THE MA/MPHIL
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

LITS6001 Modern Critical Theory: An introduction to several schools of Continental philosophy and critical theory (chosen from Psychoanalysis, Marxism and Phenomenology) as well as Feminist, Post-colonial and African American thinkers who have engaged with these schools.

LITS6002 Post-Structuralisms and Post-Colonialisms I: An introduction to several schools of Continental philosophy and critical theory that may be grouped under the rubric 'Post-Structuralism' (chosen from Deconstruction, Structuralism, and Structuralist Psychoanalysis) as well as Feminist, Post-colonial and African American thinkers who have engaged with these schools.

LITS6003 Post-Structuralisms and Post-Colonialisms II: An introduction to Post-Structuralist schools of Continental philosophy and critical theory(chosen from Dialogism, Foucauldian and Deleuzean Thought, and Structuralist Marxism) as well as Feminist, Post-colonial and African American thinkers who have engaged with these schools. 

LITS6101 Post-colonial Literatures I: A survey of a representative sample of authors from the Indian sub-continent.

LITS6102 Post-colonial Literatures II: A survey of a representative sample of authors from Australia and New Zealand.

 LITS6103 Post-colonial Literatures III: A survey of a representative sample of Anglophone Canadian authors.

LITS6104 African Narrative: Film and Text: An examination of the shared oral heritage of African literature and film, by looking at the correspondences and divergences between the two media, and to what extent they are in dialogue with each other.

LITS6201 Women Writing and Feminist Theory: This course is designed to build on feminist and other theoretical positions so as to ‘read’ a range of women’s writing in a context of feminist and post-colonial debate.

LITS6202 Women, Fiction and Gender: This course focuses on the narratology and performativity of gender in a postcolonial context, with a particular emphasis on narratives by and about women, linked by a common thematic thread.  ‘Narratives’ includes written fiction, life-writing and film.

LITS6203 Women, Poetry and Gender: This course focuses on poetry written by women in a Post-colonial context.

LITS6301 Post-colonial Drama: This course will examine post-colonial dramatic literature and theories of performance from the 1960s to the present day. 

LITS6302 Post-colonial Cinema: This course is concerned with those cinemas which, either consciously or as a function of cultural difference, participate in the construction of alternative identities and perspectives to those of mainstream cinematic conventions as represented by Hollywood.  The emphasis is on films produced in contexts marked by colonial, anticolonial, postcolonial and neocolonial experiences.

LITS6401 Literature and Empire: Arguing that the dominant discourse of imperialism has historically sought to function monologically to consolidate its power, this course examines, through a more or less structured pairing of the required readings, counter-discursive practices which function to resist imperialist discourse.

LITS6402 West Indies in the Colonialist Text: An exploration of the discursive construction of the ‘West Indies’ in a range of colonialist texts.

LITS6403 Myths of Otherness: An exploration of the discursive construction of the ‘Other’ in a variety of literary and other texts.

LITS6501 Topics in West Indian Literature: This course provides a space for close critical scrutiny of a range of issues at the centre, as well as at the borderlines, of West Indian Literature and culture.  Some of the areas of focus might include: orature, West Indian literature and popular culture, Literature and Music, Literature and Folklore, Literature and landscape, Literature and media, Literature in cyberspace.

LITS6502 West Indian Literature: Special Author Seminar: This course examines the life and works of a single West Indian author, including a detailed assessment of the critical response to his / her work.

LITS6801 Independent Reading Course I: Students pursue a course of independent reading under the supervision of a member of Faculty.

LITS6802 Independent Reading Course II: Students pursue a course of independent reading (in an area not covered in LITS6801) under the supervision of a member of Faculty.

 LITS6901 Research Field I: Students study a reading list of prescribed texts in an area relevant to their MPhil or PhD thesis under the supervision of a member of Faculty.

LITS6902 Research Field II: Students study a reading list of prescribed texts in an area relevant to their MPhil or PhD thesis (but different from that studied for LITS6901) under the supervision of a member of Faculty.

LITS6995 MA Research Paper: Students produce a thesis of approximately 20,000 words under the supervision of a member of Faculty.

LITS7500 MPhil Thesis in Literatures in English: Students produce a thesis of approximately 50,000 words under the supervision of a member of Faculty

LITS8000 PhD Thesis in Literatures in English: Students produce a thesis of approximately 80,000 words under the supervision of a member of Faculty.