| Unit name | Literature - Enslavement - Liberation |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30142 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Forbes |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Transatlantic enslavement has shaped literature and literary studies from 1600 to the present day. This unit encourages students to engage with contemporary debates, e.g. around the Black Lives Matter movement and the toppling of the Colston statue in Bristol, whilst providing firm grounding in the long history of antiracist and abolitionist literature and activism. We will examine representations of enslavement and resistance in early abolitionist writing of the 17th and 18th centuries, Black autobiographical writing of the 19th century, and the “neo-slave narratives” of the late 20th and 21st centuries. Throughout, we will anchor our discussions around key concepts including race, gender, memory, and resistance. Engaging with scholars from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas, we will examine how enslavement’s afterlives helped shape Black Studies and Black feminist theory and ask how popular cultural representations of enslavement across history have impacted public attitudes toward racism, Empire, and remembrance.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Exploration units offer thought-provoking and engaging investigations into key topics, including period-focused, thematic, and trans-historical options. You will hone your abilities as a researcher able to navigate skilfully a range of databases and archives, as well as engaging effectively with more advanced critical and theoretical perspectives. Exploration units ask you to both rethink the familiar and meet the unexpected, and encourage you to develop depth as well as breadth of critical understanding.
Overview of content
We begin by looking at how ideas about empire, enslavement, and race developed together in early modern writing. We then examine how early Black writers including Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano negotiated stereotypes and literary conventions to make their voices heard. Next, we explore intersections of race and gender in African American autobiography, as well as the Middle Passage’s centrality. Finally, students will consider postmodernism and theories of trauma, memory and gender in relation to neo-slave narratives and their relationship to contemporary ideas about race and racism.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
Students will encounter the political and aesthetic strategies employed by writers at different historical moments to post critical questions about race and identity. This is a crucial time to engage with this literature, vis a vis Bristol University’s foundational links to the trade in enslaved people, the resurgence of the Movement for Black Lives and the storming of the US capitol by a mob that included white supremacists waving the Confederate flag. Students will be prepared to engage in informed debate with nuance and sensitivity.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
The unit is taught by seminars and a programme of cohort sessions. Teaching includes group discussion, research and writing activities, and peer dialogue. Students are expected to attend all timetabled teaching, engage with the reading, and participate fully with the weekly tasks and topics. Learning will be further supported through the opportunity for individual consultation.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ENGL30142).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
