Page 99 - SYU Prospectus

English Language & Literature

ENG 513 M.A. Dissertation
1 Term; 3 Credits
The project enables students to pursue independent research on a selected topic under
the guidance of an advisor. It gives students who evidence initiative, originality, intellectual
maturity and a desire to commit themselves to genuine scholarship an opportunity to write a
graduate dissertation. Through this writing exercise, students are expected to synthesize
knowledge they have learned in their undergraduate study and that acquired in this Programme
in an interdisciplinary approach.

ENG 514 Special Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies: Gender Studies Theory
1 Term; 3 Credits
In the first part of this course, students will be introduced to theories of different feminist
schools as well as concepts of gender studies in a structured way. In the second part, emphasis
will be put on discussing feminism from an interdisciplinary perspective, for example, feminism
and art, feminism and biology, feminism and neuroscience, etc. The aim of this course is two-
fold: on the one hand, it aims to give students a solid foundation in feminist and gender studies
theories; on the other hand, students will be encouraged to approach the field in an
interdisciplinary perspective.

ENG 515 Anthropocene Reading in Anglo-American Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
In this geological epoch termed by scientists as the Anthropocene, humanity is seen as
playing such a pivotal role in the planet’s ecology that we rival the forces of nature. Literary
texts present an excellent repertoire for exploration into the complex networks of ideas in
the Anthropocene: history, scientific ideas, politics, social practices, cultural norms and ritual,
religious beliefs, gender and sexuality, human and non-human, and the matter of everyday life.
Literary works as texts for Anthropocene reading, including poetry, short stories and novels,

will be selected from the 18th century to 21st century Anglo-American literature. Drawing on
an array of conceptual tools and theories, including psychoanalysis, deconstruction, gender
theories, postmodernism, postcolonialism, posthumanism, ecocriticism, environmental
humanities and elemental humanities, students will be guided to construct interdisciplinary
reading strategies in the context of the Anthropocene.

ENG 516 Critical Animal and Plant Studies
1 Term; 3 Credits
Following the innovative guidance of Donna Haraway’s feminist treatment of animals
in When Species Meet (2008), Cary Wolfe’s posthumanist’s view in Zoontologies: The
Question of the Animal (2003), and the all-out argument for the wellness of animals by
Peter Singer (2009), this course sets out to expose, and to offer critical responses to the
subjection and exploitation of animals, under the general conceptualization of the human-
nonhuman relationship in ecological criticism. Such an effort expands into the newly
developed area of “critical plant studies”. Wendy Wheeler (2016), Michael Marder (2013),

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