L&C 2: Narratieve Ruimte in Mod. Europa

Uitgebreide vaknaam	Literatuur en Cultuur 2: Narratieve Ruimte in Modern Europa
Leerdoelen	Aan het einde van de cursus hebben de studenten inzicht gekregen in de veelzijdigeS relatie tussen ruimte en cultuur; daarnaast zullen zij de kritische vaardigheden ontwikkelingen die zij nodig hebben om literatuur en cultuur te analyseren m.b.v. het theoretische instrumentarium van de zogenaamde ‘spatial turn’ in de geesteswetenschappen en de sociale wetenschappen.
Omschrijving	Midway along the journey of our life, I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. These opening lines to Dante’s classic 14th century work The Divine Comedy show us that narratives of space have long been linked to the human experience of orienting ourselves and making sense of our lives and the world in which we live. Yet, if space is often thought of as something obvious and unremarkable, it is in fact thought about and experienced very differently in different places and times. The aim of this course is to explore space as a fundamental category of human experience, and more specifically, how space is reflected and represented in particular ways in contemporary (primarily) European culture. By concentrating on the ubiquitous cultural distinction between urban and rural spaces, we will explore how understandings of space are shaped by culture, and how understandings of space impact on culture in turn. By engaging with leading theoretical approaches and scholars in the humanities and social sciences from literary geography to ecocriticism and postcolonial studies, students will be exposed to a wide range of analytical tools that help us to understand the role of space in contemporary literature and film. We will explore “the spatial turn” and why space has emerged as a priority for writers, cultural producers and scholars from the mid-twentieth century. Furthermore, we will consider the relationship of space in general and the urban-rural divide in particular with relations of powers. Likewise, students will analyse how culture reveals that seemingly innocuous spatial concepts – north, south, east, west, centre, periphery, wilderness and indeed urban and rural – are anything but. Rather, we will explore how they contain all kinds of meanings connected to mapping in its broader sense of navigating and narrating our social world.
Uren per week	4
Onderwijsvorm	hoorcollege, werkcollege
Toetsvorm	essay, presentatie, schriftelijke opdracht(en)
Vaksoort	bachelor
Coördinator	H.M. McDonnell, PhD.
Docent(en)	H.M. McDonnell, PhD. , K. Robbe, PhD. , V.N. Veldhuizen, MSc.
Entreevoorwaarden	ETC students must have attended “Reading Modern Europe” and “Texts and Contexts”. This does not apply to students from other disciplines.
Opmerkingen	80% Compulsory attendance in seminars. Students are expected to participate actively in discussions during seminars and to duly carry out all assignments in and outside class.
Opgenomen in	Opleiding Jaar Periode Type Course units for exchange students 1 semester II b keuze Ba Europese talen en culturen  ( Profielvak) 1 semester II b keuzegroep Ba Open colleges Letteren - semester II b keuze