DURATION: 3 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module focuses on the evolution of Literary Theory as a collection of ideas and methods used for the interpretation of literature in conjunction with philosophical trends of postmodernism. Its emphasis is on highlighting how literary theories developed as a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ and a mode of critical resistance against Enlightenment rationality and liberal humanist ideals of essential and universal truths and the sovereign subject. It focuses on how this anti-essentialist attack on foundational truths and autonomous human consciousness inspires theory to offer critiques of Manichean power structures and to recover the voices of those who are marginalized within dominant ideologies. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Develop a critique of the complicity of humanist ideals of rationality, universality and autonomy with ideological power structures
2. Comprehend the limitations of the apolitical and ahistorical methods of literary interpretation shaped by liberal humanism
3. Formulate an anti-essentialist mode of interpretation that seeks to give a voice to perspectives that are marginalized within dominant discourses 

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Critique of essentialism underpinning liberal humanism and Enlightenment rationality
2. Determining the limitations of traditional methods of apolitical and ahistorical literary criticism 
3. Learning how to read the text from an anti-essentialist perspective

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKbycoMo1XE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKPplxWPri8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa7pgE_qWJU

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

The students will analyse the assigned text to uncover its underlying ideological politics.

DURATION: 6 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module focuses on the class-based, materialist critiques of literature informed by Marxist political and economic thought. It focuses on basic concepts from the Marxist tradition with a view of familiarising students with a mode of interpretation that focuses on the politics of class and the role of ideology in literary texts. It introduces some critiques of Marxist theory given by post-colonial and critical race theorists with a view of providing an overview of its critical reception and appropriation within the global South. It illustrates the principles of Marxist literary interpretation through an analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.  

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Study literature as a site for the perpetuation or subversion of class division and class struggle
2. Understand literature as an important component of the ideological superstructure and its production of subjects of ideology 
3. Comprehend the potential of literary texts to develop a critique of hegemonic ideologies of capitalism, racism and imperialism
4. Analyse literary forms/genres as a mode of political critique

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. An overview of Marxist concepts such as economic determinism, base/superstructure, ideology, hegemony, reification, alienation and commodity fetishism
2. Critiques of Marxism by Postcolonial and Critical Race Theorists
3. An overview of key theoretical frames in Marxist Aesthetics
4. Marxist literary analysis of Kafka’s Metamorphosis

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6dSMnijCQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmjUkKAY9DI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZiI-QKxBKI

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Sudents will develop a Marxist analysis of Auden’s Poem “The Unknown Citizen” in the light of questions provided with the text.

DURATION: 7.5 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces structuralist and semiotic theories that emerged during the 1950s  in the domains of linguistics, anthropology and cultural studies. It focuses on the Structuralists’ challenge to humanist ontology and epistemology and their notions of self-evident meanings and autonomous human consciousness. It introduces anti-essentialist frames of language and culture developed by theorists such as Saussure, Levi-Strauss and Barthes that view meanings, truths and identities as constructs shaped within larger structures that arbitrarily impose order and meaning on disparate and heterogenous elements. It provides an overview of structuralist frameworks in literary studies in relation to the study of structures of genre and narrative. It illustrates the principles of structralist interpretation through analysis of literary/cultural texts such as folk tales and advertisements.  

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Understand structuralist anti-essentialist conceptions of language, myths and popular culture 
2. Analyse literary texts in relation to characteristics of genre 
3. Comprehend the narrative aspects of texts
4. Analyse literary/cultural texts as semiological symbolic codes that derive their meanings from hegemonic ideologies structuring culture

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Saussure’s Structural theory of language as a system of signs
2. Levi-Strauss’s Cultural Anthropology and Structuralist analysis of myths
3. Barthes’s Marxist Semiological Analysis of Popular Culture
4. An overview of key structuralist frameworks for literary analysis 
5. Semiotic/Structuralist analysis of folk tales and selected advertisements

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaRxu1-Z6NY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o80GKKOe44I
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHdN8pWGp0E
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ho2j973bbA

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Students will develop a semiological analysis of selected images in order to uncover its ideological connotations.

DURATION: 7.5 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces post-structuralist theories regarding the indeterminacy of language, meanings and identities, and their influence on literary interpretation. It focuses on Derrida’s critique of metaphysics of presence with the aim of dismantling ideological binaries, disrupting centres and recuperating the margins through the disruptive play of differance, trace and supplementarity. It introduces the anti-essentialist frame of the rhizome developed by Deleuze and Guattari that seeks to replace a linear, hierarchical mode of thought and social organization with non-hierarchical and lateral forms characterized by a proliferation of unpredictable, heterogeneous connections. It provides insight into Foucault’s poststructrualist genealogical critique of truth and knowledge. This philosophical overview is followed by an overview of poststructuralist conceptions of the author, the literary text and literary interpretation provided by Roland Barthes and Paul de Man. It illustrates the principles of deconstructive reading of literature through an analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Understand poststructuralist philosophical frames that emphasise the unreliability of language as an instrument of meaning 
2. Comprehend poststructuralistist critique of ideological binary conceptual systems 
3. Develop non-binary modes of conceptualizing the world
4. Analyse literary texts in the light of deconstructive principles of indeterminacy of meaning on account of a proliferation of interpretations
5. Analyse literary texts to foreground its critique of ideology through a dismantling of binaries made possible by a play of traces that leaves the centre and the margin unclassifiable and indeterminate

