Admission requirements
Admission to the cluster through application via the head of the programme board.
Description
This BA3 seminar carries the subtitle Fantasy and Horror in Japanese Literature and Film. In our course, we will look at various fantastical genres, stories, and the creatures and people that populate them in order to understand the roles of the fantastic and the horrific in constructing Japanese cultural identity. We will examine a variety of media – including prose fiction, cinema, comics and television – and use these as a lens through which to think about concepts such as national identity, spirituality, and the meaning of the ‘Other.’ To help us think about these ideas, we will contextualise our readings through a broad selection of secondary literature, including academic and other sources in Japanese.
During the semester, you will train how to reflect on diverse sources in the form of short, biweekly web postings. In addition, you will use skills acquired in the first two years of the Japan Studies programme to report on your own research in a research-in-progress presentation and a final paper, to be written on one topic of choice.
Course objectives
When you finish this course, you will be able to...
...identify key media, genres, stories and concepts related to the fantastic in Japanese literature and popular media.
...critically reflect on academic discussions that investigate these media, genres, stories and concepts, and evaluate their merit.
...analyse, summarise and reflect on relevant Japanese language source material, both academic and popular.
...report on your analysis of English and Japanese language sources in written form.
...report on original research into a topic related to this seminar in verbal and written form.
Timetable
Visit MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment of the course is broken down into two categories.
Participation (50% of the final mark)
You are required to attend at least 70% of all sessions.
You are expected to show your individual engagement with classroom discussions of the sources studied before each session.
You are required to write at least five (5) out of the total six (6) web postings (relative weight TBD).
You are to give an oral presentation about original research on a topic of choice (relative weight TBD).
Final paper (50% of the final mark)
To receive a passing grade, you are to obtain at least a passing grade for the Final Paper.
Resit
There is no resit for the participation element:
If you miss more than 30% of sessions, you cannot successfully finish this seminar;
If you miss or fail two or more web postings, you will receive a fail for one or more of your required web postings;
everyone will receive feedback on their presentation, but you do not have an opportunity to redo their presentation. Instead, you are expected to use this feedback to improve your research and incorporate it into your final paper.
The resit for the final paper takes the format of a first draft and final version. After submitting a draft for the first deadline, you will receive feedback and may always rewrite your draft for a final version. This rewritten version counts as the resit for the final paper.
Inspection and feedback
Exam review will take place on a one-on-one basis with the paper supervisor. An exam review will be organized if a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results.
Reading list
As much as possible, assigned readings will be accessible via online access. Some material may be made available in a reader; information about the reader will be made available through Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website.