This module is concerned with social and cultural constructions and understandings of gender, sexuality and the body as discussed in anthropology and beyond. The main aim of the module is to develop a critical understanding of some of the major theoretical approaches to gender, sex and the body, as they have been and are relevant to anthropology. In European intellectual history ideas about the body have often revolved around the biological binary categories male and female. In this module, however, using a range of ethnographic examples we look at ways in which the idea of male and female is perceived, embodied and challenged, cross-culturally, in different contexts, and at different historical moments. The topics addressed range from work, performance and narrations of the self, to queer communities and families, and from biopolitics, and new technologies of the body/reproduction, the body, gender, and nation, and gender and globalisation. By the end of the module, you will be expected to be familiar with the main theoretical perspectives in anthropology on gender, sexuality and the related politics. You should also be aware of the historical changes which have marked the analysis of these concepts and be able to use ethnographic material as evidence for theoretical points.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89819","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology in London","summary":"This module explores some of the ways in which it might be possible to begin to understand something as complex as London from an anthropological...","description":"
This module explores some of the ways in which it might be possible to begin to understand something as complex as London from an anthropological perspective. Beginning with a distinction between an anthropology of London, as opposed to an anthropology in London, it will ask whether there really is any kind of stable entity or ‘thing’ we could begin to study as ‘London’, or actually a plurality of ‘London’s’ - a multitude of different forms? If it is so difficult to define a distinct ‘field’ or an object of study, how do we begin an anthropological study?
\nThese questions and others will be tackled through a range of field trips and practical documenting exercises, as well as lectures and screenings. We will consider what an anthropology of London would need to include, how it would go about collecting the relevant information, and we will be putting some of this into practice by taking a series of direct experiences of London as the starting points for considering possible anthropological approaches to the city. The module will involve exploring London at first-hand, as well as looking at its portrayal by anthropologists, writers, artists and filmmakers.
\nBy the end of the module you will have an understanding of a variety of different anthropological approaches to the complexity of London, and have had experience of putting some of those into practice.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word report
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89831","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Development","summary":"The module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of...","description":"The module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of anthropology’s engagement with development and processes of planned social change. The early parts of the module provide students with an understanding of, the emergence of development as an idea, the architecture and infrastructure of aid, and introduce key theoretical approaches in the study of inequality. We also examine the tensions inherent in anthropology’s long and intimate relationship with development, through the early production of expert knowledge about tradition and culture; through its critical engagement with policy processes and planned interventions, and through the professional negotiation of the fields of development anthropology and the anthropology of development.
\nThe module then goes on to contextualise these theoretical and critical approaches to development through a series of interlinked topics and ethnographic case studies. These take students beyond the idea of development as linear progression, or as a monolithic force acting on the world, and instead reveal a field fractured by contradictions, contestations and contingencies that is produced, reproduced and interpreted across multiple locations and cultural contexts.
\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (summative)
The aim of this module is to push you to think about history, theory and ethics in anthropology. This will be explored through the prism of controversy. We will be looking at a number of different controversies in anthropology, how they shaped the discipline and what we can learn from them. While doing this we will be looking at some of the key figures in the history of anthropology, the relationship between anthropology and the public and locating these people and events in an historical perspective. Anthropology is not static – it changes constantly. This module is designed to interrogate some of these changes through one particular driving force – controversies. While controversy may sound enticing or exciting, it should be kept in mind that many of these controversies massively affected the lives of researchers, research participants and others – in some cases resulting in deaths or policy shifts that detrimentally impacted on the lives of informants and those around them.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word report (100%), presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89844","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Violence","summary":"This module looks at the ways in which anthropologists have dealt with violence, how we explain it, the specific problems of researching this topic,...","description":"This module looks at the ways in which anthropologists have dealt with violence, how we explain it, the specific problems of researching this topic, the involvement of anthropologists in military projects and other issues. We will be looking at the practices of researching; writing and engaging with violence and the problems these pose contemporary anthropologists. Some of the readings, lectures and other sources we might look at in this module inevitably deal with issues, descriptions and images of violence. Please be aware of this before taking the module and if it’s an issue discuss this with module convenor sooner rather than later.
\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
This module examines three areas of anthropological enquiry into human-environment relations: different societies’ experience of and thoughts about their biophysical surroundings (beliefs, practices, dwelling); human shaping of landscapes (living in balance with nature, enhancing or destroying it); and environmental politics, or political ecology (small and large scale resource conflict, science and policy processes, environmental movements). Each topic is examined through one or two key studies, drawn from different regions of the world (e.g. Amazonia, West Africa, Indonesia) and relating to different resources (e.g. forests, soil, water, oil). Throughout the module, we will also discuss the bearings of the anthropological ideas examined on public dismodules of environmentalism and on conservation policy.
\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 2 hour seminar per week, 4 hours independent study per week
\nAssessment: 2x take home paper
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89852","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Art","summary":"Arguably modern anthropology and modern art are close in terms of both their origins and their critical reflection on the relationships between...","description":"Arguably modern anthropology and modern art are close in terms of both their origins and their critical reflection on the relationships between images, objects and persons, and a concern with anthropological or ethnographic issues is often an explicit feature of contemporary artworks. But despite a long history of dealing with the so-called ‘art’ of other cultures, what does anthropology have to contribute to an understanding of the kinds of artworks you might find at Tate Modern today? Using ethnographic case studies this module will consider key anthropological approaches to art both historically and thematically, and will explore how art and anthropology are entangled with each other, including suggesting ways in which anthropology can productively learn from contemporary art.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90274","attributes":{"title":"Angels or Apes: Origins of Human Nature","summary":"You'll be provided with an introduction to modern comparative and evolutionary psychology. The module material addresses profound questions such as:...","description":"
You'll be provided with an introduction to modern comparative and evolutionary psychology. The module material addresses profound questions such as: what is it to be human? What distinguishes us from other animals? What is our place in nature? What are the core psychological and behavioural characteristics of human beings? Are humans infinitely behaviourally flexible or are we channelled by inherited tendencies from our primate past?
\nWe will examine comparative theory and research on the nature of intelligence, theory of mind, culture, language, cooperation and aggression.
\nAssessment: 1 x 1,500 word research proposal, 1 x 2 hour exam
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90291","attributes":{"title":"Anomalistic Psychology","summary":"Anomalistic psychology attempts to explain paranormal and related beliefs and ostensibly paranormal experiences in terms of known (or knowable)...","description":"Anomalistic psychology attempts to explain paranormal and related beliefs and ostensibly paranormal experiences in terms of known (or knowable) psychological and physical factors. This module provides a comprehensive introduction to the field by outlining the insights provided by each of the sub-disciplines of psychology in understanding a wide range of paranormal beliefs and experiences. The module also includes discussion of the current status of parapsychology and the distinction between science and pseudoscience.
\nTopics include: individual differences; perspectives from clinical, developmental, psychobiological, cognitive, social, and evolutionary psychology; parapsychology; philosophical issues; future prospects for anomalistic psychology and parapsychology; the psychology of belief in conspiracy theories.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week.
\nAssessment: exam (70%), essay (30%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90513","attributes":{"title":"Approaches to Language and the Media","summary":"This module aims to enhance students’ understanding of a variety of media texts, including TV and radio programmes, magazine advertisements,...","description":"This module aims to enhance students’ understanding of a variety of media texts, including TV and radio programmes, magazine advertisements, newspaper stories and instant messaging. ‘Text’ is understood here in its broadest sense to refer to written and spoken language but also visual images intended to express meaning. Critical discourse analysis, multimodal textual analysis, conversation analysis, semiotic approaches to texts as well as other linguistic and interdisciplinary approaches will form part of the key theories in linguistics and communication studies students will use to explore language use in the media.
\nExamples of questions this module will address are as follows: What distinguishes media genres? How are particular groups of people and events in the world represented through the media? What effect is new technology having on our communication practices? How has media discourse changed over time and how does it change across cultures?
\nAssessment: 1x essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90606","attributes":{"title":"Approaches to Text","summary":"Enabling you to become a more observant, perceptive and analytical reader and critic in your own right, this module introduces you to essential...","description":"Enabling you to become a more observant, perceptive and analytical reader and critic in your own right, this module introduces you to essential concepts in modern literary study.
\nYou are introduced to the history and nature of literary studies, and to contemporary critical debates. You learn a vocabulary in which to discuss literary language, ideas of literary convention and genre, poetic rhythm and form, and the nature of narrative voice and narrative structures. You will also be introduced to debates about the relation of texts on the page to texts in performance, and to wider questions about the interpretation of texts.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90637","attributes":{"title":"An Introduction to the Teaching and Learning of English as a Foreign Language","summary":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring\n(If you take this module for one term only then you will be awarded 15 credits)\nContact hours: 1 x 2 hour...","description":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring
\n(If you take this module for one term only then you will be awarded 15 credits)
\nContact hours: 1 x 2 hour lecture per week
\nThe purpose of the course is two-fold: to provide a theoretical background to Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (TEFLA); and a systematic and practical introduction to the skills and techniques of language teaching, with particular reference to English.
\nThe course will be highly reflective in an attempt to help students construct a personal understanding of language teaching and, with this goal in mind, the course will be as much as possible hands-on and will take the form of mini lectures, workshops and micro teaching. Sessions will include an overview of how language operates and of learning and teaching theory and emphasis will be given as to how these ideas may be related to the classroom, with particular reference to communicative and post-communicative approaches to teaching.
\nThus there will be sessions on the methodology for teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults, including techniques for teaching the language areas of phonology, lexis and structure, as well as sessions on teaching the four major skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Links with other aspects of the degree programme such as those concerned with First Language Acquisition, Study Abroad, and culture and identity will also be encouraged.
\nAssessment: 1 x 2,500 word essay
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91134","attributes":{"title":"Analytic Vocabularies A","summary":"This module introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that can be used to analyse diverse performance texts. The module also examines historical...","description":"
This module introduces a range of theoretical perspectives that can be used to analyse diverse performance texts. The module also examines historical and contemporary contexts and issues to shed light on creative and theoretical developments and the work of specific playwrights, performance makers and theorists. Students will be asked to engage in analysis of individual plays and performances, considering the contextual influences of history and culture as well as genre and form. A variety of approaches are covered, which can be used either individually or in conjunction, with the intention of providing the student with the tools necessary for rigorous critical and conceptual interpretation. This module will provide the conceptual basis for further and more detailed study in Levels Two and Three of the degree programme.
\nThe module will:
\nAssessment: 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 2,000 word essay (summative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91474","attributes":{"title":"Aesthetics, Meaning and Culture","summary":"All musicians have views on aesthetic issues – on how music should be defined, on its ability to ‘express’ and have meaning, and on how it should be...","description":"All musicians have views on aesthetic issues – on how music should be defined, on its ability to ‘express’ and have meaning, and on how it should be understood and valued. This course attempts to clarify these issues by discussing them systematically, by carefully analysing the concepts involved, and by uncovering the cultural conditions implicated in the construction of our values.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91487","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Topics in Music History","summary":"This module provides an opportunity for students to develop critical and musicological skills by analysing materials – primary and secondary – that...","description":"This module provides an opportunity for students to develop critical and musicological skills by analysing materials – primary and secondary – that underpin narratives of music history. The exact material explored by the module will depend on the lecturer whose specialisation will determine the module’s focus. The music under study will be historical, but comparisons may be drawn with popular music; cultural practices in and outside those traditionally associated with Western art music will be considered. Students will acquire extensive knowledge of a repertory, and its apposite scholarship, while incorporating into their studies pioneering methods from a range of disciplines.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91508","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Popular Music Studies","summary":"This research-led module gives you the opportunity to work on a specialised area of popular music studies with a specialist in that field. Subject...","description":"This research-led module gives you the opportunity to work on a specialised area of popular music studies with a specialist in that field. Subject area grounding will be provided throughout, but you will also be asked to engage with the latest research and thinking, and to produce written work that attempts to function at the (sub) discipline’s cutting edge. Module topics may be contemporary or historical, and may centre on musical and/or broader cultural practices. While you will require extensive knowledge of popular music repertoires and discourses developed over the programme’s first two levels, you may also be asked to drawn upon work and methodologies from a number of humanities and social sciences disciplines.
\nFrom the spirituals to hip-hop via jazz and rock and roll, over the last hundred years the global dissemination, presence and influence of African American music styles has been one of music’s dominating narratives. Yet it is only quite recently that concentrated academic study of these styles has arrived; formalised investigation into the tradition as a whole has almost never been possible in the British university. This module aims to rectify that, offering students the chance to explore some of the key themes and debates in a century of African American music from a number of disciplinary points of departure: we will explore musical topics such as the enduring pattern of call and response, cultural-political topics such as the (controversial) assimilation of black music by non-black performers and composers, and historical topics such as the idea of this musical tradition as the site of struggle and memorial.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91560","attributes":{"title":"Arranging in Jazz and Popular Music","summary":"You will be introduced to common arranging techniques found in modern jazz and commercial musics. You will study subjects such as instrument...","description":"You will be introduced to common arranging techniques found in modern jazz and commercial musics. You will study subjects such as instrument ranges and characteristics, voicing techniques, countermelody, woodwind/brass/strings groupings and form and structure. The focus is not only on technical conventions but also on creative approaches to arrangement, structure and orchestration.
\nAssessment: module workbook (50%), full score (50%)
\n\n
Pre-requisites: Compotence in jazz harmony. Please bring manuscript paper and a pencil to each class.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91666","attributes":{"title":"Art and Society","summary":"You will be introduced to key themes and authors in the sociology of art, classical and contemporary. Each session is enshrined in a thematic...","description":"
You will be introduced to key themes and authors in the sociology of art, classical and contemporary. Each session is enshrined in a thematic approach that highlights crucial issues, such as, for example: is art about beauty? What is an artist? Is art beyond society? Should art be political? The module provides both an outline of theoretical approaches and an overview of major results and trends in empirical research; key case studies illustrate and interrogate the thematic core of each lecture.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• To introduce you to key investigations on the relationship of art and society
\n• To provide a map of the historical development and contemporary debates in sociological theory and research on the art
\n• develop a critical understanding of key classical and contemporary approaches in the sociology of art
\n• appreciate the variety of key issues in the sociology of art and how they have been conceptualized differently within diverse traditions of sociological analysis
\n• be able to understand and engage with current debates in the theoretical reflection on art and aesthetics
\n• be able to understand and engage with current debates and trends in sociological research on the arts
\nAssessment: 1x 3500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92828","attributes":{"title":"Anthropological Perspectives on Tourism","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThis module uses anthropological methods to examine tourism and its effects on contemporary culture. It will explore the...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nThis module uses anthropological methods to examine tourism and its effects on contemporary culture. It will explore the phenomenon of tourism from multiple perspectives, including the tourist experience, the tourist industry and the re-shaping of places and spaces as a result of the challenges and opportunities presented by tourism.
\nTheories of tourism as a category of experience (pilgrimage, role-playing, rite of passage….) and as an increasingly globalised socio-cultural practice will be analysed alongside the political economy of modern tourism and travel. Ethnographic case studies will draw on examples from Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92867","attributes":{"title":"Anthropological Research Methods","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nThis module introduces the methods used by anthropologists. It covers the collection of different types of data including...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nThis module introduces the methods used by anthropologists. It covers the collection of different types of data including surveys, the use of archives, images and film, in-depth interviews, participant observation and participatory research, conflicts of interest, ethical codes, informed consent, and other challenges.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92871","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Health and Medicine","summary":"You examine key themes in medical anthropology, ranging from ideas about healing to social inequality and the ‘new biology’. The course addresses...","description":"You examine key themes in medical anthropology, ranging from ideas about healing to social inequality and the ‘new biology’. The course addresses issues of biomedicine in the UK alongside alternative therapies and explanations of health/illness in different parts of the world, and approaches to the political economy. Specific sessions include the application of medical anthropology, ‘new’ diseases and technologies.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92885","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Rights","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce you to rights in terms of their philosophical foundations, the history and shape of the UN system and...","description":"The aim of this module is to introduce you to rights in terms of their philosophical foundations, the history and shape of the UN system and anthropological contributions. We will be exploring human rights and humanitarian law a bodies of law, institutions, systems of practice and ideologies – with particular focus on the issue of cultural relativism (historically the key stumbling block for anthropological engagement with rights) and cross-cultural experiences of engagement with, or resistance to, rights.
\nThis module introduces the fascinating domain of the anthropology of religion: a vast and wide ranging subject. It introduces some of the many ways anthropologists have approached religious phenomena and highlights what is unique about anthropology’s contribution to the understanding of religion. It raises questions concerning what counts as ‘religious’ and includes within the remit of the module consideration of a variety of non-human agents (gods, God, spirits, witches) and religious practices (meditation, worship, performances).
\nAssessment spring: 1,500 word essay (formative), 2,500 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92903","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology and Gender Theory","summary":"This module is concerned with social and cultural constructions and understandings of gender, sexuality and the body as discussed in anthropology and...","description":"This module is concerned with social and cultural constructions and understandings of gender, sexuality and the body as discussed in anthropology and beyond. The main aim of the module is to develop a critical understanding of some of the major theoretical approaches to gender, sex and the body, as they have been and are relevant to anthropology. In European intellectual history ideas about the body have often revolved around the biological binary categories male and female. In this module, however, using a range of ethnographic examples we look at ways in which the idea of male and female is perceived, embodied and challenged, cross-culturally, in different contexts, and at different historical moments. The topics addressed range from work, performance and narrations of the self, to queer communities and families, and from biopolitics, and new technologies of the body/reproduction, the body, gender, and nation, and gender and globalisation. By the end of the module, you will be expected to be familiar with the main theoretical perspectives in anthropology on gender, sexuality and the related politics. You should also be aware of the historical changes which have marked the analysis of these concepts and be able to use ethnographic material as evidence for theoretical points.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92904","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Health 1","summary":"This module will explore understandings and experiences of the health and illness by engaging with classic and contemporary ethnographic work to...","description":"This module will explore understandings and experiences of the health and illness by engaging with classic and contemporary ethnographic work to ask:
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92908","attributes":{"title":"Anthropological Theory","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThe aims and objectives of this module are to introduce students to major subfields of modern anthropology and to do so in a...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nThe aims and objectives of this module are to introduce students to major subfields of modern anthropology and to do so in a broadly historical and comparative framework. The lectures will enable students to see how different anthropologists approach a number of central contemporary issues.
\nThe topics chosen will focus upon some of the theoretical developments and methodological strategies pursued in response to profound and widespread social transformations. Each week the module will focus on a single technique, methodology or strategy in anthropology in the work of a specific anthropologist.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92913","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology and History","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nHistorians and anthropologists share some common epistemological grounds, but the relationship between the two disciplines is...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nHistorians and anthropologists share some common epistemological grounds, but the relationship between the two disciplines is one characterised by certain frictions, the aim of this module being their elucidation. Modern social anthropology was formed in the early twentieth century by a rejection of evolutionism and its replacement by synchronic site-specific studies, a move that effectively eclipsed history’s theoretical significance to the discipline.
\nYet, dissatisfaction with the ways in which synchronic functionalist ethnographic analyses ignored history and social change brought about lasting debates about continuity and rupture; the relation between pasts and presents, and the wider humanistic turn of both disciplines under the theoretical influence of Marxism, feminism, and other critical social theories under debate since the 1960s.
\nThis module is, in many ways, an examination of the possibilities of a historicised anthropology and poses several intertwined empirical and theoretical questions about the place of structure and agency, consciousness and historicity, and memory and silences within ethnography. Through historical ethnographies and selected social historiography, we aim to understand not only how to approach the past anthropologically, but also grasp ethnographically the uses of history as a collectivist political project implicated in nationalism, racist ideology, transitional justice, and categories like world heritage.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92924","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Development: Placement","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nThis is a practical module in which students find and negotiate a work placement with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nThis is a practical module in which students find and negotiate a work placement with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with offices in London.
\nThe placements entail working half a day a week for an agency, carrying out a project useful to the organisation.
\nStudents will gain an understanding of the demands, constraints and concerns of NGO-sector development work and will be able to draw out connections between the practical issues of concern to the organisation in their applied work and the theoretical issues addressed in the rest of the module.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92957","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Art","summary":"Arguably modern anthropology and modern art are close in terms of both their origins and their critical reflection on the relationships between...","description":"Arguably modern anthropology and modern art are close in terms of both their origins and their critical reflection on the relationships between images, objects and persons, and a concern with anthropological or ethnographic issues is often an explicit feature of contemporary artworks. But despite a long history of dealing with the so-called ‘art’ of other cultures, what does anthropology have to contribute to an understanding of the kinds of artworks you might find at Tate Modern today? Using ethnographic case studies this module will consider key anthropological approaches to art both historically and thematically, and will explore how art and anthropology are entangled with each other, including suggesting ways in which anthropology can productively learn from contemporary art.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92973","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Art 2","summary":"This module offers you the opportunity to conduct a short piece of research in the field broadly defined as the Anthropology of Art. Picking up on...","description":"This module offers you the opportunity to conduct a short piece of research in the field broadly defined as the Anthropology of Art. Picking up on theoretical issues introduced in the module Anthropology of Art 1, you will be expected to select your own topic for research. The topic may relate to areas such as:
\nYour research may make use of fieldwork methods (such as participant observation, interviews and photographic documentation) and/or the analysis of documents including visual (pictures, films, material artefacts) and written materials (museum archives, newspapers, essays, books, internet sites). The appropriate methods for your research will be determined by the topic, the time-frame, issues of access, etc. Once you have selected your topic, you should confirm its suitability with your module tutor before embarking on fieldwork.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93687","attributes":{"title":"A History of Violence","summary":"Explores the history and historiography of violence, focusing especially, but not exclusively, on Europe between the medieval period and the present...","description":"
Explores the history and historiography of violence, focusing especially, but not exclusively, on Europe between the medieval period and the present day. The module has two principal themes. First, it examines the recent, important debate on whether and why violence has declined in the past half millennium.
\nDomestic violence and crime, terrorism, war and genocide will all be discussed. The role of religion and secular ideologies, concepts such as honour, and the growth of state power will be among the issues covered. Second, the module investigates the methodologies that scholars have used to explain the causes of violence, the different forms in which it has been practised and its incidence in history.
\nStudents will study cultural histories of violence and will explore how disciplines such as anthropology, sociology and more recently behavioural sciences such as psychology and neuroscience have contributed to understanding of human violence in history.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93910","attributes":{"title":"Assessment and Selection","summary":"The objective of this module is to provide an introductory overview to the theory and practice of personnel assessment and selection. A guiding...","description":"
The objective of this module is to provide an introductory overview to the theory and practice of personnel assessment and selection. A guiding principle of the module will be the scientist-practitioner perspective, with particular emphasis on the value of scientific, theory-driven research for understanding and addressing pragmatic problems.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (50%), exam (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94887","attributes":{"title":"Anarchism","summary":"The history, politics and ideology of anarchism chiefly from its origins in the nineteenth century to 1939 is considered during this module.\nThere...","description":"
The history, politics and ideology of anarchism chiefly from its origins in the nineteenth century to 1939 is considered during this module.
\nThere were will be a discussion of anarchism in the post-1945 period but the main aim of the unit is to trace the origins and development of anarchist ideology (Godwin, Proudhon, Stirner, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta, Goldman etc) and the associated social and labour movements in Europe and the Americas (from the Paris Commune of 1871 to the Spanish Civil, 1936-1939, and from the Haymarket Riot of Chicago in 1886 and the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 to the Russian Revolution and Civil War of 1917-1921).
\nBut there will also be a substantial time devoted to anarchist-type movements and ideas which developed throughout the world before 1800 and as well as a discussion of the 'ism', anarchism, its reception and interchange with thinkers, ideas, and movements in Asia and Africa.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000-5,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"95707","attributes":{"title":"Addictive Behaviours","summary":"Consider and evaluate the extent to which behaviours commonly described as ‘addictive’ – including not only dependence on drugs and alcohol, but also...","description":"
Consider and evaluate the extent to which behaviours commonly described as ‘addictive’ – including not only dependence on drugs and alcohol, but also excessive engagement in behaviours such as gambling – are motivated by similar outcomes and reflect the involvement of similar processes.
\nThe module will outline individual differences in risk for addiction and consider how these differences interact with features of social environments to predict addiction development and relapse. Lastly, the efficacy of different treatment approaches will be considered.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129085","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Mandarin","summary":"Advanced Mandarin is taught in two parts: Advanced Mandarin A and Advanced Mandarin B. \nIn order to join Advanced Mandarin A...","description":"Advanced Mandarin is taught in two parts: Advanced Mandarin A and Advanced Mandarin B.
\nIn order to join Advanced Mandarin A you must have studied the module Upper Intermediate Mandarin B or have a good command of around 2000 Chinese words and expressions. In order to join Advanced Mandarin B you must have completed Advanced Mandarin A or have a command of around 2200 Chinese words and expressions
\nContact hours: 4 hours per week
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129157","attributes":{"title":"Artificial Intelligence","summary":"The module introduces the essential principles of artificial intelligence as part of computer science. The emphasis is on heuristic problem solving...","description":"The module introduces the essential principles of artificial intelligence as part of computer science. The emphasis is on heuristic problem solving methods.
\nMaterial includes the following topics: heuristic search techniques, knowledge representation, rule-based systems for deductive problem solving, search-based planning, and inductive machine learning.
\nThe covered heuristic techniques are: depth-first search, breath-first search, iterative deepening, bi-directional search, hill climbing, and adversarial search.
\nThere are guidelines provided for implementing practical expert systems, planning systems and empirical learning systems with version spaces using the candidate elimination algorithm.
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nAssessment: coursework (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129160","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Audio-visual Processing","summary":"Advanced Audiovisual Processing aims to enhance your skills and experience in the development of software for the creation and manipulation of...","description":"Advanced Audiovisual Processing aims to enhance your skills and experience in the development of software for the creation and manipulation of sounds and images, both in real and non-real time.
\nThe course extends the principles of creative engineering for use in arts, games and more general interaction scenarios so that you can develop your own projects through the use of computational approaches to audiovisual processing.
\nAssessment: lab assignments portfolio (50%), project (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129172","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Graphics and Animation","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per...","description":"
Term(s) taught: Autumn
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per week
\nThis module will cover advanced methods used in current state-of-the-art graphics and animation systems.
\nIt will cover the mathematical foundations, computational techniques and their use in creative practice.
\nAssessment: 1x coursework, 1x exam
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129530","attributes":{"title":"Academic Reading and Writing","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\n \nThe module...","description":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\n\n
The module covers the key aspects of writing an essay. These include features of academic style, the planning process, structuring an argument, summarising, paraphrasing techniques, referencing, avoiding plagiarism, and drafting and editing. Emphasis is given to the logic underlying Western academic writing conventions, rather than simply looking at the procedural aspects. This is supported by work on the main areas of English grammar, with a particular focus on improving grammatical range and accuracy in students’ writing.
\nReading skills are also developed. Textual analysis enables students to learn about cohesion, extend their vocabulary, read for gist and specific information, infer meaning, as well as develop summary skills. The texts generally focus on a background to Western thought and culture, taking into account ancient Greeks and Romans, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the influence of modernity, feminism and Marxism.
\nThere is an emphasis on how to use reading in writing: to learn from other writers’ style and using their points as evidence for students’ arguments.
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129531","attributes":{"title":"Academic Listening and Speaking","summary":"To enhance listening skills, the module makes use of a wide range of texts, drawing firstly on commercially produced EAP materials to help students...","description":"To enhance listening skills, the module makes use of a wide range of texts, drawing firstly on commercially produced EAP materials to help students acquire the skills of listening for gist and specific information and taking useful notes. Later, the course moves on recordings from Goldsmiths library as well as BBC radio shows. Students are exposed to a range of challenging and interesting recordings related to the arts, current affairs, media, education and aspects of British culture. Many of the recordings are relevant to subjects studied at Goldsmiths, for example, race and ethnicity, representation, identity and culture. Where possible, the recordings are exploited for vocabulary development.
\nTo develop speaking skills, students will have to research and give seminar presentations and lead the class through discussion of their chosen topic. They will receive input on effective seminar techniques and functional language. There is also ongoing feedback on their presentations.
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129592","attributes":{"title":"An(other) IR – Views from the South","summary":"Pre-requisite: college-level political science, ideally including some coverage of international relations.\nThis is an experimental and speculative...","description":"Pre-requisite: college-level political science, ideally including some coverage of international relations.
\nThis is an experimental and speculative module that seeks to question the priority accorded to theories and perspectives of the International emanating from the North. It will draw upon different materials taken from Postcolonial and subaltern studies, historiography, development theory, and the margins of contemporary IR as well as non-traditional authors. You are encouraged to embrace this spirit of experimentation to bring materials and ideas from other disciplines and from your own wanderings through the political rather than being reliant on textbook views from on high.
\n\n
Assessment: 1x 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129594","attributes":{"title":"An(other) Japan: Politics, Ideology and Culture","summary":"Focusing on contemporary popular culture in Japan as a particularly significant site for understanding current political concerns, this module treats...","description":"Focusing on contemporary popular culture in Japan as a particularly significant site for understanding current political concerns, this module treats culture as central to an understanding of politics and ideology.
\nIt is through an examination of literature, cinema, animation, manga, and other cultural forms in times of momentous political changes that the module seeks to chart how political anxieties and passions come to be articulated in different periods in Japan’s history.
\nAssessment: Either 4,000 word essay OR 12 page manga
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129597","attributes":{"title":"An(other) China: Streetscenes of Politics","summary":"Glimpses of, and insights into, the lives of ordinary Chinese people and the rules and rituals that govern their existence, create the backbone of...","description":"
Glimpses of, and insights into, the lives of ordinary Chinese people and the rules and rituals that govern their existence, create the backbone of this module. Students will discuss the ways everyday life was governed under socialism and the ways that control is now breaking down with the emergence of a consumer culture, enabling a close scrutiny of the politics of everyday life.
\nPicking up on themes as diverse and quirky as Mao badge fetishists, hoodlum slang, and taboo’s and tattoos, the subject examines the way a range of people not only live but resist dominant social discourse.
\nAssessment: 1 x 1,500 word book review, 1 x 2,500 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"132725","attributes":{"title":"Applied Quantitative Economics","summary":"This module will introduce students to descriptive data analysis techniques and inferential statistics used by economists in their empirical work...","description":"This module will introduce students to descriptive data analysis techniques and inferential statistics used by economists in their empirical work from an applied perspective. Students will learn how to classify data, compute measures of location and dispersion, contingency tables, study correlations and apply regression analysis to economic problems.
\nWith the guidance of the lecturer and associate lecturers, students will learn about data sources (available from governmental statistical institutes, international organisations and other research and policy institutions), form a research question and come up with an answer by applying descriptive and/or inferential statistical tools. They will then have to compose a final report that explains their findings, the motivation for choosing the techniques employed in relation to their dataset, and a critical appraisal of the limitations of their analysis in answering the theoretical/policy question they set out to explore.
\nAn important part of this module is to train the student in using computer packages to analyse real data.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"134043","attributes":{"title":"Algorithms and Data Structures","summary":"Be exposed to standard data structures and the algorithms for manipulating them. In particular, you'll learn to choose appropriate data...","description":"Be exposed to standard data structures and the algorithms for manipulating them. In particular, you'll learn to choose appropriate data structures for representing problems and to convert algorithms expressed non-programmatically (ie. informally or mathematically) into efficient programs which solve the problem at hand.
\nPre-Requisites: Java or C++, discrete maths
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"136578","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Human Animal Relations","summary":"What does it mean to be human? Animals are excellent resources with which to think about human identity since they are similar (animate, sensitive)...","description":"
What does it mean to be human? Animals are excellent resources with which to think about human identity since they are similar (animate, sensitive) but also different from us. The interesting thing for anthropologists is the lack of agreement about the nature of these similarities and differences. Dogs, for example, are simultaneously both ‘man’s best friend’ in the heroic animal novels popular in post depression USA, and genital licking polluters to some Muslims.
\nAnimals are also capital. The production of animals is the largest industry in the world. Their production and consumption reflects important aspects of socio-political organisation. It has changed rapidly since the domestication of animals, and has recently entered an unprecedented phase of extreme exploitation epitomised by the factory farms of Euroamerica. At the same time, wild animals have been commodified in zoos and rare species are preserved in parks that exclude human inhabitants.
\nHow are we to understand these apparently contradictory impulses? Why are cows food and pandas poster children for the Worldwide Fund for Nature? This course will provide a background to current debates about animals that will enable you to contribute to arguments about classification, animal rights, biotechnology, and the desirable limits of human intervention in processes once thought of as residing in 'nature'.
\nYou will learn to make connections between anthropology, geography, political philosophy, ethics, literary theory and science. At all times you will be encouraged to relate different ways of thinking about animals to ethnographic examples.
\nContact hours: 1x 3 hour seminar per week, 4 hours independent study per week
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"138612","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Econometrics","summary":"This module builds on the level 6 first term Econometrics module by extending student’s students' knowledge in the field of multivariate analysis....","description":"This module builds on the level 6 first term Econometrics module by extending student’s students' knowledge in the field of multivariate analysis. Students will gain more detailed knowledge of econometric techniques in the following fieldstopics:
\nThis module will not only extend student knowledge in estimation and inference statistical theory, but also expect that students will gain practical experience in using the appropriate computer packages to run statistical testing perform statistical analyses. Students will enhance their knowledge of Eviews, Stata and other computer software and will also be informed of the practical issues relating to the use and limitations of these computer packages.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138739","attributes":{"title":"Anthropological Approaches to History\n","summary":"While historians and anthropologists share some common epistemological grounds, the relationship between the two disciplines is one characterised by...","description":"While historians and anthropologists share some common epistemological grounds, the relationship between the two disciplines is one characterised by certain frictions, the aim of this module being their elucidation.
\nModern social anthropology was formed in the early twentieth century by a rejection of evolutionism and its replacement by synchronic site-specific studies, a move that effectively eclipsed history’s theoretical significance to the discipline. Yet, dissatisfaction with the ways in which synchronic functionalist ethnographic analyses ignored history and social change brought about lasting debates about continuity and rupture; the relation between pasts and presents, and the wider humanistic turn of both disciplines under the theoretical influence of Marxism, feminism, and other critical social theories under debate since the 1960s.
\nThis module is, in many ways, an examination of the possibilities of a historicised anthropology and poses several intertwined empirical and theoretical questions about the place of structure and agency, consciousness and historicity, and memory and silences within ethnography. Through historical ethnographies and selected social historiography, we aim to understand not only how to approach the past anthropologically, but also grasp ethnographically the uses of history as a collectivist political project implicated in nationalism, racist ideology, and categories like world heritage.
\nAssessment: 1x 3000 word report
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140706","attributes":{"title":"Aesthetics","summary":"Part I: Key Concepts in Aesthetics\nThe first half of the module introduces you to theories of aesthetics in the history of continental philosophy....","description":"Part I: Key Concepts in Aesthetics
\nThe first half of the module introduces you to theories of aesthetics in the history of continental philosophy. The module offers a close engagement with fundamental topics in aesthetics with the aim of establishing a philosophical framework in which distinct views are discussed and studied. This part of the module will engage with several topics. It will discuss the nature of art in its relation with aesthetics; the question of representation in relation to the classical views of beauty and truth; the problem of expression and its logical underpinning; the nature of sensation and its relation to the aesthetic object; and the question of taste and judgement. These topics will be addressed through the analysis of classical texts and of leading contemporary theorists in the field. This first part of the module will provide you with a wide range of theoretical debates aiming to contextualise the study of key texts discussed in the second part.
\nPart II: Key Texts in Aesthetics
\nThe second half of the module will focus on the sustained reading of one major text in the philosophy of art and aesthetics, contextualising it within the historical moment in which its key premises and arguments emerged, isolating its major claims and interlocutors, and evaluating its contributions to fundamental debates on art, aesthetic experience, and the claims and limits to the autonomy that the aesthetic implies.
\nIn 2017, this part of the module focuses on the first part of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment (pertaining to aesthetic judgment), key texts that surround the historical development of the field of aesthetics as a science of sensation and judgments on taste, the ramifications for the theory of moral sentiments and the genesis of art criticism in early German Idealism, and contemporary interpretations of the significance of Kant's argument for human freedom and the autonomy of reason.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142452","attributes":{"title":"Awkward Giant: Germany and its Place in Europe 1871-2015","summary":"Firstly, this module examines the external economic and military challenge which Germany’s unification in 1871 posed to established European states,...","description":"Firstly, this module examines the external economic and military challenge which Germany’s unification in 1871 posed to established European states, and their efforts during the following century to compromise with, subdue and accommodate the new power.
\nSecondly, the module traces Germans’ own struggle of self-identity. From its inception, the new country was torn by competing ideas of governance, as well as differing conceptions of nationhood. During the twentieth century, ideologies such as nationalism, militarism, Nazism, Communism, Social and Christian Democracy vied to shape Germans’ perceptions of themselves and their relations with the outside world.
\nBy fusing cultural history with the study of international relations, this course traces Germany’s path from nascent world power through war, division and reunification to peaceful coexistence within Europe.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147701","attributes":{"title":"Analytic Vocabularies B","summary":"You will be introduced to a range of key theoretical perspectives that can be used to analyse a range of playtexts. The module also examines some of...","description":"
You will be introduced to a range of key theoretical perspectives that can be used to analyse a range of playtexts. The module also examines some of the major interventions in theatre over the centuries in order to assess the creative developments and outcomes in the light of key playwrights and theorists. Students will be asked to engage in textual analysis of individual plays, considering the contextual influences of history and culture as well as genre and form. A variety of approaches are covered, which can be used either individually or in conjunction, with the intention of providing the student with the tools necessary for rigorous critical and conceptual interpretation.
\n\n
Assessment: 10-15 minute presentation (formative), seen exam (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"153455","attributes":{"title":"The Age of News 1850-1990","summary":"This 15-credit module will survey the history of journalism from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century through three interlocking...","description":"This 15-credit module will survey the history of journalism from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century through three interlocking themes: the political and commercial power of the press; the centrality of journalism in mass culture; and its role during moments of major historical upheaval such as war and revolution. While focusing on Britain and the United States, the module will examine how journalism became a force throughout the world and a key mode of expression for nationalists, anti-colonialists and champions of human rights. Each week we will use pieces of journalism to explore the lecture topics which include: the birth of the Fourth Estate; Press Tycoons; the Irish Revolution; Spain in the 1930s and the Vietnam War.
\n\n
Assessment: 10 minute presentation (formative), 1,000 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"156435","attributes":{"title":"Aspects of the Novel","summary":"You'll explore key developments and trends in the novel form the early eighteenth century to the present day. Beginning with Defoe’s Moll...","description":"You'll explore key developments and trends in the novel form the early eighteenth century to the present day. Beginning with Defoe’s Moll Flanders, the module goes on to look at representative landmarks of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ‘realism’ and of later modernist and postmodernist fiction.
\nAs well as attending to the distinctive features of the individual novels, we will investigate critical and theoretical accounts of the genre, paying particular attention to debates about mimesis, character, narrative voice and plot.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"163004","attributes":{"title":"Archaeology of the Moving Image","summary":"In order to be able to make sense of what is happening now in our culture of moving images, we need to understand its past – not in the sense of...","description":"In order to be able to make sense of what is happening now in our culture of moving images, we need to understand its past – not in the sense of teleological development but in terms of how untimely sensibilities and ideas embodied in obsolete images and technologies keep on reappearing, inadvertently perhaps, in the present. This module situates itself within the emerging field of inquiry called “media archaeology,” which searches through the archives in order to account for the forces that make up the contemporary world. The module will look at the deep history of audiovisual mediations through specific “turning points” so as to understand the recurrent forces, motives and forms of experience that have animated the movement of images for the past 400 years. Furthermore, it seeks new methodological approaches to understand the history of technical images, which bridge the rift between criticism and creation – that is, between thinking about and (re)inventing images. In this way, the module requires students to critically reflect on their own relationship to moving image media, relationships that may be productive, poetic and arbitrary as much as they are disciplined, rationalised and controlled.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166161","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Development","summary":"The module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of...","description":"The module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of anthropology’s engagement with development and processes of planned social change. The early parts of the module provide students with an understanding of, the emergence of development as an idea, the architecture and infrastructure of aid, and introduce key theoretical approaches in the study of inequality. We also examine the tensions inherent in anthropology’s long and intimate relationship with development, through the early production of expert knowledge about tradition and culture; through its critical engagement with policy processes and planned interventions, and through the professional negotiation of the fields of development anthropology and the anthropology of development.
\n
The module then goes on to contextualise these theoretical and critical approaches to development through a series of interlinked topics and ethnographic case studies. These take students beyond the idea of development as linear progression, or as a monolithic force acting on the world, and instead reveal a field fractured by contradictions, contestations and contingencies that is produced, reproduced and interpreted across multiple locations and cultural contexts.
There are long held tensions between the disciplines of anthropology and history, although they share some common epistemological concerns.
Increasingly, anthropologists have incorporated historical accounts towards expanding ethnographic possibilities, and to explore theoretical questions of continuity, social change and periodisation, and to examine colonialism as a set of historical conditions. As part of a historicised practice, anthropologists have challenged assumptions about relationship between myth and history, and explored complex temporalities.
In turn, historians have borrowed from anthropological methodologies to underpin radical ideas about microhistories, oral history practices, which have also contributed towards the anthropological project. More recently, both historians and anthropologists have turned to memory as a way of accessing the past through practice, policy and the emotions.
This module sets up these questions through three interconnected threads: the history of anthropology, historical anthropology, and anthropologies of history.
We examine the different kinds of evidence that may be used to understand the past, and how the past is made sense of in the present, through archives, images and material culture. Together this provides us with a model for approaching the past anthropologically, in order to gain ethnographic understandings of the dynamic processes of historicity in everyday contexts, where the past can be deployed, imagined and evidenced.
This module introduces the fascinating domain of the anthropology of religion: a vast and wide ranging subject. It introduces some of the many ways anthropologists have approached religious phenomena and highlights what is unique about anthropology’s contribution to the understanding of religion. It raises questions concerning what counts as ‘religious’ and includes within the remit of the module consideration of a variety of non-human agents (gods, God, spirits, witches) and religious practices (meditation, worship, performances).
