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Events

Why Comparative Literature? A Session for Secondary School Teachers.

When: Thursday, May 6, 2021, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Blackboard Collaborate (online)

Do you teach English, Modern Languages or any other Humanities subject? Do you want to enrich your current teaching practice? The Comparative Literature and Culture department at QMUL would like to invite you to an afternoon of conversation and discussion where you’ll learn about Comparative Literature’s unique approach to the study of literature and culture. 

The afternoon will be organised around three interactive sessions designed to give attendees a taste of what Comparative Literature is, how it works and what types of new approaches and dialogues it enables. Teachers will have the chance to participate in a Comparative Literature workshop and the opportunity to speak to some of our current students and learn about their experience of studying Comparative Literature.

Schedule:

3.30-4.00: Welcome. What is Comparative Literature?

In this session, Dr Shital Pravinchandra, Admissions Tutor for the Department of Comparative Literature and Culture at QMUL, will explain why Comparative Literature is such an exciting subject for humanities students… if only they knew about it! You’ll hear about why our approach to studying literature and culture is so different from what is on offer in English or Modern Languages departments: a Comparative Literature degree gives students the chance to discuss film, music and art alongside literary texts, and our students read literatures from across the world, with Western literatures, languages and cultures regarded as no more central than those of anywhere else.

4.00-4.30: Interactive workshop. The World of Comparison: How does Comparative Literature work?

Led by Dr Kasia Mika, this interactive session will show a practical application of what we do when we do comparative literature. To this end, Dr Mika will guide a comparative reading of two selected literary texts, and point to the ways in which comparison opens up new critical perspectives on literary texts and the wider societal and political questions they raise.

4.30-5.00 Q and A with department chair and current students

This slot is your chance to ask Dr Will McMorran, Chair of QMUL’s Comparative Literature and Culture Department, any questions you have about how the subject is taught, the students to whom it appeals, and the careers that our graduates go onto. You will meet one or two of our current final year students and hear about their experiences of a Comparative Literature degree.

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