Undergraduate Course: Fictions, feminisms, histories: 20th-century novels by women in the Middle East (IMES10053)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This option introduces a range of well-known novelistic works by female authors from Arab countries, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan that rewrite histories of the postcolonial nation sometimes subtly and obliquely, sometimes in rather straightforward allegorical terms. Reading 20th-century fiction by women of Arab, Turkish, Iranian and Pakistani provenance and self-identification, we will consider how fictions act as and interrogate (other) histories of the nation, both ?official= and putatively subversive ones. We will read these novels with situated scholarship that theorizes gender-conscious perspectives in literature and areas of social experience that the fiction texts address. These may include family law, gender-based activisms, religiously defined social authority, state and non-state definitions of >the private< and anticolonial nationalisms as gendered practices. We will also read essays that theorize intersections of nation/fiction and gender/nation, as well as essays that offer historical background for the particular works we are reading. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
- To develop familiarity with a selection of key works from the region and with English-language scholarship on modern nation-state development and issues of culture and gender in Muslim-majority societies.
- To develop the ability to conduct in-depth, critical analysis and comparative studies of a body of works in relation to current theoretical debates, particularly concerning the complexity of gender politics in the historical contexts of these novels= emergence.
- To develop a critical literary sensitivity that engages sympathetically and analytically with these literary works, balancing positioned, subjective interpretation with exploration of >culture gaps< between writer and reader, focusing on comparative analysis that does not lose sight of difference.
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Assessment Information
One 2,500 word essay (30%)
One 3 hour examination (55%)
Class participation (15%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Marilyn Booth
Tel: (0131 6)50 7181
Email: M.Booth@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Rhona Hajcman
Tel: (0131 6)51 3846
Email: Rhona.Hajcman@ed.ac.uk |
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