Department of English Second-Year English

Mondays & Wednesdays 1030-1220 (CRN: 20381)

Instructor: Sean McAlister | smcalister [at] langara.ca (smcalister[at]langara[dot]ca)  

How should we characterize African literature? This is the central question posed by J.M. Coetzee’s provocative essay, “The Novel in Africa.” For Coetzee, the question is inseparable from the non-African world’s stereotypical image of Africa as an unfamiliar, exotic, and dangerous place. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness represents the most well-known—and perhaps, the most damaging—example of this image. Yet there have been countless counter-images of Africa to appear in African fiction over the last sixty or more years, beginning with Chinua Achebe’s world-renowned novel, Things Fall Apart. Africa has become a site of vibrant literary production and experimentation, incorporating, folk histories and oral traditions and modes of storytelling into the traditional novel form. African literature has also been forced to grapple with horrifying histories of genocide, colonial exclusion and exploitation, and racism. The result is a remarkably rich and experimental fiction tradition. In this course, we will get a small sampling of that tradition through our encounters with English-language novelists from across the continent.

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Mondays & Wednesdays 1430-1620 (CRN: 20384)

Instructor: Shannon Meek | smeek [at] langara.ca (smeek[at]langara[dot]ca)  

This course invites you to explore scripted television— from classic sitcoms of the 1950s to the quality telefantasy of today. You’ll be introduced to the field of television studies to see how scholars have critically analyzed the form and use your own tools from literary and film
studies to do the same. Covering the three significant episodes of television production thus far - broadcast, cable expansion, and media convergence - the course will be organized by formal genres (including sitcom, serial melodrama, procedural, and others) and review some of their thematic subgenres and hybrids, to consider how the art of TV has both engaged and responded to the worlds of its increasingly tele-literate audience and also to the changing conditions of the industry.

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Online Asynchronous (CRN: 20387)

Instructor: Mono Brown | mmbrown [at] langara.ca (mmbrown[at]langara[dot]ca)  

In this asynchronous online course, we’ll delve into the vibrant world of 2SLGBTQIA+ representation in contemporary films. As part of viewing film through theory, we’ll explore the impact of historical film censorship on the evolution of queer coding in mainstream cinema. We’ll also examine the emergence of new and mainstream representations in response to AIDS activism and a broader push for LGBT rights. Lastly, we’ll address how mainstream visibility in recent years has shaped the fates of 2SLGBTQIA+ characters and storylines. No prior knowledge or lived experience. No matter your starting point, you’ll learn to use theory from several fields, including film studies, to develop your own perspectives and to study the issue of representation in film respectfully and with care.

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