The Special Subjects listed below are offered as permanent options for the MSt and MPhil. Candidates are encouraged to discuss individually tailored options with the appropriate member of staff.
- A Medieval or Renaissance option may be taken as part of the Programme in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Studies.
- A Medieval option may be taken as part of the MSt in Medieval Studies.
- A Brazilian option may be taken as part of the Programme in Latin American Literature.
N.B. Candidates wishing to specialise in Portuguese Linguistics should apply for the MSt or MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology.
These are the Special Subject options available in 2026-27. These are indicative of the course offerings for the sub-faculty, so applicants should note that not all options will run in all years, and some course content might change.
Modern
The Colonial and Postcolonial Literature of Portuguese-Speaking Africa (Michaelmas Term)
Convenor: Dr. Catriona Parry
What does a comparative approach between literary and cinematic texts reveal about the post-colonial trajectories of Portuguese-Speaking Africa? This course will engage with literature and film from Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. It will examine a selection of authors and directors, from different geographical settings and historical moments, for their portrayal of colonial experiences and post-colonial legacies. We will explore how these writers and filmmakers confront questions of national identity and colonial history, and, in particular, we will consider how and why African authors and filmmakers incorporate distinctive African dimensions into their work, while simultaneously strategically engaging with and appropriating European literary and cinematic traditions, be it at the level of themes, form or language.
Lusophone Women Writers (Hilary Term)
Convenor: Prof. Claire Williams
This course takes as its starting-point the well-documented isolation and marginality of women writers in Portuguese-speaking countries in the first half of the 20th century, before moving on to consider the growing impact of new generations of female writers, from the 1950s onwards, engaging with responses to colonial rule and/or dictatorship, independence struggles and their aftermath, ending up by discussing some contemporary examples. It examines the differing strategies deployed by female-authored texts as they negotiate the minefield of genre and gender, and issues surrounding critical reception. Students will have the opportunity to study major canonical writers, but also, if they so wish, some of the lesser-known writers.