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Lismore Session 1 Session 1
Online Session 1 N/A

Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Advanced

Former School/College

Former School of Arts and Social Sciences

Pre-requisites

have completed units: ENG00400 - Introduction to Written Texts AND ENG00401 - Issues and Themes in Contemporary Writing AND WRI10001 - Introduction to Creative Writing

Unit aim

Guides students through the major contemporary theoretical debates about the relationship between written texts and the production of cultural and social meanings. Students will do a detailed study of the theories of Postmodernism, Post-colonialism and Feminism.

Unit content

  • Introduction
  • Deconstruction, Derrida and beyond
  • New Historicism in the literary landscape
  • A question of authorship
  • Power and ethics
  • Theorising whiteness
  • Shifting subjectivity
  • Radical subjectivities
  • Space and time after 9/11
  • Postmodernity in the 21st century.

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 differentiate between major contemporary theories about writing and written texts and the relationship of texts to cultural practices
2 recognise the theoretical positions underlying particular critical approaches to writing and textual analysis
3 understand the significance of, the social and cultural contexts in which texts are made and read
4 analyse texts from a number of theoretical perspectives.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. differentiate between major contemporary theories about writing and written texts and the relationship of texts to cultural practices
    • GA1:
    • GA2:
  2. recognise the theoretical positions underlying particular critical approaches to writing and textual analysis
    • GA1:
    • GA2:
  3. understand the significance of, the social and cultural contexts in which texts are made and read
    • GA1:
    • GA2:
  4. analyse texts from a number of theoretical perspectives.
    • GA1:
    • GA2:

Prescribed texts

  • Flanagan, R, 2008, Wanting, Knopf, North Sydney.
  • Juchau, M, 2015, The World Without Us, Bloomsbury , Sydney.
  • Kang, H, 2015, The Vegetarian, Portobello Books, London.
  • Turner Hospital, J, 2007, Orpheus Lost, Fourth Estate, Sydney.
  • Wright, A, 2006, Carpentaria, Giramondo, Sydney.
Prescribed texts may change in future teaching periods.