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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2023/2024

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : English Literature

Undergraduate Course: The Black Atlantic (ENLI10183)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryA study of racial discourse in American and British literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, the role of 'race' in constructions of modernity and identity will be evaluated.
Course description This course will map the ways in which 'words are weapons' and 'language is a power' for Black women and men, enslaved and free, who worked with pioneering literary forms, radical textual discourses, and experimental formal practices in order to visualise 'black' to white supremacy and dominant hegemonic power and do justice to invisibilised lives. The key themes of this course include the following: aesthetic innovation; formal radicalism; race and racism; identity; slavery; abolition; gender; sexuality; white supremacy; discrimination; lynching; dystopia and utopia; resistance; and the unfolding of memory. The focus of this course is on developing new analytical tools in which to examine a Black Atlantic tradition of activism and artistry and on understanding the interrelation between the modern nation state and white supremacy whilst tracking the still unfolding legacies of individual and institutionalised racism.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: ( Literary Studies 1A (ENLI08020) AND Literary Studies 1B (ENLI08021) AND Literary Studies 2A: English Literature in the World, 1380-1788 (ENLI08024) AND Literary Studies 2B: English Literature in the World, post-1789 (ENLI08025)) OR ( English Literature 1 (ENLI08001) OR Scottish Literature 1 (ENLI08016) AND English Literature 2 (ENLI08003) OR Scottish Literature 2 (ENLI08004))
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs Essential course texts.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesA MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as cross disciplinary, "Freshman Seminars", civilisation or creative writing classes are not considered for admission to this course.
Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having four or more literature classes at grade A.

** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  30
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 196 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 2000 word coursework essay (30%) submitted mid-semester;
plus 3000 word final essay submitted during exam period (70%).

Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
Ability to apply a theoretical literary model across disparate texts. Increased knowledge and understanding of transatlantic cultural formations. Enhanced understanding of 'race' as a constructed social/literary category
Reading List
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince (1831)
Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands (1857)
William and Ellen Craft, Running A Thousand Miles (1860)
Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855)
Ida B. Wells: The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Campaigner.
Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (1901)
Pauline Hopkins, Of One Blood (1902-3).
Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South (1892)
W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Additional Information
Course URL https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/honours
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Special Arrangements Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiser Course secretaryMr Iain Harrison
Tel:
Email: iharriso@ed.ac.uk
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