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166362","attributes":{"title":"Activism and the Theatrical Avant-Garde","summary":"TThis module addresses historical and contemporary links between avant-garde theatre practices and political activism. It expands and deepens the...","description":"TThis module addresses historical and contemporary links between avant-garde theatre practices and political activism. It expands and deepens the study of artistic practices begun in Modernisms and Postmodernity A, with a focus on the activist elements of theatrical movements and parallel political organisations. Through the critical analysis of 20th-century case studies, participants in this module will develop an understanding of the adoption of avant-garde techniques from Dada to Live Art to 'In Yer Face' realism. Students will consider particular theatrical protest performances drawn from organisations including Bread and Puppet Theatre, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, El Teatro Campesino, Solidarity, Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, ACT-UP and more. Through targeted critical readings, students will situate their analyses of these performances within recent scholarship on the efficacy of political performance in a globalised, postmodern world.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166600","attributes":{"title":"Art, War, Terror","summary":"The central goal of this module is to examine and reflect upon the nature, function and operation of art and popular culture in times of war and...","description":"The central goal of this module is to examine and reflect upon the nature, function and operation of art and popular culture in times of war and conflict. Focussing largely on contemporary and 20th century visual production, the module draws on a selection of artworks and visual examples to critically address the following key questions:
\nLooking at key contemporary and ‘historical’ artworks and events, this module cuts across historical trajectories in order to examine both the representation of violence and the violence of representation. It investigates the various roles of art and visual culture in relation to the two World Wars, the Cold War, the cultural and ideological battles of the 1960s and 70s, the ‘armchair’ wars, the so-called ‘war on terror’ and many other conflicts in recent years. Using Agamben, Baudrillard, Virilio, Butler and others, it considers the impact of military surveillance techniques on culture, both in terms of art practices and more broadly, as experienced in everyday culture. It reflects on artists’ enduring fascination with war and terror and shows how art can be understood as a form of politics, knowledge and experience.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166674","attributes":{"title":"A History of Resistance in the Middle East\n","summary":"This module is a critical social history of the Middle East focussing on the roles that subaltern groups and social movements played in in the...","description":"This module is a critical social history of the Middle East focussing on the roles that subaltern groups and social movements played in in the social, political and economic transformations of the region from the late 19th century to the contemporary era. The module will utilise a wide range of primary and secondary sources across interdisciplinary boundaries in order to explore the major events of the period through the eyes of some of the people who experienced them. It will cover themes such as the struggle against colonial rule, the rise of nationalist, communist and Islamist movements and the interactions between them, the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the roles that gender, sexuality, class and ethnic/linguistic/communal differences have played in forging the diverse experiences and identities of people in the region. In addition the course will focus on the major methodological and disciplinary debates in the writing of the histories of social movements in the Middle Eastern context, and cover thematic issues such as revolt and revolution, the characteristics of religious movements and the role of the body in protest.
\nThe course will also aim to explore pedagogical methods which encourage student participation in involving students as co-creators of the curriculum alongside the instructor. Research increasingly shows that partnership in curriculum development and design helps students engage with the course, encourages students to become more engaged with the ways in which they are taught and gives them useful transferable skills in communication, negotiation and problem-solving (Bovill 2009, Brew 2006, Zamorski, 2002).
\nAssessment: 2x essay (autumn students), 2x essay (spring students), 3000 word portfolio, 1,500 word journal, draft essay, presentation, proposal (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166715","attributes":{"title":"Advanced Algorithms\n","summary":"This module will give the student depth of knowledge into aspects of contemporary algorithm and data structure design. The exact syllabus will vary...","description":"This module will give the student depth of knowledge into aspects of contemporary algorithm and data structure design. The exact syllabus will vary from year to year, but will cover topics such as:
\n- More advanced classical data structures (interval trees, B trees, Fibonacci heaps)
\n- Probabilistic data structures (the Bloom filter and skip list) - Purely functional data structures (Real-time Queues)
\n- Algorithms for computing properties of graphs (topological sorting, travelling salesman approximations, or transitive closure)
\n- Randomized algorithms (the Solovay-Strassen or Miller primality tests, Karger's minimum cut)
\n- Concepts in concurrent and distributed algorithms (deadlock, livelock, commit protocols)
\n- Concepts in quantum algorithms (superposition, coherence, entanglement of qubits)
\n- Concepts in computation (encoding, NPcompleteness, Turing machines and the halting problem)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"167643","attributes":{"title":"Approaches to Textual Analysis: Film Studies","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\nThis module serves...","description":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nThis module serves as an introduction to the theorising and analysis of film and other audiovisual media. It presents an overview of the historical development of cinematic modes of expression and experience and their key conceptualisations. Specific questions explored range from the realism of cinema to the expressionistic powers of montage, from cinema's primal qualities as an immersive embodied experience to narrative, story-telling forms, as well as from the classic nature of film spectatorship to the novel forms of engagement emerging today with 3D, VR and AR.
\nPrior to the lectures, pre-reading classes contextualise the lecture content, introducing students to key concepts and vocabulary. Post-lecture feedback classes enable students to compare their notes, check their comprehension and discuss key arguments and themes. These classes are taught by the English Language Centre.
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"146745","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Rights","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce you to rights in terms of their philosophical foundations, the history and shape of the UN system and...","description":"The aim of this module is to introduce you to rights in terms of their philosophical foundations, the history and shape of the UN system and anthropological contributions. We will be exploring human rights and humanitarian law as bodies of law, institutions, systems of practice and ideologies – with particular focus on the issue of cultural relativism (historically the key stumbling block for anthropological engagement with rights) and cross-cultural experiences of engagement with, or resistance to, rights.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"168902","attributes":{"title":"Acting in London","summary":"The intention of this module is to focus on the development of a performance vocabulary applicable to working as an actor in a contemporary British...","description":"The intention of this module is to focus on the development of a performance vocabulary applicable to working as an actor in a contemporary British theatre ensemble (such as the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre or the specialist new writing company, Paines Plough), while introducing students to a practical approach to performing dramatic texts produced professionally in London in the last twenty years.
\nIn a series of practical exercises, students will consider the nature of performance and the potential collaborative link between performer and playwright.
\nPractical work will include:
\nPlay-scripts will be analysed closely in terms of their potential impact and meaning in the theatre. A selection of contrasting plays will be studied and explored in class.
\nPotential titles include:
\nAssessment: practical coursework (70%), 3,000 word reflective journal (30%)
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"173088","attributes":{"title":"Art and Urban Change","summary":"This is an intensive, module which combines lectures, seminars, workshops and site visits. The module is concerned with the economic, social and...","description":"This is an intensive, module which combines lectures, seminars, workshops and site visits. The module is concerned with the economic, social and aesthetic role of art in urban social life. It provides students with an overview of contemporary theoretical debates regarding the role of the arts and the creative economy in processes of urban renewal and change. This is complemented with a series of site visits and meetings with arts professionals, which enhance and exemplify the themes of the lectures. The overall intention is not just to study texts but also to examine the ways in which ‘the arts’ and culture are operationalised in cities. Arts and urban cultures and the surrounding fields of policy and practice are our focus of study. The module will introduce students to cultural theory with focus on the cultural politics of taste and aesthetics. It will also acquaint students with a range of sociological perspectives on the role of arts and creativity in urban life and expose them to a selection of studies concerned with arts, creativity and the city.
\nThis is a module that is particularly well-suited to students who want to explore the potential of doing sociological research through creative research methods such as drawing, film, photography, walking, and mapping.
\nIntensive 5 week module that runs first 5 weeks of autumn term
\nAssessment: either 4,000 word essay, OR 2,000 word report & 15 minute presentation
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"174560","attributes":{"title":"Animals in Theory and in Practice: Philosophy, Agency, Ethics","summary":"Recent work in Animal Studies (in the social sciences and humanities) and in animal science (the biological sciences), have far-reaching implications...","description":"Recent work in Animal Studies (in the social sciences and humanities) and in animal science (the biological sciences), have far-reaching implications both for the how we understand the shared social world of humans and animals, and how we investigate it. This module asks: what new interdisciplinary forms of critical analysis are required to address animal/human relations in the 21st century? What new methodologies and methods are being pressed into service by recent, changing, conceptions of animals? How does the study of animals today challenge the very foundations of the sociological tradition, when it is conceived of as a human/humanist project?
\nThis module will draw on a wide range of emerging theoretical and methodological work on animals in the social sciences and humanities. It also requires students to understand some of the implications of recent developments in the animals sciences, as these have been taken up and developed especially by philosophers of science.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"328435","attributes":{"title":"African American Literature: The Short Story","summary":"In this module, we will undertake a critical study of short stories by African American writers in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Our dual focus will...","description":"In this module, we will undertake a critical study of short stories by African American writers in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Our dual focus will be on the short story form alongside the thematic and stylistic diversity demonstrated by authors such as Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ann Petry, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, and Andrea Lee. Our work will be to analyse African American literature within varied social, political and artistic contexts such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the post-Civil Rights period through to the present. We will examine debates about creative expression, American culture, identities, and ‘race’ that are central to, and contested by writers as we trace the development and the art of the African American short story.
\nAssessment: 3,500-4,000 word draft essay (formative), 10 minute presentation (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"595715","attributes":{"title":"Assessment and Selection","summary":"The objective of this module is to provide an introductory overview to the theory and practice of personnel assessment and selection. A guiding...","description":"The objective of this module is to provide an introductory overview to the theory and practice of personnel assessment and selection. A guiding principle of the module will be the scientist-practitioner perspective, with particular emphasis on the value of scientific, theory-driven research for understanding and addressing pragmatic problems.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"689719","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology of Politics, Inequalities and Social Change","summary":"The course offers an in-depth and critical anthropological analysis of western political economy through a Marxian and post-colonial framework....","description":"The course offers an in-depth and critical anthropological analysis of western political economy through a Marxian and post-colonial framework. Combining historical contextualization and anthropological comparison, the course develops not only an historical materialist and cultural critique of western capitalism, but also a space of hope and prefiguration of post-capitalist life.
\nOverview of the module content:
\nTo introduce you to the core concepts and theories relating to economic and political organisations and the problem of accounting for change, both empirically and theoretically.
\nTo familiarise you with a number of empirical contexts in order that you may be able to conceptualise the complex socio-economic processes that are affecting the peripheral areas that have long been the concern of anthropologists.
\nTo explore a number of contemporary problems relating to such issues as the apparent contradiction between local or national autonomy and globalisation that do not fit easily into definitions of the \"economic\" or \"political\".
\nAssessment: 2x 1,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721167","attributes":{"title":"Algorithms 1","summary":"This module aims to expose students to the analysis and design of algorithms. In particular, students will learn how to classify algorithms in terms...","description":"This module aims to expose students to the analysis and design of algorithms. In particular, students will learn how to classify algorithms in terms of their computational resource consumption, how to solve efficiently classical problems from computer science and how to apply design techniques to build new algorithms.
\nPre-requisite: Java or C++, discrete maths
\n\n
Assessment: problem-solving exercises (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721168","attributes":{"title":"Algorithms 2","summary":"This module aims to expose students to standard data structures and algorithms for manipulating them. In particular, it will give students the chance...","description":"This module aims to expose students to standard data structures and algorithms for manipulating them. In particular, it will give students the chance to learn to choose appropriate data structures for solving problems.
\nPre-requisite: Must be taken with Algorithms 1
\nAssessment: problem-solving exercises (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"866810","attributes":{"title":"Avant-Garde Art and Performance","summary":"What sort of theatre is equivalent to a urinal, or a painting by Dalí? How can you hear a colour or touch a sound? Can an object become theatrical,...","description":"What sort of theatre is equivalent to a urinal, or a painting by Dalí? How can you hear a colour or touch a sound? Can an object become theatrical, even if it is not on stage? Almost all modernist theatrical movements correspond to an adventure in avant-garde painting and sculpture. Often, the artistic strand of a famous ‘ism’ is better known and richer than its theatrical counterpart. This course explores the relationship between visual art and theatre in both the pre-war, historical avant-gardes – such as Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism – and some of the post-war, neo-avant-gardes. Apart from obvious points of contact such as stage design, we will try to understand the relation between theatrical writing and performance, through art and visual imagery.
\n\n
Assessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"868326","attributes":{"title":"The Aesthetics and Politics of Cultural Studies","summary":"The project of Cultural Studies has played a major role in shaping our understandings of the relations between art, popular culture, society and...","description":"The project of Cultural Studies has played a major role in shaping our understandings of the relations between art, popular culture, society and politics. Significantly, it has influenced the way we think about aesthetics, in that it is no longer viable to consider ‘the aesthetic’ an isolated, abstract category, but rather one mediated by terrains of power. As such, Cultural Studies has had an impact upon the fields of Art History, Fine Art, and Film, because the critical ‘training’ it offers leads to a fine tuning of an understanding of Art as irreducibly embedded in the political and the social (and vice versa).
\nThe aim of this module is to provide students studying Art History and Fine Art with an effective, short introduction to Cultural Studies as a set of strategies and tactics, rather than a fully realised field. Moving away from the historical form of Cultural Studies codified through the ‘Birmingham School’, this module will take a broader approach to questions of aesthetics and politics in Cultural Studies by using alternate manifestations of the project, both in terms of geography and contingent character. Classes will be built around close engagement with key readings and discussion of relevant art works and cultural objects.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"877187","attributes":{"title":"Animalities","summary":"This module responds to the proliferation of animal images, figures and materials across modern and contemporary visual culture as well as literature...","description":"This module responds to the proliferation of animal images, figures and materials across modern and contemporary visual culture as well as literature together with the regimes of subjection found in public and private environments from the zoo to the lab. It draws on a range of theoretical resources in particular the work of Jacques Derrida (who poses ‘the animal question’ as the key problem at the heart of western philosophy), Donna Haraway (who develops an ethics of ‘companion species’ as a way of displacing the exceptional status of the ‘pet’). The module investigates specific practices and territories that may self-consciously develop these theoretical resources. It also addresses those that problematically persist in producing animals only as lesser beings, able to be appropriated, consumed or killed by humans whether figuratively or literally. All classes draw contemporary visual culture that engages with the ‘animal question’ into conversation with the theoretical inquiry. This may include art works by Nandipha Mntambo, Revital Cohen, Jo Longhurst, Steven Cohen, Kate Mccgwire; films such as White God (Kornel Mundrucso, 2014), The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) and Project Nim (James Marsh, 2011).
\n\n
Assessment: presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"889031","attributes":{"title":"American Crime Fiction","summary":"This module traces the development of American crime fiction from the emergence of the ‘hard-boiled’ detective in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese...","description":"This module traces the development of American crime fiction from the emergence of the ‘hard-boiled’ detective in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, via ‘transgressive’ narratives such as James Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley, to more recent examples of ‘true crime narratives’ Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and lastly contemporary crime writers such as James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, and James Lee Burke’s Jolie Blon’s Bounce. In addition to the main texts, students will be expected to read a series of articles on crime and detective fiction on the VLE and to critically examine film versions of the novels read.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"909710","attributes":{"title":"Anthropology Today","summary":"The module examines anthropological contributions to public understanding and dismodule, emphasising the unique methodologies that anthropologists...","description":"The module examines anthropological contributions to public understanding and dismodule, emphasising the unique methodologies that anthropologists use to engage with contemporary issues that affect us all, including exploitation and the distribution of wealth, gender inequality, social networking, and illegal immigration. These are age-old topics of anthropological analysis, but take on new meanings in rapidly evolving contexts, even as anthropologists themselves devise new methodological strategies for understanding them through the process of ethnographic fieldwork. This module examines anthropological contributions to such public debates through four key ethnographies that represent a range of approaches and perspectives on the meaning of anthropology and its role in the world. In the process of understanding anthropological perspectives on important topics that affect our everyday lives and the world as a whole, we will develop a familiarity with the state of anthropology today and how we got here.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word report
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1474093","attributes":{"title":"A Diachronic History of the Crusades, 11th – 21st c.","summary":"In 1094 or 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos turned to Pope Urban II to ask his help in restoring to the Empire Asia Minor, taken by the...","description":"In 1094 or 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos turned to Pope Urban II to ask his help in restoring to the Empire Asia Minor, taken by the Seljuk Turks. Following the Pope’s proclamation of the Holy War at the Council of Clairmont, a multitude of Europe’s Christians of diverse backgrounds set themselves on a journey towards Jerusalem, where, having taken the city in 1099, they established the Kingdom of Jerusalem (followed by some other neighboring “Crusader States”). The Crusaders’ presence in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean yielded a special socio-cultural milieu that was based upon their conflict with the Muslims, but also shaped by diverse and special forms of interaction. For the next 200 years, Christianity and Islam maintained dynamic relations, clashing across the Holy Land and Africa, but also transferring and adopting the assets of their institutes and cultures, and opening the medieval world to the more global connections and early-modern entanglements (Mongols, China, the New World, etc.). The idea of the Crusade in this period also extended to target Europe’s high medieval heresies, among which especially fierce reaction it generated towards dualist cathars/albigians in France, Milan’s pataria and Bosnian heretics, while ardent Teutonic Knights led their Crusades in the Baltic against the Slavic East. Moreover, Crusading survived the epopée, and was applied, shaped and modified 14th -18th c. by the Roman Popes and the rulers of the European Christian West, most notably against the Ottomans who took over the Byzantine East (1453) and ruled the Balkans until 1912, but also against all “others” who were seen as the enemies of the faith, such as the Protestants and the Bohemian Hussites, or the native populations of the New World. Crusading discourse can be found even in our modern times, hidden or more apparent in the pseudo-histories of the Nazi Ahnenerbe by which racism and the Holocaust were justified, Eisenhower’s idea of WWII as the Crusade, Kennedy’s campaign against communism, Bush’s anti-terrorist discourse after 9/11, or even consumerist agenda wrapped in the filmed adventures of Indiana Jones and the search for the lost Holy Grail.
\nIn order to understand the global historical significance of the Crusades, as well as their modern interpretation and uses, in this module we shall first explore some traditional themes linked with this field, namely:
\nAs an innovative addition to this traditional outlook, the module will reflect upon some latest research on new topics among which will be: anti-Ottoman Crusades, 14th-15th c. – with special attention to the major Crusading campaigns organized by the Western European coalitions against the Ottomans and the construction of the image of Ottomans by Europe’s Humanists; the so called “Later Crusades,” 16th-17th c. and the balance of powers in the Mediterranean and Central Europe which they influenced; Crusading discourse in classical Europe and the anti-Ottomans struggle of the new national states in the Balkans (18th-19th c.); “uses and abuses” of the Crusades in the modern political discourse (20th – 21st c.); Crusades in popular culture – with a special attention to Hollywood films (Indiana Jones or Da Vinci Code), and recent pseudo-histories (e.g. Bagent-Lincoln-Leagh’s Holy Blood Holy Grail…).
\nThe studied themes will be explored with diverse primary source materials that will involve narratives, documents, images of the time, as well as film interpretations and spatial/audio reconstructions of the assets of the Crusading cultures.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 1,500 minute coursework (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89804","attributes":{"title":"Approaches to Contemporary Anthropology","summary":"The aim of this module is to acquaint you with contemporary social anthropology, as well as to give you the confidence and the tools to think...","description":"The aim of this module is to acquaint you with contemporary social anthropology, as well as to give you the confidence and the tools to think critically and work collaboratively. The module begins by locating the discipline within the social sciences and humanities before proceeding to an exploration of central themes, methodologies and ethical concerns. The course is structured around lectures, seminars and workshops. Lectures and seminar discussions will draw on late-20th century and contemporary anthropological texts and debates, the emphasis will be on exploring how anthropology can give us a unique perspective on key contemporary social issues. Workshops will include practice-based activities to encourage the development of your critical awareness, thinking and reading, as well as collaborative work skills.
\nAssessment full year: 800 word essay (formative), 2 x 1,500 word essay (formative), exam (100%)
\nAssessment autumn: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word portfolio (100%)
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word portfolio
This module prepares the ground for students to respond to the proliferation of animal images, figures and materials across modern and contemporary visual culture as well as literature together with the regimes of subjection dispersed throughout the ‘animal industrial complex’ from agriculture to pharmaceuticals to jurisprudence. This grounding will turn to a range of theoretical materials, taking in specific key historical arguments regarding ‘rights’ from Jeremy Bentham to Tom Regan to Anat Pick, and the perhaps wider address that Jacques Derrida and other continental thinkers such as Vinciane Despret have posed as ‘the animal question’ as it impacts ethics. In light of the latter there is no ‘animal’ as such, rather there is a systematic hierarchy of ‘the human’ over ‘the animal’ which homogenizes and polices borders such that one party is protected by the law of ‘thou shalt not kill’ and the other may be subjected to a ‘non-criminal putting to death’ (a division of which Derrida is deeply critical). Consequently, our exploration of thinking concerning animal others inevitably impacts on how we think of ourselves. The module will thus draw upon intersecting discourses from feminist theory (both ecofeminism – Adams, and psychoanalysis – Freud and Kristeva), critical race theory (as drawn upon by Boisseron, Weil and Peterson) and Posthumanism (Wolfe).
\nWhile there is a strong theoretical lead to the module, all classes will involve specific engagement with visual culture whether artwork (e.g. Ben and Sebastian, Jo Longhurst, Nandipha Mntambo) or museums such as the Grant Museum, or films (e.g. White God, Project Nim, Jurassic World).
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essya proposal (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1887403","attributes":{"title":"Animalities II: Practices and Territories","summary":"This module directly responds to the proliferation of animal images, figures and materials across modern and contemporary visual culture as well as...","description":"This module directly responds to the proliferation of animal images, figures and materials across modern and contemporary visual culture as well as literature together with the regimes of subjection found in public and private environments from the zoo to the slaughterhouse and the lab. Drawing on the theoretical resources studied in depth in Animalities I, the module investigates specific practices that may self-consciously develop these resources (such as installation, film, performance or other artwork by Snaesbjörndottir & Wilson, Rachel Mayeri, or Marcus Coates). London locations such as the Natural History Museum, the Horniman and the Grant Museum will be used to further critical analysis of both traditional modes of display (including taxidermy and the presentation of skeletons) and interventions by artists in such spaces. The module also addresses practices that problematically persist in producing animals only as lesser beings, able to be appropriated by humans not simply visually but literally through their rendered bodies (in celluloid for example – a history that as Shukin notes, ties agriculture and cinema together). The module includes sessions examining species that might especially challenge human perceptions of the world (for example, microbes, insects or plants) or those that inhabit conditions that profoundly challenge human orientation (such the deep seas) and engages with the spectre of mass extinction as the potential final gesture of the Anthropocene.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay proposal (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91099","attributes":{"title":"African Theatre","summary":"The study of the history of theatre and performance in Africa requires the recognition that in dealing with theatre in Africa, one is dealing with a...","description":"The study of the history of theatre and performance in Africa requires the recognition that in dealing with theatre in Africa, one is dealing with a variety of traditions of performance. These traditions have developed mostly along parallel trajectories, and only sometimes intersecting each other’s paths. This course will therefore look at the major traditions of drama, theatre and performance in Africa; it will specifically look at the indigenous oral theatres and performances, the popular/ travelling theatre tradition, the Western-influenced and mainly university-based literary drama and theatre tradition, the interventionist theatre-for-development practice, and video drama genre. The course will look at these theatres and performances, both as products and shapers of their historical, social and cultural contexts and processes. It will examine the impact of colonialism on the development of theatre in Africa, as well as the responses of these theatres to key historical facts and events in Africa. Examples will be drawn mainly from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91114","attributes":{"title":"American Theatre in the Mid 20th Century","summary":"By looking in depth at nine plays alongside a number of key groups and movements (such as the Provincetown Players, the Black Arts Movement and the...","description":"By looking in depth at nine plays alongside a number of key groups and movements (such as the Provincetown Players, the Black Arts Movement and the American Avant Garde,) and through student led presentations, we will gain a sense of the diversity and development of American Theatre throughout the century.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90164","attributes":{"title":"Biological Substrates of Behaviour","summary":"An understanding of the interrelation between biological mechanisms and behaviour in animals and humans is developed during this module.\nTopics...","description":"An understanding of the interrelation between biological mechanisms and behaviour in animals and humans is developed during this module.
\nTopics covered include:
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90272","attributes":{"title":"Biological and Comparative Approaches to Psychology","summary":"You will explore the biological bases of mind and behaviour throughout this module. Whilst cognitive psychology focuses upon the way in which human...","description":"
You will explore the biological bases of mind and behaviour throughout this module. Whilst cognitive psychology focuses upon the way in which human and non-human animals process information about the world, biological psychology considers the physiological substrates which support such processing.
\nContact hours: 2-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar each week
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90275","attributes":{"title":"Behavioural Genetics","summary":"This module will provide a systematic introduction to behavioural genetics. Conceptual, historical, theoretical and ethical issues will be discussed...","description":"This module will provide a systematic introduction to behavioural genetics. Conceptual, historical, theoretical and ethical issues will be discussed alongside developments in specific fields (e.g. behavioural genetics and psychopathology).
\nThe module will promote an understanding of the current state of affairs with regards to behavioural genetics. Basic principles as well as recent developments will be explored in relation to a broad range of phenotypes. Historical and ethical issues will be discussed.
\nTutorials:
\nTutorial topics for this module are:
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (50%), 1,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94686","attributes":{"title":"Biopolitics & Aesthetics","summary":"Students will move schematically through key artists, movements, and conditions of beholding, from the late 18th century until today, to explore this...","description":"Students will move schematically through key artists, movements, and conditions of beholding, from the late 18th century until today, to explore this relationship and consider art's dual role as pioneer and antagonist of biopolitical power.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"95918","attributes":{"title":"Biculturalism and Bilingualism in Education","summary":"This module will begin by exploring the links between language, experience and culture, using autobiographies of migration as a means to...","description":"
This module will begin by exploring the links between language, experience and culture, using autobiographies of migration as a means to understanding entry into a new world at different stages of life. We will examine ethnographic studies of language socialisation and literacy development in cross-cultural contexts, revealing how learners deploy and develop their multilingual resources in home and community learning settings. We will consider the role of migration in the negotiation of pupil/teacher identities and the relative status of different languages and language varieties in interactions inside and outside the classroom. We will discuss theories on how power relationships and beliefs about global languages, majority and minority languages, standards and vernaculars affect the construction of multilingual identities, including students’ identities as learners. This body of research challenges assumptions on the nature of teaching and learning in schools, leading to questions on how teachers and students can negotiate an inclusive classroom culture, what the use of bilingual pedagogies might look like and what the role of creativity, criticality and technology might be in a range of learning settings. Finally, we will compare UK and international research into alternative curricula that expand and enrich learners’ multilingual/multicultural repertoires. Throughout this module, the examination of case studies of learners of different ages and from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds will enable us to critically engage with a wealth of theoretical and methodological perspectives on bilingualism and biculturalism in education, nationally and internationally.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129029","attributes":{"title":"Beginners Mandarin","summary":"Beginners Mandarin is taught in two parts: Beginners Mandarin A and Beginners Mandarin B. Beginners Mandarin A takes place in Beginners...","description":"Beginners Mandarin is taught in two parts: Beginners Mandarin A and Beginners Mandarin B. Beginners Mandarin A takes place in Beginners Mandarin B takes place in Spring.
\nIn order to join Beginners Mandarin A you do not need any prior knowledge of Mandarin. In order to join Beginners Mandarin B you must have completed Beginners Mandarin A or have a command of around 150 Chinese characters.
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129553","attributes":{"title":"Britain Through the Lens","summary":"This course looks at the changing ways in which experiences, identities and social issues have been represented on the screen in Britain, in order to...","description":"This course looks at the changing ways in which experiences, identities and social issues have been represented on the screen in Britain, in order to explore the social and cultural history of Britain in the twentieth century and the ways in which social ‘problems’ are identified and responded to by different groups in society. Topics and films may vary from year to year but they will normally focus on Britain from the 1940s to the end of the twentieth century. Between the 1920s and the 1950s cinema-going was the main form of leisure for large sections of society; films have been a key aspect of the media since before the Second World War. The way in which films reflect and highlight popular attitudes and preoccupations, as well as generating views that film makers regard as desirable will be critically analysed. The course will involve a knowledge of the issues dealt with in specific films and an ability to place these issues in an historical context; an analysis of the films themselves in terms of themes, representations and treatment of subjects. Students will therefore, be familiar with the historical context and the particular analysis of the films.
\nAssessment full year: 3,000 word essay (50%), exam (50%), 2,000 word essay (formative), presentation (formative)
\nAssessment autumn: draft essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment spring: draft essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129555","attributes":{"title":"Bodies and Drugs: A Global History of Medicine","summary":"This module will provide a broad overview of the history of medicine, introducing you to the history of Eurasian medical traditions: from ancient...","description":"This module will provide a broad overview of the history of medicine, introducing you to the history of Eurasian medical traditions: from ancient Babylonian medicine to modern neuroscience.
\nAssessment: 2x essay (autumn students), 2x essay (spring students), 2x 2,500-3,000 word essay, gobbet, exam (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129586","attributes":{"title":"Beyond All Reason","summary":"Modern philosophy inherited the Enlightement ideal of founding politics upon rational grounds. Reason, as opposed to tradition or dogma, involves...","description":"Modern philosophy inherited the Enlightement ideal of founding politics upon rational grounds. Reason, as opposed to tradition or dogma, involves defining transparent rules that we freely give ourselves. But can such rules ever be devised? How do we account for the utterly irrational dimensions of human existence or the tragic persistence of evil? When so much of modern life seems beyond all reason, how can human freedom ever form the basis of a secure community?
\nThis course examines the ideas of selected thinkers in the Continental tradition over the course of the last two hundred years. It follows the rise and decline of rationalism and the effort to discover redemption both inside and outside philosophical thought.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"136022","attributes":{"title":"Business Enterprise in the Digital Era","summary":"This module provides comprehensive coverage of emerging strategies, up-to-the-minute technologies, and the latest market developments in the fields...","description":"This module provides comprehensive coverage of emerging strategies, up-to-the-minute technologies, and the latest market developments in the fields of Electronic Business in the Digital Era. Students will gain an understanding of the dynamics within this fast-paced industry, an appreciation of technological issues and the strategic business aspects of successful e-commerce.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), group project (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138701","attributes":{"title":"Body, Gender and Culture","summary":"Engage and theorise the body in an interdisciplinary way. Models discussed include: scientific understandings of the body; cultural...","description":"Engage and theorise the body in an interdisciplinary way. Models discussed include: scientific understandings of the body; cultural understandings of the body; and the social construction of gender and sexuality. Specific areas considered may include: body beauty; cosmetic and other surgeries; age and ageing; illness, disability and eating disorders.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140619","attributes":{"title":"Britain and Europe","summary":"The impact of European integration on British politics, policymaking and political culture since the middle of the twentieth century is considered...","description":"The impact of European integration on British politics, policymaking and political culture since the middle of the twentieth century is considered throughout this module. It will examine the effect of the legacies of British Great Power and imperial status upon its relationship to European integration.
\nWhilst this course will examine the interaction of successive British governments and the dynamics of party politics in the shaping of European policy, it will also employ a broader sociological and historical perspective to determine whether or not Britain was a ‘reluctant European’ before joining the EEC in 1973 and an ‘awkward partner’ ever since it joined.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000-5,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142491","attributes":{"title":"Beckett & Aesthetics: Bodies and Identity","summary":"Explore the interrelationship between the prose, theatre, radio and film work of Samuel Beckett and the work of a range of visual, aural and...","description":"
Explore the interrelationship between the prose, theatre, radio and film work of Samuel Beckett and the work of a range of visual, aural and performance artists such as Bruce Nauman, Rebecca Horn, Roman Opalka and Janet Cardiff.
\nYou will study key debates in contemporary art concerning the body and the identity and examine the philosophical foundations for a contemporary understanding of aesthetics.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142492","attributes":{"title":"Beckett & Aesthetics: Image and Power","summary":"Exploring ideas of originality, appropriation, transformation and representation, this module questions the ways in which concepts such as...","description":"Exploring ideas of originality, appropriation, transformation and representation, this module questions the ways in which concepts such as perception, negation and the sublime function in the literary and visual arts.
\nYou will explore the interrelationship between the prose, theatre, radio and film work of Samuel Beckett and the work of a range of visual, aural and performance artists such as Jasper Johns, Morton Feldman, Doris Salcedo and Walter de Maria.
\nAssessment:1,500 word practice essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142534","attributes":{"title":"Believing and Belonging in London and the World","summary":"This module critically reviews the role of religion in the modern world by examining how religion is being re-asserted in the public sphere.\n In...","description":"
This module critically reviews the role of religion in the modern world by examining how religion is being re-asserted in the public sphere.
\nIn an increasingly globalised world, the role of religion can no longer be relegated in the academic or public imagination to a `private', personal preference. Its effect on geo-politics, international security, media behaviour, global crime networks, criminalisation, gender and sexuality, modern warfare and human rights needs sharp, theoretically informed thinking. The rise of the Far Right in the UK and Europe, civil wars in the Middle East and Africa, terrorist attacks in the UK and Europe, sectarian violence in Ireland, and mass shootings in the United States are often linked to religion. Hate crimes are increasing and universities are being increasingly scrutinised for any role in fostering `extremism'. The securitisation of nations, borders and digital media in response to ethno- national-political-religious- violence is creating deep divisions and misunderstandings in societies worldwide.
\nThis module will help students understand what fuels those conflicts and what an appropriate response might be. The inter-disciplinary, critical, academic culture and cutting edge research in the module will provide the necessary mix of theory, practice, reflection and analysis through subjects of anthropology, politics and international relations, media and sociology.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"145823","attributes":{"title":"Brand Management","summary":"The management of brand is a crucial component of marketing management and it is a strategic decision for the success of a company. Brands are...","description":"The management of brand is a crucial component of marketing management and it is a strategic decision for the success of a company. Brands are strategic assets, and as such a marketing manager should acquire the implicit and explicit skills that can help them maximise the profitability of a brand. This module aims at providing a holistic approach to brand management both based on theory and practice. The module will be divided into five sections according to different brand approaches within marketing literature.
\nIn the first section, you will be introduced to brand management, the strategic role of brand within the company, the role of brand within an organisational strategy, marketing strategy and communication strategy. You will also explore how to manage multiple brands adopting a brand portfolio perspective. In this section you will also be introduced to three different brand strategies to be unpacked in the following section: mindshare, emotional and cultural branding.
\nIn the second section, the module will look into mindshare branding more in detail. This section will focus on how to build customer-based brand equity, and it will explore concepts such as brand image, brand identity, brand awareness, brand value etc. This section will then investigate how all these elements together help in building customer-based brand equity and how these decisions can be translated into marketing strategies.
\nIn the third section, the module will look to emotional branding as a complementary strategy to brand management. Specifically, it will look at how consumers can build relationships with brands, and it will look at constructs such as brand personality, brand relationship and brand communities. These strategies will be linked to the second section, analysing how emotional branding could contribute to the creation of brand equity and brand value.
\nIn the fourth section, you will look at cultural branding strategies. Specifically, you will analyse the role of branding within culture and society, and how brands become icons within the consumer society. You will also be exposed to contemporary issues to branding such as how to build a global brand, or how branding works within social media.
\nIn the fifth section, you will learn how to evaluate brand strategies. you will be exposed to different techniques of brand evaluation and brand audit that will help them to assess the success of brand strategies and how to feedback these results into their strategy.
\nAll these concepts will be approached both from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Case studies and examples will be used to show how these theories work in practice.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (20%), 2,000 word essay (40%), 2,500 word report (40%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149305","attributes":{"title":"Borders and Migration ","summary":"How can we develop critical knowledge about migration and borders? This module explores the multiple ways migration and borders are understood and...","description":"
How can we develop critical knowledge about migration and borders? This module explores the multiple ways migration and borders are understood and experienced in different social, geographical, and political settings, as well as in different theoretical and discursive domains. Grounded in anthropological perspectives and methods, and branching out into film, literature, and art, the module aims to destabilise dominant understandings of migration and borders. In doing so, it critically unpacks core themes at the heart of contemporary debates on transnational movement – from race to belonging, from surveillance to gender. Throughout the module we will engage with a variety of theoretical, literary, and visual materials that focus on migrant lives and border crossings to develop a critical understanding of migration and the material, political, cultural, and linguistic borders that shape it.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word report (100%), 10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"155947","attributes":{"title":"The British Empire: 1600 to the Present","summary":"A broad survey of the rise and fall of the British empire. This course takes a multi-pronged approach to the study of the empire, focusing not just...","description":"A broad survey of the rise and fall of the British empire. This course takes a multi-pronged approach to the study of the empire, focusing not just on the growth and expansion of the British imperial state, but on themes within British imperialism.
\nThe course begins with an examination of the varying understandings of modern empire, imperialism and colonialism. It explores the emergence of ‘modern’, European imperialism: the rival European maritime empires and the rise of the English East India Company.
\nWhile looking at the global spread of British power, we also focus on key themes within British imperial history, including ideology, gender, race, religion, and nature. We conclude with an exploration of the aftermath of empire and resonations of the empire in contemporary Britain.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166153","attributes":{"title":"Borders and Migration","summary":"This module will consider the border politics involved in the making of ‘transnational’, diasporic’, and ‘local’ communities. We will theorize the...","description":"This module will consider the border politics involved in the making of ‘transnational’, diasporic’, and ‘local’ communities. We will theorize the border as a material, political, cultural and linguistic boundary that is increasingly defining social life as well as engage with the experiences of those who cross borders. We will ask: How are borders constructed and contested? How do migrants experience borders? How is the discourse of citizenship destabilized when movement and borders become central heuristics by which to understand belonging and membership? Throughout the module we will read academic texts as well as engage with films and literature that focus on migrant lives and border crossings to develop a theoretical and practical knowledge of border politics in relationship to migratory flows.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166175","attributes":{"title":"Bearing Witness: Literature, Memory, Trauma","summary":"The role played by literature in bearing witness is a central one in contemporary society and culture. From the Holocaust of World War 2, to...","description":"The role played by literature in bearing witness is a central one in contemporary society and culture. From the Holocaust of World War 2, to Apartheid experiences in South Africa and Palestine, to ‘hidden’ histories of domestic violence, literature is frequently used to uncover, make public, and ‘work through’ extreme experiences and their aftermath. Yet the problems involved in witnessing to such projects sometimes threaten to quash those they have impacted once more, whilst the tensions surrounding designations such as 'perpetrator', 'witness' and 'victim' can impede opportunities for reconciliation and recovery.
\nThis module examines the literary tradition of bearing witness and how this both shapes the process of testimony and inflects English literature itself. It is designed to provide a historical account of 'bearing witness' as an emergent genre, and covers a range of material from the latter part of the twentieth century, ranging from: trauma theory and crises of witnessing; 'testimonio' and paratexts in comparison with other literary genres; being an eye-witness to 'hidden' atrocities; intersections between narration and testimony. It will give attention to (some of) the following: the Holocaust literary tradition; bearing witness to other genocides; domestic violence; Apartheid; 9/11, African American experience, Palestinian Apartheid, Partition of the Indian subcontinent.
\nAssessment: 500-800 word review (20%), 2,500-3,500 word essay (80%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"170534","attributes":{"title":"Behavioural Economics","summary":"This module explores the emerging field of behavioural economics – a body of work that lies in the interface between economics and other disciplines,...","description":"This module explores the emerging field of behavioural economics – a body of work that lies in the interface between economics and other disciplines, such as psychology, sociology and philosophy.
\nThe module builds on introductory economics knowledge. It engages in a detailed, critical analysis of the assumptions that characterize homo economicus – the rational economic actor. It outlines important empirical challenges and criticisms levelled against viewing agents as expected utility maximisers. In doing so, it covers different strands of behavioural economics – both classical (developed primarily by Herbert Simon) and modern (developed, among others, by Daniel Kanhemann, Amos Tversky and Richard Thaler). It examines their historical origins, pioneers, philosophical underpinnings, methodological differences and important insights.
\nThe module explores psychological and philosophical foundations of human decision makers and examines the role of cognitive limitations, constrained computational abilities, emotions, social preferences and the decision environment in shaping the behaviour of human agents. It develops fundamental notions such as bounded rationality, satisficing and heuristic decision-making and presents a selection of models that employ them. It also sketches the different fields of economics and social sciences where these insights are fruitfully applied. The ethical and philosophical conundrums associated with translating some of these insights in to actionable public policy and designing institutions are also analysed.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175300","attributes":{"title":"Boom and Bust: Economic Crises in Theory and History","summary":"This module examines the economic, financial, and social origins of crises under capitalism drawing on examples from American economic history. The...","description":"This module examines the economic, financial, and social origins of crises under capitalism drawing on examples from American economic history. The first segment of the module will introduce students to some of the major theoretical contributions to the study of economic crises. We will examine different crisis theories and learn key political economy concepts that will greatly aid us in the subsequent analysis of actual crises. The second segment of the module will examine the three deepest crises in American economic history – the Great Depression of the 1930s, the crisis of the Fordist model in the 1970s, and the recent Great Recession.
\nAssessment: 15 minute presentation (20%), 3,000 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"176074","attributes":{"title":"Black Abolitionists in the Age of Liberty: from the Zant to the Zong and Beyond","summary":"In 1721, a ‘free Negro’ employed as a seaman upon the ship Zant led an (unsuccessful) mutiny against the white captain, for which he was detained on...","description":"In 1721, a ‘free Negro’ employed as a seaman upon the ship Zant led an (unsuccessful) mutiny against the white captain, for which he was detained on a naval man-a-war. Sixty years later, the Liverpool-registered slaveship Zong was at the center of a court case that shone light upon the horrors of the slave trade and the disregard for black lives. The revelation that the Captain of the Zong had dealt with disease and overcrowding by throwing 133 slaves overboard and then sought financial compensation of £30 a head for his losses, caused popular outrage and directed emerging debates about the slave trade into a fully-fledged movement to abolish it.
\nMuch has been written about the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and the abolition of slavery and the influence of individuals such as Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce and organizations including the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. This module, however, focuses more upon black abolitionists in Britain and the influence that they and their writings had upon the abolition movement. Familiar figures such as the writer and campaigner Olaudah Equiano, the writer Ingnatius Sancho, and the abolitionist and author Mary Prince, are examined and analysed alongside arguably less familiar and less discussed individuals; Ottobah Cugoano, Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, and Louis Celeste Lecesne being among them. The module engages with the ‘slave narrative’ as a source and will explore Britain, and in particular London, through the writings of those who experienced the trade and who fought for its abolition. The module also examines the local south-London connections to abolitionist movements, including Joseph Hardcastle and Hatcham House.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"176075","attributes":{"title":"The British Empire to the Empire Windrush","summary":"This module explores the presence, perceptions and experiences of people of African origin and descent in Britain in the nineteenth and early...","description":"This module explores the presence, perceptions and experiences of people of African origin and descent in Britain in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly the period 1850-1950. The module provides an overview understanding of black British history in this period and focuses on selected and timely case-studies relating to particular social, cultural, religious and political themes. This approach provides students with a developed understanding of the black presence and influence in Britain at this time as well as offering potential focus points for further development into dissertation topics.
