This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
British colonialism changed the world, but it also changed Britain. Since the period known as the 'end of empire' in the 1950s and 60s, Britain has grappled with its loss of imperial power, a loss that has informed contemporary debates about immigration, multiculturalism, and nationalism. This module explores how writers have represented the consequences of imperial decline for British society and culture. Beginning in the midst of the 'end of empire' and ending in the world in which we find ourselves today, we'll explore how some of the core concerns of contemporary Britain are best understood in terms of post-imperiality. These concerns include racism towards migrants and refugees, nostalgia for a romanticised imperial past, and the re-emergence of colonial discourse in debates about the ‘War on Terror’. Alongside these, we'll discover how literature can enable an investment in new forms of community and identity. Many of the writers on this module bring the category of ‘British’ into crisis, and in doing so, enunciate new forms of commonality that actively reject the harmful and exclusionary imperial myths about racial and cultural difference
Contact Hours: 32
Private Study Hours: 268
Total Study Hours: 300
Main assessment methods:
Essay 1 (3,000 words) 40%
Essay 2 (3,000 words) 40%
Seminar Participation 20%
Reassessment methods
100% coursework (4,500 words)
The University is committed to ensuring that core reading materials are in accessible electronic format in line with the Kent Inclusive Practices.
The most up to date reading list for each module can be found on the university's reading list pages: https://kent.rl.talis.com/index.html
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Identify the key concerns that intersect studies of contemporary British and postcolonial writing, such as national belonging, race, gender and neoliberalism;
2 Understand the different cultural and historical contexts of post-imperial literatures;
3 Interpret a range of formal and aesthetic features relating to the study of poetry and prose;
4 Apply theoretical concepts (such as postcolonialism, postmodernism and feminism) to their reading and analysis.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Construct lucid arguments that draw on a balanced attention to a range of primary and secondary sources;
2 Deploy sophisticated close reading skills to allow for complex comparative analyses of literary forms;
3 Communicate information, arguments, and analysis effectively using a variety of methods
4 Conduct self-directed research and the ability to extend discussions undertaken in lectures and seminars through reference to appropriate scholarly sources;
5 Interrogate a variety of critical positions, including a precise understanding of relevant theoretical material.
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