MA ENGLISH: LITERATURES OF ENGAGEMENT

We live in a moment where the key discourses which have dominated our understanding of the world ? of politics, economics and culture at large ? suddenly seem inadequate to the task of engaging with an allegedly ?post-truth? environment. New discourses are struggling to emerge; some old ones appear once again to be urgently relevant. The political challenges now confronting us are urgent and manifold, and demand serious critical thinking. These include: inequality, migration, climate change, neo-imperialism, neo-nationalism and isolationism, the exploitations and depredations of global capitalism and resurgent misogyny and racism. The MA in English: Literatures of Engagement addresses this sense of crisis by recognising the significant role that literature ? and the critical discourses associated with the study of literature ? have in both reproducing and analysing cultural values and ideologies, but also in articulating responses and resistance to those. The programme is underpinned by a conviction that any critique of contemporary culture must be rooted in an informed understanding of historical currents shaping the present.