites of violence and vulnerability, as well as sites of rebellion and resistance.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 4
Session First Sub Session Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Sukla Chatterjee

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • English (EL)
  • Programme Level 4
  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

Yes

One or more of these courses have a limited number of places. Priority access will be given to students for whom this course is compulsory. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions for more details on this process.


Course Description

How are female as / and ‘other’ bodies used to weave a dystopian future? How are unrealities and tangible realities of the flesh brought together in dystopias to maximise the impact? How do we envision the mandates of dystopian (postcolonial) societies through corporeality? These are some of the questions the course seeks to answer. We are also looking beyond seminal texts like The Handmaid’s Tale to understand some of the most distinct attributes of postcolonial dystopian fiction and scrutinise the politics of the genre itself and how it reflects the anxieties of the subjugated.

The curriculum puts equal emphasis on creative literary texts as well as theories on violence, trauma, identity, and the body in the postcolonial context to obtain a comprehensive understanding of bodies under duress and their depictions in literary dystopias. Students will also learn to theorise and problematize key concepts of space, politics, nationalism, race, and culture and how these are intricately associated with the concept of ‘home’.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st half-session courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd half-session courses.

Summative Assessments

Tutorial/Seminar Participation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18 Feedback Weeks 21

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This mark will be based on a combination of attendance and engagement in seminars

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will develop an interpretive framework for reading and theorizing postcolonial dystopias, and pose questions about the necessity of the genre, and see it beyond its warning function.
ConceptualApplyThe course will equip students from diverse backgrounds to extend their epistemological parameters on body, trauma, and identity and challenge dominant ideologies on the topics.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will have knowledge and understanding of the complex interplay of gender, power, and society as well as the role of violence in our (imagined) societies and its textual manifestation.
ProceduralApplyStudents will be able to theorize various forms of control and conduct independent interdisciplinary research on biopolitics and necropolitics in occupied societies.
ProceduralEvaluateStudents will learn to develop key questions and formulate arguments for their essays revolving around the themes of violence, power, and otherization in narratives.
ReflectionCreateStudents will concretize their views on sociopolitical contexts of texts, traditions of the genre, and answer questions on marginalization, intersectionality, and power dynamics in contemporary times

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 60
Assessment Weeks 19 Feedback Weeks 21,24

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For the final essay, students will compare two texts from across the course that they have not previously written on/presented. There will be suggested essay questions to respond as well as the option to create their own question (with approval from the course convenor)

Word Count 3500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will develop an interpretive framework for reading and theorizing postcolonial dystopias, and pose questions about the necessity of the genre, and see it beyond its warning function.
ConceptualApplyThe course will equip students from diverse backgrounds to extend their epistemological parameters on body, trauma, and identity and challenge dominant ideologies on the topics.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will have knowledge and understanding of the complex interplay of gender, power, and society as well as the role of violence in our (imagined) societies and its textual manifestation.
ProceduralApplyStudents will be able to theorize various forms of control and conduct independent interdisciplinary research on biopolitics and necropolitics in occupied societies.
ProceduralEvaluateStudents will learn to develop key questions and formulate arguments for their essays revolving around the themes of violence, power, and otherization in narratives.
ReflectionCreateStudents will concretize their views on sociopolitical contexts of texts, traditions of the genre, and answer questions on marginalization, intersectionality, and power dynamics in contemporary times

Oral Presentation: Group

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks 5,6,7,8,9,10 Feedback Weeks 15,16

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Length: 10-12 minutes

Presentation will be graded, and marks and feedback will be provided at the end of the term

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will develop an interpretive framework for reading and theorizing postcolonial dystopias, and pose questions about the necessity of the genre, and see it beyond its warning function.
ConceptualApplyThe course will equip students from diverse backgrounds to extend their epistemological parameters on body, trauma, and identity and challenge dominant ideologies on the topics.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will have knowledge and understanding of the complex interplay of gender, power, and society as well as the role of violence in our (imagined) societies and its textual manifestation.
ProceduralApplyStudents will be able to theorize various forms of control and conduct independent interdisciplinary research on biopolitics and necropolitics in occupied societies.
ProceduralEvaluateStudents will learn to develop key questions and formulate arguments for their essays revolving around the themes of violence, power, and otherization in narratives.
ReflectionCreateStudents will concretize their views on sociopolitical contexts of texts, traditions of the genre, and answer questions on marginalization, intersectionality, and power dynamics in contemporary times

Poster Presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks 8 Feedback Weeks 10,11

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Word Count: 400-500

The handmade research poster will be a reflective and creative evaluation and analysis of the course texts. The students will pick one key theme and evaluate that in the light of the text(s).

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will develop an interpretive framework for reading and theorizing postcolonial dystopias, and pose questions about the necessity of the genre, and see it beyond its warning function.
ConceptualApplyThe course will equip students from diverse backgrounds to extend their epistemological parameters on body, trauma, and identity and challenge dominant ideologies on the topics.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will have knowledge and understanding of the complex interplay of gender, power, and society as well as the role of violence in our (imagined) societies and its textual manifestation.
ProceduralApplyStudents will be able to theorize various forms of control and conduct independent interdisciplinary research on biopolitics and necropolitics in occupied societies.
ProceduralEvaluateStudents will learn to develop key questions and formulate arguments for their essays revolving around the themes of violence, power, and otherization in narratives.
ReflectionCreateStudents will concretize their views on sociopolitical contexts of texts, traditions of the genre, and answer questions on marginalization, intersectionality, and power dynamics in contemporary times

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks 50 Feedback Weeks 51,52

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Feedback Word Count 4500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ProceduralEvaluateStudents will learn to develop key questions and formulate arguments for their essays revolving around the themes of violence, power, and otherization in narratives.
ProceduralApplyStudents will be able to theorize various forms of control and conduct independent interdisciplinary research on biopolitics and necropolitics in occupied societies.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will have knowledge and understanding of the complex interplay of gender, power, and society as well as the role of violence in our (imagined) societies and its textual manifestation.
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will develop an interpretive framework for reading and theorizing postcolonial dystopias, and pose questions about the necessity of the genre, and see it beyond its warning function.
ConceptualApplyThe course will equip students from diverse backgrounds to extend their epistemological parameters on body, trauma, and identity and challenge dominant ideologies on the topics.
ReflectionCreateStudents will concretize their views on sociopolitical contexts of texts, traditions of the genre, and answer questions on marginalization, intersectionality, and power dynamics in contemporary times

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