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Derrida’s concepts of differance, difference, deferral, trace and supplement 
2. Derridean critique of metaphysics of presence, logocentrism and transcendental signifieds
3. Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of rhizomes, assemblages, deterritorialization and lines of flights 
4. Foucault’s concept of genealogical histories
5. Roland Barthes’s deconstruction of the category of the author
6. Paul De Man’s concept of the rhetorical function of the literary text
7. Deconstructive Analysis of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and an advertisement for Dove Shampoo

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKJlSY0DBBA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2eb52fUgTk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnteiRO-XfU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou_yikwW15o

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Sudents will develop a deconstructive analysis of an advertisement and uncover the proliferation of meanings in order to deconstruct the dominant ideological project of the text. 

DURATION: 6 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces psychoanalytical literary criticism that adopts the techniques and concepts developed by Freud and Lacan. It focuses core Freudian concepts such as the unconscious, repression, defense mechanisms, core issues, the psychic principles of the id, ego and superego, dream analysis. It foregrounds the poststructuralist psychoanalytical principles postulated by Lacan such as the mirror stage, the imaginary order, the symbolic order and the Real, desire and lack. It provides an insight into psychoanalytical frameworks, derived from Lacan, that are used to analyse hegmonic political formations. It introduces Fanon’s critique of the Freudian psychoanalytical framework with a view of familiarizing students’ with a postcolonial appropriation of Western theoretical framework. It provides an overview of Freud’s psychoanalytical characterization of creative writing and literary interpretation as well as Norman Holland’s reader-response psychoanalytical framework of ‘Ego Psychology’. It illustrates the principles of psychoanalytical reading of literature through an analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Understand the psychoanalytical concepts developed by Freud and Lacan
2. Comprehend the formation of identities in relation to the operations of the unconscious shaped within personal psychic trauma (Freudian analysis)
3. Understand poststructuralist psychoanalytical conceptions of identity through an analysis of the workings of the symbolic order (language, culture and ideology) and structures of desire and lack
4. Employ psychoanalytical frames to analyse coercive ideologies and political structures
5. Develop familiarity with postcolonial critiques of the Eurocentric underpinnings of Freudian psychoanalysis
6. Analyse literary texts through the techniques and concepts developed by Freud and Lacan

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Freud’s unconscious, repression, defense mechanisms, core issues, the psychic principles of the id, ego and superego, dream analysis
2. Lacanian concepts of the mirror stage, the imaginary order, the symbolic order and the Real, desire and lack 
3. Wardle’s Lacanian Model of Ideology as Social Fantasy
4. Fanon’s Critique of Freud and His Model of the Psychopathology of the Native 
5. Freud’s Analysis of Creative Writing and Daydreaming
6. Holland’s Concept of Ego Psychology
7. Psychoanalytical Analysis of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and an advertisement for Dove Shampoo

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRtItnRRV1M
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vFf5CS27-Y
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfeLzjqXemw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bHm8_kq3DA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agTYUU4gTOo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxRS0DL3RPw

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Students’ will write a short essay analysing how identities are structured in relation to ideological capitalist principles of endless desire structured by fantasies of consumerism portrayed in advertisement slogans.

DURATION: 6 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces feminist literary criticism that adopts the ideology and principles of feminism to interpret and critique literary texts. It foregrounds feminist deconstruction of traditional gender roles and outlines its politicization of gender as a cultural and ideological construct. It provides an overview of various strands of feminism including its poststructuralist, psychoanalytical, socialist and postcolonial articulations to understand how patriarchy constructs women’s oppression in conjunction with various structures such as language, economics and race. It introduces postcolonial critiques of the co-optation of liberal feminism by imperialist agendas. It foregrounds alternative feminist frameworks that have been proposed by women of colour, postcolonial subjects and Muslim women. It provides an overview of some of the feminist frameworks of literary analysis developed by images of women criticism and gynocriticism. It concludes with an analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis in the light of feminist concerns.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Understand how gender is a social and cultural construct
2. Comprehend the complex and multifaceted nature of women’s oppression through intersections of patriarchy with language, economics, class and race
3. Understand postcolonial critiques of liberal feminism
4. Develop familiarity with alternative feminisms articulated by women of colour, women of faith and diasporic/immigrant women from the margins
5. Analyse literary texts as sites that perpetuate or dismantle patriarchal ideology 
6. Analyse the modes of a distinctive feminist poetics developed by female writers in terms of themes, motifs, genres and style

