Department of European Studies & Modern Languages, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
EU30660 French national option F19: Travelling identities: postcolonial culture in literature and the visual arts |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: ES67CW33 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take EU20009 |
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Aims:
* To examine two-way travel between France and abroad, paying particular attention to depictions of the 'other' in a range of travel narratives, both literary and artistic, which span the twentieth century. * To provide an introduction to the contexts and terms of postcolonial studies. * To explore the relationship between France and former colonial territories through the study of a wide variety of genres, both visual and verbal. Learning Outcomes: A student who completes the unit will be able to: * demonstrate understanding of the contexts and terms of postcolonial studies. * engage in comparative analysis of interdisciplinary production. * show knowledge of the complexity, and the interconnectedness, of postcolonial French and wider francophone identities. Skills: Critical analysis, conceptual thinking, precision in the use of written and spoken language, exercise of independent judgement, reasoned argument, teamwork and the planning/conduct/reporting of non-quantitative research are taught in this unit. Skills in effective learning and language are also developed. Content: Edward W. Said's Orientalism (1978) will be used as a theoretical starting point to underpin readings of various texts, both visual and verbal. Historical background will be provided by examining extracts of colonial travel writing, painting and poster art. Artistic trends such as japonisme and the influence of so-called primitive art in the production of European artists will also be studied. Various authors' interaction with the exotic 'other' in texts, such as Henri Michaux's Ecuador (1929) and Un Barbare en Asie (1933), will be explored to highlight complex issues of colonialist exoticist stereotypes. The second half of this course will concentrate on the relationship between France and former colonial territories through representative texts, such as L'Étranger (1942) and Le premier homme (published posthumously 1994) by Albert Camus. It will focus equally on works which provide a counterpoint to such representations, such as Azouz Begag's Le gone du Chaâba (1986) and Ahmed de Bourgogne (2001). |