\nThe remit of the module is especially broad for that reason and it should be considered as much a primer for developing areas of study as it is an in-depth analysis of particular case studies. This period in history offers numerous opportunities for case studies: black radicals and Chartism; employment and organised labour; the Morant Bay Rebellion; the influence of religion; Pan-Africanism; and the First and Second World Wars.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"377192","attributes":{"title":"Black and British: A Long and Varied History","summary":"This module examines the long and varied history of black Britain, from the Romans through to Black Lives Matter. The module focuses on the histories...","description":"This module examines the long and varied history of black Britain, from the Romans through to Black Lives Matter. The module focuses on the histories of people of African origin and descent in Britain, although those histories will be situated in wider explorations of immigration, emigration, race and identity. The module considers themes and topics such as Blackamoors and black Tudors, the transatlantic slave trade, abolitionist movements, black Georgians and Victorians, the First and Second World Wars, postwar immigration and the ‘Windrush generation’, policing and politics in the 1970s and 80s, discussions around race, whiteness and Black Lives Matter. Where possible, the module examines these topics from the black British perspective, rather than via the more ‘traditional’ colonial and imperial perspectives. The module takes a multidisciplinary approach, applying social, cultural, political, postcolonial, sociological and anthropological thinking and engages with a wide range of source materials, including visual and material culture alongside oral histories and textual documents.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"877182","attributes":{"title":"Business of Creative & Social Enterprises","summary":"On this module students will review and critically appraise:\n\nThe way creativity works in different sectors of business,\nThe many ways in which...","description":"On this module students will review and critically appraise:
\nStudents will look at how creatives (and managers) within organisations, working in arts organisations, creative enterprises and social innovation enterprises and in their own practice locate themselves and negotiate the political, social, economic, environmental and technological contexts that impinge on their practices. The module will introduce students to different examples of business structure and practice of creative and cultural organisations and innovation. Students will explore how creative thinking and practice is involved in business, so that they may critically appraise and contrast different models of creative related business. The module will engage in new developments in technology are changing both the structure and culture of management within these organisations. Issues of audience development relating to access and diversity as well as funding sources have a political dimension that have to be addressed in parallel with an understanding of the techniques and tools used.
\nThe culmination will involve both written reflection and a proposition for how this knowledge can inform their own future careers. The students will be required to make a report of their engagement with the materials and also create a presentation of their proposed professional practice plans that take this knowledge and synthesise it into their own plan.
\nThis modules runs in the summer term
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"877189","attributes":{"title":"Black Poetics","summary":"It has been argued that being Black is an impossible location for personhood. Here, the Black body is in a perpetual negotiation between what is...","description":"It has been argued that being Black is an impossible location for personhood. Here, the Black body is in a perpetual negotiation between what is perceived or projected upon the Black body and the self-production of Black life. While these debates have been most readily articulated as a negation of Black existence, they make apparent the crucial links between racial perception and the languages of personhood and being. The mitigations of these tensions towards a more affirmative process of self-creation have been explored in many instances as a practice of Black poetics – whereby the individual is compelled to work through and around the discomfort and pain of racial subjection towards a radical self-creation. A Black poetics, as such, proposes the re-assignment of meaning by opening up new spaces of creativity and experimentation in the imagining of new ideas of personhood and modes of being. Ultimately, Black poetics opens opportunities to explore art along with living things and other complex systems. Personhood can therefore be rearticulated by assigning new frames of reference that might either constrain or liberate meaning through film, music, poetry, and other forms of visual culture and experimental practice. The aim is to course is to explore contemporary topics in Black poetics, from literature and science to multimedia exhibition and Black technopoetics. Our goal is to “air out” the terms of Blackness with regard to the familiar, knowable, and coherent, and instead investigate the more transgressive spaces of Black life and aesthetics.
\nThis course is open to all students interested in Black Study, Black aesthetics and/or studies in anti-colonialism and race. Through lectures and creative seminars students are invited to build upon these ideas to develop their own responses to individual and collective personhood while staying in clear view of race, colonialism and empire.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 6,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"889030","attributes":{"title":"Black British Literature","summary":"On this module students will read key literary texts which emerge from and address the history of a Black presence in Britain, and will engage with...","description":"On this module students will read key literary texts which emerge from and address the history of a Black presence in Britain, and will engage with important debates which have occurred over the past 60 years around the role of Black cultures in Britain. Students will explore how Black Britain has always been influenced by a range of cultural nationalisms, as well as being formative of a new and distinctively 'Black British' sensibility. The term will end with consideration of some important contemporary literary voices including Andrea Levy and Warsan Shire, to consider the ways in which Black British literature positions the experience of 'being contemporary'. The module will be underpinned by close readings of cultural and critical theory by Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Hazel Carby and Kobena Mercer.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word report or journal (35%), 2,500 word essay (65%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":[],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"905261","attributes":{"title":"Black British Activism & Citizenship in Transnational Perspective","summary":"This module explores the development of anti-colonial, anti-racist and Black Power movements in Britain in the mid-twentieth century. Transnational...","description":"This module explores the development of anti-colonial, anti-racist and Black Power movements in Britain in the mid-twentieth century. Transnational influences, networks and relationships sustained these movements through the migration of ideas and peoples from around the world, including the USA, Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. Over 10 weeks, this module unpacks the intellectual and movement histories of radical organisations, including the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD), and the British Black Panthers. It also examines the ways that race and citizenship have been defined and contested, the role of community-based activism in forging Black British political consciousness and the New Left, and the influence of American civil rights leaders on British anti-racism activists – from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Malcolm X.
\nStudents learn how Britain was shaped by relationships beyond the boundaries of the post-imperial nation state, how to interpret shifting meanings of ‘blackness’, and the ways that Britain was an active site in the struggle for global black liberation and decolonisation. This module offers an intellectual, cultural, social and political exploration of black radicalism, anti-racism and anti-colonial movements in Britain.
\nThe module encourages and facilitates regular engagement with works of art, music, newspapers, and radical objects. Students encounter a diverse range of historical material, from innovative new scholarship to the speeches and writings of black intellectuals. Topics to be discussed also include: the articulation of radical black thought in the interwar years; the Pan-African Congress in Manchester 1945; the role of black feminists in the creation and formation of activist communities including Amy Ashwood Garvey, Marion Glean and Claudia Jones; the media of black radicalism and resistance; shifting meanings of citizenship, before and after Windrush; the place of religious communities and networks in anti-racism and black liberation movements; transnational black political consciousness; the impact and legacies of Black Power; the Mangrove Nine Trial; and black education movements.
\n\n
Assessment: project (formative), presentation (formative), group work (formative), quiz (formative), 1,000 word blog post (25%), essay plan with bibliography (15%), 3,000 word essay (60%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"905273","attributes":{"title":"Balkan Societies and British Travel Writing since 1780: Exploration, Imagination and Construction","summary":"The module focuses on the images which British travellers in the Balkans between 1780 and the present day projected about the local societies that...","description":"The module focuses on the images which British travellers in the Balkans between 1780 and the present day projected about the local societies that they encountered on their journeys. This context will also serve as a paradigm for studying the British interest in the Ottoman Empire and the Near East, as well the interest of the British public in the global exploratory and travel discourse and the Balkan peninsula.
\nA comparable segment of the wider European trend in exploring the Muslim East, British travel writing on SEE intensified with the crisis of the Ottoman Empire and the fight for independence which its subjects, the emerging Christian nations in the Balkans, initiated from the beginning of the 19th c. Generating more than 1000 just British reports on the region in this period, the “genre” is fairly well-known to modern scholarship, the interest of which has recently revived, incited by regional conflicts of the 1990s and postmodern interpretation theory. Aiming at synthesizing this knowledge and critically assessing the latest scholarly trends in reading the British views of the Balkans and its peoples, this module offers an in-depth analysis of diverse travel accounts, discursive tools and circumstances that directed travel reporting of the British authors since the era of the Grand Tour until present day. In this, the module will comparatively reflect upon:
\nAs these travels coincide with the region’s crucial political and socio-cultural change (the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire from the Balkans, modernization, industrialization, colonial ambitions of the European powers, constellations leading to the post WWII communist regimes, communist rule, the break-up of Tito’s Yugoslavia and the current crisis in the Balkans), the module will start with an insight into the eighteenth-century educational tourism and the concept of the Grand Tour that generated intellectual interest into the material remains of Classical Antiquity, to gradually shift its focus from Latin Italy towards the Eastern Mediterranean and Greece, at the time still under the Ottoman rule (e.g. W. Wittman, J. Griffiths; W. M. Leake). From their initial fascination with classical antiquarianism, the travellers’ interest then turned towards Muslim Orient, generating romanticist support for the Balkan Christians in their fight against the Ottomans (G. G. Byron, J. C. Hobhouse), as well as the initial commercial explorations of the Balkans, and the inspirational discourse of the Romanticist artists who increasingly became interested in Greece’s Slavic surroundings, perceiving its inhabitants as the subjects of “Turkey-in-Europe” – distant from the Classical world and humanist Mediterranean, but highly glorified for their rebellious nature and pride, hence tied to Homer’s heros and Leonidas’ Lacedaemonians (E. Lear; G. Cochrane). Then, the module will analyse classifying reports of the British diplomats and officers stationed in the Balkan inlands prior or during the Crimean War (1853-1856) (Ch. Lamb; Ch. Holmes), and their interest in the local social structures, resources and institutions through which the local population interacted with the Ottoman regime, themselves, or their European diplomatic counterparts also stationed in the region. The module’s central focus will be on the travellers who reported from the region during the 1870s. These people were highly educated intellectuals and experts who collected data on the Balkans’ anthropological and ethnographic diversities, history, culture and heritage of the past, all intended to inform the British diplomacy, but also to prepare the British public for the Berlin Congress (1878) and the new colonial power constellations in the Balkans following the retreat of the Ottoman Empire (J. A. Evans, W. Denton; H. Barkley, J. Creagh; E. Freeman), often adding to their accounts the flavor of exotic travel, adventure and imminent danger of moving through the unknown (cf. W. J. Stillman’s Katastrophenturizmus). By the end of the 19th c., these aspirations further evolved to the recommendations of the first guidebooks intended to the Western leisure mass-travellers interested in the region’s cultural and economic infrastructures (food, accommodation), but also uncovered stereotyped racial prejudice and more detailed colonial agenda (e.g. the notions of “civilization” and “progress” in the writings of W. Miller; diplomatic follow up of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian relations with various local groups). The module will also devote special attention to gendered travel accounts, namely those coming from Victorian (later continued by Edwardian) women (e.g. Viscountess Strangford, Lady Paget; M. A. Walker), which, even when rising from personal escapism (E. Durham), yielded ardent campaigning and aid to the local population (P. A. Irby; G. M. Mackenzie). The module will, then, deal with British travel accounts generated by new technologies, namely car, railway, camera and tape recorder, as well as mass-media (radio), and a comparative analysis of the British views of the locals’ involvement in WWI I WWII, particularly how they built their individual interactions and understood the local mentality (F. Sanders), adding to this also a close examination of synthetic diplomatic intelligence, map-drawing, and war reporting (R. West; F. Maclean; T. Atherton). The module will end with an overview of the British travel reports generated during the communist rule in the region, and diverse perspectives published so far by British travellers (tourist, gay, war reporter and blogger/based on digital media and IT, and mass travel by plane), who witnessed the break-up of Yugoslavia and the region’s post-socialist transitional outlook (post-economic crisis in the case of Greece).
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91850","attributes":{"title":"Building Creative Businesses: Models, Markets and Meaning","summary":"This course challenges students to think critically about how they can build a creative business. Central to the course is understanding that...","description":"This course challenges students to think critically about how they can build a creative business. Central to the course is understanding that businesses can be thought of as responses to problems, and thus develops key contextualisation skills as students are required to evidence the existence of demand and articulate the meaning and value that their ideas engender. A range of interdisciplinary analytical tools will be explored throughout the module which act as prisms through which businesses can be evaluated. These include economic/management ideas such as understanding competition and measuring impact, sociological ideas of cultural and social capital, business ideas such as the Lean Start Up method, historical ideas of market change, and psychological ideas of consumer empathy and motivation. The course will lead to students developing and writing a business plan, and thinking critically about the viability of their idea using the broad range of tools they are exposed to throughout the module.
\n\n
Assessment Autumn: 500 word essay (20%), 1,500 word presentation (80%)
\nAssessment Full year: 1,500 word report (40%), 500 word business idea (10%), 3,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1474095","attributes":{"title":"Between Tito and God: culture in socialist Yugoslavia, 1945-1992","summary":"In this module, we are studying the culture of socialist Yugoslavia between the end of the WW II and the country’s collapse in 1992. This aspect of...","description":"In this module, we are studying the culture of socialist Yugoslavia between the end of the WW II and the country’s collapse in 1992. This aspect of experience of former Yugoslavia has not been studied in a focused way by the region’s historiography and the studied themes are usually tied to the discussion of Yugoslavia’s fall, where along tribal hatreds, disbalance of the country’s development, its shattered economy and ethnic-religious oppositions, explanations are added about diverging cultural settings and mentalities split between the „developed West” and the „poor South.” In the public discourse of the ex-Yugoslavian space, on the other hand, the argument is usually directed towards subcultures and oppositions between rural and urban, or uncritical romanticising accounts of the era as a time of uncomparable progress and wellfare. Aiming at wholistically evaluating the experience of culture in socialist Yugoslavia, this module will first offer an account of the historical factors and circumstances that affected this culture’s ideological shaping; then, it will focus on theoretical paradigms and influences that framed it, cultural politics, and collective perceptions of culture in various strata of the socialist Yugoslav society. Following this introductory overview of the ground on which the country’s socalist culture was formatted, the module will, then, address its key manifestations (e.g. in visual arts, literature, music, film, material culture, etc.). The module’s discussions will be developed around the most significant changes discerned in the country’s cultural policies and practices, as well as around the relation between culture, nation and nationalism, culture and religion, culture and the decay of the Yugoslav idea, culture and economic crisis, culture and social crisis, and culture and war in ex-Yugoslavia. Finally, the module will address the emerging study themes, among which various emotional responses to the collapse of Yugoslavia, difficulties associated with objective reporting of these events, and the latest positions about a common cultural post-Yugoslav space.
\nTo observe these issues in depth, the module will be divided into two conceptual parts. The first one will deal with the historical assessment of the circumstances that specifically formatted the culture of socialist Yugoslavia, namely
\n-The cultural setting of pre-WWII Yugoslavia (pre 1941)
\n-WWII and the “partisan culture” (1941-1945)
\n- The Soviet Influence and the conflict of 1948 (1945-1955)
\n-Yugoslavia’s “independent socialist road” marked by self-management and the cult of Tito (1955-1965)
\n-Opening to the world: internationalisaiton and liberalisation (1965-1972)
\n-The Golden 70s (1972-1980)
\n-The Autumn of Yugoslavia’s socialism (1980-1986)
\n-The Crisis and Fall (1986-1992)
\nThe latter part will target methodological approaches to the most apparent manifestations of the analysed trends, shown on “case” examples in various cultural outputs (film, music, literature, material culture, etc.), e.g.: folk music/culture, film-cinema-theatre, visual arts and material culture, r’n’r music/culture, “turbo/diesel culture,” fashion, culture of alternative formats. In analysing and discussing these approaches, we shall use authentic primary sources of the time, among which films, journals, photographs, etc.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149880","attributes":{"title":"A Critical Introduction to Art Psychotherapy I: Theories and Practice","summary":"A Critical Introduction to Art Psychotherapy I: Theories and Practice will offer a comprehensive and critical overview of the main theories and...","description":"A Critical Introduction to Art Psychotherapy I: Theories and Practice will offer a comprehensive and critical overview of the main theories and approaches that characterize the diverse field and practice of art psychotherapy, its historical roots, development and its present in view of the rapidly changing art therapy world of the 21st century. The module will be taught within a critical framework that will incorporate insights from feminist, cultural and gender theory. The module will be of interest to those who wish to learn about the profession and who may be interested in going on to train as art psychotherapists.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149884","attributes":{"title":"A Critical Introduction to Art Psychotherapy II: Experiential Group Learning","summary":"The module will develop an understanding of art psychotherapy through an immersive and reflexive experiential learning process.\nStudents will...","description":"The module will develop an understanding of art psychotherapy through an immersive and reflexive experiential learning process.
\nStudents will participate in an experiential art therapy group, where learning is through doing in an ‘as if’ experience of the therapeutic process. This is to facilitate development of insight into the self and others; and the dynamic interaction between art making, communication and group processes within a boundaried frame. Awareness of working with differences related to race, culture, class and gender will be developed and explored.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91042","attributes":{"title":"Performing Culture: Theatre as a Learning Medium","summary":"Theatre has often been seen to have a function beyond the aesthetic, particularly the potential to educate. This module examines the theory and...","description":"Theatre has often been seen to have a function beyond the aesthetic, particularly the potential to educate. This module examines the theory and practice of harnessing theatre for pedagogical purposes. Focusing particularly on work with young people in schools and other settings, you will study the history and practices of educational drama and theatre practitioners, assessing their efficacy in delivering learning outcomes.
\nYou will also be encouraged to consider the wider context of theatre for learning, exploring how education and arts policy inform this work. This is a field of work that encompasses a variety of theatre forms and practices; including scripted plays, devised work, participatory forms such as Forum Theatre and work designed for age-specific and other \"target\" groups (e.g. disabled children and young people).
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":[],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"721169","attributes":{"title":"C++ for Creative Practice","summary":"This module introduces students to C++ for the first time whilst building on the programming techniques covered at level 4. Through the use of a...","description":"This module introduces students to C++ for the first time whilst building on the programming techniques covered at level 4. Through the use of a framework designed with creative practice in mind students learn the rudiments of C++ through a multi-media driven approach.
\nTopics include:
\nTypes, Arrays and Control Flow, Functions, Vectors, I/O, 3D graphics with primitives, object orientation, constructors, passing by reference, pointers and inheritance
\nPre-requisites: C++ programming experience
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), lab portfolio (30%), home assignments portfolio (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"865312","attributes":{"title":"Careers in Cultural and Creative Industries","summary":"This module develops an advanced understanding of scholarship about careers in the cultural and creative industries. It focuses largely on creative...","description":"This module develops an advanced understanding of scholarship about careers in the cultural and creative industries. It focuses largely on creative labour and creative labour markets, looking at such issues as freelancing, portfolio careers, and collaborative work. The module recalls the importance of cultural intermediaries in the distribution of art and culture, and so it considers labour in these roles as well. The module looks at challenges such as low pay, inequality, and oversupply in the labour market, as well as the converse, the ability for careers to provide meaningful, socially engaged work. It also examines research on enhancing creativity and creative justice.
\nThe module focuses on academic research on the topic, to provide a critical understanding of the challenges and rewards in working in the creative sector. It does not offer specific advice for students’ future careers, but rather invites students to develop a broad, interdisciplinary approach to scholarship in the area, drawing from arts management, cultural studies, economics, and sociology.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90476","attributes":{"title":"Caribbean Women Writers","summary":"Through focusing upon contemporary literature (primarily short stories, poetry and novels), this module intents to reflect the ethnic diversity of...","description":"Through focusing upon contemporary literature (primarily short stories, poetry and novels), this module intents to reflect the ethnic diversity of the region and its major thematic concerns.The historical context of the Caribbean and its relation to various traditions within Caribbean literature are explored. In addition, a range of critical approaches to texts will be examined alongside consideration of issues of literary production. Topics to be studied include issues of gender and genre, oral culture, slavery, the construction of black womanhood, the Creole voice and migratory subjectivities.
\nAssessment full year: 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (34%)
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay portfolio (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91595","attributes":{"title":"Central Issues in Sociological Analysis","summary":"This module aims to develop the introduction to sociological theory that you received in the first year, whilst also preparing you to engage with...","description":"This module aims to develop the introduction to sociological theory that you received in the first year, whilst also preparing you to engage with critiques and the most current developments in the third year. It will help you to develop your understanding of sociological analysis through considering its origins in the classical tradition as well as discussing contemporary issues.
\nIn the first half of the module, we explore five key thinkers and their central concerns as a way of exploring distinct approaches to social analysis. In the second half of the module, we explore five key concepts as a way of thinking through how social theory is put to work as a tool to understand and illuminate the social world.
\nThroughout these lectures we will explore different assumptions about the nature of social order and different approaches to practice. Throughout the module, we examine the way in which different kinds of sociological explanation are grounded in different assumptions about the way the social world works.
\nOn completing this module, you should have a good understanding of the theoretical positions that form the point of departure of current debates in social theory and in sociological research. You will have practiced thinking in different ways and will be able to make more informed choices about the tools and concepts you use to think about the central issues in sociological analysis.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay OR 1,000 word practice exam (formative); exam (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"889067","attributes":{"title":"Challenges to Democracy","summary":"Since Francis Fukuyama’s ill-fated prediction that the liberal democratic model was here to stay, today liberal democracies seem threatened on all...","description":"
Since Francis Fukuyama’s ill-fated prediction that the liberal democratic model was here to stay, today liberal democracies seem threatened on all sides – from religious fundamentalism, populist politics and new forms of authoritarianism. This module explores, from a political theory perspective, some of these underlying tensions. Starting with an examination of the idea of democracy in its different forms (direct, representative, radical and deliberative), its coincidence with liberalism and some radical critiques of its limitations, the module then goes on to explore some contemporary challenges to the democratic way of life: post-secularism and the return of religion to the public sphere; authoritarian politics; the populist resurgence; post-truth discourse; the cultural wars; new forms of activism and protest; and regimes of surveillance, control and social monitoring. The aim of the module is to understand what democracy means today in light of these challenges and how it might be rethought.
\n\n
Assessment: 750 word essay plan (20%), 3,000 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91676","attributes":{"title":"Childhood Matters: Society, Theory and Culture","summary":"This option considers childhood in the context of the social, political, cultural, and economic. Of importance are the ways in which children are now...","description":"This option considers childhood in the context of the social, political, cultural, and economic. Of importance are the ways in which children are now conceived as distinct social subjects within complex fields of social and economic investment and government. The module considers some of the key debates in the sociology and social theory of childhood (e.g. concerning power, construction, and agency), but does so in the context of central questions regarding the validity and legitimacy of this sociological model of childhood.
\nAssessment: 4,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"141502","attributes":{"title":"Children's Cultures: School and Community Contexts","summary":"This module aims to understand children's cultural worlds and social interactions within the context of schooling. We will explore the idea of...","description":"This module aims to understand children's cultural worlds and social interactions within the context of schooling. We will explore the idea of schools as social microcosms and children as astute social actors engaged in processes of identity formation and social power plays.
\nWe will examine some of the ways that children come to understand themselves in these complex, engrossing settings by considering processes that are particularly significant for children's identity constructions including gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and race.
\nThe module begins from the premise that much of children's social learning takes place outside of the official curriculum and that children create for themselves complex social worlds and meanings in and around the spaces of schooling.
\nAlthough we will focus on research that has taken place in schools, we will also go beyond this to look at other important sites of learning and meaning-making for children including the playground, neighbourhood and home.
\nThe module will begin with an introduction to childhood studies and will go on to look at the social construction of childhood from a historical and sociological perspective. We will look at the ways in which children are produced as subjects within schools and at the historical significance of schools as sites for disciplining, containing and developing children into socially competent adults.
\nWe will then go on to look at some important studies of children's cultural worlds that have been set in and around the school. Specific topics we will explore include: children's learner identities and testing cultures, the playground and children's use of space, children's gender and sexual cultures, friendships and peer hierarchies, sport and extracurricular activities, children's engagement with the media and online activities and family backgrounds and relationships.
\nThe module will also touch on some ongoing controversies in relation to childhood including risk dismodules and children's physical safety, the sexualisation of childhood and the obesity epidemic.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word report
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word report
\nAssessment full year: 2,000 word report (40%), 2,500 word essay (60%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138719","attributes":{"title":"Children's Literature and Controversy","summary":"By considering issues that are relevant to young people’s lives, this module will look at the role that children literature has in dealing with...","description":"
By considering issues that are relevant to young people’s lives, this module will look at the role that children literature has in dealing with controversial issues. It will also look at how books themselves can be a source of controversy. We begin with a discussion of what makes an issue controversial, and trace the developing role of children’s literature over time as a means to challenge and contest existing social orders. We will be approaching these topics through focussing on particular texts each week, as well as significant authors in the area.
\nYou will be able to deepen your knowledge of controversial children’s literature and explore your own reading past. We will debate issues around children’s texts and explore some key research in this field. There will also be opportunities to reflect upon the place of texts to help young people address personal concerns, the power of literature to engage young people in broader political agendas, and the tensions generated by controversial texts.
\nAssessment: presentation (20%), essay (80%)
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"148017","attributes":{"title":"Children’s Human Rights: A Sociological Perspective","summary":"This module takes, as its starting point, a sociological perspective. It does not dismiss the idea that children’s rights are legal claims (argued,...","description":"This module takes, as its starting point, a sociological perspective. It does not dismiss the idea that children’s rights are legal claims (argued, contested and upheld or not through forms of legal practice and institutionalisation), but it considers such claims to rights as social and cultural phenomenon worthy of sociological investigation and social theoretical analysis. As such, the module is informed by a growing body of research on the sociology of rights and human rights and work on the sociology and social analysis of children and childhood.
\nThe module considers key focal points of contestation about children’s rights as ways into the study of the sociology of children’s rights. It considers inter alia key problems regarding: religion, dress and schooling; gender, transgender and identity; sexuality and contraception; race and civil rights; undocumented children; nature, anthropocenic claims and futurity.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94166","attributes":{"title":"Children’s Literature, Culture and Diversity","summary":"This module explores the connection between literature, culture and identity. Written literature throughout the world has been dominated by the...","description":"
This module explores the connection between literature, culture and identity. Written literature throughout the world has been dominated by the Western European canon, by way of colonisation and conquest. It is argued that the canon reflects the values of the white, predominantly male, middle class authors. In recent decades various genres have been appropriated, in writing and film, to give voice to other ways of living. A new literature has grown up around these experiences. This module explores what is distinctive about children’s literature. You will critically examine a range of genres from the earliest oral traditions to picture books to the latest media and will look at a range of texts written for children and young people. During the sessions you will examine such areas as folk and fairy tales, poetry, the history of literature for children, graphic novels and ideology in children's books. The module intends to raise questions and stimulate debate about the kinds of texts that qualify as children’s literature and the issues surrounding their use.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147725","attributes":{"title":"Chinese Literature: 1919 to 1949","summary":"The proposed module 'Chinese Literature-1919 to 1949' engages in discussions of Chinese literary works from a socio-historical and comparative...","description":"The proposed module 'Chinese Literature-1919 to 1949' engages in discussions of Chinese literary works from a socio-historical and comparative perspective. It provides students with an historical overview of Chinese literature from May 4th Movement to the start of the People's Republic of China with a focus on how literacy works reflect and influence the social, political and cultural aspects of the society.
\nStudents will have opportunities to appreciate various forms of Chinese literacy works including poetry, prose, and fiction, to explore representative pieces of literacy works in different stages of China's development with guidance and explanations of the background information. Students will be expected to develop critical reading and thinking skills by analysing a range of images in literacy works and discussing particular aspects of literacy works (i.e. feminism in literacy, political poetry) in the historical and social contexts. Literacy works will also be analysed from a comparative perspective where Chinese literacy works will not only be studied in comparison with literacy works in other languages (in particular English), but also be analysed against the time when the work was conducted as well as the current time.
\nThe proposed module is suitable for both speakers of Chinese and people who do not know the Chinese language, and does not require prior knowledge in Chinese literature or literature studies.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147726","attributes":{"title":"Chinese Literature: 1949 onwards","summary":"The proposed module 'Chinese Literature – 1949 onwards' engages in discussions of Chinese literary works from a socio-historical and comparative...","description":"The proposed module 'Chinese Literature – 1949 onwards' engages in discussions of Chinese literary works from a socio-historical and comparative perspective. It provides students with a historical overview of Chinese literature from the start of the People's Republic of China to China today with a focus on how literacy works reflect and influence the social, political and cultural aspects of the society.
\nStudents will have opportunities to appreciate various forms of Chinese literacy works including poetry, prose, and fiction, to explore representative pieces of literacy works in different stages of China's development with guidance and explanations of the background information. Students will be expected to develop critical reading and thinking skills by analysing a range of images in literacy works and discussing particular aspects of literacy works (for example feminism in literacy, political poetry) in the historical and social contexts. Literacy works will also be analysed from a comparative perspective where Chinese literacy works will not only be studied in comparison with literacy works in other languages (in particular English), but also be analysed against the time when the work was conducted as well as the current time.
\nThe proposed module is suitable for both speakers of Chinese and people who do not know the Chinese language and does not require prior knowledge of Chinese literature or literature studies.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147727","attributes":{"title":"Chinese Philosophy: Confuciunism and Taoism","summary":"The proposed module of 'Chinese Philosophy-Confucianism and Taoism' provides students with unique opportunities to appreciate a range of classical...","description":"The proposed module of 'Chinese Philosophy-Confucianism and Taoism' provides students with unique opportunities to appreciate a range of classical Chinese philosophy works on Confucianism and Taoism through guided reading, discussions and tutorials. Students will come to develop their understanding of Chinese early world-views as well as some fundamental concepts of Confucianism and Taoism on nature, society and life. An important aim of the module is for students to develop critical understanding of Chinese philosophical concepts in the framework of modern society, and appreciate the similarities and differences between Chinese and western philosophies.
\nStudents will be encouraged to think critically about in what ways classical Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism and Taoism are embedded in Chinese people's lives today.
\nStudents will get opportunities to read classical works of Confucius, Mengzi, Chuang Tzu, and others. Tutorial sessions will be arranged for guided reading and discussions.
\nStudents will also be able to participate in related cultural events and activities organised by Confucius Institute.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147728","attributes":{"title":"Chinese Philosophy: Legalism, Mohism and Buddhism","summary":"Through guided reading, discussions and tutorials you will develop your understanding of Chinese early world-views as well as some of the fundamental...","description":"Through guided reading, discussions and tutorials you will develop your understanding of Chinese early world-views as well as some of the fundamental concepts of Legalism, Mohism and Buddhism on nature, society and life. You will have the chance read the classical works of Hanfeizi, Mozi and Buddhism works and others, and think critically about the ways in which classical Chinese philosophies such as Legalism, Mohism and Buddhism are embedded in Chinese people's lives today.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129582","attributes":{"title":"Chinese Politics: The Revolutionary Era","summary":"This is a broad, historically-based survey module of Chinese politics that takes the student from the early days of communist partisanship through to...","description":"This is a broad, historically-based survey module of Chinese politics that takes the student from the early days of communist partisanship through to the end of the Cultural Revolution (from 1921 to 1976 or thereabouts). This module is designed to offer both an overview of and background to, contemporary Mainland Chinese political culture and an insight into a form of politics that is very different from that of liberal democracy.
\nThis module is a lot more historically oriented than many of the other survey modules offered in the Department, but to understand this country requires an understanding of this history which is still lived very much as an on-going set of norms and values. It is difficult to understand China today without an understanding of this history and what this module offers is a survey account of this period.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (25%), 2,000 word essay (75%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91682","attributes":{"title":"Citizenship and Human Rights","summary":"This module will consider the similarities and differences between citizenship and human rights, how human rights are defined, and how rights have...","description":"
This module will consider the similarities and differences between citizenship and human rights, how human rights are defined, and how rights have developed in different forms: as civil, political, socio-economic, and cultural.
\nAssessment: 3 x 750 word essays + 1 x 2,250 word essay OR 1 x 4,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91109","attributes":{"title":"Classical Greek Theatre","summary":"Ancient Athenian drama lies at the roots of the Western dramatic tradition. This course explores Greek plays in their original performance context...","description":"Ancient Athenian drama lies at the roots of the Western dramatic tradition. This course explores Greek plays in their original performance context and in the context of modern theatre. It examines the social, political and religious role of theatre in ancient Athenian society, and reflects on some of the ways in which Greek theatre has been translated, adapted and re-imagined in later cultures.
\nOver the course of the module, we’ll study example by each ancient playwright whose works survive to the present day (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), as well as exploring the satyr play, and Aristophanes’ comic reflections on tragic playwriting. We’ll also consider ideas of ‘performance reception’, comparing these ancient plays in their historical context with the ways in which modern theatre-makers have revised, contested and transformed ancient dramatic texts to address their own societies.
\nThe following plays will be discussed: Aeschylus: Oresteia, Aristophanes: Frogs, Euripides:
\nThe Bacchae, Cyclops, Sophocles: Women of Trachis, Oedipus Tyrannus
\nThe following modern versions of ancient plays will also be studied: Martin Crimp: Cruel and Tender, Yael Farber: Molora, Tony Harrison: The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, Neil LaBute: a gaggle of saints.
\nAssessment: 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094795","attributes":{"title":"Clinical Psychology: Common Presentations and Interventions","summary":"Common mental health presentations (which meet clinical thresholds) will be considered in depth, addressing (a) clinical description; (b) theoretical...","description":"Common mental health presentations (which meet clinical thresholds) will be considered in depth, addressing (a) clinical description; (b) theoretical explanations from cognitive/behavioural perspectives; (c) principles and evaluation of psychological interventions. Transdiagnostic processes and intervention techniques will be highlighted throughout the module and theoretical explanations of these will be given. The context of how CBT has developed a more credible evidence base than any other psychotherapeutic modality for the treatment of common mental health problems, will also be addressed. This module is designed to introduce students to the common presentations and interventions in the clinical psychology field and to demonstrate how psychological theories have contributed to the understanding of their aetiologies and to the development and evaluation of interventions.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91356","attributes":{"title":"Cognitive Behavioural Therapy","summary":"Understand the theories that underpin the practice of CBT; how CBT has developed and how research and practice articulates with the current social,...","description":"Understand the theories that underpin the practice of CBT; how CBT has developed and how research and practice articulates with the current social, political and economic contexts of mental health care.
\nYou'll also address claims and methods of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in relation to resolving issues of personal distress.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90253","attributes":{"title":"Cognitive Neuroscience","summary":"This module aims to explore the neural basis of cognitive functions such as attention, motor control, personality and social cognition. The lectures...","description":"This module aims to explore the neural basis of cognitive functions such as attention, motor control, personality and social cognition. The lectures will cover the basic principles and methods that are used to study the links between brain and behaviour.
\nIn the first week the methods used in Cognitive Neuroscience will be introduced. The lectures will then explore nine topic areas in more detail, guided by three main questions:
\nEvery 2-hour lecture will include approximately 90 minutes of teaching, followed by discussion of a target paper or chapter. For every lecture, a small group of students will read the target paper or book chapter, prepare a short presentation and discussion points, and lead the discussion.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (50%), 1,000 word research proposal (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90233","attributes":{"title":"Cognitive Psychology","summary":"A detailed analysis of cognitive psychology, the ways in which mental processes operate, theories behind those processes, and the research methods...","description":"A detailed analysis of cognitive psychology, the ways in which mental processes operate, theories behind those processes, and the research methods employed in cognition, are all considered throughout this module.
\nTopics include:
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129644","attributes":{"title":"Cohabitations","summary":"Consider the social production of art with attention directed towards the environmental and ecological.\nThis is accomplished by concentrating on two...","description":"
Consider the social production of art with attention directed towards the environmental and ecological.
\nThis is accomplished by concentrating on two main strands: The first five weeks look at the dialectic of nature and culture and its significance for visual art and its histories. The second half of the module culminates in the emerging fields of ‘speculative realism’ and ‘new materialism’
\nAssessment: 1x 1,000 word essay, 1x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129596","attributes":{"title":"Colonialism and Non-Western Political Thought","summary":"Students will be introduced to some of the ways in which the non-Western world confronted the violence and inequality of colonialism throughout this...","description":"Students will be introduced to some of the ways in which the non-Western world confronted the violence and inequality of colonialism throughout this module while also looking at the colonising process.
\nFocusing on specific thinkers and themes, it engages with the political thought of significant intellectuals and political leaders (including MK Gandhi, Nehru, and Fanon), and examines different forms of anti-colonial politics, including nationalism, socialism and ‘third-worldism’.
\nAssessment: 3,000-3,500 word essay (100%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"585366","attributes":{"title":"Colonialism, Power, Resistance","summary":"This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the importance of colonialism and imperialism, and resistance to these, in the shaping...","description":"
This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the importance of colonialism and imperialism, and resistance to these, in the shaping of our world. It treats ‘culture’, including forms of ‘art’, as central to politics. It begins by considering non-Western forms of politics, civilization and culture prior to colonial domination. The rest of the module explores the forms of political, cultural, aesthetic and ideological interaction, and change, engendered in the module of the colonial encounter. A related aim of the module is to introduce students to a range of types of reading material and sources, beyond the conventional first year text book.
\n\n
Assessment: 2 hour exam (50%), 2,500 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147659","attributes":{"title":"Comedy 2: Performance","summary":"Please note this module runs in the summer term\nThis module develops students’ Comedy in praxis towards the creation of a short programme of comic...","description":"Please note this module runs in the summer term
\nThis module develops students’ Comedy in praxis towards the creation of a short programme of comic work, drawn from extant comic writing that might include play texts as well as sketches from the popular repertoire of TV, Film and Radio comedy. It may also include the students’ own writing and devising of Stand Up material. Following introductory sessions led by the tutor to develop and enhance their craft on comic text, students will continue to practice improvisation in class as well as develop a repertoire of material negotiated with the tutor for eventual performance. Their chosen material will play to their strengths as well as be designed to encourage their risk taking and to stretch their ability. Team work will be emphasised throughout. Supported by the tutor and technical team, they will programme a short performance of their material for assessment either in college or in a local pub venue to test their skill with a live audience.
\nAssessment: 5-10 minute performance of a scene (50%), collaborative pre-production, design and delivery (20%), 1,000 research statement (30%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147662","attributes":{"title":"Comedy Writing","summary":"A lecture/seminar based module. This module is designed to provide students with the opportunity to write their own material creatively from further...","description":"A lecture/seminar based module. This module is designed to provide students with the opportunity to write their own material creatively from further study of extant texts. They will be offered a range of texts to choose to work from including recorded live performance. The Students will write a critical analysis of this text both from its structure and content and as a vehicle for playing (drawing on Introduction to Dramaturgy in Level 1). They will then use this text as a springboard for their own creative writing. This could be a pastiche, an adaptation, an application of form, or indeed any aspect of the original text from which their own creative writing will spring. The material they produce must be performative ie designed to be performed. This creative writing will take place outside of class times in the Learning Hours attached to this module.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word text analysis (40%), 10 minute creative writing assessment (60%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90652","attributes":{"title":"Comparative and International Education","summary":"Students will examine education in one country by using data and insights drawn from the practises and situation in another country, or countries....","description":"Students will examine education in one country by using data and insights drawn from the practises and situation in another country, or countries. The course will help students review the impact of globalisation on education across nation states, examine research on significant international issues, and explore the comparative approach to the investigation of educational issues, and to the formulation of an appropriate solution.
\nAssessment: 2,250 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91479","attributes":{"title":"Composition for Ensembles and Media","summary":"Develop your understanding of 20th/21st-century compositional techniques, and to apply them in your own original creative work throughout this...","description":"Develop your understanding of 20th/21st-century compositional techniques, and to apply them in your own original creative work throughout this module. Following a series of introductory exercises, a number of creative strategies are actively explored, including experimental notation, visualisation and improvisation.
\nThe module introduces you to a number of techniques with respect to pitch (linear/harmonic), rhythm, texture, instrumentation and scoring and then goes on to consider a range of structural methods as evidenced in music from the early 20th C onwards, (such as serialism, isorhythm, block form, process-based form). You are expected to implement a selected number of techniques in your own work, and evaluate the effectiveness of your approach.
\nPlease be aware that students are expected to write music in Western notation.
\nAssessment autumn: composition portfolio (100%)
\nAssessment spring: group project (30%), score and commentary (70%)
\nAssessment full year: composition portfolio (40%), group composition project (20%), ensemble composition & commentary (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89969","attributes":{"title":"Computational Arts Practice","summary":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year or Autumn or Spring\n(module can be taken for one term only for 15 credits)\nPre-Requisites: None\nThis module provides...","description":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year or Autumn or Spring
\n(module can be taken for one term only for 15 credits)
\nPre-Requisites: None
\nThis module provides Computing students with the opportunity to develop their own creative software projects through a variety of means, by focussing on a particular approach, task, concept and platform. It will also take students through the entire software production process, from user centred design, to proposal development and implementation. This will re-enforce abilities in project management, planning, critical awareness and design that students need to develop in order to create better software and creative projects.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Understand and reflect upon the broader professional issues involved with creating and realising creative computing projects.
\n• A critical understanding of the potential impact on society of software and digital media
\n• Understand and contrast different models of software project management
\n• Research the technical, social and creative context of a particular software application and apply this research to the design of software
\n• Design and implement software that fits a particular project need and that demonstrates a clear aesthetic design
\n• Plan the design, production and dissemination in a professional creative context of software using state of the art industry standards
\n• Make critical judgements about their work and its relationship to contemporary art practice
\n• Evaluate a project in terms of its technical outcomes, aesthetic/creative success and business requirements
\n• Work independently and in groups to produce a substantial piece of work
\n• Propose, plan and execute a medium scale project
\n• Apply the right software with suitable documentation and awareness of professional issues for a range of different software design problems and environments
\nAssessment:
\n100% Coursework
\n*If here for one term only: alternative assessment given
\nAdditional Information: Recommended: Combine with; Principles and Applications of Programming
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129154","attributes":{"title":"Computer Security","summary":"This course aims to give students an understanding of the need for computer security and the technologies that support it. It will have practical...","description":"This course aims to give students an understanding of the need for computer security and the technologies that support it. It will have practical emphasis which allows students to discover for themselves the pitfalls of security design and to comprehend the mathematics underlying the protocols by programming small examples.
\n\n
Assessment: coursework (50%), exam (50%)
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"742116","attributes":{"title":"Computing Project 1","summary":"This module is aimed at novice programmers who have learnt some basic programming techniques. The course builds on this knowledge by developing...","description":"
This module is aimed at novice programmers who have learnt some basic programming techniques. The course builds on this knowledge by developing students’ ability to combine short segments of code to create larger projects.
\nStudents will begin by developing their knowledge of object oriented programming through learning about principles such as encapsulation and abstraction. Students will be presented with existing programs which they will explore, debug and extend. They will choose one of these to develop into a final project for the module.
\nDuring this work students will apply taught techniques in organising, planning and evaluating their code.
\n\n
Assessment: lab assignments portfolio (20%), computing project (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"461677","attributes":{"title":"Computing Project 2","summary":"This module builds on the skills developed in Computing Project 1 by giving students the opportunity to work in a group on a medium scale software...","description":"This module builds on the skills developed in Computing Project 1 by giving students the opportunity to work in a group on a medium scale software project of their choosing. Students will enact the entire software production process, from user centred design, to proposal development and implementation. By focusing on user-centered design, this module re-enforces skills in project management, planning, critical awareness and design.
\nTerm one activities center around project preparation. Students research their chosen project’s technological, social and creative context towards the creation of a project proposal. At the end of the first term students will submit a project proposal, including user centred research, a design of the software and an initial prototype. Term two centers on implementation. This is done in an environment that mimics real world development including the use of project management software, issue tracking and source control.
\nThis work will be supported by a series of lectures on relevant topics as well as guest lectures about real world projects.
