Taught by: A/P Chitra Sankaran
Content (Structure/Organization): -
On the first day of the module, Prof Chitra explains the syllabus to us so we know what’s coming up. Presentation time slots are decided on the first lesson, which has you accessing a link and clicking on the week you want to do your 2 presentations. Maybe a better planner would have picked more strategic time slots but I just picked mine based on vibes and called it a day. Her lectures are excellent. She sticks to the concepts she wants to go through that week and doesn’t veer off. I cannot stress how much I appreciate how concise and succinct her lectures are(15-20 slides 1h) because my brain can only absorb so much. She goes through content in quite a systematic order and doesn’t jump around the slides so that was also good. Even though the 4h timeslot is brutal(12-4 yikes), she gives us a 30 mins break after she finishes her lecture, which I use for either taking a nap or eating lunch.
All the assessments build up to the final essay so by the time you get there, you’d have more than enough research material to answer 1 of the 2 questions which is quite stonks since you don’t really have to do your own secondary reading if you don’t want to.
Accessibility and Assessment: 4
Module is fairly accessible because of how forgiving the grade distribution is; there is no component worth more than 25% so if you mess up on the earlier assessments, it is easy to recover. Even though this is a Lit heavy module, Prof Chitra knows that not everyone is a Lit major and is open to accepting essays that do not focus too heavily on close reading. The only assignment that someone without a Lit background may have difficulties in would be the concept paper on one of the texts, but that’s worth only 15% of the entire grade. Only downside of the grade distribution is the amount of work you’d probably have to do for a sad sad percentage(a 3k essay for 25% makes me want to puke blood). Concepts are well explained using clear, simple language. She doesn’t use a lot of jargon and even if she does, she’ll stop and explain it.
Readings can be a bit daunting(shorter readings are genuinely more confusing than the longer ones) but Prof Chitra is open to clarification questions and the weekly student presentations more than help clear most misconceptions up.
Take this mod if you have a genuine interest in either one of these areas: ecofeminism/ecocriticism/feminism. It’s also a good Lit mod for those who want that since Prof Chitra is a Lit prof.
Manageability of Workload: 2
The grade distribution is both bane and boon. There’s 5 components which means you’d probably be constantly working on this mod since they’re close in weightage. But again, 3k for 25%???? An essay + group presentation for 15%????? I think it helps to be genuinely interested in the mod since these assignments tend to get draggy at times but the effort you put in does pay off quite well. Also I think USP mods just generally have a high workload…
Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades:
Prof Chitra is a fair marker, I was quite satisfied with the grades I got proportionate to the effort that I put in. My final essay/mid-terms had a few grammatical errors and I misspelt a character’s name in my final essay but I was able to get an A for both components. It’s by no means an easy mod though given how stressful the midterms were. Some of the questions tested were not in the lecture slides but it’s still tested since she has brought it up verbally in class (I guess my advice would be to listen carefully and take down notes)
Learning Value/Recommendation: 5
I think this mod has helped lay a solid foundation for ecofem, which is good for me since I’m likely to take more Prof Chitra/Ecocrit mods in the future
About the Instructor:
An excellent prof who is approachable and friendly; some of the things she says is telegram sticker worthy. She’s also quick in her email replies.
Content (Structure/Organization): -
Clear assessment guidelines. I didn't really question the flow I just took it as it is. One thing that can be improved: students are told at the start of lesson 1 to go to a website to sign up for 2 presentation slots (each week 1-3 groups will present on a text each). There were some who were lucky to complete both pres very early in the sem, while some completed near the end where stress level and everything were higher. I gave feedback that she could do some moderation to make presenting as painless as possible for everyone.
Accessibility and Assessment: 3
Prof's module description says no prior knowledge is assumed, and rightly so, because we hardly get exposed to feminism or ecocriticism before Uni. One thing I rmb very well though: she said "Marxist slant" during the first lesson and I was quite amused cos I think most people dk what it means hahahaha I guess it is good to know who Marx is and what his works mean
This was a transformative class—it taught me what an oppressive conceptual framework was, and how the patriarchy/capitalism/colonialism etc intersect. It gave me language to describe things around me. Another technical skill is how to do literary analysis
Manageability of Workload: 2
About 2 readings per week: 1 academic paper and 1 primary text (short story, poem, etc). Quantity is ok, but damn the academic papers are dense, it takes 2-3h to go through (I am a slow reader)
Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades:
She seems to reward students quite handsomely. I got A- and A+ (v surprised) in 2 of the components. And she returns feedback so quickly it's lovely
Learning Value/Recommendation: 5
Transformative class, this is my first entry into feminist works and will not be my last
About the Instructor:
She's so kind! I love that after a student says something she will directly and substantially respond to them in a value-adding way, and I always learn something from her comments! Sometimes in other mods I feel like the educator's words tell me nothing.
