Module Title: LIT
310 Writing by Women
Credit Value: 12
Module Tutor: Mr. P
Baburaj
General Objectives
This
module introduces students to the work of notable female writers in English.
Reading
and analyzing the writings of women will reveal the anxieties, yearnings, joys
and hardships experienced by marginalized women living and writing in largely
patriarchal environments. It will reveal the emergence of the feminist point of
view. Students will explore how life experience as perceived through the female
lens is presented in differing forms: the poem, the essay, the diary, the
letter and the novel. In the form of fiction, literature offers us ‘an
imitation of life’. It is at once like and unlike our own lives and the reading
of it involves both pleasure and new understanding. This module aims at
examining the distinctiveness of the female voice in the articulation of her
hopes and anxieties and the truth of the credo ‘the personal is the political.’
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students
will be able to:
·
explain how women writers have struggled to
establish themselves in the literary field.
·
critically analyze the position of women in
literature and the difficulties of articulating their distinctive position.
·
be able to analyze how women writers shaping
the society.
·
demonstrate a deep understanding of women’s
writing as a distinctive genre.
·
discuss contributions of specific theories to
feminist debates on social and political change.
·
show with a range of texts that illustrate
historical and contemporary developments in feminist theory.
·
appreciate the contribution of women writer’s
to the literary world.
Subject matter:
1. Emergence of Women Writers
2. Feminism its origin and development
3. Feminist writers
4. Confession and confessional writers
5. Kamala Das and confessional writing.
6. Brutal frankness in Das’s poems and the nostalgic elements.
7. Trends in English novels. Elements of novel: plot, diction,
character description, foreshadowing, dialogue, point of view, etc.
8. Search for identity in Shashi Deshpande’s novels
9.
Mary Wollstonecraft - the "mother of feminism",
10. A Vindication of
the Rights of Men as a defense of the ideals of the Revolution.
11. Mother-daughter
relationships in the writings of Tony Morison
12. Psychological
impact of slavery
13. Epic
themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters in Toni Morison’s
Writing.
14. Toni
Morison and Black Literature.
15. Roots,
Community, and Identity; in Morison.
16. Sylvia
Plath and confessionalism.
17. The
Bell Jar the semi- Autobiographical novel
18. Sylvia-
a search for self
19. Mother
images in Sylvia Plath
20. Rich
Adrienne. Compulsory heterosexuality
21. Compulsory
Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence
22. The
gender essentialism and the institution of motherhood.
23. One
Dimension of Woman
24. Mary Wollstonecraft - The rights and involved duties of mankind.
25. Jean-Jacques
Rousseau V/S Mary Wollstonecraft
26. The prevailing
opinion of a sexual character
27. The need for a
"revolution in female manners"
28. The problems of
sensibility and liberalism
29. Virginia
Woolf- feminism and Lesbianism
30. Women's Access to Education
31. Woolf
and the patriarchal system
32. Woolf
and women's literature and feminist literary studies.
33. Confessional
writing and Virginia Woolf.
Teaching and Learning
Approach
Lecture: 3hrs/wk
Tutorials:
1hr/wk (including discussions& presentations)
Assessment
1st
Assignment: (800 - 1000 words) 10%
2nd
Assignment: (1500 - 2000 words) 20%
Oral
Presentation: 20%
Examination: 50%
Total: 100
marks
Essential Reading
Das.K.(2006). The freaks.Chennai: Macmillan India Press.
Das.K.(2006.Summer in Calcutta. Chennai: Macmillan India
Press.
Deshpande.S(2009)
That long silence . New Delhi: Macmillan India Press
Morrison.T
(2003) Beloved. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Plath.S.(2002)
. (Selections: Mirror; Metaphor. Kindness)
Rich.A.(2005). (Selections:Snapshots of a
daughter-in-law;Amnesia;Transit)
Wollstonecraft.M.(2006).
A vindication of the rights of woman (chapters 1, 2 & 7)
New
Delhi:Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.
Woolf. V. A room of one’s own (chapters 1, 3
& 6). London: Oxford University Press.
Suggested Reading
Beauvoir. S. (2005).Second sex London: Oxford
University Press.
Das. K My story. (2006).Chennai: Macmillan India
Press.
Cixous, H.(1990). The laugh of the medusa, essay
in new French feminism.London: Oxford University Press.
Mohanty, C. T. (1988).Under western eyes, feminist
scholarship and colonial
discourse. London: Oxford
University Press.
