handbook - HKU Common Core Curriculum - The University of Hong ...

80
Humanities
Course Code // CCHU9016
Required Reading
Students are required to get hold of the following text by purchase,
borrowing or internet download/photocopy: Joseph Conrad,
Heart of Darkness. Suggested for purchase are the World’s
Classics Series text (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003) or
the Penguin Classics text (London: Penguin, 1995), which contain
good introductions and notes. Some copies will be available for
purchase from the University bookshop. For students who do not
want to buy the text, the text can also be downloaded and printed
at the following sites (among many others):
• http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/219
• http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/darkmenu.htm
The University Library contains a number of copies of the
novella as well, which students may borrow.
Students are also required to purchase the Course Reader
(AV & Reserve Collection, 1st Floor, Main Library, cost
about HK$90), containing the following compulsory reading
materials:
1. John Frederick Lewis, ‘Harem Life in Constantinople’, ‘A
Cairo Bazaar’, ‘A View of the Street’, ‘The Commentator on
the Koran’ (painting)
2. E. J. Eitel, extract from Europe in China (history)
3. R. M. Martin, extract from Report on the Island of Hong
Kong (history)
4. Rudyard Kipling, ‘If ’, ‘The White Man’s Burden’, ‘Mandalay’
(poetry)
5. Joseph Chamberlain, ‘The True Conception of Empire’
(politics)
6. Lady Elizabeth Butler, ‘Egypt 1885’, from From Sketch-Book
and Diary (travel writing)
7. Edward Said, extract from Orientalism (criticism)
8. Robert Young, extract from Colonial Desire (criticism)
9. Aimé Césaire, extract from Discourse on Colonialism
(criticism)
Study Load
Activities Number of hours
Lectures 24
Tutorials 8
Reading / Self-study 36
Independent preparation for assessments 50
Assessment: In-class writing exercise 2
Total: 120
Assessment: 100% coursework
Assessment Tasks Weighting
Tutorial writing or research exercises /
Quizzes / Workshop reports 20
Written assignment / Portfolio / Term paper 35
Tutorial, workshop and class participation,
and contributions to the discussion forum
on Moodle 10
In-class writing exercise 35
Course Learning Outcomes
On completing the course, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the key features of the historical
project, trajectory and history of the British Empire.
2. Describe and critically examine a variety of representations
of Empire in text and image with appropriate critical
frameworks.
3. Explain, explore and appreciate the form and function of
historical texts, the novel, poetry, travel writing, painting,
sketch and cartoon.
4. Practice close reading strategies, analysis, discussion
and argument.
5. Use critical approaches to various genres of text and image,
including specifically genre and gender discourse,
colonial discourse analysis and postcolonial theory.
Lecture Time // Second semester (Wed)
The British Empire in Text and Image
This course looks at textual and pictorial representations of the British contact with
her various colonies, in particular India, Africa, the Middle East and Hong Kong. The
focus is on the nineteenth century and the period known as ‘the New Imperialism’,
although earlier texts are considered. Students are thus invited to learn about, and
reflect critically upon, a particular period in history – which is also their own – by approaching
it through historical texts and the creative arts.
The course is structured along the theme of the ‘reality’ versus ‘representations’ of the
British Empire. Within the Common Core Curriculum, it invites students to tackle
an unfamiliar set of questions, texts and thoughts, and approach these academically.
Within the Humanities Area of Inquiry, the course will show students that the human
experience and human representation of reality might be very different from ‘the
truth’, and that knowledge and experience are always contextual.
Course Co-ordinator
Dr J.C. Kuehn
School of English, Faculty of Arts
Tel: 3917 1921
Email: jkuehn@hku.hk
Teacher(s)
Dr J.C. Kuehn
School of English, Faculty of Arts
Tel: 3917 1921
Email: jkuehn@hku.hk
http://commoncore.hku.hk/cchu9016