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Programme: BAHons Literary Theory

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Code Faculty
01240552 Faculty of Humanities
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 1 year Total credits: 120 NQF level:  08
Contact:
Prof HS Willemse
[email protected]
+27 (0)124204320

Admission requirements

  • A Bachelor of Arts degree with a minimum of 60 credits at third-year level in a Language.
  • An average of at least 65% in a language at third-year level.

Minimum credits: 120

LCC 732 (30 credits) and LCC 727 (20 credits) are compulsory.  

Select another 3 or 4 Core modules to amount to a total of 120 credits.  

If 3 Core modules are selected, 1 Elective module offered by another department must be included.

If 4 Core modules are selected, no elective module can be included.

Core modules

  • Module content:

    A focus on the consequences of the colonial encounter between the West and the non-West, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Direct and indirect ways in which literary texts are involved with the discourse on the colony and the effects of power in social and political practices. Said and “worldliness” of literary texts. (Post)colonial identity. Bhabha and the “location of culture”, hybridity.

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  • Module content:

    The texts and practices of leading African cultural, literary, media, philosophers, and social movements will be discussed with reference to their contribution to the development of African thought and culture. Figures such as Achebe, Biko, Cesaire, Garvey, Fanon, Mazrui, Rodney, Senghor, Mbembe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Soyinka will be featured in this module.

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  • Module content:

    The place, nature and function of theory of literature, research (hermeneutical, empirical), application; analysis, interpretation, evaluation and canonisation; literary systems (fields); capita selecta from 20th-century perspectives on literature and the study of literature; key issues in literary theory; primary and secondary sources.

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  • Module content:

    The relationship between national literatures and the broader frameworks of regional and world literature. “Distant Reading”. Cosmopolitanism. Popular literature and “bestsellers”. Approaches to multiple literatures (and cultures) in translation.

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  • Module content:

    An advanced focus on “Western” and “Southern” Feminisms, Queer Theory, Gay and Lesbian Studies in literary texts.

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  • Module content:

    Part 1 – Theoretical basis: The concepts “science” and “research”; the relationship “theory”, “research”, “application”, forms of research (inter alia descriptive, empirical, applied); the research process (from research proposal to research report: identification and formulation of the problem, development of hypotheses, data collection and interpretation, etc); the use of the computer in research. 
    Part 2 – Application: A limited research project in which the principles of research methodology are applied. A candidate must submit the topic and format to the head of department or his/her representative for approval.

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  • Module content:

    A choice from the following themes:
    Narrativity
    Narrativity vs. classical narratology. The transaction between narratives and audiences. Employment. Eventfulness. Tellability. Fictionality. Life and Narrative. ; the function of narrative in the creation of “social memory”; historiographic meta-fiction”; study of texts (literary and historical) from various languages and periods.
    or
    (Auto) biography in world literature
    The history of biography and autobiography; biography, autobiography and their relationship to other genres; theories about subjectivity and identity (“self”), fact and fiction, objectivity and representation; study of relevant texts.
    or
    Media genre theory
    Genre theory as applied to culture and media studies. The factors contributing to the formation of media genres, the internal and external features as well as the reception of media products will be discussed in this module.
     

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Elective modules


The information published here is subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information. The General Regulations (G Regulations) apply to all faculties of the University of Pretoria. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves well with these regulations as well as with the information contained in the General Rules section. Ignorance concerning these regulations and rules will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression.

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