Skip to main content Skip to navigation

IP226/IP326 The Liquid Continent

Module Overview

The Mediterranean Sea occupies a complex and critical place in the development of human culture, society, and psyche. Despite this, it is easy to look at the Mediterranean solely as an empty gap between Africa and Europe, ‘east’ and ‘west’. For millennia, however, the Mediterranean has shown itself to be just the opposite. Rather than a blank space it is a complex and multifaceted environment that continues to influence a range of human experiences, from the fundamental to the frivolous.

During the module, we explore topics such as archaeology, trade and commerce, conservation and sustainability, blue humanities, migration and refugees, tourism and influencers, religion and belief, and politics. We will also develop an awareness of how imperial and possessive travel and writing about travel can be, and for the need to adopt intersectional and postcolonial perspectives to better understand and analyse such sources and topics. Students will be encouraged to make their own connections between ideas and identify their own areas of interest and focus.

With this work and exploration this modules seeks to empower students to contextualise the Mediterranean as Jean Cocteau envisaged it: as the liquid continent.

Module aims:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • describe key aspects of the Mediterranean world's histories, geopolitics, cultures, religions, and environments using the lens of travel writing
  • critique theoretical positions, drawn from a number of disciplines, relating to various aspects of the Mediterranean
  • examine key critical issues relating to the Mediterranean as accessed through travel, with the goal of identifying appropriate solutions and responses.
  • undertake independent research
  • construct your own unique research-informed responses to key topics
  • demonstrate the application of problem-based learning skills

Module Leader:

Dr William Rupp

Optional module

Term 2 | 10 weeks

15 CATS

2 hour workshop per week


Available to Year 2 and Year 3 students in the School for Cross-Faculty Studies, and Year 2 and Year 3 external students.

Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-Faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on these pages

Illustrative topics:

As this module uses problem-based and active student learning pedagogies, content covered may change from year to year based on student specialisms and interests. The syllabus below is provided as an indicative guide, but is flexible and subject to change.

  • defining the liquid continent: travel, writing, and human consciousness.
  • Mediterranean visions of the past: pilgrimages, plunder, power, and perspective
  • modes of engagement: present day travel through physical and metaphysical means
  • future, tense: the Mediterranean in an uncertain future
  • voyages of the mind made manifest: presentations/poster session
Assessments:

There are three assessments on this module:

Assessment Weighting Description
Collaborative Map/Travelogue 15% weekly contributions to collective and collaborative map
Personal Odyssey: Academic Poster 15%

poster and presentation of journey / movement across the Mediterranean

Personal Odyssey: Research Project 50% independent research project

Illustrative reading list:

  • Abram, Simone, Don Macleod, and Jackie D. Waldren. 2021. Identifying People with Places. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Adams, Percy G. 1962. Travelers and Travel Liars, 1600-1800. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Blanton, Casey. 2002. Travel Writing: The Self and the World. New York and London: Routledge.
  • Bohls, Elizabeth A., and Ian Duncan, eds. 2008. Travel Writing 1700-1830: An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Buzard, James. 1993. The Beaten Track: European Tourism, Literature and the Ways to "Culture", 1800-1918. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Duncan, James, and Derek Gregory, eds. 1999. Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Johnston, Anna, and Helen Gilbert, eds. 2002. In Transit: Travel, Text, Empire. Lausanne: P Lang.
  • Greenblatt, Stephen. 1991. Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Grewal, Inderpal. 1996. Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and the Cultures of Travel. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
  • Hooper, Glen, and Tim Youngs, eds. 2004. Perspectives on Travel Writing. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
  • Hulme, Peter, and Tim Youngs, eds. 2002. The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Korte, Barbara. 2000. English Travel Writing: From Pilgrimages to Postcolonial Explorations. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Leask, Nigel. 2002. Curiosity and the Aesthetics of Travel Writing, 1770-1840. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Lisle, Debbie. 2006. The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Mills, Sara. 1991. Discourses of Difference: Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Pratt, Mary Louise. 2008. Imperial Eyes: Travel writing and Transculturation. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Roberson, Susan L., ed. 2001. Defining Travel: Diverse Visions. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.
  • Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient. London: Penguin.
  • Zemon Davis, Natalie. 2007. Trickster Travels: In Search of Leo Africanus. London: Faber.