Modules_NM – Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies

General Education & CHS Interdisciplinary courses

The Department offers an interesting range of General Education and CHS Interdisciplinary courses.

Semester 1 - General Education Courses

GEC1018 (GEH1054) Names as Markers of Socio-cultural Identity

Peter TAN

This course focuses on names as a means of marking out the socio-cultural identity of the named and of the namer. Attention will be paid to anthroponyms (personal names), toponyms (place names) and commercial names. This course will be interdisciplinary in nature and will combine a range of approaches to names. Linguistic and philosophical approaches will provide the theoretical anchor to the topic of names. Subsequent seminars will contextualise names in their historical, geographical, political and literary contexts. There will be scope for students to develop the course in the direction of their interests in the mini project.

Preclusion for GEC1018: GEH1054
Preclusion for GEH1054: GEC1018

GEI1002 (GET1030) Computers and the Humanities

Miguel ESCOBAR

Digital technologies expand the frontiers of the humanities through interactive publishing, machine-driven analysis, media-rich platforms, online archives and crowd-sourced databases. This course invites students from across the university to consider these new approaches through a problem-based approach. In each session, the students will learn to use and critically evaluate digital approaches. Reflecting the multiple perspectives within the digital humanities, teaching combines seminar discussions with computational thinking projects that require the students to pose humanities questions in terms of data.

Preclusion for GEI1002: GET1030
Preclusion for GET1030: GEI1002

GEN2001 Theatre and Community Engagement

Robin LOON, Peggy FERROA & Jeffrey TAN

This course introduces students to how theatre can be an effective tool to engage communities. Leveraging on theatre’s inherent collaborative, experiential and embodied propensities, the course aims to raise student awareness of the sensitivities, responsibilities & creativity of Theatre in community engagement. Students will be tasked to envision and pitch theatre-centred community engagement projects.

GEN2004 Green Communities in Action: Climate, Species, Crisis

Chitra SANKARAN & Gayatri PILLAI

Arguably, the most pressing contemporary issue that affects all humanity is the global environmental crisis. This course aims to engage with Green Communities in Singapore in order to synthesise their common aim to fight the negative effects of climate crisis. It will examine cultural, political and literary narratives, and draw on field studies to provide both knowledge-based and experiential insight into various green projects. This course exposes students from across disciplines to salient directions in the environmental humanities and to observe praxis methodologies in action. It approaches the climate crisis primarily from the angle of ecocritical textual analysis.

GESS1017 (GES1023) Representing Singapore

Edna LIM

While drawing on methodologies and approaches used in literary studies, this course moves beyond the traditional confines of Singapore Literature. We will thus examine the representation of Singapore, and of contemporary issues of importance in Singapore, in a variety of different popular media. After an initial introduction to the critical reading of cultural representation, we will explore traditional genres such as poetry and drama, as well as more popular ones such as television, film, and popular autobiography. The course is open to all students.

Preclusion for GESS1017: GES1023
Preclusion for GES1023: GESS1017

GESS1028 (GES1039) Cultural Performances and Practices in Singapore

Alvin LIM

This course introduces a broad spectrum of performance practices that may be identified as local cultural expressions found in Singapore. Such practices occur in varied spaces and mediums, and include street opera, getai [song-stage], animal performances, theatre, film, religious festivals, national day parades, YouTube video performances and mobile gaming. Students will explore the rich performative histories of these practices and study concepts of performativity, liveness, and mediation. They will learn the ways in which technology and media play a crucial part in cultural expression and identity formation. The course is open to all students and Continuous Assessment is 100%.

Preclusion for GESS1028: GES1039
Preclusion for GES1039: GESS1028

GEX1031 (GET1044) Hollywood Cinema: Constructing the Realistic

Edna LIM

Hollywood cinema is arguably the most popular and dominant cinema in the world but it is also a group style that represents a particular mode of expression and approach to the cinematic medium. This course explores the ways that Hollywood has used film form to create a naturalised style and viewing experience. We will study its conventions as well as the variations and deviations that push the envelope or constitute alternative constructions of the realistic. This course is 100% CA and some of the films studied may have mature content.

Preclusion for GEX1031: GET1044
Preclusion for GET1044 : GEX1031

Semester 1 - Interdisciplinary Courses

HS2912 Polymaths: Innovating Between Art and Science

Maiya MURPHY & CHNG Hui Ting

Why are so many successful scientists also artists? Why are so many artists obsessed with science? Can the skills of polymath geniuses like Leonardo daVinci be learned? This course explores the history, skills, and capacities of problem-solvers and innovators who reject disciplinary borders and work across both science and art. By engaging with the work of famous and everyday art-science polymaths across time and place, students will engage in and interrogate both scientific and artistic practices to cultivate a toolbox of strategies and aptitudes for crossing disciplines, seeing the bigger picture, solving complex problems, and innovating in a dynamic world.

Advisory pre-requisites:

This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards.
Students are encouraged to have completed at least two of the Level-1000 CHS Common Curriculum courses, which may include: HSI1000, HSH1000, CHS Data Literacy course, and CHS Digital Literacy course.

Semester 2 - General Education Courses

GEI1002 (GET1030) Computers and the Humanities

Miguel ESCOBAR

Preclusion for GEI1002: GET1030
Preclusion for GET1030: GEI1002

GEN2001 Theatre and Community Engagement

Robin LOON, Peggy FERROA & Jeffrey TAN

GEN2004 Green Communities in Action: Climate, Species, Crisis

Gayatri PILLAI

GESS1021 (GES1029) Singapore Film: Performance of Identity

Edna LIM

This course explores the ways in which Singapore films constitute a national cinema by considering the history and development of local film production as well as closely examining how individual films perform and engage the notion of a Singapore identity. Through a group creative project, students are challenged to make their own Singapore film that involves the practical application of critical ideas and enables students to participate in the ways that a national cinema performs and functions. The films studied may involve mature content and have varied film ratings.

Preclusion for GESS1021: GES1029
Preclusion for GES1029: GESS1021

Semester 2 - Interdisciplinary Courses

HS2913 Representing Live(s): Research, Performance and Stories

Robin LOON & Jennifer ESTES

How can we learn about people’s experiences, ethically represent their lives, and communicate their stories to an audience? What is the affective power of live performance? How can these performances inform the public’s understanding of pressing social issues? This course explores these questions by integrating approaches from anthropology and theatre studies. You will apply the ideas you learn into practice by collaborating in groups to create a performance piece based on your original research. In the process, you will hone your ability to employ qualitative research methods, craft compelling narratives, and communicate complex ideas.

Advisory pre-requisites:

This module is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards.
Students are encouraged to have completed HSS1000 and HSH1000.

HS2914 How to Get Humans and Machines to Talk to Each Other

Nick HUANG & Vik GOPAL

Language is one of the basic defining characteristics of what is it to be human, although recent advances seem to have helped computers master at least some aspects of human language. But how does human language work, and do machines handle it the same way as humans do? This course is an overview, for non-specialists, of rule-based and statistical approaches that have proven to be very effective at modeling various aspects of human language, used whether by humans or by computers. The course will also provide students with a greater appreciation of the strengths and limitations of these two approaches.

Advisory pre-requisite:

This course is reserved for students from Year 2 onwards.
Students are encouraged to have completed a course from either the CHS Digital Literacy pillar and/or the CHS Data Literacy pillar.