Høst 2023

ENG-3196 Literature and Justice - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course is intended for students in the MA programme in English literature and students in the MA programme in teacher education year 8-13 (lektorutdanning trinn 8-13, studieretning engelsk). This course may be taken as a single course by students who meet the admission requirements for the MA programme in English Literature.

This course fulfils the Literature and Society requirement for the MA in English literature.

Course contents

Literature is an institution per se, as is justice, and these two institutions enact each other in complex ways. Justice appears in many forms from divine right and religious ordainment, to metaphysical imperative and natural law, to national jurisdiction, social order, human rights and civil disobedience. What is just and right has varied in time and place, in war and peace. A sense of justice appears inextricable from human concerns of ethics and morals. Literature includes a vast range of writing from holy texts to banned books. Parts of literature, particularly in the past, have laid down the law. In more recent history literature has gradually assumed radical roles of critique, subversion and transformation of the existing law and order, in contents, themes, language and form. This course studies and conducts seminal research into texts that have disclosed, challenged and changed the remits of justice, law and order.

Admission requirements

Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in English literature, or a degree combining English literature and a closely-related discipline (minimum 80 ECTS in English). An average grade equivalent to C or better in the English coursework (80 ECTS) is required.

Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student has advanced knowledge of various concepts of justice.
The student has profound insight into how the institution of literature relates critically, radically and transformatively to paradigms of justice.
The student has comprehensive expertise in the texts on syllabus, and how they relate to their own specific contexts of justice, social order and human rights.
The student can apply her/his expertise to new texts and intellectual discussions of literature and justice.

Skills

The student masters intellectual analyses and critical review of the texts on their reading list.
The student can discuss the syllabus and its relevant intellectual issues in appropriate terminology and advanced vocabulary in both verbal and written forms
The student can relate his/her expertise to new works of literature, art and culture, and to current debates of human rights, social order and structures of justice.
The student can conduct limited research and development projects in groups and under supervision.
The student can relate his/her own research to tangential issues in the realm of arts and justice.

Language of instruction

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

The course is based on independent studies, lectures, seminars and digital communication for 13 weeks. The course convenes once a week for lectures, seminars, student presentations, and supervision.

Quality assurance: All courses will be evaluated once during the period of the study programme. The board of the programme decides which courses will be evaluated by students and teacher each year.