Graduate Diploma in Biography and Life Writing

Course code: 3074 + Course abbreviation: GradDipBiog&LifeWrit + Total credit points required: 48 + 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time

Study mode and course location

On-campus (Clayton)

Course description

This course will explore many of the theoretical and practical issues involved in reading and writing biographies and life stories. It will include practical questions about the accessing of resources and the ways to utilise and design interviews. It will address many of the ethical, moral and legal questions involved in writing biography and life stories. It will also offer students an understanding of some of the ways in which psychoanalysis, feminist theory and postcolonial studies have affected the understanding of biography and life writing. Students will explore the history of biography and autobiography, and some of the different ways in which biographies have been constructed and written. The use of life stories in history and sociology will also be discussed.

Course structure

Students complete 48 points, including one 12-point core unit and three 12-point elective units offered at level 4. Not all units are available each year. Unless otherwise indicated, all units are taught at Clayton.

Core unit

HYM4270 Research methods in biography and life writing

Elective units

HYM4280 Reading and writing biography and life stories
HYM4200 History and memory: oral history, life stories and commemoration
HYM4560 The past around us (online)
HYM4620 Family history and genealogy (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
HYM4820 Local and community history (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
HYM4900 History, biography and autobiography
HYM4120 Reading and writing Australian history
HYM4950 Hidden transcripts: cultural approaches to the past
HYM4960 Gender and history
one other approved 12-point unit

Exit point

Students who have completed 24 points towards the Graduate Diploma in Biography and Life Writing may be offered an exit award of a Graduate Certificate in Arts.

Articulation

For further study options please contact the School of Historical Studies or visit www.arts.monash.edu.au/prospective/course/postgraduate

Course coordinator

Professor Barbara Caine

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