ENG31410 Sexuality and the State in Irish Drama and Culture

Academic Year 2018/2019

Spanning the Irish Revival to the present day, this module explores the ways in which Irish dramatists have represented the correlations and tensions between state-sanctioned configurations of sexualities and sexual health, and Irish people’s lived experiences of sexuality and sexual health. Students will critically survey a diverse corpus of Irish drama that includes mainstream playwrights such as Marina Carr, J.M. Synge, and Frank McGuinness, as well as fringe dramatists such as Amy Conroy, Bush Moukarzel, and Louise Lowe. Students will critically explore the socio-political and cultural history of Irish sexuality and sexual health as it has played out on the nation’s stages. Students will investigate the ways in which female and counter-normative sexualities are frequently corralled into state-sanctioned versions of Irish sexual identity, while simultaneously interrogating how those who cannot or will not conform to such sexual norms are socially punished and at times even eliminated. Students will also investigate how Irish dramatists, in order to explore the realities of how Irish people navigate often-oppressive state configurations of sexuality, have formulated radical dramaturgical, playwriting, and performance strategies that run counter to traditional realist drama, while simultaneously interrogating the historical roots of these strategies.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module, students will be able to:• Demonstrate indepth knowledge of the ways in which modern and contemporary Irish dramatists and theatre makers have: – 1] represented and challenged state and other official configurations of sexuality;– and 2] represented and challenged the ways in which governments and their organs have mobilised sexuality as a tool for social control. • Critically evaluate the ways in which Irish dramatists and theatre makers who explore sexuality have utilized radical strategies in terms of dramatic form, structure, playwriting, spectatorship, and dramaturgy.• Theoretically elaborate the effects of colonialism, nationalism, and contemporary consumerism and socio-economic policies and practices, on Irish sexualities. • Articulate in scholarly terms a broad history of sexualities, sexual politics, and sexual health in 20th and 21st century Ireland. • Be capable of expressing critical judgement clearly and effectively while also being able to speak and write with clarity, precision, depth, and style; thereby developing and demonstrating critical thinking, theoretical knowledge, and a scholarly vocabulary appropriate to writing about drama and related socio-political discourses that explore issues of gender, sexuality, and sexual health.• Demonstrate sophisticated skills in detailed textual analysis and close reading while also acquiring a command of appropriate literary terminology and be able to apply this to the analysis of the texts concerned. • Become an effective researcher in this field of study, able to locate appropriate sources of information and to evaluate and use this knowledge in their oral and written work; be able to effectively manage research time and work both independently and collaboratively.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

11
Specified Learning Activities

64
Autonomous Student Learning

25
Total

100
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.



 
Description % of Final Grade Timing
Essay: Final Essay

60

 Coursework (End of Trimester)
Assignment: Critial Response Paper

30

 Throughout the Trimester
Continuous Assessment: In-Class Contributions

10

 Throughout the Trimester

Compensation

This module is not passable by compensation

Resit Opportunities

In-semester assessment

Remediation

Students who fail this module will need to repeat or resit the module depending on the availability of the module in the following semester. If you have failed, please contact the Academic Support Officer for information on how to remediate the module. If you are taking this module as an option or an elective, you may be able to substitute another module. Check with your Programme Office if this is possible.