EN4438 Literature and Human Rights

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students.

Planned timetable

Thursday 1pm-3pm

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Prof G D Herd

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Prof David Herd

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module will consider how a range of contemporary literary texts, both prose and poetry, speak to situations in which human rights are invoked. The aim of the module will be to enhance students’ understanding of the implications of human rights and to show how literary practice can be crucial in extending and critiquing that discourse. The module will begin and end with statements of rights, and will consider the declaration as a form in itself. We will address a range of texts which, in different formal and political respects, deepen understanding of situations in which human rights are at stake: the asylum process, the Mediterranean crossing, the citizenship debate, the refugee camp, theories of the politics of rights, the post-national community, the indigenous rights claim, and the act of arbitrary detention. The module will explore the need to think actively about human rights and investigate the importance of literary practice in developing such thinking.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS EN2003 AND PASS EN2004

Assessment pattern

Coursework - 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework - 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

Two hour tutorial (x 11 weeks).

Scheduled learning hours

22

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

364

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Analyse and assess the work of a range of contemporary writers whose texts focus on questions of human rights.
  • Articulate an understanding of the relationship between key contemporary literary texts and the discourse of human rights and show how literature can both extend and critique our understanding of that discourse.
  • Reflect upon and utilise key theoretical interventions and concepts associated with the discourse of human rights.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of contemporary contexts in which human rights are invoked and denied and discuss how literary texts deepen understanding of such contexts.
  • Research, develop and present ideas effectively in written form.
  • Employ a range of relevant practical and presentational skills, both written and oral (oral skills will be practiced in group discussions and informal individual presentations; written skills will be practiced and tested by means of essays and semester examinations).