ENMCHG: Global Children's Literatures in English

Module code: ENMCHG

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Dr Sue Walsh, email: s.a.b.walsh@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to explore a selection of children’s fiction, poetry and picture-books, and introduce students to a wide range of children’s literature in English from around the globe, primarily from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

The first part of the module will concentrate primarily on early twentieth-century children’s literature in Britain and will be centred on questions about the relation of fantasy and realism, as genres, to ideas about children and childhood and to the question of children’s literature more broadly. 

In the first part the module we will focus the work of authors such as C. S. Lewis, J. M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame, Beatrix Potter, A. A. Milne, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Henry Williamson, Arthur Ransome, Eve Garnett and E. Nesbit. 

In the second part of the module students will determine, in discussion with their tutors, whether to focus primarily on North American children’s literature, or on children’s literature from selected Commonwealth countries (India, Australia, New Zealand and an Anglophone African country such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya or Uganda) and negotiate the content of the syllabus accordingly. In this part of the module we may engage with a few indicative nineteenth-century texts to ground our study of particular national/cultural contexts, but the focus will remain largely on work from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

We will be focused on how texts relate to and engage with national, cultural and ethnic identities, such as, for example, what constitutes national and/or cultural identity? How do critics define this, and how do they relate it the reading of texts, or to notions of ‘literary history’ or genre?  How are ideas of ‘society’, ‘culture’ or ‘history’ used in criticism to produce ideas of identity and ‘read’ texts as relevant to such identities? We will consider such issues as: how far can the texts being studied be related to one another through their use of generic conventions (for e.g. in realistic fiction or fantasy)? How far can the literature be related to national cultures and what constitutes national and cultural identity? What issues are thrown up by the representation of different languages and cultures in these texts? How are ideas of ‘society’, ‘culture’ or ‘history’ used in criticism to produce ideas of identity and ‘read’ texts as relevant to such identities? What are the implications of debates about ‘authenticity’ in relation to the representation of indigenous/First Nation peoples and cultures in these texts?   

Note: the final choice of authors and works will depend the focus negotiated by the group as a whole and on the availability of texts in Britain. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate a knowledge of critical, theoretical and methodological approaches to children’s literature and interdisciplinary childhood studies (including children’s media) 
2. Use a knowledge of the origins and development of children’s literature (and media) 
3. Implement research skills, including archival research skills 
4. Write critically and analytically about issues in children’s literature and interdisciplinary childhood studies 
5. Demonstrate an awareness of the relevance of issues in children’s literature and interdisciplinary childhood studies to wider social and cultural issues and questions. 
6. Demonstrate an awareness of international and global issues in relation to childhood and children’s literatures in English. 

Module content

This module aims to explore a selection of children’s fiction, poetry and picture-books, and introduce students to a wide range of children’s literature in English from around the globe, primarily from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The texts studied in the first part of the module are likely to include works by C.S. Lewis, J.M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame, Beatrix Potter, A.A. Milne, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Henry Williamson, Arthur Ransome, Eve Garnett and E. Nesbit. 

Works by authors studied on the second part of the module may include, if the focus chosen is North American children’s literature: 

Twain, Alcott, Montgomery, London, Af-American children’s periodical, Wilder, Mildred D. Taylor, Ezra Jack Keats, An Na, Sherman Alexie, Cherie Dimaline.  

Or, if the chosen focus is on colonial and post-colonial children’s literature, works by the following authors may be included: Rudyard Kipling, Dhan Ghopal Mukerji, Ruskin Bond, Ethel Turner, Norman Lindsay, Chinua Achebe, Lola Shoneyin and other such writers whose works may be available depending on the focus negotiated between students and staff. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module consists of 22 once-weekly small-group seminars of one hour’s duration. In the seminars the group discussions are based on the close analysis of the module texts, where critical and theoretical issues raised in the reading are the subject of discussion as they arise from the close readings. 

Study hours

At least 22 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs