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ENG4434 - 20th Century American Literature: Race, Gender, Performativity

Course content

This course critically examines the concepts of ‘race’, ‘gender’ and ‘performativity’ in 20th century literature and theory. We will study the ways in which various writers and scholars use these three concepts to interrogate the relationship between ‘identity’ and ‘representation’. The topics in this course are related to many contemporary social debates, allowing us to study the relationship between literature and identity politics.

Learning outcomes

After completing this course you will have:

• acquired analytical skills by focusing on a particular theme within 20th-century literature;
• familiarized yourself with some of the most important contemporary theory in the humanities, learning how to read and interpret this theory as well as apply it to literary texts;
• learned to understand the ways that literature and theory intervene in current debates about identity politics.

Admission

Students at UiO must apply for courses in StudentWeb.

International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.

The examination in this course is not available for external candidates. Only students admitted to the course may sit for the examination.

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisites

Admission to the master program in literature, LAP or other suitable master programs.

Teaching

Seminar, two hours per week for 10 weeks, 20 hours in total.

Regular attendance and active participation is required, e.g. in the form of one or more oral presentations.

Attendance is an obligatory class requirement (80%).

Exam information

A term paper of 10 standard pages (topic to be decided between teacher and student).

All written papers must be accompanied by a declaration concerning cheating Obligatorisk erklæring vedr. fusk

Language of examination

English.

Assessment and grading

Marks will be published on Studentweb no later than three weeks after the submission date/exam.

Course grades are awarded on a descending scale using alphabetic grades from A to E for passes and F for fail. Read more about the grading system .

An external auditor regularly evaluates the academic quality of the course, including the form of exam used on the course.

Explanations and appeals

Students can request an explanation of their grades, and can also appeal against their grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals

Possibility of make-up exams and re-takes

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam .

Exam options for students with special needs

Students may apply for access to alternative exam resources or exam forms on the basis of chronic illness and/or special needs that create a marked disadvantage to other students in the exam situation. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.

Evaluation of this course

Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. As a student at the University of Oslo you will therefore be asked to participate in various types of evaluation of our courses, facilities and services. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, in-depth evaluation of this course, a so called "periodic evaluation".

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