\nPre-requisite: programming experience in Java
\nAssessment: core skills assessment (10%), coursework project (90%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91613","attributes":{"title":"Confronting the Climate Crisis","summary":"We’re living in a time of global climate crisis. How might we, as sociologists, and as people living in this world, make sense of climate change and...","description":"We’re living in a time of global climate crisis. How might we, as sociologists, and as people living in this world, make sense of climate change and ecological collapse? What are our responsibilities? How are we complicit? How can we make sense of the histories which led to this moment and how might we imagine our futures? How do we stay hopeful? In this module, we will think together about how we got here and where we are going. We will explore the environmental crisis as a multiple, interconnected issue which has a long history, and highly differentiated and unequal impacts. The module takes a decolonial and anti-racist perspective to environmental issues, embedding work by indigenous, racialized and global south scholars across each week of the term, to help us reframe debates and theories. We also look at different kinds of fictional writing about the environment. In this way, we want to explore how the global climate crisis represents a challenge to ways of knowing and to ways of living and necessitates us thinking in different and more connected ways.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word coursework (75%), 1,500 portfolio (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94474","attributes":{"title":"Constructing Human Rights","summary":"You will be introduced to the concepts you will need to study human rights, beginning with ‘social construction’. From there we will begin to...","description":"You will be introduced to the concepts you will need to study human rights, beginning with ‘social construction’. From there we will begin to think about the political, social and cultural forms in which constructions of human rights are developed, gain credibility, and are (usually partially and often controversially) institutionalised.
\nIn particular we will look at how human rights are constructed ‘culturally’ through processes of (generally mediated) framing. 'Cultural’ here encompasses the legal framing of human rights, but we will look at how human rights are constructed in a variety of forms, organisational, institutional, and artistic.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93902","attributes":{"title":"Consumer Behaviour","summary":"You will be introduced to the fundamentals of consumer psychology and behavioural economics. You’ll gain an understanding of the fundamental decision...","description":"
You will be introduced to the fundamentals of consumer psychology and behavioural economics. You’ll gain an understanding of the fundamental decision making processes and the factors that influence these processes.
\nIt covers topics such as prospect theory and classical economics, brain structures and information processing, heuristics and rules of thumb, and framing and influencing techniques. You’ll explore the various strategies used by marketers to differentiate their products, leverage brands, set strategic prices, reduce the effectiveness of consumer search, and it compares the effectiveness of each.
\nThe course covers topics such as the types and effectiveness of pricing strategies, individual differences in uptake of pricing strategies, value perceptions and subconscious influences, and ethical and legal issues around influencing consumer choice. The lectures will be supplemented by several assignments designed to develop and enhance practical skills, and further develop familiarity with consumer psychological methods and theories.
\nAssessment: report (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"857863","attributes":{"title":"Consumer Behaviour","summary":"This lecture series will introduce students to the fundamentals of consumer behaviour. It will give students an understanding of the fundamental...","description":"This lecture series will introduce students to the fundamentals of consumer behaviour. It will give students an understanding of the fundamental decision making processes and the factors that influence these processes, from cultural elements to individual aspects. It also discloses the various strategies used by marketers to differentiate their products, leverage brands, set strategic prices, reduce the effectiveness of consumer search, and it compares the effectiveness of each. The module covers topics such as the influence of demographics and psychographics, the difference between a brand community and a brand public, the self-concept, the different learning processes and their impact on product choice.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94742","attributes":{"title":"Consumer Citizenship and Visual Media","summary":"This module examines visual advertising media and the proliferation of neo-liberal philosophies of consumer citizenship. In the milieu from...","description":"This module examines visual advertising media and the proliferation of neo-liberal philosophies of consumer citizenship. In the milieu from which universal rights are disappearing, consumer citizenship imposes a moral obligation on subjects to make provision for themselves and their families well into the future. The logical implication here is that autonomous consumers come to adopt a certain entrepreneurial form of practical relationship to their selves. Enterprise is represented here as playing a vital translating role, promising to align general political-ethical principles, with the goals of industry and the self–regulating activities of individuals. Within this politico-ethical environment, consumers are constituted as both objects of enterprise and instruments of enterprise as they make 'entrepreneurs of themselves, seeking to maximize their ‘quality of life’ through the artful assembly of a ‘life-style’ put together through the world of goods’ (Miller and Rose 2008:49).
Divided into four main sections. Part One: examines reflexive modernity and the linking of postmodern visual culture with citizenship as part of the development of political consumerism. Part Two: is informed by Michel Foucault's 1978-1979 lectures at the College de France, in conjunction with Miller and Rose (2008), so as to provide an account of the entrepreneurial self. Central objective of Part Two is to examine the 'governing of humanity', in the context of Neoliberal governmental rationality and market reform of public sector services (with emphasis on recent healthcare market reform). Part Three raises pertinent issues about visual media: the embodiment of consumer citizenship; the body as a site of self-discipline; body praxis and life-politics; and cultural political resistance to the commodity-sign. Part Four: examines Fairtrade branding and the geopolitics of ethical consumerism in the context of global advertising media.
This module aims to introduce students to consumer culture. While in the previous modules of the BSc, students have studied consumers mostly from an individual and psychological point of view, this module will look at consumers from a social, cultural, and anthropological point of view. The assumption is that brands are cultural icons and as such they have meanings that go beyond their economic value. As such, this module will look at products, services, branding, retailing, and advertising from sociological, anthropological and cultural perspectives.
\nThe module will explore topics such as:
\nThe overall goal is to challenge students’ existing understanding of marketing, and to develop a critical view on contemporary marketing issues. It also challenges students to explore more complex topics in consumer research and to develop a critical perspective on the taught topics.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166187","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary African Migrant Literature & Film","summary":"Migration has been a central concern of human rights debates at the UN and international NGOs, in the policies of European and North-American...","description":"Migration has been a central concern of human rights debates at the UN and international NGOs, in the policies of European and North-American governments and in interdisciplinary academic conversations and theoretical reflections. Literature and film have made some of the most imaginative, productive and influential recent contributions to the study of migration and human rights. Triggered by conflicts and socio-economic factors, new waves and forms of migration from the African continent have inspired powerful portrayals of the \"migrant's crisis\".
\nIn this module, we will examine selected contemporary African novels, short stories, and films in relation to human rights violations and the question of the \"human\" in both the country of origin and the host country. The issues that will be explored include trauma, hope, labour, exploitation, violence, xenophobia, racial tensions, discrimination, smuggling and trafficking, borders, refugee status, citizenship, diaspora, socio-economic and cultural assimilation, home, immigration policies, globalisation, \"migritude\", transnationalism and relationality.
\nWe will evaluate how human rights discourse both inflects and is inflected by the imagined realities and imaginative alternatives offered by these texts and films. The material covered will also allow us to address the mass media and social media (mis)representations of African migration.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91359","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Approaches to the Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy and Counselling","summary":"This module introduces the core theoretical principles of contemporary theory and practice of psychotherapy and counselling which have changed...","description":"This module introduces the core theoretical principles of contemporary theory and practice of psychotherapy and counselling which have changed markedly in the past thirty years. During this time, many forces have converged, leading to major alterations in the therapeutic landscape.
\nThe scope of the module encompasses history, theory, practice, trends and research in psychotherapy and counselling at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Like every human practice or set of beliefs, psychotherapy has its own particular historical context forged by major traditions in the field such as psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioural, humanistic and existential.
\nAt the same time, therapeutic cultures will be placed within a critical socio-political and philosophical context, considering Foucault, Feminist and intercultural critiques.
\nAssessment: exam (25%), exam (25%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"156432","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Arab Migrant Writing","summary":"This module examines the transcultural and transnational spaces imaginatively created in the works of Arab writers who are originally from North...","description":"This module examines the transcultural and transnational spaces imaginatively created in the works of Arab writers who are originally from North Africa and the Middle East and migrated to European and North American countries. The core module texts are novels, memoirs, as well as short stories that cross boundaries spatially but also socio-culturally and linguistically. These works confront the waves of political repression, socio-economic crises, conflicts and geopolitical upheavals in the Arab world, as well as unprecedented rates of illegal migration, especially to Europe. The module texts are mostly Anglophone Arab literature and translations from Arabic and French, since 1999. We will approach the texts as both specific to particular political and cultural geographies and also reflective of people’s physical and intellectual itineraries in a world where borders are alternately opened and closed. We will mainly look at place, memory, identity, home, diaspora, exile, refugee status, clandestine migration, surveillance, human rights, conflict, resistance, postcolonialism, nationalism, transnationalism, multiculturalism, assimilation dynamics and integration policies, gender, religious diversity and extremism, life-writing, as well as language, translation and the transcultural imagination.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word journal (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129547","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Art Worlds","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\nBy embarking...","description":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nBy embarking directly into the complex and colourful landscapes of present-day practices, this module aims to familiarise you with the vocabularies and context of visual culture as it has developed from art history. The first half focuses on particular artists and the various inflections that situate their work within modernity and Postmodernity; concentrations on case studies will yield fundamental skills of reading and thinking the visual.
\nThe second half then shifts attention to spaces of exhibition and display, whilst also introducing you to wider topics such as (inter)nationalism and its impact on contemporary theory. Importantly, by laying these specific foundations, Contemporary Art Worlds will prepare you for the first year of the BA History of Art programme.
\nAssessment: 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 1,000-1,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142466","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Arts and Cultural Theory","summary":"This module covers various understandings of Arts and Cultural Theory through theoretical and empirical approaches to the production, distribution...","description":"This module covers various understandings of Arts and Cultural Theory through theoretical and empirical approaches to the production, distribution and consumption of culture. The arts are conceived broadly as including fine arts and popular arts. The module considers the ways in which networks of individuals work together to create art works, how profit-seeking businesses and non-profit organisations work are situated in the cultural arena, and the differences and similarities in the two forms. It also considers how audiences from different backgrounds receive works, and how people use art and culture for extra-aesthetic reasons, such as claiming status and distinction. In each unit of the module, consideration is given as to how the academic work presented may be of use to an arts manager. Structurally, the module will take the form of lectures and seminars each week. It will be assessed by an essay.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"900803","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Feminist Media Cultures","summary":"‘Call out feminism’, ‘transfeminism’, ‘intersectional feminism’, ‘Indigenous feminism’, ‘TERF’ and ‘hashtag feminism’ each exemplify the...","description":"
‘Call out feminism’, ‘transfeminism’, ‘intersectional feminism’, ‘Indigenous feminism’, ‘TERF’ and ‘hashtag feminism’ each exemplify the proliferation of feminist media cultures in recent years. In the context of digital media culture, debates about gender, sexuality and race have become de rigour. Many such debates link identificatory categories to their origins in social relations and representations, denaturalising cultural difference and problematising social and cultural structures of power. This discursive shift in the representation of identity leads to the question of whether contemporary feminist media cultures debunk the central thesis of postfeminism—that the negation of feminism gives rise to an empowered femininity/woman. The question of such a shift is further problematised by the networked rearticulation of misogyny, homophobia and racism in the conjunctive reassertion of nationalism globally.
\nThis module focuses on the question the relationship between feminism and media. We learn how contemporary feminisms come out of longstanding media practices of intervention through poster campaigning, filmmaking, photography, speech writing, zine production, and so on. We then consider the aesthetics of feminism through the theories and methods of feminist media and cultural studies, focusing on how feminist aesthetics are linked to technologies of production and reception, cultural practices and discourses of power. Feminist movements have always made use of their own media as a means to mobilise social action, often to address issues of social injustice put in terms of oppressive political systems, unequal cultural representation, inequity of civil liberties, the ‘pay gap’, and misogyny in the everyday from microaggression to intimate partner violence. Contemporary feminist media cultures are characterised by emergent, dynamic and efficacious forms of mediated visibility and participation that put longstanding feminist media practices into motion in new cultural forms and with new implications. We will learn how ‘popular’, ‘revolutionary’, ‘everyday’, ‘neoliberal’, ‘transnational’, ‘networked’ and ‘participatory’ feminisms buttress, intervene into, or provide alternatives to structures of power, particularly as they intersect with class, capitalism and colonialism within neoliberalism.
\nThrough a foundational and rigorous training in ‘theory as method’, this module equips students with an analytical skill set that enables the critical interpretation of contemporary feminist media cultures. In the first weeks of the module, we learn how to apply feminist theories of subjectivity, representation, spectatorship, audiences, publics and networks. Doing so, we gain knowledge of the application of psychoanalytic, cultural, new materialist, critical race and queer methods of analysis within feminist media and cultural studies. We build on established ‘ways of reading’ through theorising subjectivity, representation and so on, practicing theory as a method of critical intervention. The following weeks specifically address the digital turn in feminism, examining a range of digital feminist phenomena including celebrity feminism, networked feminist activism, feminist film and television, and feminist social media (hashtagging, blogging, vlogging, podcasting). As well as analysing what various feminist aesthetics and technologies of production and reception do in globalised contexts of climate change and economic precarity, for instance, the module foregrounds situated and transnational perspectives, asking questions such as: How are feminisms configured by digital media culture in India and China? How did feminist media cultures play a role in the uprisings in Egypt? Assessment of the module asks students to explore questions such as: what constitutes feminist intervention now and in which cultural context? How should feminism be mediated? What are the potentials and pitfalls of feminism’s digital turn? What are the futures of feminist media?
\nAssessments: 1,000 word review (20%), 3,000 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"900806","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Feminist Media Cultures","summary":"‘Call out feminism’, ‘transfeminism’, ‘intersectional feminism’, ‘Indigenous feminism’, ‘TERF’ and ‘hashtag feminism’ each exemplify the...","description":"‘Call out feminism’, ‘transfeminism’, ‘intersectional feminism’, ‘Indigenous feminism’, ‘TERF’ and ‘hashtag feminism’ each exemplify the proliferation of feminist media cultures in recent years. In the context of digital media culture, debates about gender, sexuality and race have become de rigour. Many such debates link identificatory categories to their origins in social relations and representations, denaturalising cultural difference and problematising social and cultural structures of power. This discursive shift in the representation of identity leads to the question of whether contemporary feminist media cultures debunk the central thesis of postfeminism—that the negation of feminism gives rise to an empowered femininity/woman. The question of such a shift is further problematised by the networked rearticulation of misogyny, homophobia and racism in the conjunctive reassertion of nationalism globally.
\nThis module focuses on the question the relationship between feminism and media. We learn how contemporary feminisms come out of longstanding media practices of intervention through poster campaigning, filmmaking, photography, speech writing, zine production, and so on. We then consider the aesthetics of feminism through the theories and methods of feminist media and cultural studies, focusing on how feminist aesthetics are linked to technologies of production and reception, cultural practices and discourses of power. Feminist movements have always made use of their own media as a means to mobilise social action, often to address issues of social injustice put in terms of oppressive political systems, unequal cultural representation, inequity of civil liberties, the ‘pay gap’, and misogyny in the everyday from microaggression to intimate partner violence. Contemporary feminist media cultures are characterised by emergent, dynamic and efficacious forms of mediated visibility and participation that put longstanding feminist media practices into motion in new cultural forms and with new implications. We will learn how ‘popular’, ‘revolutionary’, ‘everyday’, ‘neoliberal’, ‘transnational’, ‘networked’ and ‘participatory’ feminisms buttress, intervene into, or provide alternatives to structures of power, particularly as they intersect with class, capitalism and colonialism within neoliberalism.
\nThrough a foundational and rigorous training in ‘theory as method’, this module equips students with an analytical skill set that enables the critical interpretation of contemporary feminist media cultures. In the first weeks of the module, we learn how to apply feminist theories of subjectivity, representation, spectatorship, audiences, publics and networks. Doing so, we gain knowledge of the application of psychoanalytic, cultural, new materialist, critical race and queer methods of analysis within feminist media and cultural studies. We build on established ‘ways of reading’ through theorising subjectivity, representation and so on, practicing theory as a method of critical intervention. The following weeks specifically address the digital turn in feminism, examining a range of digital feminist phenomena including celebrity feminism, networked feminist activism, feminist film and television, and feminist social media (hashtagging, blogging, vlogging, podcasting). As well as analysing what various feminist aesthetics and technologies of production and reception do in globalised contexts of climate change and economic precarity, for instance, the module foregrounds situated and transnational perspectives, asking questions such as: How are feminisms configured by digital media culture in India and China? How did feminist media cultures play a role in the uprisings in Egypt? Assessment of the module asks students to explore questions such as: what constitutes feminist intervention now and in which cultural context? How should feminism be mediated? What are the potentials and pitfalls of feminism’s digital turn? What are the futures of feminist media?
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"172896","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Indigenous Literatures and Cultures: Writing and Belonging","summary":"A selective study of contemporary indigenous writing from Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Guatemala, this module questions...","description":"A selective study of contemporary indigenous writing from Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Guatemala, this module questions literature’s ability to comment on matters such as indigenous sovereignty, cultural distinctiveness, colonial encounters, and geographical presences. By exploring the work of nine authors and their particular engagement with identity, place and politics, the module offers an in-depth understanding of contemporary tribal literature and its contexts. A number of literary genres will be discussed, including prose, poetry and autobiography, and we will consider how various modes of writing have been used to reflect—and construct—an aboriginal world-view in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Seminars will also reflect on perceptions of tribal identity as well as cultural or personal trauma arising from genocide and internment, and students will be asked to consider the attempt to mesh storytelling and traditional narrative with contemporary literary aesthetics. Themes studied will include: the use of literary tropes, (re)interpretation of oral narratives, identity politics, intertextual movement, magical realism and historical representation. It should be noted that all of the texts studied (both primary and secondary) were written after 1969, and are in English.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129580","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary International Relations Theories","summary":"Principal debates and issues that have been shaping world politics since the end of the Cold War are the focus of this module. The module provides a...","description":"Principal debates and issues that have been shaping world politics since the end of the Cold War are the focus of this module. The module provides a detailed review of the main theoretical perspectives contributing to contemporary IR Theory, critically assesses what IR theory is about, identifies the abstractions and logic it deploys, and interrogates its relation to the outside world.
\nAssessment: exam
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93881","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Issues in Cultural Policy","summary":"Contemporary Issues in Cultural Policy explores a range of trans-disciplinary topics that concern those researching and practicing in the areas of...","description":"
Contemporary Issues in Cultural Policy explores a range of trans-disciplinary topics that concern those researching and practicing in the areas of cultural policy. The module will consider key questions faced by all countries, regions and cities in creating and delivering policy. As globally most cultural ministries and their agencies are also responsible for a range of areas of policy often including international cultural relations, tourism, information and broadcasting and sport and also cross over with other ministries responsible for foreign affairs, education and creative industries the scope of the module will be broad.
\nThose topics will be addressed in a rigorous and structured way using methodologies conducive to student in depth and collaborative learning. Learning will be delivered through lectures, seminars, case studies, group work and presentations. Students will be taught in a single lecture environment each week before breaking off into smaller groups to conduct topical seminars, discussions or group work.
\nPlease note that this module is taught in the summer term.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91465","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Music Industries","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce students to critical questions in the study of contemporary musics and those from the 20th and early 21st...","description":"The aim of this module is to introduce students to critical questions in the study of contemporary musics and those from the 20th and early 21st centuries. A majority of examples will be drawn from Western popular and classical musics of this period, although the module will also ask how the questions examined might be asked of global music traditions, and how global traditions of musics may themselves trouble the kinds of questions that musicologists may ask of contemporary musics. Rather than take an historical overview of the themes and topics explored, the module is structured around key questions in order to: consider the ways that recent and contemporary music has been thought and written about; explore historical cultural contexts; and develop students’ skills in critical reasoning, conducting research and presenting written arguments. Students will be encouraged to think about relationships between musics, as well as between musicians, their works and their contexts, and also to engage with appropriate ideas from such disciplines as historical studies, sociology, cultural studies, ethnomusicology and musical analysis.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93661","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Screen Narratives","summary":"This module explores questions such as what narratives are, how they differ from non-narratives, what forms they may take and what functions they...","description":"
This module explores questions such as what narratives are, how they differ from non-narratives, what forms they may take and what functions they serve. It also looks at how elements of narrative creation and screen production contribute to the intellectual and emotional impact of various screen narrative examples.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94884","attributes":{"title":"Critical Security Studies","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week\nThis module explores the contemporary security agenda in...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week
\nThis module explores the contemporary security agenda in world politics. It addresses both theoretical debates over the nature of security and the range of phenomena currently identified as security threats.
\nBy the end of the course you will have developed a sophisticated understanding of the notion of security and be able to contextualise its place in the study of international politics broadly defined.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,500-5,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142553","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Social Issues","summary":"Terms taught: Full Year\nThis module provides critical perspectives from anthropology and social theory on the contemporary social issues that...","description":"Terms taught: Full Year
\nThis module provides critical perspectives from anthropology and social theory on the contemporary social issues that community development and youth work are concerned with, bringing together perspectives from the 'global north' and the 'global south'. We’ll examine a ‘keyword’ in social analysis, such as class, race, culture, gender, community, and power.
\nWe explore how these categories have been conceptualised within anthropology and other disciplines, and how they shape communities and the lives of young people today.
\nAssessment: 1x 2 question take home paper
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89576","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Social Theory and Society","summary":"Be introduced to a range of contemporary debates, which relate broadly to the theorisation of identity and identification.\nThe first half of the...","description":"Be introduced to a range of contemporary debates, which relate broadly to the theorisation of identity and identification.
\nThe first half of the module will examine a variety of theories concerned with the examination of social class, gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality, and the way in which wider structural concerns intersect to both enable and constrain identification.
\nLectures 6-8 build on the ideas presented in the first half of the module in order to examine the relationship of identity to social memory, before the final two lectures consider the importance of emotion to the process of identification.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Critically engage with identity and identification.
\n• Understand how identity is constructed.
\n• Demonstrate the way in which wider structural processes and historical events impact on identity and identification.
\n• Use a range of different theories to interrogate the processes of identity formation.
\n• Understand the political significance of identity and identification.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166597","attributes":{"title":"Contemporary Theories of Justice","summary":"‘It is only from the selfishness and confined generosity of men, along with the scanty provision nature has made for his wants, that justice derives...","description":"
‘It is only from the selfishness and confined generosity of men, along with the scanty provision nature has made for his wants, that justice derives its origins.’ (David Hume, 1739)
\nGiven the scarcity of the means available for the satisfaction of human ends, a chief concern of political philosophy is to provide moral principles from which to derive the appropriate social and economic institutions that can facilitate the just distribution of benefits and burdens in society. In this module we will examine the ideas of some of the major contemporary theoreticians of distributive justice in the analytic tradition: John Rawls, Robert Nozick, G.E. Cohen and F.A. Hayek.
\nThrough the writings of these thinkers, the module addresses questions such as the following. Are there principles of justice that all impartial rational individuals can adhere to? Is the just society that which arranges distributions of social and economic goods so as to benefit its least advantaged members? Is the principle of self-ownership capable of grounding a theory of property rights over things beyond oneself; things, which once the property of an individual, are not 'available' for distribution in order to achieve some desired distributional outcome? Are greed and selfishness deplorable motives for productive action and, if so, are they unnecessary obstacles for the realisation of an intrinsically desirable socialist society that would promote equality of condition as well as human prosperity? Rather than a rational construction, is modern society a 'spontaneous order' that cannot be centrally planned or directed according to one's moral preference or conception of the just pattern of economic distribution? If so, is social justice merely a mirage?
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166752","attributes":{"title":"Context Course Year 1","summary":"Year 1 Context Course is split into three:\n1) Histories and Theories\nThis module investigates the historical and theoretical context of design in the...","description":"Year 1 Context Course is split into three:
\n1) Histories and Theories
\nThis module investigates the historical and theoretical context of design in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through a series of lectures, visits and practical exercises you will begin to unravel the main theoretical influences on design culture. You will be encouraged to consider biographical uses of theory in practitioner accounts of their designs, and the use of theory by curators in the exhibition of groups of design outcomes. In this way you will be able to consider how history is not a monolithic entity, and understand how different versions of design history can be proposed and argued for.
\n2) Design and Meaning
\n\n
This eight-week lecture series investigates the role that psychology and semiotics play in design. The module looks at the complex nature of thinking and creative techniques and suggests a number of ways in which these things relate to practice. Though a series of lectures, practical exercises, problem-solving activities, forms of co-operative learning, and small group discussions, students will be encouraged to explore their own personal and collective responses to the design process.
\n\n
3) Ecology and Design
\n5 day intensive - morning lectures, afternoon set activities
\nIn the face of climate change and revelations in science to the extent of human-made impact on our environmental systems, the ecology movement aimed to create a moral and practical urgency for the need to establish new principles to govern human behaviour to ensure a sustainable future. For design, as an emerging commercially significant practice, movements were established with the aim of turning the principles of ecology into new practical and applied design activity. Over half a century on, there is increasing recognition that these established design movements may not be enough to meet the complexity of the global challenges of ‘unsustainability’ we face today. This module aims to explore expanded ideas and notions of ecology and its relation to design. It aims to establish that in order for design to have any significant impact, new practices must be evolved and established that can challenge the embedded logic systems and structures of consciousness that continue to perpetuate unsustainability within a complex global world. Through the exploration of a range of existing design practices and through examination of an evolving theoretical context of ecology and sustainability, the module will aim to equip designers with the insights and practical knowledge to enable them to evolve their own practices towards having greater impact.
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166726","attributes":{"title":"Contextual Studies: Design and Meaning","summary":"This course provides a practical and theoretical grounding for designers who want to engage with, work through and immerse themselves in the systems...","description":"
This course provides a practical and theoretical grounding for designers who want to engage with, work through and immerse themselves in the systems of contemporary culture. Regimes of meaning and the various forms of semantic commitment we make to the social world that are available through philosophy, semiotics, psychology and anthropology will form the dominant modes through which this engagment will take place. The central concern will be to demonstrate not only how meaning is to be analysed through, and via, the ideologies of Late capitalism, but also to show how meaning can be created anew by going beyond, or by acting alongside, these ideologies. The course will thus provide a reflexive tool for design to, as it were, engage in the practice of self-criticism through its embodiment in the central disciplines of graphics, multi-media, product and furniture.
\nContact time: lectures/sessions - 8 x 1.5 hours
\nAssessment: 1500 word essay
\n15 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166724","attributes":{"title":"Contextual Studies: Ecology and Design\n","summary":"This intensive course introduces key ideas of ecological understanding and thinking in theory and practice, for design and the wider world. It...","description":"
This intensive course introduces key ideas of ecological understanding and thinking in theory and practice, for design and the wider world. It investigates and challenges both current design in a consumer society and current notions of sustainability. The context for this course is the emerging field of eco design and acts as a foundation in this broad field. It draws most of its content from current practice in eco design and contemporary environmental and social concerns.
\nContact time: lectures/sessions - 4 x 6 hour sessions
\nAssessment: 1500 word essay
\n15 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166723","attributes":{"title":"Contextual Studies: Histories and Theories\n","summary":"This lecture programme investigates the historical and theoretical context of design in the 20th century. Through a series of lectures, visits and...","description":"This lecture programme investigates the historical and theoretical context of design in the 20th century. Through a series of lectures, visits and practical exerciese, students will begin to unravel the main theoretical influences of design and designing.
\nContact time: lectures/sessions - 8 x 2 hours
\nAssessment: portfolio of assessment exercises (equivalent to 1500 words)
\n15 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166997","attributes":{"title":"Contract Law","summary":"Students in this module will engage in the critical evaluation of the definition, scope and application of criminal offences and the theories that...","description":"Students in this module will engage in the critical evaluation of the definition, scope and application of criminal offences and the theories that underpin them, and will obtain a systematic understanding of the practical, cultural, ethical, institutional and socio-political context within which these apply, including with reference to feminist and human rights perspectives. Analysis will be continually informed by reference to criminalisation theories, with a view to identifying, and critically reflecting upon, liberal or more conservative interpretations. The need for reform will be critically assessed from a normative and practical, evidence-based, perspective.
\nKey Criminal Law themes will include general principles of criminal liability, homicide offences and non-fatal violent offences against the person, sexual offences, property offences, secondary participation in crime.
\nKey Criminal Practice discussions will include engagement with police station procedure and suspects’ rights, prosecutorial discretion, pleas, pre-trial hearings, and trial procedure including the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence.
\nThe module will integrate theory into practice in the following ways: (a) the synoptic teaching (and assessment) of criminal law theory and aspects of relevant functioning knowledge (in line with relevant qualifying examination guidance, particularly in relation to SQE1); (b) the systematic incorporation of guest lectures and functioning legal knowledge workshop(s) into the curriculum; these will be delivered by criminal justice professionals: solicitors, barristers, judges, Law Commission and criminal justice NGO experts (particularly in relation to criminal law reform); (c) the organisation of study visit(s) to the Old Bailey and/or local Magistrates and Crown Court; (d) the participation in relevant VR experiences supported by the use of appropriate technology (in computing/video lab); (e) the observation of/participation in mock Crown Court trial and mooting. The criminal law team will select appropriate activities from the above indicative list, and may replace these with other activities.
\nWhere relevant, the module will also introduce students to examples from the Criminal Law of foreign jurisdictions and international criminal tribunals, inviting them to reflect on cross-cultural differences and similarities, in relation to criminal law theory and legal practice. The criminal law and process related jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights will likewise provide a key point of reference.
\nAssessment: 2x coursework, 1x exam
\nPre-requisite: field of study must be sufficiently connected with the study of Law
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Law","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"154467","attributes":{"title":"Creating Customer Experiences ","summary":"Over the past three decades, customers have gained centre stage in marketing education and practice. Establishing close and intimate relationships...","description":"Over the past three decades, customers have gained centre stage in marketing education and practice. Establishing close and intimate relationships with customers is considered to be key to marketing success, and customer equity has become an important marketing performance indicator. The advent of digital technology and social media have had a major impact on the nature of customer relationships. Today, companies are seeking to engage the customer by creating interactive, participative marketing landscapes which will be the focus of this module.
\nBased on a solid understanding of traditional customer relationship management and contemporary customer engagement theories, this module discusses the creation of customer experiences from two perspectives. First, the module will teach students how managers involve customers throughout the marketing process. Existing technology allows customers to participate in product design (e.g., online product customization), pricing (e.g., pay-what-you-want), and marketing communications (creation of viral online content). 3D printing may revolutionize the distribution of material goods, with customers designing products online and printing them at home. Virtual Reality will add further customer touch points to our existing marketing landscapes in the near future. Specifically, Virtual Reality has the potential to transform retail environments and create entirely new marketing communication channels. Furthermore, companies are increasingly engaging customers in brand building, especially via brand communities. The merits as well as the limitations of participative customer experiences will be discussed in this module. Also, the potential impact of other emerging technologies on the customer experience will be examined.
\nSecond, this module focuses on customer involvement in the innovation process. Companies are increasingly involving customers directly in the development of novel products and services. On the one hand, this occurs via crowdsourcing efforts and product idea competitions. On the other hand, selected customers may work directly with engineers and managers during the innovation process. Furthermore, customers often innovate on their own, which is well-documented in the lead user and market creation literature. The module demonstrates how managers can create fertile grounds for successful customer co-creation of new products and services. Also, it will debate the value and limitations of customer engagement in companies’ innovation efforts.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"722678","attributes":{"title":"Creative Computing Project 1","summary":"This module is intended as an introduction to creative practice. Students work individually or in groups to conceive, develop and produce finished...","description":"This module is intended as an introduction to creative practice. Students work individually or in groups to conceive, develop and produce finished practical software projects in creative computing, making the fullest possible use of their creative and coding skills. Each project is uniquely specified to allow students the fullest possible creative choice, and projects are mentored by module leaders to ensure that they are at the appropriate level, and to provide students with specific programming and practical suggestions where required. All student projects must feature the creative use of digital media technologies through applied programming
In addition to allowing students to develop their skills in a chosen area of interest, this module encourages students to make coherent judgments regarding the application of their computing skills as they develop and reinforce their technical knowledge through creative projects.
\n
Assessment: lab assignments portfolio (20%), creative project (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"751001","attributes":{"title":"Creative Computing Project 2","summary":"Building on their experiences in Creative Computing Project 1, this module develops practical and research skills for realising medium-scale C++...","description":"Building on their experiences in Creative Computing Project 1, this module develops practical and research skills for realising medium-scale C++ projects in the contexts of the arts and creative industries. Working individually or in groups students will conceive, develop and produce substantial practical software projects in creative computing. These works are expected to make the fullest possible use of their creative and programming skills and must feature the creative use of digital media technologies through applied programming.
\nThrough this work students will become familiar with a variety of C++ development environments and will learn how to research relevant open source libraries and use them through reading APIs and source code. Additionally students will study a range of practical skills which are key to managing large code bases over long periods of development.
\nPre-requisite: C++ programming experience
\nAssessment: core skills (10%), lab assignments portfolio (20%), creative project (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129574","attributes":{"title":"Creative Music Technology","summary":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year, Autumn, Spring\n(If you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits)\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour...","description":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year, Autumn, Spring
\n(If you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits)
\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, plus additional independent study
\nThis course provides an opportunity for students to creatively develop music technology core skills.
\nThey will also have the opportunity to work both individually and collaboratively in a recording studio, developing knowledge of good practice in this environment, which also provides a general induction into the studio facilities & technologies available within the Department of Music.
\nAssessment: 1 x software assignment (either Logic or ProTools), 1 x online recording techniques quiz
\nIf you're here for one term only then an alternative assessment will be given.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91447","attributes":{"title":"Creative Orchestration and Arrangement","summary":"Students be will familiarised with standard principles of orchestration and arrangement as found in various forms of late 20th-century music...","description":"Students be will familiarised with standard principles of orchestration and arrangement as found in various forms of late 20th-century music drawing from diverse source material – concert composition and orchestral transcription, film scoring, and jazz/popular music studio arranging.
\nIt will examine the idiomatic use of orchestral instruments and instrumental groups, standard techniques of orchestration and orchestral transcription, and offer creative resources for arrangement. You will also develop the conceptual and analytical tools to ‘reverse engineer’ techniques of orchestration and arrangement in scores and recordings.
\nPre-requisite: musical knowledge required to take this module
\nAssessment: principle arrangement assignment (75%), portfolio (25%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90009","attributes":{"title":"Creative Projects","summary":"Students work individually and/or in groups to conceive, develop and produce finished practical software projects in creative computing, making the...","description":"
Students work individually and/or in groups to conceive, develop and produce finished practical software projects in creative computing, making the fullest possible use of their creative and programming skills.
\nEach project is uniquely specified to allow students the fullest possible creative choice, and projects are mentored by the module leader to ensure that they are at the appropriate level, and to provide students with specific programming and practical suggestions where required. All student projects must feature the creative use of digital media technologies through applied programming.
\nIn addition to allowing students to develop their skills in a chosen area of interest, this unit encourages students to make coherent judgments regarding the application of their computing skills as they develop and reinforce their technical knowledge through creative projects.
\nThis module provides Computing students with the opportunity to develop their own creative software projects through a variety of means, by focussing on a particular approach, task, concept and platform. It will also take students through the entire software production process, from user centred design, to proposal development and implementation. This will re-enforce abilities in project management, planning, critical awareness and design that students need to develop in order to create better software and creative projects.
\nAssessment: 100% coursework
\nContact hours: 3 hour lecture/lab per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"239457","attributes":{"title":"Creative Social Media","summary":"This module provides students with an in-depth engagement with the principles and practices of creative social media. The course introduces the...","description":"This module provides students with an in-depth engagement with the principles and practices of creative social media. The course introduces the foundations of a marketing approach to social media, but moves beyond this, focusing on the creative use of social media for storytelling, political campaigning, audience engagement, multiplatform and interactive production. From a theoretical perspective, it will look at how digital identities are created, and how we perform ourselves online. By specifically referencing the work of Douglas Rushkoff, Sherry Turkle, Jose Van Dijk, most recently looking at the ideas of ‘Lively Data’ (Lupton:2016) we examine the uses and abuses of the information that we leave behind. It will also take in the work of Goldsmiths’ Liz Moor and the rise of brands in modern culture and how this has impacted on the idea of ‘personal brand’.
On a practical level, it will explore creative uses of tools and techniques such as GIFs, live streaming, pre-roll advertising, click-bait, social storytelling and virality. The syllabus will respond to developments in the creative industries and fields of research related to social media. It will also ground students in the relevance and significance of social, aesthetic, theoretical, political and historical contexts in which social media operate. This provides students the opportunity to develop proficiency in the techniques and relevant software packages for realizing and analysing creative projects. Students will develop an ability to generate and develop social media strategies, they will understand the process by which a digital brand is created, and the production techniques to that respond to a range of different creative ideas – led by themselves and others working across different platforms – and potential client needs. They will learn how to translate narrative, conceptual and some marketing ideas into creative social media form.
This module provides you with an in-depth engagement with the principles and practices of creative social media. The course introduces the foundations of a marketing approach to social media, but moves beyond this, focusing on the creative use of social media for storytelling, political campaigning, audience engagement, multiplatform and interactive production.
\nFrom a theoretical perspective, the module will look at how digital identities are created, and how we perform ourselves online. It will focus on ideas of ‘lively data’, examine the uses and abuses of the information that we leave behind and will consider the rise of brands in modern culture and how this has impacted on the idea of ‘personal brand’. On a practical level, it will explore creative uses of tools and techniques such as GIFs, live streaming, pre-roll advertising, click-bait,social storytelling and virality. This will ground you in the relevance and significance of social, aesthetic, theoretical, political and historical contexts in which social media operate.
\nThe module provides you the opportunity to develop proficiency in the techniques and relevant software packages for realizing and analysing creative projects. You will develop an ability to generate and develop social media strategies, digital branding, and the production techniques to that respond to a range of different creative ideas – led by themselves and others working across different platforms – and potential client needs. You will learn how to translate narrative, conceptual and marketing ideas into creative social media form. The module is assessed by a practical, creative online festival, which you will design.
\nAssessment: design of a digital festival (75%), 1,500 word essay (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"331303","attributes":{"title":"Creative Writing Pedagogies and Identities","summary":"This module offers students the opportunity to explore a range of educational and cultural approaches towards creative writing and develop both their...","description":"This module offers students the opportunity to explore a range of educational and cultural approaches towards creative writing and develop both their own creative writing practices and those of young people. On this module, students will engage collaboratively with professionals working in local cultural institutions: British Library, Poetry Society, English and Media Centre, Apples and Snakes, Ministry of Stories, The Complete Works. They will explore a growing interest in linking cultural sector practices to those of Education and reflect upon the changing nature of the relationship between creative writing and pedagogy. The module combines contemporary writing practice, theory and pedagogy. The module relates to the Workshop in Creative and Life Writing, but explores writing practices in a range of cultural contexts.
\nThe three-hour sessions in this core module are attended by all full-time and all part-time students in their first year. The module runs throughout the spring term. Students develop critical understanding of their identity as writers and educators in informal and formal learning contexts. Students are exposed to the work of experienced practitioners from local cultural institutions (British Library, Poetry Society, English and Media Centre, Apples and Snakes, Ministry of Stories, The Complete Works). This will enable students to extend their own practice as both writers and educators and bring these practices into a productive relationship. Issues relating to creative writing practices and pedagogy are raised and debated during sessions and will build on earlier discussions in the Workshop in Creative and Life Writing.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91626","attributes":{"title":"Crime, Control and the State","summary":"The module considers the growth and development of criminological theories and methodologies - from the late nineteenth century to the present day -...","description":"The module considers the growth and development of criminological theories and methodologies - from the late nineteenth century to the present day - by looking at forms of representation, policing, constraint, and the government of people and things. These theories and methodologies will be located within the context of the city and the nation, as well as on a global scale. Lectures 1-5 will introduce the main themes of the module by considering the birth of criminology and its relationship to the nation state. Lectures 6-10 will examine different critical perspectives on crime and deviance. Lectures 11-15 reflect on the role of the state regarding its power to punish, control and responsibility to protect its citizens. Lectures 16-20 will conclude the module by considering some of the theoretical and methodological issues associated with studying crime at the global level.
\nAssessment (full year students): 300 word exercise (formative), 1,750 word essay (50%), 750 word practice exam (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (formative), 2 hour exam (50%)
\nAssessment (autumn term students): 2,500 word essay (100%), 750 word essay (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"135997","attributes":{"title":"Crimes Against Humanity","summary":"The module considers crimes against humanity, and the meaning of key concepts such as humanity, state, universal jurisdiction, and individual...","description":"The module considers crimes against humanity, and the meaning of key concepts such as humanity, state, universal jurisdiction, and individual responsibility. It considers what kinds of behaviour constitute crimes against humanity, and how, why and by whom such crimes are committed. The module also examines what kinds of international legal instruments and institutions have arisen to designate crimes against humanity as such in order to try to prevent or punish them. The module will compare legal practices of representing such crimes with other practices, in particular memoir and film. The module will employ concepts to understand case studies and it will employ case studies to shed light on concepts; it will in this way develop a materialist sociological methodology, rooted in empirical study, in order to understand the world.
\nAssessment: 1,750 word essay (50%), 1,750 word essay (50%)
\n\n
\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1353694","attributes":{"title":"Crimes of the Powerful","summary":"The concept of ‘crimes of the powerful’ responds to long-standing criticisms that criminology focuses on petty crimes and offenders whilst neglecting...","description":"
The concept of ‘crimes of the powerful’ responds to long-standing criticisms that criminology focuses on petty crimes and offenders whilst neglecting crimes committed by powerful corporations, states and organisations.
\nIn this module, we'll take a wide-ranging interdisciplinary approach drawing on research and theory from criminology, sociology, socio-legal studies, law, human rights, politics and international relations to discuss diverse issues such as war, state crime, corporate and white-collar crime. You'll learn why crimes of the powerful have generally proven difficult to legislate or punish.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"135995","attributes":{"title":"Criminal Justice in Context","summary":"The module considers a number of issues broadly concerning crime: both acts themselves and also the legal, penal, civil society and policing...","description":"The module considers a number of issues broadly concerning crime: both acts themselves and also the legal, penal, civil society and policing frameworks which address them and which frame them. It concerns longstanding philosophical and social theoretical questions about the relation between crime, the law, justice and rights; it is specifically concerned with the actualization of ideas, theory, principles and discourse into practice and lived experience.
\nThe course is structured around guest speakers who will talk about their experience and their research concerning how things actually happen, in relation to theories and ideas about how things are said to happen.
\nThe module explores the space between law’s conceptualization of itself as being neutral, above and outside society, and a social critique of that conceptualization which focuses on all the ways in which law falls short of its own ideals. Law is understood as a relationship between concepts and their actualizations by social actors; a relationship between the conceptual and the material.
\nThe module considers the institutions of criminal justice systems (e.g. police, judiciary, legal defence and prosecution, legal support, sentencing, prison).
\nAssessment: 1,750 word essay (50%), 1,750 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166996","attributes":{"title":"Criminal Law: Theory and Practice","summary":"Students in this module will engage in the critical evaluation of the definition, scope and application of criminal offences and the theories that...","description":"Students in this module will engage in the critical evaluation of the definition, scope and application of criminal offences and the theories that underpin them, and will obtain a systematic understanding of the practical, cultural, ethical, institutional and socio-political context within which these apply, including with reference to feminist and human rights perspectives. Analysis will be continually informed by reference to criminalisation theories, with a view to identifying, and critically reflecting upon, liberal or more conservative interpretations. The need for reform will be critically assessed from a normative and practical, evidence-based, perspective.
\nKey Criminal Law themes will include general principles of criminal liability, homicide offences and non-fatal violent offences against the person, sexual offences, property offences, secondary participation in crime.
\nKey Criminal Practice discussions will include engagement with police station procedure and suspects’ rights, prosecutorial discretion, pleas, pre-trial hearings, and trial procedure including the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence.
