Aims

This module examines how borders have been imagined, narrated, and resisted in global Anglophone literature since the twentieth century. Far from creating a borderless world, contemporary globalisation has generated a proliferation of borders. Borders begin with us, long before they are ever inscribed in the land. They are, instantaneously, points of arrival and departure: equally a beginning and an end; equally crucial and immaterial. Every border is—as we shall see—its own story, bestowed with new contemporary relevance. At the heart of this module lies an attempt to interrogate what a border really is and understand its relevance in the context of ongoing migration and the current intensification of border regimes.

Students will begin with an understanding of political borders, or the racial ordering of geographical space, and gradually move on to an understanding of how borders are felt internally in the body. We will look at diverse material to study borders that are interpersonal, political, affective, and psychological. Topics may include, but are not limited to: the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 (one of the largest instances of border-crossings in human history) and its 'post-memory'; border control, checkpoints, and surveillance; QTMS (queer and trans migration studies); queer asylum; and gender borders.

Borders, both fluid and littoral (land-based) will be discussed through novels, animated documentaries, poetry, and prose-poetry. The module will maintain a postcolonial and diasporic focus throughout, which means that students will get the opportunity to step beyond Anglo-American literary borders in their research and writing. Border Fictions is also structured around the ethics and politics of slow pedagogy, which means that there will be some texts that are discussed over two weeks instead of one, allowing students more contact hours for deep learning.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module may include the following key texts:

Bhanu Kapil, Schizophrene (2011)
Bhanu Kapil, Ban en Banlieue (2015)
Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, by Giorgio Agamben (1995)
Flee (2021) directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Abdulrazak Gurnah, By the Sea (2021)
Momtaza Mehri, Bad Diaspora Poems (2023)
Travis Alabanza, None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary (2022)

Where possible, the module will include guest lectures from selected writers and critics whose works are among the key texts on the syllabus.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The lectures provide the literary overview, contextual basis and theoretical background for students to learn about the key topics of the module. The lectures include analyses of texts on the syllabus and discussions on the historico-political contexts that surround them. The first half of the module experiments with slow teaching as an alternate form of pedagogy and emphasises process over coverage: we discuss a maximum of three primary texts over six weeks to allow for deep learning and engagement.

The small-group teaching in the form of seminars are forums where students discuss the primary texts, in relationship to topics raised in the lectures, while bringing in key secondary sources that relate to the set texts. The seminars are spaces for collaborative thinking and discussion that allow for effective knowledge acquisition and the sharing of ideas.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

This module covers a variety of literary texts, and engages with a number of theoretical and critical concepts. While providing a solid general framework through lectures and seminar discussions, it also encourages students to forge their own connections between texts. For this reason, it is felt that the best method of assessment in relation to the learning and skills outcomes is the submitted essay of 2500 words (worth 85% of the mark) that allows students the opportunity to develop an independently researched essay, incorporating both primary and secondary material.

There is a mid-module formative essay that is designed to help students prepare for this final essay. This formative assessment engages different skills (creative as well as critical) so that the module remains accessible, inclusive, diverse and flexible.

15% of the assessment will be based on class participation and engagement with lecture and seminar activities. It is essential for students' learning
outcomes that they engage with and participate in these activities (as per the Education Resilience Framework). This summative mark has the aim to help them focus on these tasks. Participation and engagement will also help students learn to contribute to academic debates around literature and literary scholarship on the Global Anglophone.