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ENG42160

Academic Year 2024/2025

Material Girls (ENG42160)

Subject:
English
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Sarah Comyn
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

‘Material Girls: Crafty Women across Literary History’ explores the material histories of women’s artistic labour in literary texts. Engaging with crafts history, thing theory, and new materialisms, students will study literary representations and the subversive potential of women’s crafts such as letter writing; needlework; textile arts; painting; the printed page; the Black garden and quilt; and scientific collecting. As a transhistorical and transatlantic module, students will study various forms and genres that may include: the eighteenth-century epistolary novel, nineteenth-century realism, modernist short stories, and contemporary neo-Victorian texts. Authors studied could include Jane Austen, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Virginia Woolf, Jamaica Kincaid, Kabe Wilson, and Sarah Perry.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students will have developed:

- A critical reassessment of women’s artistic labour and production in literary texts
- A familiarity with a range of literary genres and forms from the eighteenth century onwards
- An ability to apply a range of critical and theoretical perspectives including crafts history, thing theory, and new materialisms
- An ability to research and write critically about a focal text, genre, and period from those covered in the course

Indicative Module Content:

Themes and subjects potentially covered in this module include: letter writing; needlework; textile arts; painting; the printed page; the Black garden and quilt; and scientific collecting. Texts studied may include: Lady Susan; Cranford; To the Lighthouse; the Essex Serpent; An Encyclopedia of Gardening; Of One Woman, or So

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

20
Specified Learning Activities

80
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module has a strong focus on class participation and creative engagement with material histories of women's labour.
Approaches to learning may include:
Group discussions
In-class making/crafting in response to texts
Peer and group work
Critical writing
Close reading
Reflective learning

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Class participation and engagement Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10 Graded No

10

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Final Essay Week 14 Graded No

50

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay Plan Week 8 Graded No

10

 No
Individual Project: Midterm Assessment: Critical close reading and reflection with option for creative project Week 6 Graded No

30

 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Dr Katherine Fama Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
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