Name: Peng Yun Ting (@Yunting99)
Content (Structure/Organization): -
This module wasn't what I was expecting when I first signed up for it - content wise, it is quite reflective of what's written on the website, but it honestly exceeded all of my expectations. When Prof first introduced the syllabus and the grading criteria to us, I was quite intimidated by it, but Prof really guides you through everything and makes all of the contents taught super accessible. At it's core, it is a literature module, but the content is taught to be made accessible to people with no literature background - the prof explained everything, including literature terms, and I felt that she didn't really make us delve too deep into the technical side of things. There's a lot of close reading involved in the primary texts provided to us, but the texts are really interesting and unexpected, and the professor guided us with the close reading through class discussions. Theoretical papers were hard to understand at times, but again, the professor explained a lot of them in her slides. She also manages to introduce concepts in a manner than really helps them to become ingrained within you, while making each lesson interesting.
Ecofeminism, the focus of this module, isn't something I heard of heading into this module, but I came out of this module with a new, revised view of the way our society runs. Throughout the module, we were introduced to different aspects of ecofeminism, the different theories of them, and were pushed to apply these theories to our various primary texts, that came from authors all over Asia (and also beyond). The professor's knowledge of the topic is inspiring and the contents were truly eye-opening. She drew our attention to the oppression of the subalterns, or subordinate races, genders, people in ways that I really didn't expect. If you want to gain a new world view, one that really will change the way you see things and make you more aware of the world around you, or if you're interested in reading texts that are different and so enthralling, please take this module.
Accessibility and Assessment: -
Manageability of Workload: 3
The workload is not light, but it is manageable if you keep up with the weekly workload, and it also depends on what slots you sign up for, for your presentations. There is a weekly theoretical reading that can range from 6 pages to 20+ pages, but the short ones tend to be hard to understand while some of the longer ones are actually easier to understand. There is also about 1-2 primary text readings every 2 weeks. I found the amount of readings manageable most weeks, especially because even when I didn't understand the readings well, I didn't feel pressured because the professor would explain parts of the readings in the next lecture. The professor also repeated concepts during her classes so you get the concepts driven into you rather subconsciously. Besides, if you really can't manage the readings, you could afford to skip some readings (in the weeks that you are not presenting and post-midterms), although if you do take this mod, really try to do all of them if you can, because they help value-add to your understanding of ecofeminism.
I was rather grateful for the 4 hours block lesson, rather than having 2 x 2hours. The class tends to be a lecturer for the first 1.5 hours, followed by student led discussions or presentations. As such, it didn't feel too draggy and I felt mostly engaged in class, even if it got tiring at times.
Assignments can be tough and the professor can be rather vague about her grading criterias. There's a critical reading assignment with a class facilitation component, as well as a group presentation, a midterm exam, a term paper proposal and paper. That means there are quite a lot of assignments, but I enjoyed the diversity of assessment methods given and found it much more manageable than the typical H&SS modules that gave like 3 writing assignments. I also felt that these assignments didn't overly favour those who were stronger at writing, because they were so varied. The assignments took me about one week each to prepare for, because it required reading or watching the primary texts, then analysing them and then making a presentation, but it was manageable even with other ongoing assignments from different modules. I also felt that the professor was very aware that her students weren't literature students, had no background in this topic of ecofeminism, and graded accordingly. Midterms were tough and requires very active listening in the classes - some of the things she tested for were mentioned only verbally in class but were not in the slides. Overall, it was tough but it really depends on how you schedule your assignments (because you get to choose which week to do the facilitation and presentation in), as well as whether you keep up with the workload in the module.
About the Instructor:
The professor knows her materials very well. When she lectures, it's like a continuous stream of words and concepts being thrown at you (she just keeps going like I don't think she needs moments to think because she knows her material so well). She is approachable and friendly and is very willing to answer students' questions. She brings the contents of the module across so well.
Her grading criteria can be rather vague, she doesn't really tell you what exactly she is looking for, and I was rather confused by the level of depth she wanted from our term papers - it felt like she favoured rather apparent ecofeminist analysis of texts in the term paper, rather than the typical ""interesting, novel"" perspectives wanted by profs in other modules or WCT. This might be cause she knows we don't have background in the topic. She doesn't give much details about the grading criteria of the other assignments either, but I guess they're probably rather typical, and also allows for more space for creativity. However, having said that, even though the grading criteria were vague, I felt that she was rather reasonable in how she graded my assignments.
Additional Comments/Word of Advice:
This module is really worth the time and effort! Really enjoyed every aspect of it, willing to elaborate more if needed!