\nThe module will integrate theory into practice in the following ways: (a) the synoptic teaching (and assessment) of criminal law theory and aspects of relevant functioning knowledge (in line with relevant qualifying examination guidance, particularly in relation to SQE1); (b) the systematic incorporation of guest lectures and functioning legal knowledge workshop(s) into the curriculum; these will be delivered by criminal justice professionals: solicitors, barristers, judges, Law Commission and criminal justice NGO experts (particularly in relation to criminal law reform); (c) the organisation of study visit(s) to the Old Bailey and/or local Magistrates and Crown Court; (d) the participation in relevant VR experiences supported by the use of appropriate technology (in computing/video lab); (e) the observation of/participation in mock Crown Court trial and mooting. The criminal law team will select appropriate activities from the above indicative list, and may replace these with other activities.
\nWhere relevant, the module will also introduce students to examples from the Criminal Law of foreign jurisdictions and international criminal tribunals, inviting them to reflect on cross-cultural differences and similarities, in relation to criminal law theory and legal practice. The criminal law and process related jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights will likewise provide a key point of reference.
\nAssessment: 2x coursework, 1x exam
\nPre-requisite: field of study must be sufficiently connected with the study of Law
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Law","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94747","attributes":{"title":"Crisis and Critique","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nWhat is critical theory, and whence the notion of critique as a practical stance towards the world? Using these questions as a...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nWhat is critical theory, and whence the notion of critique as a practical stance towards the world? Using these questions as a point of departure, this module takes critical theory as its field of inquiry.
\nPart of the module will be devoted to investigating what critique is, starting with the etymological and conceptual affinity it shares with crisis: since the Enlightenment, so one line of argument goes, all grounds for knowledge are subject to criticism, which is understood to generate a sense of escalating historical crisis culminating in a radical renewal of the intellectual and social order.
\nWe will explore the efficacy of modern critical thought, and the concept of critiqueʼs efficacy, by examining a series of attempts to narrate and amplify states of crisis—and correspondingly transform key concepts such as self, will, time, and world—in order to provoke a transformation of society.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"138725","attributes":{"title":"Critical Arts Practice","summary":"Through first hand experience of practice this module aims to develop knowledge of the Arts; develop confidence in negotiating the creative process;...","description":"
Through first hand experience of practice this module aims to develop knowledge of the Arts; develop confidence in negotiating the creative process; and to develop an identity and self-confidence as a critical arts practitioner with an awareness of the social and cultural context of working in the arts. The module explores the relationship between the arts and social and cultural change through case studies and workshop based experimentation.
\nThe course seeks to enable students to steadily develop and refine their skills in discrimination, articulation and execution, as demonstrated through the selection, organisation and production of realised thought and response.
Assessment: 10 minute journal (40%), exhibition (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138693","attributes":{"title":"Critical Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Education","summary":"This module is an introduction to key issues in the study of multilingualism and multiculturalism. It takes a closer look at issues, policies, and...","description":"This module is an introduction to key issues in the study of multilingualism and multiculturalism. It takes a closer look at issues, policies, and research for multilingual and multiculturalism in education. Module study will cover sociolinguistic, and educational aspects of multilingualism and multiculturalism. You will have the opportunity to engage critically with the theory and current debates in the field.
\nWe will ask questions about language, languaging and translanguaging. We will focus on language as an expression and marker of nation, culture and identity. We will analyse dominant discourses about individual and societal multilingualism, linguistic landscapes and multiculturalism.
\nThe module approach includes and draws on your own experiences and perceptions of multilingualism and multiculturalism, examining them through a critical lens, both as an individual and as member of society. The module includes ethnographic and sociocultural research approaches.
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94100","attributes":{"title":"Critical Pedagogy and Contested Spaces (CP) (In association with several small London galleries) ","summary":"This Module, in partnership with Tate Modern, continues to support and develop your praxis (practice with theory) through engaging with the theories...","description":"This Module, in partnership with Tate Modern, continues to support and develop your praxis (practice with theory) through engaging with the theories and concepts of Critical Pedagogy. You will explore the potential of the artist teacher to operate at a level beyond orthodoxy - toward a critical pedagogy. Contemporary art practices will be placed within a socio- political framework to illustrate the position of artist educators within this current and critical pedagogical agenda. Key critical pedagogues: Paulo Freire, Ira Shor, Antonio Darder and Henry Giroux as well as the theories and philosophies of John Dewey, Jean Piaget and Karl Marx.
\nAssessment: End of Module exhibition/presentation-practice, 30 minute viva, essay 3000 words.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138113","attributes":{"title":"Critical Readings","summary":"This is an example of ‘the sociological imagination’ and is a key theme of this module. You will have to learn to get into the mind of the writer....","description":"This is an example of ‘the sociological imagination’ and is a key theme of this module. You will have to learn to get into the mind of the writer. You will come across dense writing that uses many unfamiliar words and concepts – and you will learn how you can ‘see through the language’ and identify the argument that the writer is making, the steps they take in their argument, and the strengths and weaknesses of their argument.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• The ability to think critically about what you read.
\n• The ability to recognise, understand and explain an argument or idea.
\n• The ability to compare and contrast arguments and ideas across a range of thinkers and writers, and the ability to identify the historical context of these arguments.
\n• The ability to approach and analyse texts with confidence
\nAssessment:
\n1x 1500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166188","attributes":{"title":"Critical Readings: the Emergence of the Sociological Imagination 1A","summary":"In this module our approach to the ‘sociological imagination’ is to understand Sociology as a discipline that has its own history. That history has...","description":"In this module our approach to the ‘sociological imagination’ is to understand Sociology as a discipline that has its own history. That history has influenced how we do Sociology today. It has given us different approaches, perspectives and different methods. These didn’t arrive all at once, but arose at different times, often in response to social events or changes in philosophical thinking. New perspectives and questions have arisen that have taken Sociology in new directions. We have to gain a sense of the history of our discipline in order to see where Sociology came from and how that history has changed. Those changes in approach have shaped the Sociology we study today, and we have to understand as much as we can about it in order to understand our own inheritances. But we also have to read this history critically, because it doesn’t have to determine how we do Sociology in the future.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (100%), 750 word essay (formative), 5-10 minute class presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166189","attributes":{"title":"Critical Readings: the Emergence of the Sociological Imagination 1B","summary":"In this module our approach to the ‘sociological imagination’ is to understand sociology as a discipline that has its own history and that history...","description":"In this module our approach to the ‘sociological imagination’ is to understand sociology as a discipline that has its own history and that history has influenced how we do sociology today. It has given us different approaches, perspectives and different methods. These didn’t arrive all at once, but arose at different times, often in response to social events or changes in philosophical thinking. New perspectives and questions have arisen that have taken sociology in new directions. We have to gain a sense of the history of our discipline in order to see where sociology came from and how that history has changed. Those changes in approach have shaped the sociology we study today, and we have to understand as much as we can about it in order to understand our own inheritances. But we also have to read this history critically, because it doesn’t have to determine how we do sociology in the future.
\nAssessment: 2 hour exam (100%), 750 word practice exam (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140620","attributes":{"title":"Critical Security Studies","summary":"This module considers the contemporary security agenda in world politics. It addresses both theoretical debates over the nature of security and the...","description":"This module considers the contemporary security agenda in world politics. It addresses both theoretical debates over the nature of security and the range of phenomena currently identified as security threats.
\nThe module takes as its point of entry the emergence in the post-Cold War world of the idea of human security, which challenged the traditional view that the state was the primary referent of security. Contemporary security studies now focus on a broad range of actors - states, individuals, substate groups, transnational NGOs and intergovernmental organisations.
\nThese actors are studied as:
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92854","attributes":{"title":"Critical Voices in Development","summary":"Students will engage with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of anthropology’s...","description":"Students will engage with a critical understanding of international development as a social, political and historical field, and of anthropology’s engagement with development and processes of planned social change.
\nThe early parts of the module provide students with an understanding of, the emergence of development as an idea, the architecture and infrastructure of aid, and introduce key theoretical approaches in the study of inequality. We also examine the tensions inherent in anthropology’s long and intimate relationship with development, through the early production of expert knowledge about tradition and culture; through its critical engagement with policy processes and planned interventions, and through the professional negotiation of the fields of development anthropology and the anthropology of development.
\nThe module then goes on to contextualise these theoretical and critical approaches to development through a series of interlinked topics and ethnographic case studies. These take students beyond the theorisation of development as linear progression, or as a monolithic force acting on the world, and instead reveal a field fractured by contradictions, contestations and contingencies that is produced, reproduced and interpreted across multiple locations and cultural contexts.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142513","attributes":{"title":"Cross-Cultural and Individual Differences in Attention and Awareness","summary":"This module will provide detailed study of the scientific investigation of attention, a highly topical aspect of human cognition that plays a...","description":"This module will provide detailed study of the scientific investigation of attention, a highly topical aspect of human cognition that plays a fundamental role in our awareness of the world and our engagement with it. Theories of attention will be introduced and cross-cultural and individual differences in attention and awareness considered in the light of these theories. Finally, the relevance of attention research to educational practice will be discussed.
\nLecture sessions will often contain periods of guided discussion (focused on key readings reviewed in the lecture). They will be supplemented by an overview or revision lecture (focused on the exam) and two, one-hour tutorials (focused on the coursework).
\nTopics covered will include (1) background and models of attention (three sessions); (2) attention and culture; (3) attention and emotion; (4) attention and social psychology; (5) attention and individual differences; and (6) attention and modern media.
\nYou will also be welcome to attend an additional more advanced lecture on the neurophysiological underpinnings of attention in clinical populations.
\nAssessment: outline for critical essay (5%), 1,500 word critical essay (45%), 2,000 word essay (45%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93815","attributes":{"title":"Cultural and Creative Tourism","summary":"This module critically analyses the growth and character of cultural tourism and the growing relationship between the creative industries and...","description":"
This module critically analyses the growth and character of cultural tourism and the growing relationship between the creative industries and cultural tourism. It critically interrogates notions of the creative class, the creative city and the experience economy which have been used to underpin strategies in cultural tourism development. Ideas about the growing sophistication of cultural tourists and their changing tastes suggest that travellers wish to move beyond consumption to ‘prosumption’. With increasing competition between tourism destinations, the development of timely, attractive and innovative tourism products has never been more necessary – whether using the historic environment in creative ways or exploiting contemporary cultural forms.
\nThis module looks at the governance of cultural tourism at different spatial levels (from UNESCO to local government and local partnerships), best practice in destination management and the development of new tourism products. The geographic spread of cultural tourism and the greater diversity of products, necessitates the examination of issues related to contested meanings, authenticity, ethics, and sustainability.
\nThis module comprises weekly lectures delivered by the module tutor and guest speakers followed by seminar sessions to develop, explore and apply the ideas developed in the lectures. Group and individual tasks will give student the opportunity to work with the key concepts developed in the module. The seminars will also be used to support students in the development of their own research. Fieldwork in week 5 will introduce the students to key cultural and creative tourism ideas in central London.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"950707","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Ecologies","summary":"In what ways is ecology entangled with cultural and cosmological differences? How might we cultivate arts of living and dying well with others on an...","description":"
In what ways is ecology entangled with cultural and cosmological differences? How might we cultivate arts of living and dying well with others on an ecologically troubled planet? This module introduces students to key questions, perspectives and debates on the relationships between ecology, philosophy and cultural difference: it asks what it means to ecologise our modes of thought, and to pluralise our ecological imaginations, in ways that may teach us something about how to live and die well with others in changing climates. Weaving together philosophy, ecological humanities, cultural anthropology, animal studies, social and cultural theory, and postcolonial studies, the module will critically appraise key theoretical debates on questions of global climate change, cultural and religious difference, ecological pluralism, more-than-human politics, and the decolonization of environmental thought. It will do so by exploring a range of conceptual issues and situated case-studies from across the Global South and North that challenge our most basic assumptions, question our values, and raise profound philosophical and ecological questions about the relations between humans and other-than-humans, knowledge and faith, concepts and stories, nature and culture, as well as living and dying. Asking how other collectives can transform our own ecologies of thinking and living, this module will explore what concepts, stories, and sensibilities we may need to foster plural ways of inhabiting the Earth today.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94725","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Policy and City Branding","summary":"Cultural policy, especially at local level, has been called on to play an increasing set of functions in recent decades. Cities, in particular...","description":"Cultural policy, especially at local level, has been called on to play an increasing set of functions in recent decades. Cities, in particular post-industrial cities in the West, have seen in ‘culture’ a lever for regeneration, one that could be harnessed by targeted policies. However, all the main concepts at play – city, culture and policy – have been subjected to increasing scrutiny in social theory and research: expansion but also problematisation of the notion of culture; diversification and renewed centrality of the city as physical, social and political context; reformulation of cultural policy beyond regulations and policy process towards wider issues of governmentality, democracy and participation.
\n
The module will present recent theoretical advances as well as empirical findings on these topics, focusing on key themes such as culture-led regeneration, place branding, cultural taste, and others relevant to the understanding of contemporary cities. These key themes will also be explored through a case study approach, aimed both at providing a space for in-depth investigation, and inspiration for students to identify and select contemporary cases to be developed for their final essay.
This module will address a range of issues relevant to cultural policy and practice in the UK and other European countries. It will discuss the relationship between cultural production and policy and deal with issues of ‘what is culture’ in different cultural contexts and countries. The module has two distinct elements: the first will deal with post-war arts policy and practice within the UK, exploring the main developments that have contributed to the evolution of current policy. It will examine the interrelationship of the many functions and responsibilities of the Department of Culture Media and Sport [DCMS], the Arts Councils of, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and their regional offices, and how policy is managed at a national, regional and city level. This section of the module will also map the relationship of the ‘cultural industries’ to the economy of access, accountability and cultural/national identity will be explored as well as specific areas of arts and tourism, arts and regeneration, arts education and the globalisation of culture. In general the module will concentrate on policy in relation to the performing arts, visual arts and the heritage sector.
\nThe second section of the module will provide an introduction to cultural policy models and cultural policies in other European countries, and the structures and priorities that govern arts support. It will look in particular at the situation in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland as well as the specific issues facing arts policymakers in Central and Eastern Europe. Reference will also be made to the role of the European Union in cultural policy development.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159210","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Policy in the Arts","summary":"This module covers key issues in ‘cultural policy’ as applied to the arts, including debates over the meaning of ‘culture’, the differences between...","description":"This module covers key issues in ‘cultural policy’ as applied to the arts, including debates over the meaning of ‘culture’, the differences between individual nations’ understanding of the term, and key contemporary debates around notions of cultural value. It contains a comparative component, examining approaches to cultural policy in the UK, USA and Europe, providing different models of cultural policy.
\nThe module will equip you with knowledge of the key debates taking place in the field of cultural policy studies, and the contexts in which cultural policy-making takes place. You will also have an understanding of the economic, social and political theories necessary to study cultural industries, especially the supported arts sector.
\nThe module has three main aims:
\nAssessment: 3 page group-based report (20%), 2,500 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142465","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Policy: Contexts and Models","summary":"Students are introduced to the contested concept of ‘cultural policy’, beginning with debates over the meaning of ‘culture’, the differences between...","description":"Students are introduced to the contested concept of ‘cultural policy’, beginning with debates over the meaning of ‘culture’, the differences between individual nations’ understanding of the term, and key contemporary debates around notions of cultural value.
\nThe module also serves as an introduction to the governance of culture in the UK, USA and Europe, presenting the students with different models of cultural policy. The module will equip students with knowledge of the key debates taking place in the field of cultural policy studies, and the contexts in which cultural policy making takes place.
\nThey will also have an understanding of the economic, social and political theories necessary to study the cultural and creative industries. Finally students will engage with core debates around funding models, censorship and the challenge of digital transformations of culture.
\nAssessment: 1 x 2,000 word essay, 1 x group presentation.
\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 10 hours independent study per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142468","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Policy: Global Challenges","summary":"Develop a global perspective on cultural policy through focusing on international comparisons and conflicts. The course begins by sketching the...","description":"Develop a global perspective on cultural policy through focusing on international comparisons and conflicts. The course begins by sketching the global regulation of culture and the range of perspectives within this regime. It then moves to discuss specific case studies of the transfer, transformation and resistance to cultural policy, including global trade in intellectual property rights, the differing global models of creative industries as well as the rise of urban regeneration through cultural policy.
\nStudents will develop a knowledge of the global division of cultural labour, using examples such as Apple’s business model; gain an understanding of global organisations and institutions in the field of cultural regulation and policymaking (e.g. WTO, UNCTAD, GATT, WIPO); and understand global cultural markets, audiences and consumption patterns. They will also examine the importance of debates about trade, cultural rights, global markets and cultural exemptions.
\nBy the end of the course they will recognise and analyse the contested nature of globalisation and debate issues such as: Will local cultures fall victim to a globalised culture? How do localisation strategies work? What are the tensions and trade-offs between local cultural identity and international markets? And how is the global transfer and transformation of key elements of cultural policy made possible?
\nAssessment: 1 x 1,500 word report, 1 x 3,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 10 hours independent study per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93889","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Relations and Diplomacy I: Foundations","summary":"In our increasingly globalised world, the traditional cultural representations and relations of countries are being challenged to incorporate a...","description":"In our increasingly globalised world, the traditional cultural representations and relations of countries are being challenged to incorporate a multidimensionality of identity and a plurality of actors.
\nThis module will introduce you to the major theories and ideas within international cultural relations and will provide insight into its practice by a wide range of actors (governments, international organisations, corporations, non-governmental organisations and individuals). The role of the arts, their practitioners and mediators is highlighted in relation to their importance in the establishment of relations between the peoples of different countries.
\nTopics include learning about the history and theory of international cultural relations, discussing the notions of cultural diplomacy and public diplomacy, analysing the relation between the arts and diplomacy, investigating the concepts of cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, mutuality, cultural and linguistic human rights, soft power and hegemony, and connecting these with contemporary developments in areas such as communication technology, transport and economic flows.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138667","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Relations and Diplomacy II: Explorations","summary":"This module places emphasis on the discussion of current themes and issues at policy and practice level in this transdisciplinary area. The...","description":"This module places emphasis on the discussion of current themes and issues at policy and practice level in this transdisciplinary area. The module fosters a reflexive and entrepreneurial approach to international cultural relations, by encouraging students to actively engage in the area by developing their own research and projects, relating them to wider debates.
\nThe module covers a range of transdisciplinary contemporary issues that concern those researching and practicing in the areas of cultural relations and diplomacy. The module will consider key questions faced by countries, regions, cities, organisations and individuals in creating and delivering policy and projects. The topics are broad and changeable responding to the current issues concerning policy makers, practitioners and the public engaged in the field.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"143002","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Studies and Capitalism","summary":"The critique of capitalism has remained an important horizon for research and theory in Cultural Studies since its inception as a discipline. With...","description":"The critique of capitalism has remained an important horizon for research and theory in Cultural Studies since its inception as a discipline. With the rise of industrialisation and urbanisation in modernity, culture, in addition to being the discursive and material sphere in which capitalism justifies itself, became the medium for new sites and modes of consumption; with the rise of information and networking, it increasingly becomes a primary resource and sphere of production for capital.
\nIn this course we explore key concepts from the cultural theorisation of capitalism, such as commodity fetishism, gift-exchange and its counter-paradigms (e.g. debt, parasitism), neoliberalism, information capitalism and biopolitics (or necropolitics). We look at the intersectional ways cultural studies research has combined the critique of capitalism with critiques of other cultural hierarchies and power relations, e.g. in terms of gender, race, sexuality, (post)colonialism and ideal conceptions of the human subject.
\nEspecially in the latter part of the course, we examine the effects of major recent and contemporary global trends and phenomena that appear to mark or presage major shifts in the way capital functions, such as digital networking, climate change, financial crisis and the rise of the megacity. What threats do these represent to both capitalism and life? Do they provide conditions for new opportunities for activism and socio-political change, or simply more nourishment for an infinitely adaptable socio-economic and cultural-political system that has always thrived on both crisis and the production of the new?
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"150719","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Studies and Geography: Speed, Mobility and Territory","summary":"This course addresses the emergent relations of virtual and material geographies and focuses on questions of territory, communication and speed. It...","description":"This course addresses the emergent relations of virtual and material geographies and focuses on questions of territory, communication and speed. It is concerned with the mobilities of information, people and objects and will address topics such as: the dynamics of migrancy/nomadology and sedentarism; questions of globalisation, regionalisation and the reassertion of border controls; the role of tele-technologies in the transformation of temporal and spatial relations; processes of de/re-territorialisation and `new mobilities `; differential demographies of technology use; etc. These issues will be considered from an interdisciplinary perspective, and will draw on cultural studies, cultural geography, communication studies, anthropology and logistics. The course`s concerns will be exemplified through foci on three of the iconic figures of the contemporary era of modernity - the migrant the mobile phone and the container box.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94832","attributes":{"title":"Cultural Theory","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThis module asks the questions: What is cultural studies. and, what is culture? A wide range of cultural theory dealing...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nThis module asks the questions: What is cultural studies. and, what is culture? A wide range of cultural theory dealing with issues concerning technology, art media, philosophy, and the economy, are explored in order to address a number of connected questions that span the field of contemporary cultural studies.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147719","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Arts of Contemporary China: 1949 onwards","summary":"The proposed module offers a general introduction to contemporary Chinese culture with a focus on visual arts from the start of the People's Republic...","description":"The proposed module offers a general introduction to contemporary Chinese culture with a focus on visual arts from the start of the People's Republic of China to China today.
\nYou will get an overview of contemporary Chinese culture, through exploration and study of Chinese thinking and practice as reflected in the visual arts during China's socio-political and economic development during the period, with a focus on visual art techniques and media, ranging from paintings, sculptures to photography.
\nWe will discuss art production, artists and audience in the wider context of China's political, economic and social development, and how these changes and developments are reflected in artworks and trends.
\nYou will have opportunities to explore and discuss how western art ideas and trends, including modernism, neorealism, pop-art and post-impressionism, have affected contemporary Chinese art.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147718","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Arts of Contemporary China: From 1919 to 1949","summary":"The proposed module offers a general introduction to contemporary Chinese culture with a focus on visual arts from the turn of the 20th century with...","description":"The proposed module offers a general introduction to contemporary Chinese culture with a focus on visual arts from the turn of the 20th century with the 1919 May 4th Movement as the starting point to the start of the People's Republic of China.
\nStudents will get an overview of contemporary Chinese culture, through exploration and study of Chinese thinking and practice as reflected in the visual arts during China's socio-political and economic development during the period, with a focus on visual art techniques and media, ranging from paintings, sculptures to photography.
\nArt production, artists and audience will be discussed in the wider context of China's political, economic and social development, and how these changes and developments are reflected in art works and trends. Students will have opportunities to explore and discuss how western art ideas and trends, including modernism, neorealism, pop-art and post-impressionism, have affected contemporary Chinese art.
\nStudents will develop an understanding of contemporary Chinese art, its trends and development in relation to international art trends, as well as how Chinese contemporary arts situate in global art market.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89551","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Cultural Studies","summary":"Cultural studies assumes that history - its shape, its seams, its outcomes - is never guaranteed. As a result, doing cultural studies takes work,...","description":"Cultural studies assumes that history - its shape, its seams, its outcomes - is never guaranteed. As a result, doing cultural studies takes work, including the kind of work deciding what cultural studies is, of making cultural studies over again and again. Cultural studies constructs itself as it faces new questions and takes up new positions. In that sense, doing cultural studies is always risky and never totally comfortable. It is fraught with inescapable tensions (as well as with real pleasures). (Lawrence Grossberg, We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Routledge, 1992: 18)
\nIf we want to trace the ‘history’ of cultural studies in the UK, we have to go back to adult education classes in the 1950s and ‘60s, where students and their tutors embarked on the challenging task of questioning what constituted culture, social distinction, nationhood and other forms of identity. Cultural studies began to put a spotlight on everyday cultural practices which had hitherto been regarded as inferior or which contradicted established notions of what constituted culture itself. In so doing, cultural studies research has uncovered the richness of daily life for sections of society whose lives had not been deemed worthy of study or who had been dismissed as ‘uncultured’. Since this period, the field of cultural studies has shown how apparently self-evident concepts and beliefs have strong ideological underpinnings dependent on the wielding of social, economic and political power. In this sense, cultural studies is a political project which is not only interested in presenting alternative definitions of culture but also in investigating the power structures which shape them. Cultural studies provides us with the opportunity to interrogate notions of national identity, such as ‘Britishness’; to explore attitudes and practices which perpetuate social inequality and to understand how key markers of identity such as gender, race, class and sexuality are cultural formations with complex and continually shifting histories.
\nCultural studies is now widely taught, not only in the UK but also in the US, Australia, and many other countries. Due to its immense variety and liveliness, it has been described somewhat humorously by Colin Sparks as a ‘rag-bag of ideas, methods and concerns’ (Storey, 1996: 14) it is nevertheless united by two main concerns:
\nOne of the aspects of the political nature of cultural studies is the constant need for self-examination. As Stuart Hall, one of the most influential figures in the field, has argued, cultural studies ‘is a project that is always open to that which it doesn’t yet know, to that which it can’t yet name’ (in Grossberg et al, 1992: 278). Put simply, cultural studies can be described as a ‘project in the making’ in which meaning and identity are constantly in being renegotiated.
\nThis module serves as an introduction to the study of culture and to the emergence of cultural studies. It starts with a general introduction to the idea of culture, and some of the problems associated with defining it. It also sketches the context within which cultural studies emerged from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in Birmingham in the late 1960s. We will take a close critical look at some of the key texts and theories that emerged from the Centre in the 1970s. This will be followed by some detailed analyses of a number of ideas associated with cultural studies - identity, hybridity, essentialism, resistance - and a number of cultural products and practices – soap operas, shopping, music and city life.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word review (formative), take home exam (100%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90640","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Identity","summary":"This module provides an introduction to issues of culture and identity. These are very complex concepts which will underpin your understanding...","description":"
This module provides an introduction to issues of culture and identity. These are very complex concepts which will underpin your understanding of most areas of your degree. The approach we will take on the course will be based in sociology and cultural studies. Within this, people are viewed as having multiple positions in terms of constructing their own identities. There is no such thing as having one identity or of there being one essential identity that fundamentally defines who we actually are. Who we are depends on our socio-political position within society. Furthermore, the key concepts of knowledge, power and status also play a major role as to how others define us which in turn affects how we view our own identities.
\nAs such, identity, like culture, is relational, multifaceted and variable and is in a constant state of flux. This course unit crucially allows you to bring within the classroom your own personal experiences of identity and culture and discuss them within an academic and theoretical framework. A central question to think about throughout the course is: in the modern global world that we are a part of, how do we negotiate our own identities as we cross geographical, political, social and psychological borders? Your first assignment allows you to explore the issue of identity by examining your own life history.
\nOther aspects of identity are traced through important ideas and forces which shape our sense of self, specifically, the family, childhood and adolescence, citizenship, globalisation and schooling, social class, gender, race and language. Your second assignment allows you to look at one of these in more detail.
\nContact hours: 3 hours per week
\nAssessment: 1x 2,500 word essay (autumn students), 1x 2,500 word essay (spring students), 2x 2,500 word essay (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166365","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance A","summary":"In these modules you will investigate contemporary notions of identity and culture in the UK and around the world in relation to an increasingly...","description":"In these modules you will investigate contemporary notions of identity and culture in the UK and around the world in relation to an increasingly globalised world. Contemporary Britain is perceived as progressively more multicultural; at the same time, there is an evolving awareness of the impact of global trends in society and culture. These and other factors are challenging our extant notions of individual and collective identity and culture, as well as community.
\nCulture and Performance begins with a single module taken by all students in the Autumn term – 'Culture and Performance: Critical Cultural Theory'. This 10-week module introduces students to key theoretical perspectives on the function of performance for the negotiation and perpetuation of cultures and societies. Students will become familiar with current debates on interculturalism, multiculturalism, nationalism, and the globalisation of cultures, through a diverse range of historical and contemporary case studies. In weekly seminars they will be encouraged to interrogate and debate their own creative and political relationships to performance cultures of various kinds. This module will equip students with the necessary theoretical tools to effectively position themselves as artists within global, postcolonial, multicultural, and/or intercultural communities.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (70%), digital portfolio/written assignment (30%), 15 minute seminar leadership (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91110","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance B: Art and Japan","summary":"This module explores art-making as a philosophical practice with particular reference to art that has been created in Japan, created by those of...","description":"This module explores art-making as a philosophical practice with particular reference to art that has been created in Japan, created by those of Japanese origin, or inspired by Japanese culture.
\nThe particular perspectives investigated cover art practice that engages with aesthetic and philosophic notions such as an 'art of spectatorship', the notion of 'daily life as art', the concept of emptiness and the concept of 'void'; and art that engages with 'nature'.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word coursework (50%), 2,000 word journal (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"318356","attributes":{"title":"Performing Culture: Culture and its Doubles","summary":"The subject of much mythologisation (not least his own), Artaud’s legacy remains a haunting presence in many fields of cultural studies – principally...","description":"The subject of much mythologisation (not least his own), Artaud’s legacy remains a haunting presence in many fields of cultural studies – principally in histories of resistance to institutionalised forms of knowledge and their modes of practice. This can be traced not only in theatre, but in literary studies and philosophy, as well as in anti-colonial and anti-psychiatry debates, while Artaud’s inspiration can also be seen in the work of many visual artists and composers. What kinds of cultural history, however, does Artaud speak of and to? Through various dialogues and correspondences in his work, we will explore how his biography offers a profound testimony to the ways in which cultural otherness has been construed in the history of “heterologies” in the twentieth century. The module aims to discover – or to rediscover – what is still vital in Artaud’s after life. By reflecting on its various media, we will try to understand why his presence so touched the creative and critical thought of others.
\nThe module will be structured around a set of letters written by Artaud (although not necessarily sent to their particular addressee), which continue to have an extraordinary resonance in their being addressed to society more widely (like the proverbial message in a bottle) through their publication. These will include letters addressed to Jacques Rivière, André Breton, Peter Watson, Jacques Latrémolière, Paule Thévenin, Adolf Hitler and the Pope. The relation between self and Other, as between individual and society, consciousness and the corporeal, will be explored in their mutual haunting, as cultural practices perform a doubling of life.
\nStarting with Artaud’s own lecture-performances in Paris and Brussels, the module will look at questions of autobiography, orientalism, magic, out-of-body experience, film and painting, as well as acting. Non-Western body practices of breath, voice, and of writing, for instance, interweave with an engagement in modern technologies, such as radio and cinema (as well as narcotics). Concluding with his great essay on Van Gogh, the module will consider what the figure of the “man suicided by society” might mean, and to reflect on the fundamental question voiced by Artaud for French radio (in 1946): “But what guarantee do the obvious madmen of this world have of being cared for by those who are authentically alive?
\nAssessment: 2,000 word coursework (50%), 2,000 word journal (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"866811","attributes":{"title":"Performing Culture: Performing Climate Change","summary":"The new ecology emphasises indeterminism, instability and constant change. This module examines how theatre, and performance more...","description":"The new ecology emphasises indeterminism, instability and constant change. This module examines how theatre, and performance more broadly, responds to, and leads the way in thinking about climate breakdown and the impact of anthropogenic climate chaos.
\nWe consider a range of play texts that engage with the relationship between the human and non-human worlds. These range from Shakespeare's work, which engenders both harmony and disorder, through to more recent work with a specific focus upon climate justice, seen, for example, in the work of Katie Mitchell and Kae Tempest. We look at ways in which the theatre engages with the scientific community and ask questions about the ethics of the theatre as a carbon neutral medium.
\nWe consider the global impact of climate change and pending climate migration in the work of activists and practitioners from the global south. We also consider performative responses to the climate crisis through, for example, the actions of Extinction Rebellion, and Just Stop Oil.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91073","attributes":{"title":"Performing Culture: Modern Black, British and American Drama","summary":"You will be introduced to two strands of Culture and Performance, namely black American and British drama from the twentieth century to the present....","description":"You will be introduced to two strands of Culture and Performance, namely black American and British drama from the twentieth century to the present. You will look at texts that investigate points of convergence and divergence in representing blackness and black people's experiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
\nThe module initially creates a broad contextual and generic scope, which is narrowed to single-authored studies in the latter half. You will access key informing debates as historically specific, but also to interweave these in order to construct a continuum in theatre histories which have been characterised by absence, sporadic inclusion or distortion. Attention to single authors enables the detailed application of these ideas to a body of the dramatists' work.
\nFrom time to time, there will be comparative analyses of plays by white peers, bearing in mind the dominance of white-centred experience in both nations' artistic contexts and theatre complexes.
\nTheorisation models will expose you to Afro-centric and Euro-centric examples. By virtue of the discursive newness of the field of Black British writing and drama in particular, the module is to be viewed as a series of incisive snapshots aimed to facilitate student interest, with the expectation that further research will add to the emerging critical mass.
\nGiven the political and ideological conditions of enslavement and colonisation heritages, the module acknowledges the shared ground of racial oppression (amongst other inhibitors) but aims to explore the nuanced and distinctive politicised aesthetics which have emerged across the century as responsive to the very different locations of the United States and the United Kingdom.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91087","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance B: Options","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 3Contact hours: 2 hour lecture/seminar session per week \nThis module offers a range of options in...","description":"
Term(s) taught: Spring
\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 3
Contact hours: 2 hour lecture/seminar session per week
This module offers a range of options in which students further their knowledge of critical cultural theory in the context of particular traditions and practices.
\nThis is a continuation of the themes explored in Culture and Performance A (described above), but the module may also be taken as a stand-alone option by Spring-term only students. The available options vary each year depending on staff research specialisms.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"156404","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance B: Performances of Protest, Resistance and Revolution","summary":"In the 21st century, political movements are becoming increasingly performative. This module brings together emerging strands of theory from Theatre...","description":"In the 21st century, political movements are becoming increasingly performative. This module brings together emerging strands of theory from Theatre & Performance and International Relations to explore the cultural performances at the root of global political movements. Many of these movements arise from marginalised or obscured cultures, and so the enactment of political campaigns frequently rests on theatricalised bids for cultural visibility.
\nFrom protest movements to revolutionary uprisings to anti-austerity campaigns, groups often seek to perform their identities in ways that evoke recognition and empathy from public audiences. These performative negotiations of identity and culture are foundational to the subsequent stagings of protest, resistance, and revolution.
\nThis module will consider a range of recent events including the Global War on Terror, Anti-War protests, the 2011 London Riots, the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring, the Saffron Revolution and more.
\nDrawing on a variety of materials including video documentary, first-person testimonies and critical theoretical analyses, you will consider the kinds of theatricality that prove efficacious in particular political circumstances.
\nAssessment: reflection log (50%), writing exercise (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166374","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance B: Performing War","summary":"Along with love, warfare has been one of the most constant themes since the earliest European theatre. Rather than just studying theatrical...","description":"Along with love, warfare has been one of the most constant themes since the earliest European theatre. Rather than just studying theatrical representations of war, this module examines how theatre might contest war, condemn war, and seek peace, justice and respect for human rights. Significantly, given the context of the ‘Culture and Performance’ umbrella under which this module will be taught, you will examine how theatre might challenge the ways in which elements of performance – spectacle, theatrics, mise en scène – are militarised by the military, states and the dominant media during times of war. The module asks the following questions: To what extent can/does theatre reveal the atrocities of war that tend to be omitted from more mainstream formats, which tend to glorify or sanitise war? To what extent is it appropriate to stage these atrocities? In each case, the module will situate the play within the historical, geographical and cultural contexts in which it was written and produced. Given current debates around viewing images of beheadings, or chemical gas attacks in the news, and the theatricality intrinsic to the creation of these images, these questions concerning the ethics of spectatorship are timely and urgent.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word coursework (50%), 2,000 word journal (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91106","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance: Critical Cultural Theory","summary":"Term(s) taught: AutumnContact hours: 1 hour lecture per week, plus 1.5-hour seminar\nPre-Requisites: Fluent English is essential. It is also...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn
Contact hours: 1 hour lecture per week, plus 1.5-hour seminar
Pre-Requisites: Fluent English is essential. It is also recommended that the student have some prior knowledge of theatre history and/or cultural theory
\nThis module is designed to achieve one major objective: to help students develop the sensitivity necessary for the reception and interpretation of diverse cultural materials. This is done through exposure to performance forms and styles from other cultures, and also through an engagement with the politics and debates surrounding cultural contact and exchange.
\nYou will investigate contemporary notions of identity and culture in the UK and around the world in relation to an increasingly globalised world. Contemporary Britain is perceived as progressively more multicultural; at the same time, there is an evolving awareness of the impact of global trends in society and culture. These and other factors are challenging our extant notions of individual and collective identity and culture, as well as community.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129634","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Performance: Options","summary":"Prerequisite: Culture and Performance: Critical Cultural Theory, DR53033A.\nYou choose a 10-week seminar option which contextualises the theories and...","description":"Prerequisite: Culture and Performance: Critical Cultural Theory, DR53033A.
\nYou choose a 10-week seminar option which contextualises the theories and discourses studied in Culture and Performance A. For example, options offered recently were: Art and Japan; Voicing the Margins; and Translation across languages, cultures and genres. Options may change from year to year, depending on staff availability and research interests.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91710","attributes":{"title":"Culture and Society 1A","summary":"Primarily concerned with the relations between culture and social processes, this module approaches these in a variety of ways: by outlining various...","description":"Primarily concerned with the relations between culture and social processes, this module approaches these in a variety of ways: by outlining various sociological uses of ‘culture’, by identifying the role of culture in examples of macrosocial phenomena (eg education, consumption, the city), and by discussing microsociological analyses of the role of culture in social interaction.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,500 word essay (100%), 1,000 word take home essay question (formative)
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment full year: take home exam (100%), 1,000 word take home essay question (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90629","attributes":{"title":"Culture and the Construction of Identity","summary":"The aim of Culture and the Construction of Identity is to provide you with theoretical lenses through which to investigate in more detail how...","description":"The aim of Culture and the Construction of Identity is to provide you with theoretical lenses through which to investigate in more detail how identities develop and are maintained in social and cultural contexts. We will look in particular at the ways in which gender, ‘race’/ethnicity, religion, social class and sexuality are socially produced and how they intersect. We will also explore the processes of identity construction in relation to educational policy and practice. We will address the interrelationship between the child's identity and the culture of the school within the existing economic, social and political context, and some of the power relations involved in this.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 4,500 word essay
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93875","attributes":{"title":"Culture, Tourism and Regeneration","summary":"This module explores the relationship between culture, tourism and regeneration.\nTourism has long played a role in the economic social and physical...","description":"
This module explores the relationship between culture, tourism and regeneration.
\nTourism has long played a role in the economic social and physical transformation of towns and cities in cities famed for their proximity to coast or spectacular scenery - from the centres of the grand tour, to spas, coastal resorts and cultural centres. However, in recent decades the nature of city tourism has changed.
\nThis module explores the growth and increasing diversity of cultural tourism, the role it plays in urban centres and their regions and the ways in which cities have reinvented and rebranded themselves as centres of leisure and recreation consumption using major cultural infrastructure investment, heritage commodification, events and festivals.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"139263","attributes":{"title":"Curating and Ethics","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\nWhat does it mean to have an ethical position today? More specifically, what is the ethical...","description":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\nWhat does it mean to have an ethical position today? More specifically, what is the ethical role of curators today? If the word “curator” derives from the Latin cura, which means “care,” then what ethos of care should curators adopt? Finally, what can philosophy do to address and/or support these ethical positions?
\nThis course explores the act of taking on an ethical position in curating today. It mainly focuses on attempting to establish some kind of ethical basis for the practice of curating.
\nThe material explored mainly focuses on philosophical explorations in ethics, but it also takes on board key exhibitions that have defined the way curating engages ethical issues. Authors studied are taken from both Western and non-Western traditions and range from Aristotle, Spinoza, Kant, Kierkegaard, Lyotard, Levinas, Derrida, Bal, Mudimbe, Eze, Ramose, and de Zegher. Teaching involves lectures, student-presentations, and discussions of key art historical and philosophical texts.
\n\n
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"865311","attributes":{"title":"Curator Computer Creator: Museums and Digital Culture","summary":"In less than two decades web 2.0 technologies have triggered a paradigm shift within museums, and seen visitors become active participants, rather...","description":"
In less than two decades web 2.0 technologies have triggered a paradigm shift within museums, and seen visitors become active participants, rather than passive observers. Web 2.0 technologies, and the wider digital culture it has spawned has not only changed how we communicate museum practice, but also museum practice itself. These technologies have catalysed the development and implementation of an eclectic range of new modes of museum practice such as the use of social media, 3D Printing, machine learning (artificial intelligence), to the development of in house start up hubs for new creative businesses. Whilst these changes may seem rapid and revolutionary, this module situates these developments within a broader history of museology, and will provide students with the ability to critically engage with new technologies and examine possible use case for these technologies in museums.
\nThe module takes a broad view of digital practice and begins by looking at art, objects, collecting policies and collection databases, situating the work of the curator within the contemporary realm. Moving beyond the collection students will then explore the technologies that museums use now, and may use in the near future to tell stories, conserve objects and understand their visitors better. The module will conclude with a focus on creative digital practice in museums, including social media, education programmes and the museum as a tool for creative departure by artists.
\nThe core function of museums has always been to collect and care for objects, but the ethos underpinning that has evolved from the original cabinets of curiosities, ‘look don’t touch’ mentality, to one of education, public engagement and entertainment. This broader operating context provides the foundation from which individual technologies and museum practices will be explored in this module.
\nThis module will be taught in an intensive format, 4-hour sessions over 5 weeks, in order to hold some sessions as labs which may be held in galleries, and / or workshops on industry standard software. Sessions will support students in learning how to create an audio reading or podcast.
\n\n
Assessment: essay and audio reading/podcast (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"139328","attributes":{"title":"Curatorial Events and Affects","summary":"This module explores experimental and event-based art practices such as artists’ film and video, sound and performance art as well as other...","description":"This module explores experimental and event-based art practices such as artists’ film and video, sound and performance art as well as other time-based practices in order to address the way in which forms of exhibition making might create discrete worlds. We will consider what similarities curatorial practice might share with methodologies of theatre and the theatrical through a reading of philosophical explorations of theatre, as well as theories of time, embodiment and affect. In tying together these words – the ‘curatorial’, with ‘event’ and ‘affects’ – we will ask ourselves what is curatorial action and what are its affects? The module is designed to give you the opportunity to address a range of curatorial projects, exhibitions and individual artworks through and alongside contemporary philosophy and art theory that explores ideas of embodiment, action and the event. Curatorial Events and Affects would be of interest to those who are keen to explore the expanded possibilities of contemporary art and curatorial practices alongside a reading of contemporary theory, particularly affect theory.
