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British Cultures: The Exeter Seminar

Module description

This module is especially designed for inbound study abroad students and will enhance your experience of visiting Britain by providing you with a critical introduction to British Culture from the medieval period through to the present day. The module covers a variety of cultural forms (including literature and film) and genres (including drama, fiction and poetry) and encourages you to reflect on the processes by which – sometimes competing – ideas about national identity have been created, disseminated and interpreted in Britain. Teaching is by regular seminars and includes a popular, full-day field trip. (N.B. There may be a small charge for the field trip). Assessment is by a reflective learning log, a presentation, and an independent study.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to provide inbound study abroad students with a distinctive critical introduction to British Cultures, including national legends, icons, beliefs and values. It will provide you with the opportunity to study some familiar texts in depth and will introduce you to some that you might not yet have encountered. The aim is to equip you with skills that will enable you to interpret examples of British Culture in relation to their contexts. The module is taught by a convenor with frequent guest contributions from specialists in the department who have research interests in this area.

We start by looking at early myths and legends and then move on to a group of renowned British authors and texts (examples might include Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, or Hardy), examining the processes by which these examples have become identified with Britishness. We will look at representations of British identity and regional variations on the standard model of Englishness. A highlight of the module will be a field trip to a site of literary interest in the South West of England. We will also look at children’s literature, counter and/or popular cultures, and new models of Britishness in a global context. By the end of the module, you will have acquired a broad, deep, and nuanced understanding of the diversity of British Cultures, of the processes by which such cultures are produced and reproduced, and of the implications of these processes for our understanding of Britishness.

If you take this module, you will be expected to read and reflect on a selection of primary and secondary sources both as independent learners and as part of a seminar group. The field trip will encourage you to think about British cultures beyond the boundaries of the classroom. The learning log will ask you to reflect on your learning, whilst the independent study will enable you to identify and develop a particular area of scholarly interest.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate critical understanding of the similarities and differences between genres, forms, texts and authors of British culture
• 2. Demonstrate critical understanding of the processes by which national identities are produced, disseminated, challenged and interpreted, in a range of contexts
• 3. Demonstrate an ability to analyse examples from British cultures from the late medieval period to the present day and to relate their concerns and modes of expression to their historical, geographical, social and theoretical contexts

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate a developed ability to apply skills of close reading and of comparative analysis.
• 5. Demonstrate an ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary and other cultural texts

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Through seminar work and presentations, demonstrate communication skills and an ability to work both individually and in groups
• 7. Through the reflective learning log demonstrate an ability to question assumptions and to direct and evaluate your own leaning processes
• 8. Demonstrate a capacity to identify and construct a coherent, substantiated argument and to use appropriate research and bibliographic skills.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The legends of Robin Hood and King Arthur
• Shakespeare and Regional variants of Britishness
• Jane Austen and the British class system
• Treasure Island and British maritime/imperial identities
• British ghost stories
• British children’s literature
• British TV comedy
• The British Christmas
• The poetry of the Second World War
• The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dartmoor and British rationality
• Contemporary British poetry
• Harry Potter as a British export

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Susan Basnett, Studying British Cultures: An Introduction (London: Routledge, 2003)
• Deborah Cartmell, The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007)
• Robert Shaughnessy, The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture (Cambridge:
• Cambridge UP, 2007)
• Peter Widdowson, The Palgrave Guide to English Literature and its Contexts, 1500-2000 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004)
• Tory Young, Studying English Literature: A Practical Guide (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11855
• LION: https://0-literature-proquest-com.lib.exeter.ac.uk/?null
• Project Muse: http://0-muse.jhu.edu.lib.exeter.ac.uk/
• JSTOR: http://0-www.jstor.org.lib.exeter.ac.uk/

Key words search

Study abroad, Britishness, cultural history, popular culture, field trip