Genealogies of Place

Subject CWRI40009 (2013)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2013.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 4 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject is not offered in 2013.

Time Commitment: Contact Hours: 2
Total Time Commitment:

120

Prerequisites:

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in creative writing or English & theatre studies, or the Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing

Corequisites:

None

Recommended Background Knowledge:

None

Non Allowed Subjects:

None

Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Contact

Tony Birch

akbirch@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview:

In this subject students will engage with creative and intellectual concepts that deal with an understanding of place (and places) and its relationship to individuals, communities and cultural formations. These places may be physical, social or psychological, and can include "natural". landscapes, urban/industrial environments, the genealogies of family or place and the connections between memory and physical space. This subject asks students to engage with writings by novelists and poets in addition to non-fictional texts to stimulate their own creative writing project that will be developed and workshopped in the seminars. Students will explore the relationship between the creative process and the development of written and performative texts. On completion of the subject students will have produced a folio of writing that can include prose-fiction, poetry, performance/script or non-fiction.

Objectives:

As a result of attendance at scheduled workshops, participation in planned activities and discussion, and timely completion of essays and assignments, students enrolled in this subject will acquire skills in the following areas:

  • will have creatively engaged with texts that deal with the relationship between physical and natural landscapes;
  • will have creatively engaged with texts that deal with the relationship between the individual, family and communities;
  • will have creatively engaged with ideas dealing with social/political memory and place;
  • will have developed skills in creative writing that draw upon materials and concepts presented and discussed in seminars;
  • will have acquired a transportable set of interpretive skills;
  • will have developed their capacity for independent thinking; and
  • will have developed their ability to communicate ideas through creative writing.
Assessment:

Written work of 5000 words 90% (due in the examination period) and class participation 10%. Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% (or 10 out of 12) classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. Any student who fails to meet this hurdle without valid reason will not be eligible to pass the subject. All required written work must be submitted in order to pass the subject. Essays submitted after the due date without an extension will be penalised 2% per day. Essays submitted after two weeks of the assessment due date without a formally approved application for special consideration or an extension will only be marked on a pass/fail basis if accepted.

Prescribed Texts:

A subject reader will be available.

Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

  • have developed skills in creative writing that draw upon materials and concepts presented and discussed in seminars;
  • have acquired a transportable set of interpretive skills;
  • have developed their capacity for independent thinking; and
  • have developed their ability to communicate ideas through creative writing.
Related Course(s): Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Creative Writing
Creative Writing

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