\nAssessment: presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166171","attributes":{"title":"Homer and Contemporary Literature","summary":"This module examines four of the most influential Greek and Roman epics - Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses – and...","description":"This module examines four of the most influential Greek and Roman epics - Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses – and their reception in the work of contemporary writers who have turned to the classics for inspiration. While classical literature is a potent influence on writers in many literary periods, there has been an upsurge in creative interpretations and reworkings of classical epic from the 1990s to the present. You will develop a good working knowledge of four major epics and an understanding of their reception in the work of writers such as Michael Longley, Alice Oswald, Christopher Logue, Ted Hughes, Derek Walcott, Margaret Atwood, Eavan Boland, Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney and Louise Glück. Working within the epic tradition allows these writers to demonstrate skill in the handling of inherited materials, to take a playful approach to the canon, to experiment with form, to address controversial issues or identities, and to introduce the voices of characters who were silent in the ancient epics. You will examine the ways in which the formal and thematic characteristics of ancient epic are appropriated and adapted by contemporary writers who engage with classical epics to question constructions of gender, notions of heroism, exploration and returning home, the representation of conflict, and the role of the storyteller.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000-1,500 word draft commentary (formative), 1,000-1,500 word commentary (30%), essay plan (5%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (65%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89802","attributes":{"title":"The Neoliberal Self and Society","summary":"This module provides a critical and conceptual vocabulary for understanding some of the key dynamics of social and cultural change, with particular...","description":"This module provides a critical and conceptual vocabulary for understanding some of the key dynamics of social and cultural change, with particular reference to the large social institutions of modernity, the family and sexuality, and the changing world of work. In effect we track significant transformations of society from the domestic sphere to the field of employment. Processes of individualisation have undermined the social welfare framework which was a hallmark of the post-war period. While some sociologists including Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens claim that this disembedding of individuals away from communities and from long-term attachments and commitments based on family and work-based identities are actually the outcome of welfare provisions and public investment in education, health and so on, by which means individuals are now able to ‘live the life they choose’, others including Bauman, Rose and Foucault argue that individualisation is a process which shifts social and economic responsibility from the state to the individual. In addition to this we could suggest that in times of Euro-crisis and austerity we are moving to a post-welfare era, which will to some extent upset or de-stabilise the thesis of Giddens and Beck. In a sense has the individualised society become fully neo-liberalised? People are now expected to be self-reliant , they must self-manage, and indeed the new role of ‘Governmentality’ is to encourage this ethos by means of self-help books, guidance manuals, ‘personal advisors’ and so on.
\nThe module examines these processes and discusses their consequences, what kind of ‘subjects’ are we now becoming? How does the ethos of individualisation operate in the context of globalisation? What are the types of production processes underpinning the more individualised society? What is meant by post-Fordism? What are the consequences of individualisation for men and women, for young people, for ethnic minorities? Who are the winners and the losers of the ‘network society’? What exactly is meant by ‘neo-liberalism’ and how has this credo had an impact in social and political life? In the first few sessions we paint a wider picture considering life, love, intimacy and family life in the individualised society, we then move towards a more close-up focus on the new workplace, looking for example at the rise of new forms of self-employment in the creative economy, and at the rise of the ‘crafting’ movement. Overall we are reflecting on the ‘future of work’ in an individualised society.
\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (100%)
This module focuses on the technology underpinning modern web, internet and client-server applications. This includes relational database systems, mainly from a development perspective, emphasising issues related to data modeling and database implementation in SQL and alternatives such as No SQL.. It includes practical work related to programming client server web applications with a focus on principles and up to date practices.
\nPre-Requisites: Basic web programming HTML, CSS, Javascript
\n\n
Assessment: database coursework (25%), programming coursework (25%), 2hr 15min exam (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90234","attributes":{"title":"Design and Analysis of Psychological Studies","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn, Spring, Full year(If you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits)\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 2\nContact...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn, Spring, Full year
(If you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits)
Goldsmiths Year: Year 2
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week
\nThis module introduces a number of advanced statistical techniques and will extend your understanding of the role of statistics in research and the evaluation of research outcomes.
\nTopics covered include: the design and analysis of factorial designs , factorial analysis of variance, power analysis and design sensitivity, correlation, simple and multiple regression, principal components analysis and factor analysis, reliability, meta analysis
\nAssessment: 1 x 2 hour exam*
\n*If you're here for one term only, an alternative assessment will be given
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90268","attributes":{"title":"Developmental Psychology","summary":"The different methods and models used to study typical and atypical development across domains are considered during this module, along with an...","description":"The different methods and models used to study typical and atypical development across domains are considered during this module, along with an overview of developmental psychology. You will also study the underlying factors that contribute to development.
\nYou will take topic-based and life-span approaches to development, reviewing first lifespan periods of development and addressing then specific topics, including sensorimotor, cognitive, social, and atypical development.
\nAssessment autumn: 1,000 word essay (50%), 1,000 word essay (50%)
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90616","attributes":{"title":"Decadence","summary":"This module examines the emergence of Decadence as a literary tradition in France as a challenge to the orthodoxies of Romanticism and its...","description":"This module examines the emergence of Decadence as a literary tradition in France as a challenge to the orthodoxies of Romanticism and its subsequent treatment by English Decadents and European Symbolists at the Fin de Siècle. Structured chronologically, students will focus on how the principal themes of Decadence - degeneration, disease, sex, death – are traced in the work of writers in the 19th century and understood against the backdrop of contemporary cultural anxieties and controversies.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90635","attributes":{"title":"Debates in Primary Education","summary":"Students gain an introduction to the main organisational elements of primary school through this module. It considers what children learn and...","description":"Students gain an introduction to the main organisational elements of primary school through this module. It considers what children learn and why, the manner in which their learning is organised and assessed, the ways in which primary schools are managed and the ways in which schools engage children’s families and communities in their learning.
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week
\nAssessment: 1x 2,500 word essay (spring students), 1x 3,000 word essay & 1x 1,500 word report (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91363","attributes":{"title":"Dance Movement Psychotherapy Foundation","summary":"A practical and theoretical overview of Dance Movement Psychotherapy in the UK. This module will describe how DMP developed from the work of...","description":"A practical and theoretical overview of Dance Movement Psychotherapy in the UK. This module will describe how DMP developed from the work of dancers and dance/ movement teachers into a recognised profession that is regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council.
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week (plus one Saturday for 4 hours)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93979","attributes":{"title":"Digital Research Methods","summary":"Digital Research Methods examines current digital research technologies, the process of conducting research and evaluating results, techniques for...","description":"Digital Research Methods examines current digital research technologies, the process of conducting research and evaluating results, techniques for conducting advanced research of online and offline social life, and tools and techniques for finding and analysing big and small data. It covers qualitative and quantitative approaches to dealing with data and analysis. It aims to create hybrid social researchers capable of moving seamlessly across online and offline spaces to access and analyse data.
\nAssessment: 1x research report 1 (essay + research output summary), 1x research report 2 (a piece of writing and/or practice-based work reflecting methods used).
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94806","attributes":{"title":"Digital Culture Practical Methods 1","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThis module promotes a critical attitude to media; its systems, and its ecologies. We will use a series of defamiliarisation...","description":"
Terms taught: Autumn
\nThis module promotes a critical attitude to media; its systems, and its ecologies. We will use a series of defamiliarisation techniques to create an environment where media becomes strange again and thus a site of experimentation.
\nThe practical methods employed are not illustrations of the theoretical, just as the theory is not a simple distillation of the practical. Our methods will become tangible speculations, prods and pokes into the mediasystems that reassemble, block, or make possible our worlds.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129155","attributes":{"title":"Data Mining","summary":"The module introduces data mining techniques and methods utilised in the process of discovering patterns in data generated in various fields such as...","description":"
The module introduces data mining techniques and methods utilised in the process of discovering patterns in data generated in various fields such as business, financial, social, medical etc., that are abundantly available nowadays. Practical work in this module is developed through data mining algorithm implementation, and through conducting knowledge discovery in data with specialised software and libraries. The module explores also the applicability of data mining techniques in areas such as text mining and web mining.
\nAssessment: portfolio (100%)
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129193","attributes":{"title":"Data Journalism and Visualisation","summary":"A large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for...","description":"
A large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for gathering data from electronic sources, such as databases and the internet.
\nIt will cover both fundamental ideas and the use of some of the most important currently available tools.
\nThe module will also present tools and ideas for more effectively using the internet to communicate, visualise and generate news stories.
\nPre-Requisites: Basic web programming HTML + CSS
\nAssessment: portfolio (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138107","attributes":{"title":"Data Visualisation and the Web","summary":"Students on this module will be presented with tools and ideas for more effectively using the internet to gather data, communicate, visualise and...","description":"
Students on this module will be presented with tools and ideas for more effectively using the internet to gather data, communicate, visualise and generate news stories.
\nA large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for gathering data from electronic sources, such as databases and the internet.
\nIt will cover both fundamental ideas and the use of some of the most important currently available tools.
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145737","attributes":{"title":"Digital Media Discourse","summary":"Contemporary discourses involve interaction through a number of new media, afforded by new technologies. This module introduces key issues relevant...","description":"
Contemporary discourses involve interaction through a number of new media, afforded by new technologies. This module introduces key issues relevant to the study of language used in digital contexts. Drawing on sociolinguistic, discourse-analytic, and ethnographic approaches we explore the use of language and other semiotic resources in digital media, focusing on identity performance, social engagement, and aggression and conflict.
\nThe module starts with an overview of initial approaches to computer mediated communication, looking at attitudes and ideologies towards these new practices. It then presents recent theoretical approaches and frameworks to the study of digital contexts (e.g. Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis).
\nSpecific topics examined include: stories and identities on facebook; the language of blogs and wikis; microblogging practices and the meaning of hashtags; multilingual and multimodal practices and mixing of semiotic resources; frameworks of participation; impoliteness and conflict in e-fora and other digital settings. You will be encouraged to reflect on the public-private dichotomy, online and offline identities, the communication of space and time and your own use of digital media.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"145830","attributes":{"title":"Digital Marketing and Social Media","summary":"Digital Marketing (DM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) are two areas of marketing that are growing, and where there is big potential of future...","description":"Digital Marketing (DM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) are two areas of marketing that are growing, and where there is big potential of future employment of graduates. While advertising spending on traditional media has recently declined, firms spend increasing amounts for online communication and public relations. This module will provide students with the theories, principles and practice of digital marketing and social media. Conceptually this module is divided into 3 sections: digital marketing and social media theories, digital marketing communications mix, and social media practice.
\nSince DM and SMM are strongly characterised by practice and by the latest trends, some advanced theories within marketing management and consumer behaviour will be introduced and applied to social marketing and social media in this section. For example, students will be introduced to theories of content marketing, consumer engagement, viral marketing, community marketing and brand public. This section will also touch upon the role of branding within digital environment, and the relationship between branding and culture. These theories will be adjusted according to the latest research to keep the module up-to-date with trends.
\nThe second section will specifically look at the digital marketing communications mix (DigMarcom Mix), and the relationship between the DigMarCom Mix and the whole marketing strategy. Student will be exposed to how to build the DigMarCom strategy, and to how to evaluate the impact of these strategies through several metrics. Student will then focus on some digital marketing tactics such as viral marketing, mobile marketing, email marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), etc.
\nIn the third section, the module will specifically focus on Social Media showing the latest trends in research and practice in these area. For example, students will look into web-psychology and viral content for sharing website (i.e. Youtube), the role of microblogging (i.e. Twitter) for launching and developing new products, and the role of social networks (i.e. Facebook) for emotional contagion. These topics will be updated according to the latest research in the field as well. This section will also discuss how you can combine different social media (i.e. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Youtube, and Instagram) for reaching strategic objectives both. Finally, this section will explore the topic of social listening, and how this practice is important for the development of key strategic objectives in terms of positioning and branding.
\nStudents will also be challenged to use different social media, and digital marketing tools throughout the module in order to combine theory with practice.
\nAssessment: group project (40%), 2,000 word essay (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147713","attributes":{"title":"Data and Machine Learning for Creative Practice","summary":"The module will expose students to state-of-the-art techniques, tools, and open questions related to creative uses of data, signal processing, and...","description":"The module will expose students to state-of-the-art techniques, tools, and open questions related to creative uses of data, signal processing, and machine learning. The emphasis will be on developing hands-on skills using these techniques in creative projects, and on exploring the creative potential of these techniques.
\nPre-requisite: programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nAssessment: portfolio (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90570","attributes":{"title":"Drama and Transgression: From Prometheus to Faust","summary":"Considering a range of approaches to conflicts between divine or political authority and human claims to self-assertion and freedom is the focus...","description":"Considering a range of approaches to conflicts between divine or political authority and human claims to self-assertion and freedom is the focus of this module: submission to orthodoxy; co-existence of orthodoxy and humanism; reconciliation of autonomy and theonomy; and the demise of divine law. The module introduces you to epoch-specific types of overlaps and tensions between religious and positive law, divine and human reason, feeling and understanding.
\nThe module also aims to increase your awareness of issues of gender and power, and investigates the nature of female revolt and violence in the light of Aristotelian theories and traditional male academic and religious discourses. We will examine a selection of dramatic texts which not only negotiate the significance of conflicts between protagonists (male and female) and the divine or the state in ways that are typical of key stages in the European history of ideas, but also handle the attempts by women to achieve independence of spirit and freedom of action in patriarchal societies.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"139276","attributes":{"title":"Dissonant Images: Questions of Evidence","summary":"This module is also available as a 30 credit module.\nHow can or must we think evidence today? How can evidence be given of relations of force and...","description":"
This module is also available as a 30 credit module.
\nHow can or must we think evidence today? How can evidence be given of relations of force and political violence, from the micro-political to local conflicts, war and injustice, while at the same time notions of authenticity, veracity and truth are contested? Why and how to give evidence when its relation to and effect on the sphere of the political is in doubt? To explore a small aspect of this fundamental challenge this course chooses as its core arena documentary mode audio-visual material that we encounter in art, cinema and activist contexts.
\nCan creative documentary practice productively address situations of crises and emergency? How to think of documentary forms as propositional? How can we work out the relations between experimentations with documentary forms and new constitutions of the evidential, the political or the judicial?
\nTo develop a solid ground for addressing those questions we will begin working with key writings in documentary film theory and selected historical moments, which brought about significant political cinemas, such as e.g. the Latin American Militant Cinema, revolutionary cinema from African and South Asian contexts or cinematic instances of socio-political change within Europe and North America post WWII.
\nLooking at how documentary language and form came about at moments of radical change we want to think through the specific constellations at the time of their making and interrogate the implications this has for the thinking and practising with documentary mode material now, thus think trough genealogies, legacies and ruptures between historical and contemporary contexts.
\nAssessment: 1 x 6,000 word essay + collaborative documentary project
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147987","attributes":{"title":"Designing Digital Interactions","summary":"This module will give a broad introduction to the creation of digital media and rich media websites and applications. It will cover both technical...","description":"This module will give a broad introduction to the creation of digital media and rich media websites and applications. It will cover both technical issues of programming with media and also contextual topics of project management and the design of applications to a particular commercial or other brief.
\n\n
Assessment: web media project (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"136025","attributes":{"title":"Digital Venture Creation","summary":"The purpose of this module is to educate a new generation of managers, planners, analysts, and programmers in the realities and potential for...","description":"The purpose of this module is to educate a new generation of managers, planners, analysts, and programmers in the realities and potential for electronic commerce. It aims to familiarise individuals with current and emerging electronic commerce technologies using the Internet. The goal of this module is to provide students with a detailed analysis of the concepts and techniques required to complete the third year module on electronic commerce. In achieving this, a further goal is to equip students with a detailed understanding of the major issues regarding the deployment of Internet technologies within organisations and between organisations, including a full range of security, legal and ethical issues.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), project (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"154466","attributes":{"title":"Digital Marketing and Branding ","summary":"Over the past three decades, the internet and digital technologies have transformed marketing landscapes beyond recognition. Indeed, they have...","description":"Over the past three decades, the internet and digital technologies have transformed marketing landscapes beyond recognition. Indeed, they have created an entirely new marketing discipline: digital marketing. This module demonstrates how marketers navigate digital marketing environments successfully: how they implement effective marketing communication strategies, how they create successful digital business models, and how they build strong brands in digital marketing environments.
\nThe module will ensure a solid understanding of fundamental theories on marketing communications and brand management. Based on this theoretical foundation, classroom discussions will be directed at the latest insights from an ever-growing body of research on digital marketing and digital branding. The first part of the module will focus on the idiosyncrasies of digital marketing communications. Students will learn how to develop a digital communication strategy and will be familiarised with relevant digital marketing metrics. Digital communication activities include, but are not limited to, mobile marketing, social media marketing, blogging, email marketing, and search engine optimisation. The lectures will also explain how to combine different social media (i.e., Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Instagram) in order to achieve strategic marketing objectives. In the second part of the module, the lecturer will examine different online business models including, for instance, internet retail, subscription and curated commerce, two-sided markets, freemium products, and the sharing economy. Finally, the third part of the module will identify effective branding strategies and tactics for digital marketing environments. Specifically, students will learn how digital technology has changed the nature of customer relationships with brands. The module aims to enable students to leverage digital technology for the development of compelling brand identities.
\nThroughout the module, students will be challenged to identify unintended negative social consequences of the growing digitalisation of consumer worlds, and to understand the dark side of social media. For example, mental health issues of users, the emergence of the “gig economy”, and the proliferation of “fake news” will be discussed. This aims to ensure that students will employ digital technology thoughtfully in their future careers.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"158812","attributes":{"title":"Development Economics","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce students to different paradigms in development economics as well as to practical issues in current development...","description":"The aim of this module is to introduce students to different paradigms in development economics as well as to practical issues in current development policy. This module builds on insights from the modules Economic History, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Applied Quantitative Economics and International Economics. The general sequence of the module is to start from a discussion of the notion of development, its historical origins and different measurements followed by four weeks of lectures on alternative development paradigms and their context, in particular state planning, structuralism and dependency theory, classical and neoclassical development theory, and institutionalist approaches are considered. The second half of the module focuses on specific policy issues such as poverty, hunger and agriculture; global inequality; international trade; aid, finance and development banks; climate and environment; education; and the role of big and small businesses. Each week a general overview of these policy issues is presented and followed by an in-depth discussion and analysis of major recent reports or data in the field. Lectures are complemented by seminars which teach the students basic techniques of compiling policy briefs and other relevant forms of policy documents widely used by development agencies.
\n\n
Assessment: 500 word paper (12.5%), 500 word paper (12.5%), 3,500 word policy brief (75%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159186","attributes":{"title":"Digital Anthropology","summary":"This module offers an introduction to theoretical debates and methods of digital anthropology. It combines an introduction to the debates that have...","description":"This module offers an introduction to theoretical debates and methods of digital anthropology. It combines an introduction to the debates that have shaped the field with practical sessions designed to familiarize learners with digital methodologies for anthropological research. As digital technologies transform contemporary experiences of subjectivity, embodiment, sociality and everyday life, the module uses anthropological tools and methods to think through digital technologies in a range of ethnographic contexts. Topics covered will reimagine the object of anthropology through digital ethnography, and explore how the purchase of digital futures and imaginaries remake anthropologists’ conceptual toolkits. The module will combine an enquiry into the materialities and politics of digital infrastructures, devices and social media platforms with practical learning using digital methods to produce anthropological analysis. Practical sessions will develop independent research skills including research design and ethics, working with digital video, techniques of online data collection and digital qualitative and ethnographic analysis.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"162915","attributes":{"title":"Developing the Screen Idea","summary":"Ideas for film, TV, music video and web content are developed from a huge range of sources, from the “purely imagined” to those based on news, and...","description":"Ideas for film, TV, music video and web content are developed from a huge range of sources, from the “purely imagined” to those based on news, and real events; on plays, written fiction or graphic novels; or inspired by songs and other art works. What makes a screen idea a good one? Are there rules? Can we apply the conventions used by Hollywood and the major media industries around structure and genre, to best advance our ideas? What other approaches are there in the industry and the independent scene?
\nOnce committed to a core creative idea or concept, how do we best advance its development, and find the most appropriate form and production framework to make it best deliver on screen? How do we factor in image, sound, and montage so that these elements are integrated most productively throughout development and later production stages?
\nWe will look at real-world examples of movies, music video, TV, web drama and interactive fiction, and explore together how to take ideas forward. The Masterclasses are convened and mainly taught by Prof Sue Clayton, herself an experienced fiction film writer and director who has worked across all formats. She will also chair sessions with other Media and Communications staff and guests from the industry and the indie sector.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166185","attributes":{"title":"Dustbowl to Dreamfactory: American Cinema & Writing in the 1930s","summary":"This course aims to examine the politics and aesthetics of American literary practice in the context of the Roosevelt Era. Taking as its...","description":"This course aims to examine the politics and aesthetics of American literary practice in the context of the Roosevelt Era. Taking as its starting point some of the historical and economic reasons for the Depression, the course focuses specifically on the artistic responses to these changes and the politics involved in trying to get to grips with a practice of writing which reflects, as well as critiques, the status quo. Students will be introduced to different responses - starting with a seminal realist text Grapes of Wrath - to more overtly populist approaches in hard boiled fiction and film. Themes such as alterations in the agrarian power structure, upheavals in the traditional family, the potentially propagandistic nature of realist fiction will be introduced as key issues for the course overall. In this context we will examine how adversity within agrarian, racial and family structures create a narrative and emotional impetus for a particular type of narrative.
\nThrough a comparative analysis of fiction, photo-journalism and cinema, the course will also illustrate the emergence and popularization of visual aesthetics in literature of the period, how various collaborations between writers and photographers enabled this, and lastly how Hollywood adaptions of popular narratives and the use of melodrama can be seen as part of an overall project of literary and political inquiry in the 1930s.
\nWe will look at how dialogue, and use of landscape in particular, is mirrored as well as altered in filmic versions of the books read. Cinematic aesthetics will be compared to that of 1930s photography as well; the issue of a black and white aesthetic being superseded and/or complimented by Technicolor will also be discussed.
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\n
\n
\n
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166521","attributes":{"title":"Developing Business Ideas and Opportunities","summary":"This module is organised around the idea development process, particularly as it relates to generating business ideas, recognising and evaluating...","description":"
This module is organised around the idea development process, particularly as it relates to generating business ideas, recognising and evaluating business opportunities, and relationships between these concepts. Students will reflect critically on the different definitions, theories and empirical work on business ideas and opportunities, where they come from (e.g., sources of change, trends) and how they are shaped. They will learn how to generate and identify their own business ideas and opportunities using different approaches (e.g., problem or human-centered). Students will also learn how to evaluate these ideas/opportunities, applying both business-focused and person-focused criteria. Using business focused criteria, they will be required to carry out an in-depth feasibility analysis which necessitates research across several areas that are central to the business idea – e.g., the product/service, industry-target market (customer needs), the organization/management and finance. Person-focused criteria will take in to consideration the experience of the student/entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial mindset, background factors and other characteristics.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word report (40%), 2,500 word report (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92967","attributes":{"title":"Directions and Diversions in Visual Anthropology","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThis module looks at various ways in which anthropology has engaged with images, in terms of the production of narrowly...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nThis module looks at various ways in which anthropology has engaged with images, in terms of the production of narrowly anthropological research material through ethno-photography and ethnographic film as well as in terms of a broader set of interdisciplinary concerns with theories of representation, modern media, translation and political advocacy.
\nThe ethnographic project of modern anthropology has been a hybrid scientific/literary enterprise and visual complements, film in particular, have provided links both to cognate fields and non-specialist audiences. The module is grounded in a wide-ranging literature that informs the history of anthropological and social theoretical concerns.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"721180","attributes":{"title":"Dynamic Web Applications","summary":"This module focuses on the technology underpinning client-server applications. This includes relational database systems, mainly from a development...","description":"This module focuses on the technology underpinning client-server applications. This includes relational database systems, mainly from a development perspective, offering introduction to data modeling and database implementation in SQL and alternatives such as No SQL The focus is on applications of relational and non-relational databases and techniques relevant to the creation of dynamic web applications such as form handling and templating. It includes practical work related to programming client server web applications with a focus on principles and up to date practices.
\nPre-requisite: basic web programming HTML, CSS, Javascript; must be taken with Front End Web
\nAssessment: lab assignments portfolio (70%), quizzes (30%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"905266","attributes":{"title":"Decolonising History","summary":"The relationship between decolonisation and history is undoubtedly complex. As a historical subject, ‘decolonization’ has been understood to be a...","description":"The relationship between decolonisation and history is undoubtedly complex. As a historical subject, ‘decolonization’ has been understood to be a historically finite moment which involved the transformation of previously held colonial territories into independent and sovereign states. However, in recent years there is growing acknowledgment in scholarly circles that the process of decolonization – as a set of ideas, institutions and agents – in these former colonial territories has a much longer duree, and is far from complete. Concurrently, recent protests within the higher education sector symbolised by the RhodesMustFall movement in South Africa and, more locally, MyCurriculumSoWhite and LiberateMyDegree, have highlighted contentious debates around the ‘colonised’ production of knowledge within institutional hierarchies marked by deep inequities across race, gender and class lines. The discipline of history has not escaped these critiques. Yet, utilising historical approaches may well allow us to better understand the process of decolonization as well as situate present day decolonising efforts in a broader and more historicised social, political and cultural frame.
\nThe module will be divided into two parts: the first will examine the history of decolonising the discipline, with examples drawn from the late 19th century to the present day; the second asks what a ‘decolonised’ history may look like through examining a selection of theoretical frameworks and their application in the production of 'decolonised' historical studies. Potential topics could include: nationalist historiographies and newly independent nation-states (case studies drawn from Africa and South Asia); curricular reform in segregationist and post-segregationist United States; decolonization and social media in the era of RhodesMustFall and BlackLivesMatter; decolonising the archive; public space, memorials and counter-memorials; slave historiography and slave heritage. Theories from, broadly speaking, the global South would be introduced as a sort of alternative intellectual ideological tradition, and case studies will be utilized to illuminate how specific historical debates or events have been reconfigured through these alternative theoretical lenses.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000-1,500 word journal (30%), 1,000 word critical review (formative), 2,000 word essay (70%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91432","attributes":{"title":"Discovering Music","summary":"This module explores how music is and has been written, performed and consumed. You will encounter Western art music, alongside popular, folk and...","description":"This module explores how music is and has been written, performed and consumed. You will encounter Western art music, alongside popular, folk and non-Western musical traditions, and the ways that these musical practices are interrelated. You will also explore how creativity and contexts for music-making interact.
During the module you'll learn techniques of analysis related to notated scores and other methods of transmitting music. Throughout, you'll be encouraged to consider how musical activity was supported, shaped and at times restricted by the societies in which it was created. In so doing, you will be invited to think critically about musical canons, and to investigate a wide range of musicians who have often been omitted from traditional music histories.
Assessment full year: 1,500 word essay (35%), 1,500 word essay (35%), 1,200-1,500 word essay (30%)
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment spring/summer: 1,500 word essay (60%), 1,200-1,500 word essay (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1436302","attributes":{"title":"Data Visualisation","summary":"A large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for...","description":"A large amount of data is available in electronic resources, both offline and online. This module will give a broad introduction to techniques for gathering data from electronic sources, such as databases and the internet. It will cover both fundamental ideas and the use of some of the most important currently available tools. The module will also present tools and ideas for more effectively using the internet to communicate, visualise and generate news stories, while also addressing legal, social and ethical issues.
\nPre-requisite: programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nAssessment: portfolio (50%), portfolio (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"61027","attributes":{"title":"Ethnographic Film","summary":"Ethnographic film aims to encourage a critical appreciation of anthropological ethnographic film. This module introduces some of the growing...","description":"Ethnographic film aims to encourage a critical appreciation of anthropological ethnographic film. This module introduces some of the growing literature on visual anthropology, and raises general issues of representation in anthropology as a whole.
\nAssessment: 1x 500 word film review
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"61846","attributes":{"title":"Explorations and Debates in History","summary":"Explorations & Debates in History investigates the ways historians have conceptualised and contested historical practice in the modern and early...","description":"Explorations & Debates in History investigates the ways historians have conceptualised and contested historical practice in the modern and early modern periods. It considers the relationship between History and other disciplines, and between material life and linguistic and visual symbolisation, as well as the impact of cultural processes on material life. Presentations and discussions in the seminars as well as the writing of essays provide students with the opportunity to investigate the key theoretical and conceptual questions in a variety of ways.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"61850","attributes":{"title":"Ethnic Conflict and Reconciliation in Modern Europe","summary":"The module explores the violent relationship between the nation and the state, focusing on attempts and failures during the 20th century to protect...","description":"The module explores the violent relationship between the nation and the state, focusing on attempts and failures during the 20th century to protect ethnic minorities against the majority populations. Efforts to achieve post-conflict justice and reconciliation will also be analysed. The module looks at Europe as a whole, but concentrates on its peripheries: the Balkans and the Near East, and East-Central Europe - areas often ignored by scholars of modern European history. Key events studied will include: population movements during and in the aftermath of the two World Wars, including the Armenian genocide, the Greek-Turkish population exchange of the early 1920s, and the expulsion of ethnic Germans from East-Central Europe in the second half of the 1940s, and the Balkan and Yugoslav wars.
\nChanging meaning(s) and political (mis)use of concepts such as ‘genocide’, 'holocaust', ‘population transfers’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ will be discussed throughout the module, as will questions concerning overcoming the past in post-conflict societies. There is no foreign language requirement for this module.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89701","attributes":{"title":"Ethnography of Post Socialism","summary":"Contact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 3 hours independent study per week\nThis module introduces major...","description":"Contact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 3 hours independent study per week
\nThis module introduces major anthropological themes such as politics and the state, formal and informal economy, property, markets, ideology and religion, and kinship, gender and generation through close readings of ethnographies of socialist and post socialist states.
\nBeginning with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the readings and lectures concentrate on the lived worlds or socialism, the effects of turning to a market-based system, and the strategies for basic survival which are graphically documented in ethnographies of post-socialism.
\nAssessment: 2x 1500 word take home paper
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89918","attributes":{"title":"Ethnography of a Selected Region 1: The Caribbean","summary":"The module introduces the ethnography of a selected region, highlighting the anthropological theories informing this ethnography. Central themes are...","description":"The module introduces the ethnography of a selected region, highlighting the anthropological theories informing this ethnography. Central themes are the creation of societies, communities, cultures and identities in response to colonialism and to contemporary opportunities and constraints, and the significance of the study of culture-building for changing ethnographic approaches and anthropology. In this way, students will be able to make links with wider anthropological debates about the construction of society, changes in ethnographic research and the relationship between anthropology and its subjects.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 2,000 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90511","attributes":{"title":"European Cinema","summary":"Providing an overview of significant trends in European cinema since 1945, this module considers a number of specific films which reflect changing...","description":"
Providing an overview of significant trends in European cinema since 1945, this module considers a number of specific films which reflect changing attitudes to contemporary European society and shifting notions of European identity.
\nThe first half of the module explores the emergence of the various new cinemas in Europe after 1945. We will look at work by representative film-makers, examine the aesthetics and politics involved in the movements they represent, and explore issues of 'national', 'European', and transnational cinema. The second half of the module examines a number of key films to explore how European identities are projected and dramatised. In particular, we will look at issues of memory and history, and the linkages between space and national, ethnic, and transnational identities.
\nPlease note: This module cannot be taken alongside Hollywood Cinema
\nAssessment: 1x essay (autumn term students), 1x essay (spring students), essay portfolio (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90560","attributes":{"title":"Engaging Poetry","summary":"Introducing students to a range of poetic and verse forms in English from the early modern period to the present day, this module provides coverage...","description":"Introducing students to a range of poetic and verse forms in English from the early modern period to the present day, this module provides coverage in both breadth and depth across the genre of poetry. Using the structure of the four, five-weekly slots for teaching across the two terms, the module will divide into four individual and yet integrated and coherent parts:
\nChronological issues will blend with more individualised approaches to the reading and understanding of poetry, and due attention will be given to verse forms from medieval to modern lyric. The module will be the starting point for your engagement with both the critical and practical appreciation of poetry and will be supported by the participation of the department’s creative practitioners.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90611","attributes":{"title":"Explorations in Literature","summary":"This module introduces to a wide range of works from the literary canon, from ancient Greek texts in translation to the contemporary, covering the...","description":"This module introduces to a wide range of works from the literary canon, from ancient Greek texts in translation to the contemporary, covering the major genres, and embodying significant interventions or influences in the literary history. The emphasis is on reading primary texts voraciously and discovering – or rediscovering – diverse writers and cultures.
\nNot being limited to a period, genre or single approach, this module cultivates difference and chronological sweep; it aims to challenge and surprise, as rewarding ‘exploration’ should. However, lectures and seminars also sustain the thematic continuity of the module by encouraging you to consider contrasts and dialogues between texts. Cohesion is also supplied by the fact that many of the texts articulate literal and metaphorical ‘explorations’, quests and searches.
\nAssessment: exam (full year students), portfolio of essays (autumn/spring students)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90658","attributes":{"title":"Early Childhood in a Diverse Society","summary":"With special reference to cultural contexts, students will explore ideas and issues in the area of young children’s learning. Students will...","description":"With special reference to cultural contexts, students will explore ideas and issues in the area of young children’s learning. Students will become familiar with the techniques and approaches used when observing and analysing young children’s learning. We will also critically evaluate the variation in type and extent of provision available for young children.
\nYou will also have the opportunity to analyse the concept of childhood in the UK and its impact on policy development in the field of education and care of young children. We will discuss different issues related to growing up in a multicultural and diverse society.
Assessment: presentation (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90779","attributes":{"title":"Empires in Comparative Perspective","summary":"This module examines the significance of empires in history through a comparative survey of the vast land empires of Asia and ‘modern’ European...","description":"This module examines the significance of empires in history through a comparative survey of the vast land empires of Asia and ‘modern’ European maritime empires. The module begins with an examination of the varying understandings of empire, imperialism and colonialism. It questions how empires develop, thrive and fall. The first term highlights the different component parts of empire – including bureaucracy, ideology, military strength, and culture through a study of land empires in ancient and early modern India and Eurasia. The second half of the course shifts to explore ‘modern’, European imperialism, beginning with the Portuguese and Dutch maritime empires and the rise of the English East India Company. We then focus on different themes within ‘modern’ European imperialism, including ideology, race, religion, and nature. The module concludes with the question of the enduring legacies of empire today and asks how we might begin to redress some of these issues.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90785","attributes":{"title":"Early Modern European Philosophy","summary":"You will examine a rich period of philosophic thought in European history through the work of the ideas and arguments of these philosophers and...","description":"You will examine a rich period of philosophic thought in European history through the work of the ideas and arguments of these philosophers and see how they engaged with the important debates of their day.
\nIn addition, students will gain an awareness of how early modern European philosophy is both a continuation and a departure from earlier schools of thought, as well as of how modern scholars have engaged with these important texts.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91068","attributes":{"title":"Elements of Theatre History: Spanish & Catalan Theatre","summary":"Names such as Calderón and Lorca are firmly located in the repertoire of western theatre, but audiences often have no awareness of the tradition...","description":"Names such as Calderón and Lorca are firmly located in the repertoire of western theatre, but audiences often have no awareness of the tradition hidden behind the famous titles. This course concentrates on texts from two periods which are particularly rich in the history of Spanish theatre: 1580-1680 and the twentieth century.
\nThe unique nature of the Renaissance in the peninsula produced highly developed dramas, as interesting as their Elisabethan and Jacobean counterparts. However, concepts such as sexual identity, religion and honour were viewed from a very different perspective. Moreover, an independent form of theatrical technique evolved.
\nSimilarly, although many modern Spanish plays appear closer to the mainstream of the European avant-garde, they are inextricably linked to the social and aesthetic circumstances of their creation.
\nThe texts will thus be studied within a political-historical context, while questions of staging will also be covered in relation to the specificity of theatrical art in Spain. The course culminates in the study of a play originally written in Catalan (another of the languages spoken in Spain) and the work of a Catalan performance group which often dispenses entirely with text.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91098","attributes":{"title":"Elements of Theatre History","summary":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring\nIf you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits\nContact hours: 2 hour...","description":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring
\nIf you take this module for one term only, you will be awarded 15 credits
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture/seminar session per week
\nPre-Requisites: Fluent English is essential
\nStudents will be asked to choose from a range of 10-week options within the module upon their arrival at Goldsmiths (unfortunately we cannot guarantee particular options in advance)
\nThe aim of this module is to develop an understanding of the relationship between a work and its historical - that is social, cultural and intellectual - context, and of the problems inherent in the task of divining such a relationship.
\nThe module will enable you:
\nAssessment: 1x 4000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91849","attributes":{"title":"Entrepreneurial Behaviour","summary":"The objective of this module is to introduce students to some of the key factors that shape entrepreneurial behaviour, with a special focus on...","description":"The objective of this module is to introduce students to some of the key factors that shape entrepreneurial behaviour, with a special focus on entrepreneurial cognitions and emotions. It provides insights in to why some people start up and grow businesses, while others do not. To provide a rich understanding of this area, the module draws from research across the fields of Psychology and Micro-sociology, as well as from Management and Entrepreneurship generally.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word report (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92811","attributes":{"title":"Economic and Political Anthropology 2","summary":"We revisit some of the key questions of the previous term in the context of contemporary politics and drawing connections between economic and...","description":"
We revisit some of the key questions of the previous term in the context of contemporary politics and drawing connections between economic and political institutions. We look at nationalism, regionalism and new forms of migration; at reproductive and care labour, and how migration challenges and/or upholds gendered labour relations. We will discuss the role of consumption on class relations and expand our focus from the flow of objects to the movement of ideas and images and on new technologies.
\nWe ask how the compression of space and time and the notion that new technologies are ‘disembedding mechansisms’ challenge ideas and territoriality, while also opening up new spaces of belonging. We will explore the role of the media, considering the ways in which ‘local’ action groups are using new technologies to promote their political aims on a transnational scale.
\nWe thereby reflect upon the extent that technology can be regarding as an alienating force. We then focus on indigenous rights movements. We explore how indigeneity is constructed through political discourse, thinking particularly about notions of ‘authenticity and territoriality. We ask ‘who speaks for the indigenous’, and examine the legal and ‘rights’ frameworks through which political claims are made. Finally we reflect back on Autumn Term’s discussion of property and consider debates over intellectual property, ‘indigenous’ knowledge and the new commons.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92842","attributes":{"title":"Ethnography Through Photography & Sound","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nBuilding on the theoretical concerns addressed in the Photography and Sound module, this production based module centres...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nBuilding on the theoretical concerns addressed in the Photography and Sound module, this production based module centres around the development of your own practical visual or sound-based project. It will give you an understanding of some of the implications and practical concerns of communicating anthropological themes and issues through still visual and aural media.
\nThis is a production-based module and does not follow the usual lecture/seminar format, but is centered around the development of your own individual practical visual or sound project and seeing that through to completion.
\nThe module requires you to engage in a process of practical production, and develop and refine a project through all the various stages and forms necessary for its successful completion. Through group meetings, screenings and regular supervision you will produce a practical project using the medium of photography and/or sound.
\nAssessment: 1x photographic project, 1 x 1,500 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92845","attributes":{"title":"Experimental Ethnographic Filmmaking","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nBuilding on the theoretical issues discussed in the Intercultural Film module, this production based module centres around...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nBuilding on the theoretical issues discussed in the Intercultural Film module, this production based module centres around the development of your own practical film project which explores some of those concerns. It will give you an understanding of some of the implications and practical concerns of communicating anthropological themes and issues through moving visual image and aural media.
\nThis is a production-based module and does not follow the usual lecture/seminar format, but is centered around the development of your own individual practical project and seeing that through to completion.
\nAssessment: 1x 5-10 minute film, 1x 1,500 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92898","attributes":{"title":"Environmental Anthropology","summary":"Anthropology and the Environment examines areas of anthropological enquiry into human-environment relations. These arease of enquiry include:...","description":"Anthropology and the Environment examines areas of anthropological enquiry into human-environment relations. These arease of enquiry include: different societies’ experience of and thoughts about their biophysical surroundings (beliefs, practices, dwelling); human shaping of landscapes (living in balance with nature, enhancing or destroying it); and environmental politics, or political ecology (small and large scale resource conflict, science and policy processes, environmental movements).
\nThis includes small and large scale resource conflict, science and policy processes, conservation politics, and environmental activism, such as environmental justice movements. Each topic is examined through several studies from different regions of the world, and relating to different ‘elements’ (e.g. forests, soil, water, oil, minerals, land, animals).
\nIn this way, the course provides an introduction to key themes and questions in environmental anthropology as a whole, whilst also discussing many of the most topical issues environmental anthropologists as well as activists are currently grappling with, such as climate change, resource extraction and land grab.
\nAssessment: 1x 2 question take home paper
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92958","attributes":{"title":"Ethnographic Film and Cinema Studies","summary":"Ethnographic Film and Cinema Studies consists of film screenings followed by seminars. The emphasis will be on key feature, documentary and...","description":"Ethnographic Film and Cinema Studies consists of film screenings followed by seminars. The emphasis will be on key feature, documentary and ethnographic films, from Nanook of the North (Flaherty) to Burden of Dreams (Blank) to Blade Runner (Scott). A focal theme of the seminars will be the examination of the 'language of film'.
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word report
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93387","attributes":{"title":"Experimental Media","summary":"The moving image created a revolution in perception. It changed much more than the media: it opened new ways of seeing. Fairly quickly after about...","description":"The moving image created a revolution in perception. It changed much more than the media: it opened new ways of seeing. Fairly quickly after about 1906 the standard forms of the modern cinema began to stabilise; just as later TV would stabilise around the half-hour segment and the 30-second advert. This module focuses on those who refused to settle down, and who continued the immense deregulation of perception inaugurated by the cinema in 1896.
\nBetween the industries of cinema, TV and digital on one side and art institutions on the other, generations of artists have worked in and on moving image technologies to offer alternative projections of the world. Sometimes personal, sometimes spiritual, sometimes political, this diverse body of work is both a treasury of advanced forms of creativity, and a storehouse of techniques and ways of thinking for new generations. Experimental Media will address moving image and other recording technologies to analyse the breadth and boundaries of what might be considered an experiment, in artistic, activist and popular forms of media production. Topics may include the idea of beauty, medium-specificity, abstraction, sound, time ‘poor’ and ‘imperfect’ cinema, DIY aesthetics, expanded media and installation works.
\nAssessment: One 3,000 word essay that curates an exhibition of 5 moving image artworks around an idea developed in the course.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93567","attributes":{"title":"Embodiment and Experience","summary":"This module will examine the place of the ‘body’ in contemporary social and cultural theory taking a number of case studies as examples. In recent...","description":"This module will examine the place of the ‘body’ in contemporary social and cultural theory taking a number of case studies as examples. In recent years across a range of academic disciplines, from sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and psychology, there has been a move away from approaching the body as a pre-given biological entity or substance, to explore the body as a process. This shifts inquiry from asking not ‘what a body is?’, but rather ‘what can a body do’? ‘What could bodies become’? This work privileges the materiality of the body, as well as introducing creative energy and motion into our understandings of corporeality. It also directs and extends our focus away from anthropocentric understandings of the body (ie. that the human body is distinctly ‘human’) and orients our examinations of corporeality to include species bodies, psychic bodies, machinic bodies, vitalist bodies and other-worldly bodies. These bodies may not conform to our expectations of clearly defined boundaries between the psychological, social, biological, ideological, economic and technical, and may not even resemble the molar body in any shape or form.
