Study program
Course
Status of the course
Year
ECTS credits
Teacher
e-mail
consultation hours
Associate / assistant
e-mail
Consultation hours
Place of teaching
Teaching methods
Teaching workload
Lectures + Seminars +
Exercises
English Department
Discourse Theory
Elective, graduate course
I
2
Semester
5
Associate Professor Senka Božić-Vrbančić
[email protected]; [email protected]
Office: 1413 (English department) (Thursday and Friday by
appointment)
157
Lectures, seminars
2+1
Attendance and participation in class discussions (10%)
Weekly assignment (20%)
Final paper + presentation (70%)
Attendance and participation in class discussions (10%)
Students should come every week ready to discuss the readings.
Weekly assignment (20%). Each week students will do homework.
Homework questions will be in each lesson assignment.
Examination methods
Final paper (70%). (essay 35% + oral presentation 35%).
Essay (approx. 5000 words). In addition to the essay, you need to
submit an abstract of your project (roughly 1 page). Presentation should
last 10 minutes. It will be graded on (1) the originality of the topic and
its interpretation in connection with one or more theories assigned for
this course (2) the organization of the presentation and the quality of
the delivery (i.e., maintaining good eye contact with the audience,
talking rather than reading off of a paper, using power point…).
Start date
Colloquia
Examination period
Students must complete all the major assignments to pass the
course.
End date
1. term
2. term
3. term
4. term
1. term
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Learning outcomes
Enrolment
2. term
3. term
4. term
The ability to analyze multiple genres of cultural expression at
the level of both content and form
 The ability to understand key debates in the field of discourse
theory
 To understand a foucauldian approach to discourse
 The ability to share ideas with peers
 The ability to present ideas clearly in speaking and writing
 Familiarity with the basics of analytical writing, including
argumentation and MLA style.
Students should be enrolled in the 2nd semester.
prerequisites
This course offers an introduction to discourse theory. Discourse theory
“rejects the traditional assumption that language can accurately
represent reality.” On the contrary, discourse theory focuses on “how”
language is used in processes of constructing reality. It starts with
questions: what is English? What is reading? What is literature?
Course subject
In order to answer these questions the course will focus on the work of
Michel Foucault – one of the central figures in discourse theory. The
impact of his work has been felt from English studies and art, to
cultural studies history and anthropology. His ideas caused very
productive debate and influenced scholars such as Edward Said, Judith
Butler, Wendy Brown, amongst others. This course will start with
focus on concepts of power, knowledge and discourse and finish with
discussion on ‘reading’ as historical and ‘literature’ as discourse.
Note: For their essays, students will have an opportunity to work on
areas of their own choosing.
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Required reading
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Additional reading
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Internet resources
Foucault: Lectures at the College de France, 1977 – 1978, St.
Martin's Press, 2007. pp. 1-23
Foucault, Michel. The history of sexuality. Volume 1, An
introduction. New York: Vintage. 1990.
Foucault, Michel. “Sex, Power, and the Politics of Identity” in
Edited Works vol. 1
Maingueneau, D. Literature and discourse analysis, Acta
Linguistica Hafniensia, International Journal of Linguistics,
Volume 42, 2010, pp.147-157.
Mills, Sara. Discourse: the New Critical Idiom. London:
Routledge. 1997.
Mills, Sara. Michel Foucault. London. Routledge. 2003.
Brown, Wendy and Rainer Forst. The Power of Tolerance. New
York. Columbia University Press. 2014.
Butler Judith. Extracts from Gender as Performance: An
Interview with Judith Butler. Interview by Peter Osborne and
Lynne Segal, London, 1993.
Dreyfus, Hubert and Paul Rabinow. Michel Foucault: Beyond
Structuralism and Hermeneutics. The University of Chicago.
Glynos, J., Howarth, D., Norval, A., and Speed, E. ‘Discourse
Analysis: Varieties and Methods’, ESRC National Centre for
Research Methods, NCRM/014, 2009.
Hall, S. ‘The Rest and the West: Discourse and Power.’ In The
Formations of Modernity. Edited by Stuart Hall and Bram Gieben.
1992 Cambridge, UK: Polity Press with Blackwell, pp. 184-227.
Howarth, David. Discourse. Open University Press. 2000.
Rose, Gillian. ‘Discourse Analysis: Text, Intertextuality, Context’,
in Visual Methodologies, London: Sage, 2008, pp.141-172.
