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GEND2016 Life Writing: Contemporary auto/biography

Later Year Course

Offered By School of Cultural Inquiry
Academic Career Undergraduate
Course Subject Gender Studies
Offered in Second Semester, 2010
Unit Value 6 units
Course Description  This course is intended to introduce students to a series of twentieth century life narratives in the context of contemporary Auto/biography theory and practice. Students will explore concepts of memory and self-fashioning in life writing, together with issues of gender, colonialism, race, cross-cultural encounter and displacement as represented in autobiographical texts. Special attention may be paid to life narratives dealing with traumatic personal and historical events. The course will provide the opportunity to investigate and reflect on obstacles that writers confront in narrating their lives, the strategies they adopt and the gaps and silences that characterize autobiographical writing.

 

Learning Outcomes   Students will develop an understanding of the literary processes and strategies by which life narratives are produced.They will develop skills in literary analysis and response to a series of autobiographical texts with reference to contemporary conceptions and theories of autobiography.
Indicative Assessment

Short textual analyses (40%)

long essay (50%)

Tutorial participation (10%).

Workload 1.5 hours of lectures and 1 hr tutorial per week for 13 weeks
Areas of Interest Gender Studies
Eligibility  A first year course to the value of 6 units in English or Gender, Sexuality and Culture or permission of the Convenor.
Preliminary Reading

Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking.

Majors/Specialisations English and Gender, Sexuality and Culture
Programs Bachelor of Arts (Digital Arts)
Academic Contact To Be Advised

The information published on the Study at ANU 2010 website applies to the 2010 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2009 website.

Updated:   13 Nov 2015 / Responsible Officer:   The Registrar / Page Contact:   Student Business Solutions