\nThus many of the dualisms that have circulated across academic disciplines have been dismantled and troubled. These include contrasts between nature and culture, the individual and society, the mind and body, the interior and exterior, and the human and animal/machine. This work has emerged for example in relation to debates surrounding bio and digital technologies, body image and eating disorders, gender performativity, animal/ human relations, affective communication, the senses and mediated perception, health and illness, psychiatric and therapy cultures, the emotions, affect and feeling, the importance of engaging with science, including the contemporary neurosciences to name some just some examples. The question is how do we, as humanities scholars, engage with the body and debates surrounding the body and what relevance might this have for understanding our relationship to media practices and technologies, and particularly for how we might theorise mediation?
\nThis module will provide a critical forum to reflect on these issues, and will provide students from the humanities with a critical understanding of theories of society, culture and communications, which recognize that the body has a materiality and cannot simply be collapsed into text, discourse and signifying activity. This work also explores the complex and layered relationships between scientific narratives/practices, cultural narratives/ practices and our own autobiographies/ embodied practices. The module will explore to what extent we need to talk about embodiment, rather than the body in any fixed way.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (75%), 1,000 word journal (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93811","attributes":{"title":"Entrepreneurial Modelling","summary":"This module will introduce students to a range of business modelling tools, and provide insight in to the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs...","description":"This module will introduce students to a range of business modelling tools, and provide insight in to the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and enterprises. The module has evolved from NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Programme and will use the Modelling Techniques that were designed and have evolved from The Academy and Insight Out which provide approaches to commercialising creativity.
\n\n
It will critically review the key characteristics of successful enterprises, entrepreneurs and leaders, within the cultural and more commercially focused creative industries. It will look at the range of business models that exist and review how best to build a financially sustainable organisation.
\nThe students will be introduced to a range of techniques:
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129583","attributes":{"title":"Europe Since 1945","summary":"This module investigates the history of European society since 1945. This historical overview is divided into four thematic sections of several...","description":"
This module investigates the history of European society since 1945. This historical overview is divided into four thematic sections of several lectures each:
\n\n
Assessment: 3,500 word essay
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129651","attributes":{"title":"Emancipated Images and Sounds","summary":"Investigate how the Arts of the moving image have critically operated with regards to the audiovisual media conditions of their time from the 1950s...","description":"
Investigate how the Arts of the moving image have critically operated with regards to the audiovisual media conditions of their time from the 1950s onwards. We will analyse how the Arts have appropriated and opened up avenues of political and aesthetic experimentation by analysing the two key audiovisual media of the 20th century and their interaction: cinema and television. The course focuses on artistic practices concerned with the media regime they inhabit, from artistic initiatives developing an inventive audiovisual critique to post-medial practices constructing ecologies at a distance from dominant media regimes. These different practices seek to emancipate images and sounds by challenging industrial mechanisms and inventing new processes of production, representation, distribution and/or reception. We will explore the various questions that agitate these initiatives to stimulate our investigation of the complexity that is the image with the help of relevant theoretical texts from the fields of film theory, media archaeology, art, philosophy and visual.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"131328","attributes":{"title":"Elementary Mandarin","summary":"Elementary Mandarin is taught in two parts: Elementary Mandarin A and Elementary Mandarin B. Elementary Mandarin A is taught in...","description":"Elementary Mandarin is taught in two parts: Elementary Mandarin A and Elementary Mandarin B. Elementary Mandarin A is taught in Autumn and Elementary Mandarin B is taught in Spring.
\nIn order to join Elementary Mandarin A you must have studied the module Beginners Mandarin B or have a good command of around 250 Chinese characters. In order to join Elementary Mandarin B you must have completed Elementary Mandarin A or have a command of around 400 Chinese characters.
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132704","attributes":{"title":"Economic Reasoning","summary":"This module introduces students to economic reasoning and basic issues in economic methodology.\nThe module starts off with a concise introduction to...","description":"This module introduces students to economic reasoning and basic issues in economic methodology.
\nThe module starts off with a concise introduction to key questions in the philosophy of science, such as explanation, laws, inductive and deductive reasoning, verification and falsification, scientific paradigms, and theories and models. These tools are then used to discuss the epistemological status of economics.
\nThe following two weeks are devoted to what economics studies, and how. Competing definitions are presented, with a special focus on production and exchange paradigms, and the types of reasoning associated with them (economic change and systemic coherence vs. equilibrium and optimal allocation).
\nThe next two weeks focus on levels of analysis (micro, macro, and intermediate) and methodological issues associated with them, such as individualism vs. holism.
\nThe fourth part of the module addresses the dichotomy, which has divided economic analysis since the Methodenstreit, between general principles and historical contingency. It discusses the divide between economic theory and economic history, as well as possible ways ahead.
\nThe last two weeks are devoted to rationality. They cover classical rationality, forms of bounded rationality, the problem of determination and freedom, and possible ways to overcome existing dichotomies and limitations.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132731","attributes":{"title":"Economic History","summary":"The central purpose of this module is to investigate the methods of historical enquiry useful for an economist and give a survey of the economic and...","description":"
The central purpose of this module is to investigate the methods of historical enquiry useful for an economist and give a survey of the economic and social conditions from the industrial revolution until the fall of the Berlin Wall.
\nThe first week covers historiography with special emphasis on the techniques economists and economic historians use. This week will focus on the various methods economic historians use, from statistical and data analysis, to economic theory applications and narrative histories, analysing the strength and weakness of each approach for different types of enquiry.
\nThe rest of the module provides an overview of key economic and social changes in Europe for the period from the start of the industrial revolution until the fall of the Berlin Wall. You will learn about the economic, social and technological changes that occurred during these 250 years. You will learn about changes in wealth, aggregate income and income distribution, consumer habits, wages, trade and monetary aggregates. You will also learn about institutional changes (Labor and Poor Laws, Welfare State) and social changes (family structure, workers unions, literacy) and the interplay between institutional/social and economic structures. Finally, you will discuss the changing technological conditions of society during this period and its ramifications for the social and economic organisation of society.
\nThis module not only gives you general knowledge of the economic and social evolution of Europe, but also provides context and gives you an understanding of why economic theory developed the way it did.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (45%), 2,000 word essay (45%), quiz (10%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138611","attributes":{"title":"Econometrics","summary":"This module intends to broaden the student’s knowledge beyond the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM) estimated by Ordinary Least Squares...","description":"This module intends to broaden the student’s knowledge beyond the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM) estimated by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)
\nThe focus will be on multiple regression, violation of the assumptions of the CLRM, and issues relating to time series econometrics, drawing on data sets used by macroeconomists in their analysis of aggregate economic performance.
\nStudents will learn how to econometrically analyse and test key relationships in long standing series of annual or quarterly aggregate data that includes: investment, consumption, output (GDP), interest rates, wages and consumer and producer prices, unemployment and employment indexes.
\nTopics studied this term include: multiple regression analysis, heteroscedasticity, stochastic regressors, instrumental variables estimation and the identification problem, models using time-series data, autoregressive distributed lags, autocorrelation and an introduction to non-stationary times series. Through these topics students will learn how to perform robust analysis by identifying empirical problems when dealing with cross-section and time series data.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"139242","attributes":{"title":"Electronic Resistance","summary":"This module examines our contemporary media regime by focusing on artistic and activist practices that test the received boundaries of video,...","description":"This module examines our contemporary media regime by focusing on artistic and activist practices that test the received boundaries of video, television and web culture in order to imagine or construct alternative post‐media ecologies.
\nAssessment: group research project (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140621","attributes":{"title":"Ethics and Economics of Environmental Protection","summary":"Thinking critically about ethical and economic approaches to environmental protection issues and the relationship between the two, is the main focus...","description":"Thinking critically about ethical and economic approaches to environmental protection issues and the relationship between the two, is the main focus of this module.
\nIt will examine human rights, eco-centric, utilitarian and economic perspectives both at the theoretical level and in the practical context of policy arguments over the appropriate role of regulatory, community-centred, and market-based forms of environmental decision-making.
\nAssessment: 1 x 4,000 word essay.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"141930","attributes":{"title":"Empirical Visual Research","summary":"Focuse on ‘sociology-in-the-making’, examining the processes of social research rather than its products. The module follows the ‘empirical...","description":"
Focuse on ‘sociology-in-the-making’, examining the processes of social research rather than its products. The module follows the ‘empirical cycle’, providing an overview of key formative moments of sociological research, from formulating research questions, to producing and analysing data, to the public presentation of results.
\nIt pays specific attention to how sociology may be transformed in the age of visual, digital and other empirical technologies, and examines the ‘doubling of social research’: partly as a consequence of the proliferation of social research tools and practices across social life, key empirical tasks of social research now refer both to social practices ‘out there’ as well as to our own work as social researchers.
\nThe module also examines the the techniques, objects and settings in and with which social research is performed, both in and outside the academy.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147702","attributes":{"title":"Elements of Theatre History: British Alternative Theatre History","summary":"This module draws on ongoing research by a number of departmental staff to provide students with a historical overview of alternative theatre...","description":"
This module draws on ongoing research by a number of departmental staff to provide students with a historical overview of alternative theatre practices in Britain since 1968. Weekly topics will address the diversity of alternative theatre practice in the late 20th century, including, for example, experimental, political, community, black and Asian, gay and lesbian, and disability theatres. The study of each particular performance, company, play or practice will be contextualised within the political and social issues of its time period. In this way students will gain a sense of the rich diversity of theatrical responses to major events of the time period. In addition, students will engage in readings and activities that further their understanding of theatre history as an academic practice. They will be introduced to particular historiographic approaches and methods, including the treatment of various source materials such as biographies, recorded testimonies, archived documents, published reviews, and oral histories. These skills will be practiced through the development of a small digital archive project, which will provide a basis for the final essay.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"154733","attributes":{"title":"Explorations and Debates in Queer History","summary":"This module explores experiences, articulations and understandings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer lives and desires across period and...","description":"This module explores experiences, articulations and understandings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer lives and desires across period and region from medieval and early modern Europe to the present.
\nQueer history is a rich area of inquiry in which scholars have approached historical problems and debates employing a diverse range of strategies. It pays particular attention to prosecutions and pathologisations as well as to forms of resistance and other ways that queer subjects have strived to forge opportunities for themselves. The goals of this module are threefold
\nFirst, using thematic case studies, we will gain insights into the range of sources and methodologies used in queer history including: official documents, news media accounts, diaries and personal letters, oral history, visual and popular culture, and much more.
\nSecond, we will explore queer historiography. Over the past half-century historians have built an expansive and dynamic field, but students will be encouraged to question its limitations, silences, and occlusions. Who is left out and why? Finally, we will think about the theories that have been deployed by those who study queer history and the ways that these theories have been historically situated.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"158693","attributes":{"title":"Entrepreneurial Management and Growth\n","summary":"This module serves to critically examine existing research on the content and processes vital to the management and growth of small and...","description":"This module serves to critically examine existing research on the content and processes vital to the management and growth of small and entrepreneurial businesses. It synthesises research on the experiences, ambitions and concerns of entrepreneurs and small business owners and elaborates on the different processes and strategies required to develop businesses; this occurs through in-depth readings, interactive in-class discussions, activities, presentations, and individual/group work focused on real businesses.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word group project (50%), 2,000 word individual project (50%), 10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"158835","attributes":{"title":"Explorations in Gender, Culture and Schooling","summary":"Gender is a central category in contemporary society. What gender someone is influences how we see them, and how we expect them to behave. But what...","description":"Gender is a central category in contemporary society. What gender someone is influences how we see them, and how we expect them to behave. But what do we mean by gender? What aspects of gender are inborn and what arise from our experiences as babies, children and young people? How is gender related to sexuality and sexual orientation? What do young children think about gender, and how does this change as they get older? How does gender feature in religious and cultural practices, in career choices, and in family life? How does it relate to ideas of ability, popularity and success in school? Do we interpret the same behaviour differently when it comes from boys and girls? Do we have to have two genders, or are there other ways of thinking about gender? Do gender differences even matter? In this module we will explore the relationship between gender, identity and society, with a particular focus on children and young people.
\nWe will examine the different ways in which gender is understood theoretically, and how these interpretations are reflected in how people live their lives. Specifically, we will consider how gender operates as a central aspect of identity, and look at masculinities and femininities in relation to this. We will study the relationship between gender and embodiment, including transgender, genderqueer and intersex identities. We will look at how gender, sexuality and sexual orientation interact in different communities. We will explore the relationship between gender and knowledge, and how this is connected with different forms of thinking, including approaches to how people make ethical decisions. In relation to this we will also look at aspects of gender and schooling, including the gender-marking of school subjects, how boys and girls are seen by teachers, and gender issues in achievement. Finally, we will look at how gender is presented in the media, and how young men and women's identities are constructed through new media such as Facebook.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"163000","attributes":{"title":"Embodiment and Experience","summary":"This module will examine the place of the ‘body’ in contemporary social and cultural theory taking a number of case studies as examples. In recent...","description":"This module will examine the place of the ‘body’ in contemporary social and cultural theory taking a number of case studies as examples. In recent years across a range of academic disciplines, from sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and psychology, there has been a move away from approaching the body as a pre-given biological entity or substance, to explore the body as a process. This shifts inquiry from asking not ‘what a body is?’, but rather ‘what can a body do’? ‘What could bodies become’? This work privileges the materiality of the body, as well as introducing creative energy and motion into our understandings of corporeality. It also directs and extends our focus away from anthropocentric understandings of the body (i.e. that the human body is distinctly ‘human’) and orients our examinations of corporeality to include species bodies, psychic bodies, machinic bodies, vitalist bodies and other-world bodies. These bodies may not conform to our expectations of clearly defined boundaries between the psychological, social, biological, ideological, economic and technical, and may not even resemble the molar body in any shape or form.
\nThus many of the dualisms that have circulated across academic disciplines have been dismantled and troubled. These include contrasts between nature and culture, the individual and society, the mind and body, the interior and exterior, and the human and animal/machine. This work has emerged for example in relation to debates surrounding bio and digital technologies, body image and eating disorders, gender performativity, animal/ human relations, affective communication, the senses and mediated perception, health and illness, psychiatric and therapy cultures, the emotions, affect and feeling, the importance of engaging with science, including the contemporary neurosciences to name some just some examples.
\nThe question is how do we, as humanities scholars, engage with the body and debates surrounding the body and what relevance might this have for understanding our relationship to media practices and technologies, and particularly for how we might theorise mediation? This module will provide a critical forum to reflect on these issues, and will provide students from the humanities with a critical understanding of theories of society, culture and communications, which recognise that the body has a materiality and cannot simply be collapsed into text, discourse and signifying activity. This work also explores the complex and layered relationships between scientific narratives/practices, cultural narratives/ practices and our own autobiographies/ embodied practices. The module will explore to what extent we need to talk about embodiment, rather than the body in any fixed way.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":[],"meta":"Postgraduate","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166994","attributes":{"title":"English Legal System in a Global Context","summary":"Delivered in very close proximity to the heart of legal London, this module introduces students to domestic sources of law and key institutions of...","description":"Delivered in very close proximity to the heart of legal London, this module introduces students to domestic sources of law and key institutions of the English Legal System, including fundamental principles and rules of the civil justice system, in line with the new qualifying examinations for solicitors and barristers (e.g. regarding permitted rights of audience) (the corresponding principles of the criminal justice system are covered in the ‘Criminal Law Theory and Practice’ module).
\nThe module adopts a highly contextual and cosmopolitan approach. Systematic visits to legal courts and other venues of legal significance in London give students a deeper understanding of how these institutions work in reality, and how professional parties operate in practice. Principles, rules and institutional aspects of the English Legal System are also compared and contrasted with selected examples from foreign and international jurisdictions; Canada, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Greece, the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and International Court of Justice can be indicatively mentioned.
\nStudents are enabled to conceptualise the English Legal System in the institutional and professional context within which it applies, from a domestic, comparative and international law perspective.
\nAssessment: 2x coursework
\nPre-requisite: field of study must be sufficiently connected with the study of Law
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Law","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"172949","attributes":{"title":"Ethnography of a Selected Region 2 (Europe)","summary":"This module asks how visions of Europe, including the European Union, are constructed and who are their architects? Whose vision of Europe will...","description":"This module asks how visions of Europe, including the European Union, are constructed and who are their architects? Whose vision of Europe will prevail and how are certain discourses made authoritative, while others are silenced? Given the vast amount of literature that is written on the subject of Europe, the module will be multidisciplinary in approach, drawing on perspectives from history, economics, international relations and media studies as well as anthropology. Using these resources, we will explore how key concepts in anthropology (such as ‘nationalism’, ‘identity’, ‘culture’ and ‘power’) shed light on the various institutions, ideologies, and representations of Europe both as a region and as an idea.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 2 x 1,500 word take home exam (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175143","attributes":{"title":"Entrepreneurial Finance","summary":"This module provides students with some of the theoretical and practical knowledge around how to raise business finance from different sources,...","description":"This module provides students with some of the theoretical and practical knowledge around how to raise business finance from different sources, manage funds and relations with investors, and harvest, which coincides with the exit strategy of the business and how entrepreneurs/investors can extract economic value from their investment. Students undertaking this module will be introduced to different sources of financing and financiers, and will analyse different strategies for attracting, securing and managing finance which may vary according to business model, business type and amount of financing required. They will learn how to use different tools for managing funds and at different stages of business development (start-up, growth, exit). Using the best available evidence, real-world examples, case studies, guest speakers (e.g., investors, banking professionals), videos, and through weekly in-class practical exercises and pieces of assessment, students will apply their learning to develop strategies for raising and managing entrepreneurial finance.
\nThis module is organised around the concepts and processes relating to the sourcing and management of entrepreneurial finance during the early stages of business development. Through in-depth readings, discussions, and more hands-on practical work, students will learn how to value a new business venture (business valuation techniques) and calculate the amount of money needed to launch/run the business. In the first half of the module, students will evaluate the financing options available to new ventures from internal/personal options (savings, overdrafts, bootstrapping, credit), to more traditional external options (loans versus equity investments) and less traditional financing options such as crowdfunding, microfinance and peer-to-peer lending. Throughout this process they will analyse the risk-reward trade-offs of the different financing types. Students will also critically reflect on the potential barriers to finance for different entrepreneurs/businesses (e.g., women, ethnic minorities, young people) and ways of managing them. In the second half of the module, students will focus more on the processes around raising and managing finance. They will learn about the different cycles of investment, legal agreements around investment, harvesting, pitching to investors, formulating a financial plan and devising a crowdfunding campaign. They will also be introduced to some of the different tools for managing the finances of the new business venture.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word report (50%), 3,500 word report (40%), 10 minute presentation (10%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"331299","attributes":{"title":"Exploring Teacher Education in England","summary":"Drawing on the expertise within the Department and in consideration of our commitment to preparing students for the world of work this module is...","description":"Drawing on the expertise within the Department and in consideration of our commitment to preparing students for the world of work this module is designed for students who wish to apply for a primary PGCE after graduating. The content focuses on Teacher Education and the current state of education policy in England. It explores routes into teaching, as well as the entry requirements and preparatory pre-application experience.
\nThe current discourse surrounding the ‘standards agenda’ in the education system will be scrutinised in relation to shaping the work of schools and what it means for the teachers of the future. We will discuss the role of Ofsted in the English education system, and the influence Ofsted has on the work of a teacher and pupil learning. What it means to be a reflective teacher as well as the challenges and benefits of teaching in an urban context will be explored. Students will consider the ways in which teachers navigate these challenges alongside developing an awareness of how teachers’ well-being can be supported. We will compare the education system in England with those abroad, capitalizing on our ERASMUS links there will be a particular focus on the education system in Luxembourg. We will also consider the shift to a privatized education system, as more and more schools pass from the control of local authorities into those of trusts and chains.
\nSessions will feature an emphasis on current policy implications for schools and teachers. Examples will include; how schools understand and operate within the Equality Act, issues of quality and inequality, and how the recent Prevent agenda is being implemented in English schools. With this in mind students will be encouraged to consider how new patterns of education provision affect pupil access and attainment among social groups which, historically, have not been successful in the school.
\nAimed at aspiring beginning teachers this modules aims to stimulate lively debate around key educational issues and equip individuals with essential knowledge required to navigate the initial teacher education application process.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (50%), portfolio (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"349944","attributes":{"title":"Expressive Games Design","summary":"Games exist within an ecosystem of interactive and expressive technology. It is important that anyone aiming to work within this industry understands...","description":"Games exist within an ecosystem of interactive and expressive technology. It is important that anyone aiming to work within this industry understands the context within which games exist and the opportunities for using knowledge from other related disciplines.
\nThis module aims to teach students the foundations of game design practice with the particular view of how game design can be influenced by and take advantage of other forms of expression. The module will focus on how literature, comic writing, cinema, architecture, photography and other arts can influence and change the game design process. In this module, game design will be framed as a language and it will encourage students to use a broader vocabulary in order to create more interesting game mechanics. It will also focus on emotions and on the ways that games are able to empower/evoke a particular kind of emotion.
\nThroughout the module the students will be taught how to take a critical approach to playing games and will be encouraged to analyse how mechanics can improve certain feelings. This critical mindset will be paired with practical game design exercises to aid students’ understanding of the critical approach.
\nPre-requisite: must have programming experience
\nAssessment: design thinking journal (40%), project (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"377208","attributes":{"title":"Explorations and Debates in Black British History","summary":"This module explores experiences, articulations and understandings of people of African descent and origin within a British context from the early...","description":"This module explores experiences, articulations and understandings of people of African descent and origin within a British context from the early modern period through to the present. The module is much in line with David Olusoga’s position that black British history ‘is an attempt to see what stories and approaches emerge if black British history is envisaged as a global history and as a history of more than just the black experience itself’ (Olusoga, 2016). The module is situated in the context of current and wider reimagining and recontextualising of what is meant by ‘black history’ and how boundaries and borders around black British history might be drawn. The goals of this module are threefold. First, using thematic case studies, insights are gained into the range of sources and methodologies used in black British history including official documents, news media accounts, diaries and personal letters, oral history, visual, material and popular culture, and much more. Second, black British historiography is explored, charted and analysed. Over the past half-century, historians have built an expansive and dynamic field, but students are encouraged to question its limitations, silences, and occlusions. Who and what is included and left out and why? Finally, the theories and methodologies that have been deployed by those who study black British history and the ways that these theories have been historically situated are considered and analysed. By the end of this module, students are able to meaningfully reflect on what black British history and theory offer for understanding the history of Britain and the history of people of African origin and descent in Britain with particular considerations to wider global contexts, and the contributions that black British history has made to the wider of study of history in the past and the present and directions in which it is likely to develop in the future.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"492818","attributes":{"title":"Events Management","summary":"This module provides the basic knowledge of the events management process, with a strong focus on cultural and artistic events. Through the module,...","description":"This module provides the basic knowledge of the events management process, with a strong focus on cultural and artistic events. Through the module, students will learn about the specificities of different kind of events – music concerts, festivals, exhibitions, theatre performances. The module will be covering the basic principles of the project management in the arts, with the special focus on 3 areas: Arts Law; Touring; and Evaluation. Students will be exposed to the international case studies from the field and will engage with relevant and leading professionals in the arts. A good deal of the material is however transferrable to the management of permanent cultural spaces (e.g. arts centres, theatres, galleries and museums) and also entertainment and corporate events such as conferences, fashion shows, promotions.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word event evaluation (60%), class test (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"578036","attributes":{"title":"Early Childhood Education for a Diverse Society","summary":"This module explores the diverse range of factors that influence the education of young children, including theories about childhood and learning,...","description":"This module explores the diverse range of factors that influence the education of young children, including theories about childhood and learning, cultural views about what is appropriate for young children, sociological, economic and political factors as well as perceptions of the gendered nature of early childhood education and care. This module offers the opportunity to explore key ideas and issues in the area of young children’s learning, with special reference to the cultural context of that learning including the study of educational theory and practice with particular reference to culture, language and identity. It will also involve an interrogation of pedagogical approaches and assumptions including the importance of play in children’s learning and development, the role of families and the community in the education of young children. The module will explore key concepts of childhood, young children’s social and cognitive development, the political and cultural context of policy development. In all areas of the course students will be encouraged to explore the development of early years policy and practice from an historical, cultural and universal perspective. We will also explore the importance of language in the development of identity and principles of inclusion. Through this module you will develop a critical understanding of the key ideas and principles, which relate to the education and development of young children. Historical and cultural context of theories on child development and early childhood education will help you to locate the concept of a “developmentally appropriate curriculum”. The course will also involve the examination of alternative models of the Early Years curriculum, both nationally and internationally in addition to providing an opportunity to identify and debate the social and cultural factors that contextualise children’s learning in the early years.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91528","attributes":{"title":"Electroacoustic Composition","summary":"‘Electroacoustic Composition’ builds on work undertaken in ‘Making Experimental Sound’ (previously ‘Sonic Art Techniques), and Level 4 modules...","description":"
‘Electroacoustic Composition’ builds on work undertaken in ‘Making Experimental Sound’ (previously ‘Sonic Art Techniques), and Level 4 modules ‘Electronic Music, Composition and History’ and ‘Creative Music Technology’ by introducing temporal development in composition and exploring the analysis and composition of Electroacoustic Music.
\nThis module introduces students to Electroacoustic Music. Students are exposed to historical and contemporary works in the field through class lectures. They will discuss musical aesthetics and form in seminars, using several strategies and concepts such as: diagramming techniques, spectromophology, and auditory scene analysis. Over the course of the term, they will analyse a piece of Electroacoustic Music and compose either two medium works or one longer form piece with support in the form of composition tutorials. Topics covered in lectures may include: Text-Sound Composition, Musique Concrete, Acousmatic Composition, Soundscape Composition, Mixed Music, and Experimental Electronic Music.
\nPre-requisite: in order to succeed on this module students must be able to work independently with sound editing and sequencing software such as Logic Audio, Pro Tools, Reaper, or Ableton.
\nAssessment: composition & commentary (80%), essay (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"865348","attributes":{"title":"Elements of Theatre History A: The Modern American Musical","summary":"Exploiting the resources of the Goldsmiths DVD library and the wide range of musical theatre productions being presented in London, this course...","description":"Exploiting the resources of the Goldsmiths DVD library and the wide range of musical theatre productions being presented in London, this course outlines the aesthetic development of the American musical as genre between Showboat (1927) and Dear Evan Hansen (2017). Specific topics include:
\nAlternative approaches to narrative: The Last Five Years; Dear Evan Hansen
\n\n
Assessment: oral presentation (25%), 3,000 word essay (75%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"868322","attributes":{"title":"Emancipating Images and Sounds","summary":"Emancipating Images and Sounds investigates critical moving images by paying particular attention to disobedient practices of the cinema. This 20 x...","description":"Emancipating Images and Sounds investigates critical moving images by paying particular attention to disobedient practices of the cinema. This 20 x 2hr lecture and seminar series examines how these practices have opened up different avenues of political and aesthetic disagreement by analyzing key ideas, methodologies and inventions. The main focus of the module lies on film; also conceiving of film as a key model with which to think any kind of moving image. Learners are therefore free to work with film objects or with resistant images within the fields of video art, television or the digital. The module critically interrogates the institutionalization of normative images and examines how insubordinate cinemas have struggled against, for instance, racism, neocolonialism, patriarchal violence, heteronormativity or gender binarism. The aim of the module is to give shape collectively to an insubordinate history of the moving image and in so doing to (re)think our position as spectators.
\nThis module is to be assessed via an essay or a creative project with a written component – options to be carefully considered and agreed during individual tutorials. This double option seeks to open up the assessment to a diversity of interests and experiences on the part of learners studying different degrees.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (formative) OR moving image project (formative); 6,000 word essay (100%) OR moving image project with written component of 2,500 words (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"868327","attributes":{"title":"Envisioning Pop Music Criticism ","summary":"Popular music has increasingly become a concern of Contemporary Art practice. Artists such as Juliana Huxtable, Arthur Jafa, Marina Rosenfeld, Tony...","description":"
Popular music has increasingly become a concern of Contemporary Art practice. Artists such as Juliana Huxtable, Arthur Jafa, Marina Rosenfeld, Tony Cokes, E.Jane and Mark Leckey make active use of popular music at the centre of several of their key works and installations. In addition, several major art critics have begun their careers writing pop music criticism, and retain an interest in pop music as a lens through which to view the concerns of contemporary art practice (Greg Tate, Dave Hickey, Kodwo Eshun). Therefore, it is worth asking: how has popular music been discussed, debated and theorised as a practice on its own terms? Since the 1970s, pop music criticism has functioned as a public forum where advanced cultural and critical theory has been put to improper use. Operating outside the formal strictures of higher education research, and below the economic weight of art criticism, what theoretically infused professional writing about popular music has allowed for is a) the surreptitious emergence of a conceptual discourse about one of late-capitalism’s most denigrated aesthetic forms, and b) the ad-hoc construction of a ‘tradition’ of organic intellectualism. Within this context the pop music critic has become a dissident figure, at best marginal to the institutionalisation of high theory, and alienating all but a small committed group of readers, as part of an exercise of pushing pop music aesthetics and performance to the level of the world-historical.
\nIn this module, we shall study selected pieces of pop music criticism from the 1970s to the present, and discuss them alongside the pop music which constitutes the object of the review. The imperative here is close listening and careful excavation. Listening in the sense of attuning ourselves to the sounds and dynamics of pop music; and then excavating the review in order to unpack the theoretical claims that are being made about it. Using this method, the aim is not only to develop an understanding of how the reviewer came to assemble their analysis within the often restricted space of the pop music column, but more importantly to grasp the way the writer raises the stakes of criticism itself. In this respect, the module is based entirely around the discussion format. Students are expected to come to class prepared to converse with each other about the moods and mechanics of both the writing and the music.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"1436304","attributes":{"title":"Ethical Computing for the Social Economy","summary":"The impact of computing in the world has become a matter of urgent social and professional concern. This course will empower computing students to...","description":"The impact of computing in the world has become a matter of urgent social and professional concern. This course will empower computing students to engage fully in the legal, social, and ethical issues that arise, and to have agency regarding their participation in the wider changes enabled by computational technologies. The course will take both a critical and constructive perspective; not shying away from the problems, but focusing on what can be done about them. The course pedagogy will combine class discussions and with practical exercises. It will position itself as an interface between computing and other disciplines at Goldsmiths which have a relevant perspective on computing, and will make as much use of guest lecturers from on and off campus as possible.
\nAssessment: project (50%), essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721170","attributes":{"title":"Extended C++","summary":"This module builds on the knowledge developed in C++ for Creative Practice by introducing students to a variety of specialist topics relevant to...","description":"This module builds on the knowledge developed in C++ for Creative Practice by introducing students to a variety of specialist topics relevant to creative practice. This will be done through a project developed in weekly stages covering topics such as Networking with OSC, Event driven programming with lamdas, memory management and smart pointers, developing GUIs, error handling, and test driven development.
\nThrough this grounded and practical work students build greater knowledge of C++ syntax and techniques.
\nPre-requisite: Must be taken with C++ for Creative Practice
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), project (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721171","attributes":{"title":"Extended Java","summary":"This module builds on the knowledge developed in Java for Industry by introducing students to a broad array of methods and data structures available...","description":"This module builds on the knowledge developed in Java for Industry by introducing students to a broad array of methods and data structures available within the language. Topics covered include:
\nPolymorphism, Interfaces, Nested Classes, Data Structures, abstract data types, computational complexity, Generics, GUIs, Event driven programming, concurrency, event driven programming, software patterns
\nStudents will develop their understanding of these through practical, lab assessed work and longer form home assignments.
\nPre-requisite: Must be taken with Java for Industry
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), lab portfolio (30%), home assignments portfolio (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1442677","attributes":{"title":"Teaching and Researching Creative Writing","summary":"In this module we will consider how SEN and behaviour management policy becomes practice and how we can engage with critical analytical approaches in...","description":"In this module we will consider how SEN and behaviour management policy becomes practice and how we can engage with critical analytical approaches in order to better understand how policy can be adopted to enhance and inform practice in tandem with professional expertise.
\nWe will be examining the relationship between SEN and behaviour management research and practice, particularly in the school context. The link between theory and practice will be the backbone of our seminars, with sessions delivering both a critical framework and an opportunity to discuss new ideas and alternative approaches.
\nIt will be established throughout the course that working with SEN and behaviour management practice may well overlap in places but are not to be conflated with each other. Rather, we are taking the two subjects as examples of inclusion-related practice issues, and thinking about them in terms of challenging a deficit model in order to generate a discussion of alternative views on the subject of inclusion. Students will also have the opportunity to investigate an area of their own choosing.
\nThis module will be of interest to both primary and secondary teachers engaged in all levels of their career, including Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs), PGCE mentors, heads of department, heads of year, assistant and deputy head teachers, head teachers, and heads of pastoral activities such as SENCOs and Inclusion managers. It is also relevant to peripatetic and specialist teachers and school governors. It will give the opportunity for practitioners to discuss and debate, as well as reflect on their own working environment and practice. All participants will be encouraged to link theory with practice and further develop their engagement with active professional and school development in the areas of SEN and behavior management in their own context.
\nThis module is available online
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89545","attributes":{"title":"Film and the Audiovisual: Theory and Analysis","summary":"Over the past 120 years, moving images have developed into a major aesthetic and social force of our times. Our realities both past and present are...","description":"Over the past 120 years, moving images have developed into a major aesthetic and social force of our times. Our realities both past and present are consumed by audiovisual mediations. Our imaginations and desires are built on filmic fictions. We mirror ourselves through our doubles on screen. But how do moving images actually engage us? What is their language? How do they affect us as human beings with a body, a psyche and social awareness? What does it means to have a cinematic form of aesthetics, and how is this currently being redefined in the age of the digital?
\nThis module serves as an introduction into the theorising and analysis of film and other audiovisual media. It presents an overview of the historical development of cinematic modes of expression and experience and their key conceptualisations. Specific questions pursued range from the realism of cinema to the expressionistic powers of montage, from cinema's primal qualities as an immersive embodied experience to narrative, story-telling forms, as well as from the classic nature of film spectatorship to the novel forms of engagement emerging today with 3D, VR and AR.
\nEach lecture will be accompanied by a film screening.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word film analysis (formative), 2,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129465","attributes":{"title":"Finance and the Global Political Economy","summary":"Students will focus on the political and cultural economy of finance through the empirical lens of the global economy. It seeks to foster a...","description":"
Students will focus on the political and cultural economy of finance through the empirical lens of the global economy. It seeks to foster a deeper understanding of finance as a technical practice but also as a powerful transformative process that shapes politics and public policy.
\nAssessment: 500 word report (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129567","attributes":{"title":"Songform and Practice","summary":"This module will provide a foundation for understanding the key creative elements common in many forms of popular music and the role of social...","description":"This module will provide a foundation for understanding the key creative elements common in many forms of popular music and the role of social processes in shaping music. Term one will focus on roots of popular music in Anglo-Celtic folk music stressing the importance of narrative, orality, modality, melodic decoration/freedom in rhythmic propulsion.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129650","attributes":{"title":"The Fact of Blackness I","summary":"This module takes its title from a notorious mistranslation of Frantz Fanon’s fifth chapter of Black Skin, White Masks. More adequately translated as...","description":"
This module takes its title from a notorious mistranslation of Frantz Fanon’s fifth chapter of Black Skin, White Masks. More adequately translated as “The Lived Experience of the Black Man,” the text explores the production of black identity as an explicitly visual process—a result of seeing oneself be seen.
\nCentralizing Fanon’s insights for theorizing the production of difference in the visual field, this course analyzes the ways in which anti-colonial and anti-racist thought has been central to the theorization of subjectivity within colonial modernity. Taking the specificity of Fanon’s model as our cue, we will thus broaden our trajectory to examine the ways in which difference becomes visually knowable and experienced through particular scopic regimes, especially as it relates to the production of racialized and gendered bodies. How have philosophers and theorists of difference tested the very terms of visibility so often reinforced by discourses of racism and subjugation? “Subjects of Difference” explores theories of subject-production and otherness both contemporaneous to Fanon’s moment of decolonization and respondent to it. How have various models of subject-production (Marxist, psychoanalytic, phenomenological, existential, feminist) imagined the appearance of difference in the visual field? And how has the visual field itself been analyzed? In order to explore these questions we will look to classic texts that inaugurated the study of visuality and race as well as the contributions of feminist theory, queer theory, visual studies and performance studies in the rethinking of difference and the politics of representation. Thus, while we begin from a study of blackness, our analyses will consider the ways in which difference is relationally produced.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"133053","attributes":{"title":"Finance and Accounting","summary":"This module covers the core concepts of both finance and accounting. It will introduce students to the important financial and managerial accounting...","description":"This module covers the core concepts of both finance and accounting. It will introduce students to the important financial and managerial accounting principles that are necessary when running any type of organisation- whether it is manufacturing, merchandising, service, non-profit, or government. It will give students an understanding of how management accounting information is used by managers in their planning and control activities and, is designed to prepare graduates for a variety of professional managerial roles in both the public and private sectors. It covers topics such as financial accounting and reporting, foundation and tools for management accounting, strategy development and using costs in decision making, costing systems and activity-based costing, managing customers, processes and life cycle costs, and using budgets for planning, coordination and control. In the financial component of the module, students will look at the three traditional accounting statements, balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The module has two distinct elements: managerial finance with a focus on understanding financial statements, and management accounting with an emphasis on costing, budget and control. The lectures in the module will be supplemented by several assignments designed to develop and enhance practical skills.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"133193","attributes":{"title":"Feminist Methods","summary":"A student-centred collaborative learning environment in involved with The Centre for Feminist Research and the Methods Lab will deliver an...","description":"A student-centred collaborative learning environment in involved with The Centre for Feminist Research and the Methods Lab will deliver an interactive method of learning and exchange led by specialists in the field to understand as well as enact feminist research methods. Drawing on a multi-disciplinary approach this module emphasises multi-methods. Taught by feminist researchers sessions consist of lectures, field visits, small group work and peer feedback sessions. Ethnography, new maps, walks, film, experiments, interviews, audio, documents, narrative, architectural encounters and exhibitions will all feature across the period of exchange. A series of case studies, from specialists in the field, will offer students the opportunity to explore the developments of feminist methods, within an inter-disciplinary critical and practice-based approach.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"134042","attributes":{"title":"Fundamentals of Computer Science","summary":"This module extends on the knowledge developed in the module How Computers Work to introduce theoretical underpinning for further study in computer...","description":"This module extends on the knowledge developed in the module How Computers Work to introduce theoretical underpinning for further study in computer science.
\nBy taking this module, you will gain a broad understanding of many of the key topic areas in computer science and the fundamental concepts that underpin them. In the area of fundamental concepts, you will study binary representations and logic, complexity theory and theories of computation, finite state machines and Turing machines. These will be presented in the light of practical examples to illustrate how they are implemented in modern computer systems.
\nAssessment: weekly exercises (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138142","attributes":{"title":"Further Mathematics for Economics","summary":"Terms taught: Spring\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week. 2x1 hour seminar\nThis module builds on Mathematics for Economics and Business and...","description":"Terms taught: Spring
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week. 2x1 hour seminar
\nThis module builds on Mathematics for Economics and Business and introduces students to more complex mathematics operations that are necessary for the 2nd and 3rd year compulsory courses in mathematical economics and econometrics for the BSc Economics with Econometrics.
\nTopics include: first and higher order derivatives, partial derivatives, constrained and unconstrained optimisation, exponential and logarithmic functions, basic statistical concepts (summation operation, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion) and basic matrix algebra.
\nThese topics will be presented in relation to their economic applications, so that students will learn about marginal utility, profit maximisation and cost minimisation, short run and long run profits in different market structures, and utility maximisation given a budget constraint.
\nAssessment: 1x class test, 1x exam
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138613","attributes":{"title":"From National Statistics to Big Data","summary":"This module extends your knowledge in econometric analysis by introducing you to the historical development of the tools that econometricians use,...","description":"This module extends your knowledge in econometric analysis by introducing you to the historical development of the tools that econometricians use, and by engaging you in the methodological and practical limitations that real-world statistical analysis of social data faces. The focus of the module is the changing landscape in data collecting and inference by national governments and big organizations from the 1930a until today. You will consider core questions of doing quantitative analysis, such as how much does econometrics explain? What is the right methodology for social statistics? And what questions can and cannot be explained by data inference?
\nYou will investigate three different aspects of the time series econometrics toolbox in depth to give context to the technical training from previous modules. These aspects are:
\n\n
Furthermore, you will consider how data collecting by national governments and other institutions has changed since the advent of the internet and the big data revolution. This follows naturally the progression of more data that national governments collect and collate since the beginning of the twentieth century, with the main difference being that the scale is now of a new level, and the type of data substantially different to the traditional census, national accounts or industrial production data that national governments habitually collect. New ways in which government organizations (e.g. Central Banks) use this new type of data will be presented and the analytical and methodological challenges of these new types of data will be analysed.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140622","attributes":{"title":"Feminist Politics","summary":"The module considers the development of feminism as a political ideology and a social movement through history and explores how feminist theory,...","description":"The module considers the development of feminism as a political ideology and a social movement through history and explores how feminist theory, policy and activism have developed in relation to each other to address pressing contemporary issues around the world. The module analyses empirical and theoretical aspects of feminist politics, drawing upon a range of feminist theorists and using examples from various world regions and time periods.
\nBy examining the conceptual and empirical impact of feminism upon the study of politics this module introduces students to the complex ways in which gender relations permeate both formal institutions and societal relations. Feminist theory has provided a radical and challenging critique of mainstream political ideology and the module will consider the various contributions of thinkers such as bell hooks, Judith Butler and Andrea Dworkin, alongside the recent turn towards intersectionality. The module considers specific substantive topics, such as reproductive justice, violence against women and pornography, as a means of exploring the application of feminist theory, the development of legislation, and the mobilisation of activism and campaigns. Underpinning this analysis, we will be reflecting upon the wide range of protest repertoires activists use to further the goals of the feminist movement.
\nAssessment: 800 word blog post (10%), 3,000 research paper (90%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142490","attributes":{"title":"Field Recording and Soundspace","summary":"Term(s) Taught: Spring\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 1\nContact hours: 1 x 2 hour class per week\nThis course will explore the art of listening and...","description":"Term(s) Taught: Spring
\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 1
\nContact hours: 1 x 2 hour class per week
\nThis course will explore the art of listening and how to practically incorporate the audio of our surroundings into creative compositions.
\nYou will become inspired by current and historical contexts of phonography and the soundscape. You will demonstrate an understanding space and place as well as other important factors such as time and the socio-political.
\nAssessment: You will present one example of a recorded week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159208","attributes":{"title":"Fundraising in the Arts","summary":"Money is a key ingredient in the production of the arts. Performances, exhibitions, and festivals need a financial base, as does the making of...","description":"Money is a key ingredient in the production of the arts. Performances, exhibitions, and festivals need a financial base, as does the making of objects or audio/audio-visual recordings. Art produced or exhibited in or by formal organisations, as individual events, or by individual artists all require funds (or in-kind equivalent). A key skill set of an arts manager, therefore, is seeking and ensuring funding. In a competitive environment, these skills involve significant creativity and ingenuity.