Rajan,
R.S. ( 2001)Real and imagined women London:
Cambridge University Press.
Altieri, C. (1984).Self and sensibility in
contemporary American poetry. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Bharat, M. (2004). Desert in bloom: Contemporary
Indian women’s fiction in
English.New Delhi:
Pencraft International.
Lal.M.
(2005).Signifying the self: Women and literature.London:Cambridge University Press.
Moi.T.
(2002). Sexual, textual & politics. London: Oxford University Press.
Tharur, Susie and K. Lalitha.(2004).Women’s writing
in India, Vols. I and II.
Chennai: Macmilan India Press.
Werner. C.and Adrienne R (1988). The poet and her
critics. Chicago: American LibraryAssociation.
Module developed by Mr.P.Baburaj
Credit Value:
12
Module
Tutor: From respective programme
General Objective:
This module aims to develop students’ skills in
conducting research and in utilizing quantitative and qualitative research
tools. It will prepare students for research by acquainting them to the
research processes including hypothesis development, research designing, data
collection methods, designing of questionnaires and their administration.
Application of sampling techniques, statistical methods in data reduction and
analysis, as well as formatting and styling of research report will also be
stressed.
Learning Outcomes:
After the successful completion of this module, learners are expected to:
·
demonstrate proficiency in basic and selected
quantitative and qualitative research tools
·
apply research tools in conducting research
·
be proficient in reviewing literature sources
and formulate research problems, questions and hypotheses and design research
experiments
·
apply research methods, collect and analyze data
·
apply relevant statistical tools in research
work
·
write research reports
Learning
and Teaching Approach:
The
module will be delivered in 15 teaching weeks as per the following:
- 3 hours/wk of lecturing on the theory
component;
- 1 hour/wk of tutorial
- The students are required to
undertake independent research projects to sharpen their research skills.
Assessment
- End of semester examination :
Ø Theory
40%
Ø Project
proposal writing 20%
Ø Data
analysis 30%
Ø Assignment 10%
Subject Matter:
Introduction: 5L
·
Research: The concept
·
Types of research: applied and fundamental
research; scientific and social research, processes and characteristics,
comparisons and deficiencies
·
Scope and purpose of research
Review of Literature: 6L
·
Concept and need for review of literature
·
Composing bibliography from different sources
·
Reviewing the literature in the bibliography;
footnotes, references, and presenting bibliography (with emphasis on the APA
Format)
Problem, Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis: 4L
·
Problem identification and formulation
·
Theoretical framework
·
Formulation of research questions; hypotheses
and statements
Research Design: 7L
·
Importance of research design
·
Elements of the research design
·
Types of research design: exploratory,
historical, descriptive, developmental, case study, survey, casual-comparative,
experimental, quasi-experimental, and action research designs; common sources
of error in research design
Qualitative Methods of Research: 3L
·
Rapid assessment; focus group discussion; case
history; key informants
Data Collection: 4L
·
Use of secondary data
·
Collection of primary data: observation,
interview, questionnaire; questionnaire design; field-work planning
Data Analysis: 12L
·
Data Presentation: tables; graphs and diagrams
·
Statistical analysis of data: use of descriptive
and inferential tools, computer entry and output generation, application of
statistical software viz. SPSS, Nudist in data analysis
Report Writing: 4L
·
The report format and types of report
Reading list:
Essential reading:
1.
Grix, J., (2002). The foundations of Research.
Palgrave Foundations; New York (accession no.001.4 GRI)
2.
Kerlinger Fred N., Foundations of Behavioural
Research, (2000). New Delhi: Surjeet Publications.
3.
Jerrold H. Zar, (2010). Biostatistical
Analysis 5/E, Pearson, Northern Illinois,University,USA.
4.
Field, A., (2009) Discovering Statistics
Using SPSS. Sage Pub., India.
Suggested reading:
1.
Wolf H. K. and P. R Pant,(2002). Social
Science Research and Thesis Writing,. (Kathmandu: Buddha Academic)
2.
Punch, Keith F. (2005) Introduction to
Social research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. London: Sage
Publlication
3.
Ghosh, B. N. (2007) Scientific Method and
Social Research (Revised edition). New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
4.
Cozby, Paul C. (2001) Methods in Behavioural
Research (seventh edition). Mayfield Publishing Co.
5.
Kumar, Ranjit (2005) Research Methodology: A
Step By Step Guide for Beginners, (Second edition)