Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - WL 203 D100

Subversive Genres (3)

Class Number: 2776

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 5 – Apr 10, 2026: Mon, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores the destabilizing potential of literary and artistic genres as they move across cultural lines. Focuses on genres that have traveled widely, such as Gothic horror, utopian fantasy, science fiction or ecocriticism and environmental literature. This course may be repeated once for credit when different topics are offered. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Subverting the place of origin: Circulation, identity and worldliness

This course offers a critical reflection on how the creative circulation of individuals, ideas, memories and cultures redefines traditional notions of home, family ties, borders and nationalism. Through close readings of selected texts, we will examine how the place of destination tends to also become a place of departure and consequently a non-place where new ways of doing and being in the world can emerge. We will study how the global circulation of characters remains sensitive to local cultural specificities and modes of aesthetic expression. Finally, we will examine how the notion of circulation is reflected in the very narrative structures and the spatial memories that underpin them.

Grading

  • Attendance & Participation 10%
  • First in-class Essay 25%
  • Second in-class Essay 25%
  • Group Oral Presentation 20%
  • Term Paper (5 pages/12 Times New Roman) 20%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Danny Laferrière, The enigma of the return, MacLehose Press, London, 2011 (Haiti).


Valeria Luiselli, Faces in the Crowd, Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, 2014 (Mexico).


Taiye Selasi, Ghana must Go, Penguin Press, New York, 2013 (Nigeria and Ghana).


Maryse Condé, Crossing the Mangrove, Anchor Books/Doubleday, New York, 1995 (Guadeloupe).


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.