Course Catalogue

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The course will examine representations of Haitian dictatorship across a range of texts and films. Issues of dictatorship and violence in Haiti will be examined through the prism of the zombie, a Haitian mythological figure.

20x1hr sessions over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus.

This is one of the honours options in SMLC and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into French, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

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Essay (2000 words) - 50%

Essay (2000 words) - 50%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ engage with Haitian dictatorship novels, and to put these in context from a research-led perspective;

■ analyse a range of textual and cultural materials across a range of periods and genres, allowing students to build up specialist knowledge; 

■ encourage students to reflect upon and analyse the texts in terms of their ideas, formal features and broader significance within the context of Haitian political history and literature;

■ encourage students to engage with particularly complex moral, social and political ideas and movements that may be unfamiliar/inimical to their own to enable them better to nuance, critique and assess multi-cultural perspectives represented in text and film with greater critical openness and tolerance to other views.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ assess the relationship between the films/texts and their social, historical and political contexts;

■ identify and discuss the major questions and features regarding the prescribed material, including developments across a range of representations of Haitian dictatorship that raise complex and potentially problematic moral and political issues;

■ compare and contrast set material by the authors/filmmakers and contexts studied;

■ contribute to seminar discussion, analysing material with regard to its broad themes, significant detail, and socio-cultural, historical and ideological contexts;

■ complete coherent, structured and focused written work on topics related to the set texts;

■ make competent use of secondary material and successfully integrate such material into an original argument.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.