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Traditional gender roles, biological essentialism and cultural constructivism
2. The metaphor of ‘waves’ of feminism
3. Socialist strands within feminism
4. Psychoanalytical French Feminism
5. Postcolonial Feminism
6. Intersectionality
7. Islamic Feminism
8. Women as Readers/Images of Women Criticism
9. Gynocriticism/Woman as Writers
10. Analysis of Kafka’s Metamorphosis

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FigeKLGSsRk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_yx_SC3l9g
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6dnj2IyYjE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIQkUCD_2Ug
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUT8bmWDdeE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzf2D43wcTc

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Sudents will develop critical analysis of intersectional frames of oppression affecting women and stereotypes regarding femininity based on a close reading of the poems assigned to them.

DURATION: 6 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module introduces the broad spectrum of contemporary theoretical debates about  popular culture. It provides an overview of theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer, Jameson and Debord who regard popular culture as a mass produced capitalist formation that functions as a tool of ideological interpellation that reifies the masses. It foregrounds the diversity of theoretical perspectives on popular culture by introducing the insights of theorists such as Chantall Mouffe and Michel de Certeau  who regard popular culture as a means of contestation resistance against hegemonic identities and socio-political, economic and political structures. It introduces “Cultural Materialism” as a mode of literary interpretation that draws upon the radical insights of feminism and Marxism in order to interpret literary texts as offering a critique of powerful ideologies that shape the context of production of the texts. It provides an analysis of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis in the light of Michel de Certeau’s notion of tactics and Debord’s concept of the spectacle.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Understand theoretical frames that characterise popular culture is viewed as a tool of capitalist culture industry that reifies the masses
2. Comprehend theoretical frames that view popular culture as a site of resistance and contestation against hegemonic ideologies
3. Understand how everyday life activities (such as entering and exiting a room) can function as a mode of resistance against hegemonic strategies of power
4. Critique cultural ideologies operating in a literary text by highlighting its fissures and gaps that undermine the coherence of the ideological message

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Popular culture, culture industry and ideological interpellation
2. Postmodern consumer culture, late capitalism and pastiche
3. Society of the spectacle
4. Popular culture as a site of hegemonic contestation
5. Everyday culture and tactics of resistance
6. Cultural Materialism

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJr08N-auM&list=PLIVcDWpMT7Kd3O0eq8b6fMOwvK26vpiWE&index=11
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh-hd19hXYU

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Students will provide a short critical analysis of the constructions of Muslim masculinity and femininty in the first episode of the popular Turkish serial Ertugrul.

DURATION: 6 HRS

DESCRIPTION

This module provides an overview of theoretical formulations in postcolonial criticism that interrogate and dismantle Eurocentric assumptions about the epistemological, cultural and philosophical supremacy of the West that have historically rationalised colonialist and imperialist endeavours. It provides an overview of Edward Said’s seminal notion of Orientalism used to dismantle colonial racist stereotypes about the natives. It introduces Spivak’s concept of the Subaltern that is critical of the silencing of the natives in dominant academic and cultural discourses. It foregrounds Bhabha’s concept of cultural hybridity as a critical strategy to assert postcolonial agency through the formation of liminal cultural spaces. It introduces Mignolo’s concept of decoloniality to overthrow the hegemonic mantle of a colonial modernity and to recuperate indigenous epistemic and cultural paradigms to create a pluriversal, decentred world. It provides critical analysis of Omar Ibn Said’s A Muslim American Slave  in oder to outline the Quranic concept of sovereignty as a radical message of freedom and equality.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students will be able to

1. Develop critique of Orientalist stereotyping of natives in the writings of colonial authors 
2. Formulate a critique of strategies that deny agency to the subaltern
3. Understand cultural hybridity as a mode of postcolonial resistance
4. Comprehend decolonial frames for dismantling the epistemological, economic, cultural and political hegemony of Western modernity

MODULE CONTENTS

The topics to be covered in this module include

1. Edward Said’s Orientalism
2. Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak
3. Bhabha’s Concept of Cultural Hybridity
4. Mignolo’s Concepts of Coloniality as the Dark Underside of Modernity and Decoloniality 
5. Quranic Concept of sovereignty in Omar Ibn Said’s A Muslim American Slave as a message of radical freedom and equality

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Pre-recorded lectures
• Assignments
• Videos and other audio/visual media 

ONLINE VIDEO LINKS

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UarXGSuyyrw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZST6qnRR1mY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NooGomxpCI8

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

• Handouts prepared by the instructor

LEARNERS’ TASKS/ACTIVITIES

Students will provide an analysis of Mohja Kahf’s poem “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” in order to see how she challenges orientalist stereotypes that American women associate with Arab-Muslim women and also how she advocates cultural hybridity as a space of resistance to overcome discourses of civilizational clash.