Literature and Discourse analysis
http://dominique.maingueneau.pagesperso-orange.fr/pdf/Lit-andDA.pdf
Michel Foucault: the lost interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzoOhhh4aJg
Michel Foucault: Beyond Good and Evil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQHm-mbsCwk
Debate Noam Chomski & Michel Foucault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wfNl2L0Gf8
Judith Butler: Your Behaviour Creates your Gender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc
Judith Butler (documentary film, ARTE France)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q50nQUGiI3s
Introduction to Theory of Literature: Open Yale Courses
(Professor Paul Fry explores the work of Judith Butler in relation
to Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bkFlJfxyF0
An analysis of Dracula from Cultural perspective
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ells/article/viewFile/223
21/14401
Quality assurance
Conditions for
obtaining signatures
Assignments of the
credits for colloquia,
seminars, exercises,
exams
Assignments of the
final grade
Remarks
Course Evaluation is used to improve the quality of teaching and
learning. The feedback from evaluation will help guide changes in
future.
Students should come every week ready to discuss the readings and
their homework.
1 ECTS – attendance and participation (lectures)
1 ECTS – attendance and weekly homework (seminars)
2 ECTS – final paper
1 ECTS – oral presentation
10% Attendance and participation in class discussions
30% Homework
40% Essay
20% Oral presentation
For those students who wish to read in greater depth about topics
covered in this course, a number of books are available and placed
in my office.
Teaching topics - lectures
No.
Date
1.
4.3.2016 Introduction
Title
2.
11.3.2016 Defining the concepts of discourse
3.
18.3.2016
Michel Foucault and discourse
.
Literature
Howarth, David.
Discourse. Open
University Press. 2000.
(chapter 1)
Mills, Sara. Discourse: the
New Critical Idiom.
London: Routledge. 1997.
(selected parts)
4.
25.3.2016 EASTER BREAK
Text, Intertextuality, Context
5.
1.4.2016
Dracula, novel by Bram Stoker
6.
8.4.2016
Power and Knowledge
Film: Dracula
Novel: Dracula
Dracula: a racial Other
7.
Subjectivity
Film: Dracula
15.4.2016
Novel: Dracula
8.
The body and sexuality
22.4.2016 Dracula: the danger of undisciplined sexuality
9.
29.4.2016
Technologies of the Self
Dracula: Technologies of Desire
Biopolitics
Dracula: the Other in Narrative
10.
6.5.2016
11.
13.5.2016
12.
20.5.2016 Wendy Brown: tolerance as a discourse
Literature as a discourse
Begin: Dracula, novel by
Bram Stoker
Rose, Gillian. ‘Discourse
Analysis: Text,
Intertextuality, Context’, in
Visual Methodologies,
London: Sage, 2008,
pp.141-172.
Mills, Sara. Michel
Foucault. London.
Routledge. 2003. (selected
parts)
An analysis of Dracula
from cultural perspective,
English Language and
Literature Studies.
Mills, Sara. Michel
Foucault. London.
Routledge. 2003. (selected
parts)
Foucault, Michel. “Sex,
Power, and the Politics of
Identity” in Edited Works
vol. 1
Foucault, Michel. The
history of sexuality.
Volume 1, An introduction.
New York: Vintage. 1990.
James, Laura,
Technologies of Desire,
Typists …. In Bram
Stoker’s Dracula
Foucault: Lectures at the
College de France, 1977 –
1978, St. Martin's Press,
2007. pp. 1-23
Mills, Sara. Discourse: the
New Critical Idiom.
London: Routledge. 1997.
(selected parts)
Maingueneau, D.
Literature and discourse
analysis, Acta Linguistica
Hafniensia, International
Journal of Linguistics,
Volume 42, 2010, pp.147157.
Brown, Wendy and Rainer
Forst. The Power of
Tolerance. New York.
Columbia University
13.
27.5.2016 Judith Butler: gender as a discourse
14.
15.
3.6.2016 Students’ projects
10.6.2016 Students’ projects
Seminars (students will be advised at the beginning of the semestar)
No.
Date
Title
(students will be advised at the beginning of the
1.
semestar)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Press. 2014.
Butler Judith. Extracts
from Gender as
Performance: An Interview
with Judith Butler.
Interview by Peter
Osborne and Lynne Segal,
London, 1993.
Literature