\nFunding the arts falls into two main categories, earned income (from ticket sales/admissions or subsidiary activities) and fundraising. This module focusses on fundraising, covering grants, sponsorship and philanthropy, as well as donor development and a brief consideration of major gifts. The module considers approaches to government agencies, corporations, and individuals as well as digital approaches including crowdfunding. Earned income is briefly considered from the perspective of social enterprise business models.
\nAssessment: 5 minute presentation (25%), 1,500 word case for support (75%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166385","attributes":{"title":"Frontiers of Performance Art","summary":"Why – and how – do live, embodied actions matter to art history, and to visual cultures more broadly? How is embodied experience changing today?\nOver...","description":"Why – and how – do live, embodied actions matter to art history, and to visual cultures more broadly? How is embodied experience changing today?
\nOver the past century, countless artists have developed ways to assert the primacy of the lived, performing body. From Dadaist experiments at the Cabaret Voltaire in the 1910s, to 1950s Fluxus happenings, to 1970s feminist performances, a rich history of liveness pulses throughout twentieth century art, and continues to the present day. Yet performance art’s liveness rarely reaches audiences unmediated. Photographs and videos extend embodied actions’ reach in time and space. Texts, diagrams, archives and gossip accumulate around performance, producing pathways of transmission to wider audiences. Even initial, live audiences for performance art might find their reception of it mediated by unreliable memory, or preconceptions about identity that colour interpretations of the performing body, and complicate the assumption that liveness straightforwardly translates into ‘direct’ experience.
\nRather than assuming that the documentation of performance somehow compromises the live event (as in the adage “you just had to be there”), this module explores the productive tensions between performance and documentation in contemporary art. We will consider how the meeting points between performance and its documentation might open up new ways of thinking about the complex relationships between lived, embodied experience; its presentation as performance; and its representation through documentation. In the first half of the module, we will focus on frontiers of performance art at key historical moments, questioning why liveness was such an urgent concern for cultural practitioners at various points in time. From celebrated figures to the fringes of visual culture – Baroness Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven, Hugo Ball, Allan Kaprow, Robert Filliou, Yoko Ono, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Vito Acconci, VALIE EXPORT, Eleanor Antin, Suzanne Lacy, William Pope L, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Fred Wilson, Coco Fusco, Rammellzee, Leigh Bowery – we will explore how various performers have translated their acts into documentation, and been circulated as images or accounts. We will also introduce some key concepts, such as performativity, identity, persona and embodiment, that help to explain how, and why, performance art enabled artists and cultural practitioners to produce new ways to think through, and about, being.
\nIn the second term, we will question how the relationships between lived, embodied experience and its documentation are currently changing, given the myriad new ways in which contemporary bodies are being identified, quantified, monitored, tracked, and circulated as images today. Online spaces are drastically reshaping how embodied experience is being pictured, circulated and monitored across social networks. In the age of ‘big data,’ Silicon Valley entrepreneurs aim to intervene in consumer habits for a profit. Ubiquitous calculation places great emphasis on performances of reputation and creditworthiness online. Using what we learned about the histories of liveness and documentation in the first term, we will aim to understand how contemporary artists explore the new tensions between embodiment and its representations. Examining works by artists such as Erica Scourti, Amalia Ulman, Jacolby Satterwhite and Cassie Thornton, we will think through the ways in which artists are approaching the new frontiers of represented embodiment – and aim to produce our own responses to these new conditions.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word performance journal/research file (formative), 10 minute presentation (formative), 6,000 word essat OR practical project plus 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"167114","attributes":{"title":"Fine Art ","summary":"The module comprises two elements: Studio Practice and Critical Studies.\nStudio Practice in Year 1 covers the acquisition of fundamental knowledge...","description":"The module comprises two elements: Studio Practice and Critical Studies.
\nStudio Practice in Year 1 covers the acquisition of fundamental knowledge and basic practical skills necessary for initiating independent research. In Year 1 students are subject to continuous evaluation assisted by a presentation of their Studio Practice coursework in term 3.
\nAt the end of each term progress reports provide students with an indication of their current level of achievement and tutor feedback reports advise them on how to improve their performance.
\nIn Critical Studies the lecture and seminar series offers the occasion to explore and examine the historical and critical context in which art is made, seen and understood. Students are required to write 2 essays for assessment, one at the end of both the first and second term. The first essay is formative but must be submitted and the second essay is summative.
\nThe Research Laboratories are equipped with specialist equipment and are staffed by qualified and experienced technicians who support the students.
\n\n
120 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Art programme.
\nThe Art programme is only available for the full academic year.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Art","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175297","attributes":{"title":"From Idea to Realisation: Entrepreneurial Thinking","summary":"This module will introduce students to a range of innovation and entrepreneurial tools that will provide them with techniques to situate a creative...","description":"This module will introduce students to a range of innovation and entrepreneurial tools that will provide them with techniques to situate a creative idea within a framework of entrepreneurial thinking. This will enable them to develop the idea to become a project or enterprise with audiences, clients, customers, users and funders.
\nThe students will be introduced to and will critically review and appraise a range of methods and techniques that have been evolved from Nesta’s Creative Pioneer Programme, use elements of Design Thinking.
\nThe module will engage with new developments in technology that is changing both the way that ideas are reaching audiences/customers and being created. Issues of audience engagement relating to access and diversity as well as funding sources which have a political dimension will be addressed in parallele with an understanding of the techniques and toold used.
\nThe culmination will involve both written reflection and a proprisition for how this knowledge can inform their future careers and projects. The students will be required to make a report of their engagement with the materials and also create a presentation of their proposed professional practice plans that takes the knowledge and synthesizes it in to their own plan. This will be presented to a forum, either live or recorded of staff, students and invited guests.
\nThis module runs in the summer term.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"351374","attributes":{"title":"Food and Taste","summary":"This course is an introduction to the complexities of how our bodies relate to the world-wide system of food. The course tries to think together...","description":"
This course is an introduction to the complexities of how our bodies relate to the world-wide system of food. The course tries to think together sociological issues of industrial and agricultural food production with our lives as consumers, eaters and cooks. The module will endow students with variously delectable and disgusting examples through which they might better understand the social, geographic and political aspects of contemporary society. From the social significance of omnivorous-ness, through the increasing potency of national dishes, into considerations of industrialisation and animal welfare, to the production of class, race and gender, the module animates core issues within sociological research. To connect these issues, the course is based on a number of food-based exercises that the students conduct during the course. The experiments include both a level of analyzing food, but also of tinkering with and preparing food. These experiments serve to first understand where the food we buy comes from, how it is produced and its economic, environmental and cultural histories.
\nAs part of the course we try to understand what food labels are, what natural varieties and breeds are, and how these tell histories of standardization and regulation. We will also look at different food traditions, their geographies, histories and how they become to exist as local and national cuisines. We will also consider how foods are codified as intellectual or cultural property, as well as how these are challenged. We also look at how food traditions exclude certain kinds of food, as well as exploring the importance of distaste in shaping food systems. As part of the course we also discuss different kinds of food preparation, from eating on the go, to home cooking and restaurant work, and how these relate to social and gender roles and how they exist in different cultures. This also includes tools to eat and prepare and ideas of what a meal is, how it is sequenced. Finally, we look at the role of language in representing taste experiences and in the writing of menus and advertisements.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129639","attributes":{"title":"Futures and Fictions II","summary":"This module approaches the concepts of time and space through the speculative within visual cultures and art practices. It focuses on the aesthetic...","description":"This module approaches the concepts of time and space through the speculative within visual cultures and art practices. It focuses on the aesthetic and political practices within the genre of science fiction, with its spectacular imaginations and inventive possibilities, with its narratives and visuals collapsing and spanning time, reality, technology and the human condition. We will analyse visual cultures and art practices with and through theories of the imagination as a collective process and the spatial politics of time and explore what science fiction has to do with colonialism, migration, with diaspora and improvisation.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word review (formative), 15 minute presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129648","attributes":{"title":"Futures And Fictions Part 1","summary":"This module approaches the concepts of time and space through the speculative within visual cultures and art practices. It focuses on the aesthetic...","description":"This module approaches the concepts of time and space through the speculative within visual cultures and art practices. It focuses on the aesthetic and political practices within the genre of science fiction, with its spectacular imaginations and inventive possibilities, with its narratives and visuals collapsing and spanning time, reality, technology and the human condition. We will analyse visual cultures and art practices with and through theories of the imagination as a collective process and the spatial politics of time and explore what science fiction has to do with colonialism, migration, with diaspora and improvisation.
\nIn this first part we pay attention to the colonial history of science fiction – or science fiction as a colonial project – before we turn to resistant forms of speculative narratives and practices, before we explore the question of science fiction from a post-colonial perspective. By doing so we will consider science fiction not as an attempt to predict the future, but rather as Samuel R. Delany argues, as offering a (political) distortion of the present. We consequently want to analyse visual cultures and art that take us to different spaces, to improvised spaces, that seek to imagine the world differently, while simultaneously being attentive to the experiences of cultural dislocation, estrangement and alienation – as articulated in the concept of Afrofuturism - that continue to define the African and African diasporic present.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"689747","attributes":{"title":"Feminist Economics","summary":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning feminist economics. The principal aim of...","description":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning feminist economics. The principal aim of the module is to examine the ways in which feminist economists in their rich diversity challenge mainstream economic theory. The module will explore the feminist critique of economic methods, domestic labour, power, institutions and ecology. The specific contribution of feminist economics will included detailed discussion of the work of Esther Duflo, Sadie Alexander, Elinor Ostrom, Deidre McCloskey, Joan Robinson, Rosa Luxemburg and Amartya Sen. Feminist economics, while universally concerned with issues of power, ranges from free market to Marxist practitioners and beyond.
\n\n
Assessment: 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"722646","attributes":{"title":"Front End Web","summary":"This module is an introduction to the basic concepts essential in the design and implementation of client-side web-based applications; it will cover...","description":"This module is an introduction to the basic concepts essential in the design and implementation of client-side web-based applications; it will cover a basic introduction to the Web, followed by more detailed lectures and labs on current good practice with technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.
\n\n
Assessment: quizzes and discussions (20%), teamwork (20%), interactive website project (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"868323","attributes":{"title":"The Fact of Blackness II","summary":"“The history of blackness is testament to the fact that objects can and do resist.” – Fred Moten\nThe politics of difference have often been framed as...","description":"“The history of blackness is testament to the fact that objects can and do resist.” – Fred Moten
\nThe politics of difference have often been framed as struggles for visibility, recognition, or representation. While mindful of such important arguments, recent critical theory has also sought to destabilize the rhetoric of visibility in its understanding of difference by critiquing the ways in which the production of knowledge can often translate to quantification, classification, correlation, spatial and temporal ordering, and behavioural regulation. The goal of “Objects of Difference” is two-fold: first it is to outline the various ways in which the problem of visualizing difference has been complicated by the rise of biopolitical disciplining and the ongoing violence of representation embedded in late capitalism. Secondly, by shifting the avenue of analysis from “subjects” of difference to “objects” of difference, we will shift the terms of the debate away from the politics of representation and visibility toward an analysis of difference as a kind of doing in the visual field. Decentralizing rhetorics of visibility may open up new avenues for thinking about what constitutes personhood, agency, and other forms of life resistant to dominating discourses of categorization. The focus on the status of the object (rather than the subject) centralizes the materiality of difference and how it appears within the socio-economic organization of contemporary life. To that end, this module will begin by investigating the ways in which the discursive field has been analyzed by postcolonial, feminist and queer theorists of capitalism and biopolitics, but we will then move forward to consider the ways in which “objects can and do resist” through particular strategies and performances of opposition including community-building, improvisation, film-making, activism, and other forms of fine art practice including sculpture, painting, and site-specific installation art.
\nAssessment: 15-20 minute presentation, 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"1355255","attributes":{"title":"Fascisms, Old and New","summary":"Fascism was the twentieth century’s most destructive political force. Yet its aggressive, antidemocratic nationalism found mass appeal in many...","description":"Fascism was the twentieth century’s most destructive political force. Yet its aggressive, antidemocratic nationalism found mass appeal in many countries around the world, notoriously Italy and Germany. Still today, fascist movements and ideologies retain considerable allure. Yet the defining features, causes, and effects of fascism remain in dispute. This module explores the character of fascism as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon. It asks what features make it distinctive, what conditions make it possible, and how it manages to attract supporters. We consider fascist ideas, strategies and techniques, as well as ‘transnational’ variations, and ask what makes its promise of national ‘rebirth’ appealing today.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word report (20%), 2,500 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094789","attributes":{"title":"Future of Media Work","summary":"This module will explore the platformised future of media and communications work. Digital platforms have emerged as a new business model for...","description":"This module will explore the platformised future of media and communications work. Digital platforms have emerged as a new business model for extracting, circulating and controlling vast amounts of data. Within this business model, a process of platformisation continues to evolve, and with it, a rapid re-organising of media and communications work, alongside roles in the creative and cultural industries. In the past 20 years, familiar media and communications professions, such as journalism, advertising, marketing, PR and media buying, have expanded to include a host of new and overlapping roles, including audience strategy, brand journalism, digital content marketing, ‘createch’, digital asset management, influencer marketing, programmatic advertising, search marketing, social media management, and adjacent fields of data analysis and data science. Students will examine changing media logics and infrastructures; and shifting professional boundaries between traditional and ‘new’ media, creative and cultural professions and occupations. Students will also consider and evaluate the various forms of professional knowledge and capital required to navigate digital platforms and their persuasion architecture.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91147","attributes":{"title":"French Theatre","summary":"This option studies five key texts in the history of French Theatre from the point of view of genre and generic shift in time and space. The genres...","description":"This option studies five key texts in the history of French Theatre from the point of view of genre and generic shift in time and space. The genres of greatest importance for the purposes of this course are tragedy, romantic drama and avant-garde anti-theatre. Examples are taken from the seventeenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and are analysed within the framework of the theoretical aspects most appropriate to them.
\nThe approach taken here is specifically sociological, all issues to do with the relationship between a work and its context, which is the brief of the course Elements of Theatre History as a whole, being filtered through a social and societal understanding of both the theatre and history as such. This option explores how societal conditions, including those to do with audience expectations, affect a genre and its transformation into another genre. The case study for this particular aspect of the option is La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camelias) by Alexandre Dumas, whose novel and play versions appear closely together in time. The play is turned in the same historical period into another type of theatre, the opera La Traviata by Verdi. La Traviata is examined in a twentieth-century version as well as in a site-specific simulcast edition, the change of genre and historical space and time raising additional issues to do with genre and context. Pam Gems’ rewriting of the play as Camille provides an opportunity for reassessment of genre issues through the issue of gender.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90049","attributes":{"title":"Games Development Group Project","summary":"You'll be taken through the entire games development process, from pre-production and the creation of design documents through to production and...","description":"You'll be taken through the entire games development process, from pre-production and the creation of design documents through to production and testing, with a particular focus on player-centred design.
\nThis module develops abilities in project planning, management, critical awareness and design that students need in order to create digital games.
\nPre-Requisites: Programming experience and experience of using games art software e.g. Unity
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91731","attributes":{"title":"Global Development and Underdevelopment","summary":"Globalisation is both a dominant discourse of powerful actors on the world scene, as well as the main target for one of the most vibrant new social...","description":"
Globalisation is both a dominant discourse of powerful actors on the world scene, as well as the main target for one of the most vibrant new social movements. This course aims to develop a critical and historical understanding of the issues which inform contemporary debates on globalisation. The disciplinary perspective is that of development studies and sociology of development, focusing on political economy and institutions mainly. We shall place contemporary anti-globalisation protests in historical context by building on classic theories of imperialism and studies of anti-imperialism followed by exploration of modernisation theories and theories of underdevelopment. We shall look at the role of culture in development. The course will be taught by weekly one-hour lecture followed by seminar and discussion. Students will be expected to attend seminars and make presentations.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• An understanding of the following key concepts: imperialism, globalisation, neo-liberal economics, development, global finance; social movements; anti-globalisation.
\n• An understanding of the history of: imperialism, development studies, the sociology of development.
\n• An understanding of the epistemological, ethical, and methodological issues involved in the sociology of development.
\n• An understanding of the following perspectives in development studies: classical theories of imperialism; modernisation theories; development of underdevelopment; world systems theory; grass roots development; neo-liberalism.
\n• An appreciation of the range of approaches adopted by theorists and movements concerned with international development and globalisation
\nAssessment: 4,500 word essay
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"96215","attributes":{"title":"Genre and Aesthetics: Contemporary Black British Writing","summary":"This module explores the degree to which theoretical frameworks fit or contort the reception of Black British writing and performance. Through a...","description":"
This module explores the degree to which theoretical frameworks fit or contort the reception of Black British writing and performance. Through a survey of sources of critical languages including reviews, theatre criticism, and academic scholarship, you will participate in the task of evolving an inter-referential methodology that can meet the demands of writing that slips between, and re-works literary genres and performance traditions. In this process, you will closely analyse aesthetic techniques and be attentive to the pressures that Black British writers place on the standard conventions of literary genres in order to create new and innovative literary works.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"135443","attributes":{"title":"Global History of Buddhism","summary":"Buddhism has had a profound influence not only on Asia, but also on western culture.\nThe module will follow two trajectories: the first half will...","description":"Buddhism has had a profound influence not only on Asia, but also on western culture.
\nThe module will follow two trajectories: the first half will comprise of a brief history of Buddhism in India, South East Asia, China, Japan, Tibet and the West.
\nIn the second half we will focus on five themes: Buddhist visual art; Buddhist literature and film; gender in Buddhism; health and well-being; Buddhism in London (a visit to a Buddhist centre in London).
\nAssessment: 250 word abstract (formative), presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138108","attributes":{"title":"Game AI Programming","summary":"Contemporary video game production draws on a range of techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to perform tasks such as controlling virtual...","description":"
Contemporary video game production draws on a range of techniques from artificial intelligence (AI) to perform tasks such as controlling virtual agents and generating novel game content. Compared to mainstream AI, the emphasis is less on optimal problem solving and more on entertaining the player with limited computational resources.
\nThis module gives students practical experience of programming game AI systems and an understanding of the relevant theory.
\nAssessment: programming assigments (60%), project (40%)
\nPre-Requisites: Programming experience
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"139264","attributes":{"title":"Geopoetics","summary":"This module is also available as a 30 credit module\nHow can the altered relations between the world, the earth and the planet be made audible,...","description":"
This module is also available as a 30 credit module
\nHow can the altered relations between the world, the earth and the planet be made audible, visible and sensible? How do the volatile spaces and non-local times of anthropogenic violence change the methods and modes of contemporary cultural production? The Geopoetics module engages with historical and contemporary narrations that respond to the multiple scales and inhuman matters that confront the critical humanities. What kinds of fictions and what kind of fabulations can be productively reread as prefigurations of tomorrow’s climates today? How do artistic practices narrate the collisions between the strange weather of the present, the deep time of the earth and the abstract future of extinction?
\nThe Geopoetics module explores a range of theoretical-fictions and fictional theories that narrate the entanglements between the surface world, the extractivist earth, the geological planet and the energetic Sun. Geopoetics introduces you to critical, creative and artistic practices produced by artists, novelists and theorists that complicate the borders between the humanities and the sciences, philosophy and horror and science fiction and critical theory. It focuses on the weird sciences, technometabolisms and geomythologies that articulate planetary matters of concern. Geopoetics thus aims to equip you with a theoretical and speculative vocabulary that is capable of analyzing, envisioning, and participating in ongoing critical and cultural debates on the forces and the futures of the planet.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140610","attributes":{"title":"Global Governance and World Order","summary":"This module explores debates surrounding the concept of global governance and evaluates the power of international organisations in world politics....","description":"
This module explores debates surrounding the concept of global governance and evaluates the power of international organisations in world politics. Global governance is generally framed as a response to the increased prevalence of transnational concerns and problems that cannot be resolved by individual sovereign states. We will look at theoretical frameworks to explain and evaluate global governance, including realist, constructivist, feminist and critical theory approaches. We will also examine the definition of global problems, identify the organisations responsible for intervening in these and critically assess their role and impacts.
\nThe module traces the emergence and evolution of key organisations historically as well as their contemporary political significance. We critically reflect on the nature and impacts of United Nations agencies such as the World Health Organisation or the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); the International Criminal Court; the World Bank and International Monetary Fund; and regional organisations. The module considers not only the role of states and intergovernmental organisations, but also the power of civil society, including social movements, NGOs and the media, and various forms of contestation and resistance.
\nStudents will engage in both theoretical critique and the analysis of responses to particular global problems. The module will include formative group work on a presentation, linked to individual policy reports.
\nAssessment: 2,500-3,000 word report (80%), 15 minute presentation (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"141512","attributes":{"title":"Greek Tragedy: the Political Theatre of Classical Athens","summary":"Greek tragedy has made a powerful, subtle, and often abiding impression on numerous traditions of drama, poetry, theatre, philosophy, art, music,...","description":"Greek tragedy has made a powerful, subtle, and often abiding impression on numerous traditions of drama, poetry, theatre, philosophy, art, music, aesthetics and criticism. From Rome to rap, writers, artists and composers have engaged closely with, and even talked back to, these tragedies. But why were these plays first created, and what did they mean within the culture and society that created them? To what extent is the meaning of the tragedies conveniently coherent, and to what extent does it replay the contradictions inherent in that culture and society? The module seeks to answer these questions by examining several representative Greek tragedies within the political context of classical Athens.
\nThese plays will be investigated as both expressions of and responses to the peculiar political identity of the city state. Other, related themes will include the representation of women and outsiders, the problematic figure of the hero, and the self-consciousness about dramatic form that marks many Greek tragedies. The module will consider the selected dramas principally as texts, and reflections on the practical theatre of this culture will be limited.
\nAll selections will be read in English translation. Although the plays will be treated mainly as texts, they will be understood as dramatically engaged in contemporary culture and society, in the sense that they dynamically debate the most pressing issues. The module will support the inquiry into these primary texts by way of extensive reference to some of the most resourceful modern criticism of Greek tragedy. Where possible, the module will acknowledge current productions of Greek tragedy on the London stage.
\nAssessment: 1x 3,000-4,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 2 hour seminar per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147138","attributes":{"title":"Gender, Sexuality and Media","summary":"Explore the ways in which gender and sexuality are constituted through a broad range of media, and how they may be resisted, intervened in and...","description":"Explore the ways in which gender and sexuality are constituted through a broad range of media, and how they may be resisted, intervened in and created differently. The module considers media in an open sense, understanding it to include practices of mediation, technological processes and modes of production and consumption, as well as particular cultural forms including television, film, music, digital and social media, art and design. It attends to how gender and sexuality are not stable identities or classifications but are instead processes involving relations with media and technologies, and with ‘race’, ethnicity, class and dis/ability.
\n
The module is taught in a combination of lectures, seminars, screenings and workshops. As well as exploring media through different theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches, practice-research is embedded in the module, meaning that you will try out different practices of making and analysing media. As examples, these practices might include experimenting with creative writing, blogging, collaging, photography, video, drawing. This work will go towards a portfolio that you will build up over the term.
This module allows students to develop an intuitive understanding of the expressive power of computation and reinforce important mathematical and programming concepts through engaging and creative work.
\nStudents will be introduced to a variety of generative techniques through analysing the work of other artists and studying code examples. Possible techniques include phase modulation, uses of the sine function, additive synthesis, stochasticism, perlin noise, and extensive variation through parametrisation. Students will then develop a deeper understanding of these topics through a number of challenging creative exercises using a suitable programming environment.
\nPre-requisite: Would be useful to take alongside Introduction to Programming
\nAssessment: generative drawings portfolio (90%), in class tests (10%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147710","attributes":{"title":"Graphics 1","summary":"Amongst the things you'll study are manipulating images for creative contexts, image processing, application of 2D and 3D geometry for animation and...","description":"Amongst the things you'll study are manipulating images for creative contexts, image processing, application of 2D and 3D geometry for animation and interaction, creating simple physics simulations.
\nYou'll practice this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises that you'll undertake throughout the module. You'll carry these out using an appropriate programming environment with graphics capabilities.
\nPre-requisite: Would be useful to take alongside Introduction to Programming
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), programming assignments (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149526","attributes":{"title":"Globalisation, Crime and Justice","summary":"Global issues of crime and crime control are of double importance in criminology. Firstly, they demand sophisticated new methods for their...","description":"Global issues of crime and crime control are of double importance in criminology. Firstly, they demand sophisticated new methods for their comprehension and secondly, they demand that we revisit the theories we have previously used.
\nCriminologists now recognise that many of our theories, developed during colonialism and empire, are not relevant outside of the global north, and may even be harmful. As a result, contemporary criminologists need to learn to think globally in comprehending and researching transnational and global forms of crime.
\nThis module has a theoretical core that draws on post-colonial theory and critical theory of globalisation. Substantively, it examines a wide variety of forms of transnational and global crime including organised crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking, the so-called war on drugs and border control.
\nAssessment: factsheet (50%), essay (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"154734","attributes":{"title":"Global Queer Subjectivities","summary":"An innovative, exciting, and dynamic body of work continues to grow within the field of Queer History. Going beyond the Anglo-Euro-American context...","description":"An innovative, exciting, and dynamic body of work continues to grow within the field of Queer History. Going beyond the Anglo-Euro-American context and academy, much research and publication is being undertaken in other parts of the world. This module will critically examine recent scholarship, sometimes beside earlier work in Queer History, to gain insights into the new directions, innovations, and emphases of Queer History in a global context. How, for example, does recent scholarship build on or depart from more foundational pieces, which students will also read, or have read in the Explorations and Debates in Queer History module? How are queer identities and communities differently inflected and experienced in non-Anglo-Euro-American contexts and regions? This module will ‘queer’ queer history even further through the use of global scholarship and contexts to break down familiar categories, binaries, and labels.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159475","attributes":{"title":"Globalising Cultures","summary":"This module will address the nature of globalisation across cultures.\nGlobalisation is one of the most far-reaching and widely discussed phenomena of...","description":"This module will address the nature of globalisation across cultures.
\nGlobalisation is one of the most far-reaching and widely discussed phenomena of modern times. It affects all our lives and has an impact on all areas of study. The globalisation module will give you an overview of the main theories regarding globalisation, and you will consider how it influences cultures across the globe as well as their own countries, their academic subjects and the world at large.
\nBy taking this module, you will be able to develop their English in a genuine academic setting, and you will practice the key skills of reading academic texts, researching and writing assignments, listening to lectures, discussing theory and giving academic presentations.
\nYou will also develop vital study skills such as evaluating the strengths of competing arguments and discussing their project proposal in tutorials with the supervisor.
\nAssessment: 1,200 word project
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166216","attributes":{"title":"Governing Everyday Life","summary":"This course focuses on the management, regulation, oversight, accountability – in short, the governance – of everyday life. Our everyday lives seem...","description":"This course focuses on the management, regulation, oversight, accountability – in short, the governance – of everyday life. Our everyday lives seem increasingly subject to governance. Whether we are shopping, working, dating, eating, driving, or doing a combination of these activities or many more, there seems to be an explosion of rules, guides, technologies, and forms of scrutiny to which at some point we are likely to be subjected. We can no longer just throw things away, we need to become expert in the management of our own detritus, reducing or reusing or recycling our waste. Driving a car demands that we pay attention to speed cameras, road safety and re-engineering devices, alongside our environmental impact, our use of fossil fuels and our need to be responsible for the future of the planet. If we shift our supermarket shopping online, that now means we will be entered into behavioural profiles in order that multi-billion dollar data broker firms can construct a profile to be sold to the highest bidder in order that we can be sent mostly irrelevant advertising. And this is before we get into the complexities of our eating habits, what we are expected to do to maintain our health or the numerous further ways that the environment is invoked as a basis for managing everything. Developing an understanding of these pervasive forms of governance requires a focus on the ordinary, everyday ways of acting and relating to each other through which our activities are held to account. But we also need to pay attention to the objects, technologies and politics structures that are required to give governance an effect. In particular, making sense of governance needs a move beyond law or structured regulation to understand how governance is mediated through social, political and material relations involving ordinary, everyday activities, objects and technologies.
\nIn order to get to grips with this array of concerns, the course has four focal points. These comprise: a focus on the history of governing everyday lives, exploring how our contemporary situation has emerged and looking at what questions this has previously raised; a look at contemporary examples of everyday governance, how these are held together, occasionally full apart and have different kinds of effects for different communities; a focus on methods and how we can usefully go about studying and critically engaging with everyday governance; and finally a focus on the future of everyday governance, with widespread political changes taking place on both sides of the Atlantic, the course will conclude with an assessment of where we might go next. Through these four themes, the course will engage with a variety of everyday examples of governance that could include: health, the environment, driving, buying and selling and the economic, travel and transport, packaging and branding, dating, the weather, democracy, metrology, communication and other forms of infrastructure (depending on what is happening in the news and seems relevant in any particular week).
\nAssessment: 1x 3,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"174561","attributes":{"title":"Gender, Culture, Rights","summary":"One of the most intractable debates in human rights is the relationship between claims of universalism and the diversity of cultures and cultural...","description":"One of the most intractable debates in human rights is the relationship between claims of universalism and the diversity of cultures and cultural values around the globe. At the same time, it is often around issues of gender and sexuality that the apparent conflict between culture and rights seems to be most aggressively asserted. Why is this the case?
\nIn this module we explore this question by examining the points at which debates about gender, culture and rights intersect. We situate these debates within historical, social and political contexts. How do legacies of imperialism and anti-imperialism impact on this issue? What role do contemporary geopolitics play? We then go on to ask: How is culture deployed, when and by whom? What are the assumptions underlying rights discourses that facilitate this opposition? Are rights truly universal? Is gender? Is culture fixed? And how do constructions of gender and culture interact with other social, political and economic factors?
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721174","attributes":{"title":"Graphics 2","summary":"Students will study advanced topics in generative graphics with a focus on understanding and applying effects using shaders:\n\nGenerating 3D...","description":"Students will study advanced topics in generative graphics with a focus on understanding and applying effects using shaders:
\nIn doing this they will apply perceptual knowledge acquired in Perception and Multimedia and mathematical skills acquired in Numerical Maths.
\nPre-requisite: must be taken with Perception and Multimedia Computing
\nAssessment: lab portfolio (50%), project (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721178","attributes":{"title":"Games Project 2","summary":"This module gives students the opportunity to work on a substantial game development project, including the technical, creative and social aspects of...","description":"This module gives students the opportunity to work on a substantial game development project, including the technical, creative and social aspects of that project. It takes students through the entire games development process, from pre-production and the creation of design documents through to production and testing, with a particular focus on player-centred design. It develops abilities in project planning, management, critical awareness and design that students need in order to create digital games.
\nPre-requisite: programming experience and games art software e.g. Unity
\nAssessment: core skills assessment (10%), game project (90%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721179","attributes":{"title":"Games Project 1","summary":"This module gives students the opportunity to design and develop a simple computer game in an environment that mirrors industry practice.\nStudents...","description":"This module gives students the opportunity to design and develop a simple computer game in an environment that mirrors industry practice.
\nStudents are introduced to industry standard tools for game development such as game engines. They are also shown the process of game development, including prototyping and play testing.
\nOver the course of the module students will practice this knowledge through designing and developing a playable game.
\nPre-requisite: must be taken with Games Design & Games Development
\nAssessment: lab assignments portfolio (20%), games project 80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"905256","attributes":{"title":"Global History of Medicine","summary":"With the rise of global histories, there are now increasingly attempts to provide more interconnected histories of medicine. This module will provide...","description":"With the rise of global histories, there are now increasingly attempts to provide more interconnected histories of medicine. This module will provide a broad overview of the history of pre-modern medicine, introducing students to the history of Eurasian medical traditions. The module will cover: Babylonian medicine; Greek and Roman Medicine; Ayurveda; Chinese medicine; Tibetan medicine; Islamic medicine; European medicine.
\n\n
Assessment: 10 minute presentation (formative), 250 word abstract (10%), 2,750-3,000 word essay (90%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"721182","attributes":{"title":"Games Design and Development","summary":"This module gives students the opportunity to design and develop simple board and computer games in an environment that mirrors industry practice. It...","description":"
This module gives students the opportunity to design and develop simple board and computer games in an environment that mirrors industry practice. It enables students to combine specialist technical skills acquired in other modules to create their own games.
\nStudents are introduced to i) industry standard tools for game development, such as game engines, and ii) the process of game development, including prototyping and play testing. Students will undertake two game development projects, each with a specific brief and lasting a set number of weeks, as deemed appropriate by the module leader. For each project, students propose a game that fits the brief and then implement it.
\nProjects must be appropriate in scope. Students are expected to deliver the proposed game and document it fully. This documentation takes the form of images, video, commented source code, executables, websites, and written evaluation, following the method indicated in the project brief. Students are expected to demonstrate the ability to develop games appropriately. In addition, student’s projects must demonstrate coherence and uniformity with respect to the agreed brief, showing awareness of intended audiences, and using media appropriately.
\n\n
Assessment: board game project (30%), computer game project (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90608","attributes":{"title":"Hollywood Cinema","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn, Spring\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 2\nContact hours: 1 hour lecture and 1 hour cinema\nPlease note: This module cannot be taken...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn, Spring
\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 2
\nContact hours: 1 hour lecture and 1 hour cinema
\nPlease note: This module cannot be taken alongside European cinema
\nThis module provides an analytical overview of some of the major areas of Hollywood Cinema and its connection to the wider cultural landscape of the United States. Topics will include: the rise of cinema and modernity, narrative cinema, definitions of melodrama, Noir, Westerns and comedy, auteur and genre theory, theories of spectatorship and reception, semiotics, psychoanalysis, and femininity and masculinity as spectacle, amongst others.
\nOur chief aim will be to integrate these methods into a responsive practice that allows students to apply a variety of theoretical approaches to a range of cinematic texts.
\nAssessment: 1x 3,000-4,000 word essay, 1x 2 hour exam*
\n*If here for one term only: alternative assessment given
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90756","attributes":{"title":"History at Work","summary":"(Only available to students with a Tier 4 visa)\nThis half unit will be based on work experience. You will spend one day per week (day to be...","description":"(Only available to students with a Tier 4 visa)
\nThis half unit will be based on work experience. You will spend one day per week (day to be negotiated with the individual institution) over one term working with the chosen institution on a relevant project, which might involve archiving, conservation, building an exhibition, responding to public enquiries or developing a public engagement project. Partner institutions will be announced in due course. Recent partner institutions have included Lewisham Local History Archive, Wellcome Library, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, London Transport Museum, Museum of Childhood, London Metropolitan Archive, St Paul's Cathedral, Goldsmiths Library Special Collections. While taking this module you will have regular meetings with your ӣƵ supervising tutor.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90763","attributes":{"title":"Heresy, the Occult and the Apocalypse in Early Modern Europe","summary":"The course presents a history of early modern Europe through consideration of the individual and collective beliefs and mentalities that constituted...","description":"The course presents a history of early modern Europe through consideration of the individual and collective beliefs and mentalities that constituted the way people understood their world - and the way they wanted to change it. This crucial period of history from the Reformation to the Enlightenment was a time of political, social, economic and religious upheaval, and the ideas that circulated were closely bound up with this upheaval.
\nMany of the ideas that we consider on the course are ordinarily considered to be outside the parameters of the doctrines of the established Church from 1450 to 1750; they include heretical ideas, beliefs based on concepts of magic and the occult, and radical apocalyptic and prophetic thinking.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90764","attributes":{"title":"History of Asian Medicine: From Manuscripts to YouTube","summary":"There is currently a growing demand for communicating historical information and research beyond the traditional text-based formulas. In this module,...","description":"There is currently a growing demand for communicating historical information and research beyond the traditional text-based formulas. In this module, along with an overview of the history of Asian medicine, students will learn how to utilise new media in order to communicate historical information. The module will focus on creating short historical clips using iMovies; Students will acquire hands-on experience of adapting historical narratives to short clips which could be posted on YouTube. Related topics to be addressed: internet-based image copyrights; researching digital manuscripts and historical images.
\nThe module will also deal with blogging for historians and writing for Wikipedia. We will meet one historian-blogger and have one session with a Wikipedian.
\nAssessment: project (formative), blog entry (formative), 2-5 minute film clip (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"96233","attributes":{"title":"Historicising the Field of Black British Writing: From the Romans to the Present","summary":"Black writers have been published in Britain over the past three centuries – although there is no extant evidence of this in drama before the...","description":"Black writers have been published in Britain over the past three centuries – although there is no extant evidence of this in drama before the twentieth century. What are the lines of descent and tradition that connect writers and performers across time and place? What were the formative conditions of production and reception for early black writers and artists in Britain? What part do retrospective historical novels, poetry, visual arts, or drama play in retrieving and reviving past times, to re-circulate and celebrate marginalised voices? Does reviewing the past via a problematised continuum refashion history for its inheritors?
\nThis module offers a thorough historical and socio-cultural grounding in the presence of black writers in Britain across literary and performance contexts from earliest extant evidence to the present. The changing sense of nation wrought by political and cultural contingencies across time will be examined in relation to the participation of black writers from migratory, settler and indigene standpoints who have represented the gamut of identities and experiences of black people in the UK. The broad sweep works chronologically to create a problematised continuum to understand and analyse the field of indigenous Black British culture and its shaping of national identity as it is perceived at home and from abroad.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"132729","attributes":{"title":"History of Economic Ideas","summary":"This module builds on the first year module, Introductory Economics, by discussing, in depth, key theoretical insights from alternative schools of...","description":"This module builds on the first year module, Introductory Economics, by discussing, in depth, key theoretical insights from alternative schools of economic thought. This objective is achieved by focusing on a canon of key texts in the history of the subject, and tracing the evolution of the ideas emanating from, or strongly related to these texts, through time. The five main texts analysed are: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics, Wicksell’s Interest and Prices and John Maynard Keynes’ The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Each text is used as a starting point for a discussion on the evolution of the following economic concepts: specialisation and gains from trade, distribution theory, theory of the firm, theory of money, and the theory of aggregate macroeconomic relationships. Finally, the module discusses the link between past and contemporary economic thought, contextualising it within a broader perspective that includes points of view such as those of feminist economics and from geographically diverse traditions, and the use of these theoretical structures in analysing contemporary economic problems.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147720","attributes":{"title":"History of Contemporary China: From 1840 to 1919","summary":"The proposed module 'History of Contemporary China-From 1840 to 1919' is designed to give students an overview of the history of contemporary China...","description":"The proposed module 'History of Contemporary China-From 1840 to 1919' is designed to give students an overview of the history of contemporary China from the end of Qing dynasty to May 4th movement in 1919. Module contents will be delivered through seminars, tutorials and guided readings. Topics will be arranged in a chronological order with highlights on events that have significant influence on China and Chinese people's viewpoints today.
\nAs arguably the most fast-developing country in the world, and one of the super powers on the global stage, China is not only one of the fastest growing economies, but a historical country with fascinating cultures. Modernism and traditions co-exist in contemporary China. It is aimed that the proposed module shall provide the students with a historical overview of contemporary China that enables them to think critically how modern China is shaped.
\nStudents will also learn to analyse historical events of contemporary China in relation to international politics and external factors, as well as in the context of globalisation.
\nStudents are expected to develop understanding and skills of conducting socio-historical research.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147722","attributes":{"title":"History of Contemporary China: From 1919 to China Today","summary":"As arguably the most fast-developing country in the world, and one of the super powers on the global stage, China is not only one of the fastest...","description":"As arguably the most fast-developing country in the world, and one of the super powers on the global stage, China is not only one of the fastest growing economies, but a historical country with fascinating cultures. Modernism and traditions co-exist in contemporary China. This module will give you a historical overview of contemporary China, especially in relation to international politics and globalisation.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"148076","attributes":{"title":"How to Read in Translation","summary":"This module is designed for students of language and literature and provides an interactive introduction to the complexities and pleasures of reading...","description":"This module is designed for students of language and literature and provides an interactive introduction to the complexities and pleasures of reading in translation. It focuses on literature translated into English and requires no foreign language experience or expertise.
\nMuch of what we read in a university context has been translated into English from another language. By navigating concepts of imitation, mimicry, hybridity and hermeneutics, this module will expose students to the power of translations both to illuminate and elide cultural differences. We will question why literature from some languages remains undertranslated, and what influence changing literary tastes, societal developments, political regimes, and the cultural and financial interests of the bookselling industry have on translation.
\nWe will study a selection of poetry, prose and theatre in translation, by comparing various translations of the same original text together with their critical and popular reception.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"155948","attributes":{"title":"Homosexuality and Capitalism","summary":"In a time of critical concern about the effects of consumer capitalism and also ongoing interest in the civil rights of gays and lesbians, it is...","description":"In a time of critical concern about the effects of consumer capitalism and also ongoing interest in the civil rights of gays and lesbians, it is remarkable that we know so little about the relationship between the two. The goal of this module is threefold. First, it identifies the significant relationship between consumer capitalism and homosexuality, sometimes described as the ‘pink economy’. Second, we will consider the fullest range of discourses and debates on homosexuality and the public commercial sphere, including progressive, conservative, and homophobic perspectives. Finally, we will explore the relationship between consumer capitalism and homosexuality going beyond 1970s and the onset of the gay liberation movement to consider more expansively about what can constitute the pink economy.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 1,000-1,500 wrod essay (formative), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"158731","attributes":{"title":"Hollywood Cinema: Filming the Nation - 1945 to the Present Day","summary":"This module provides an analytical overview of some of the major areas of Hollywood Cinema, from the post-World War Two era to the present day, and...","description":"This module provides an analytical overview of some of the major areas of Hollywood Cinema, from the post-World War Two era to the present day, and its connection to the wider cultural landscape of the United States (US).
\nThe module is designed to follow on from the module Hollywood Cinema 1915-45, exploring the development of Hollywood cinema and its preoccupations. Topics will include genre – the Western, musical, melodrama, Noir, horror, science fiction, and the war movie – how it evolves in relation to and is inflected by specific historical, social and cultural circumstances in the post-1945 US.
\nFilmic representations of themes such as the city, gender, race, migration, sexuality, war and terrorism will be examined and theorised, with reference to film criticism and theory, as well as cultural studies where applicable.
\nAlongside the thematic and the generic, students will be introduced to and work with psychoanalytical, Marxist, historical-materialist, and feminist approaches to film, amongst others, all the while revising concepts of film narrative, editing and style established in relation to the Hollywood cinema of 1915-45.
\nThrough exploring trajectories of Hollywood cinema, post-1945, students will become familiar with certain periods of film history within this era, particularly the 1950s and 1960s, and what characterises them in terms of the historical, political, social, cultural and stylistic preoccupations of film, as well as with a more general evolution of Hollywood film from the post-war era to the present.
\nUltimately, students will be able to analyse the ways in which film is informed by, shapes, affirms, and critiques particular versions of the US and American identity, from 1945 to the present day.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"168904","attributes":{"title":"How The Story is Told","summary":"This is an introduction to some of the fundamental key theorists of story-structure and story-telling, as a foundation for creating your own...","description":"This is an introduction to some of the fundamental key theorists of story-structure and story-telling, as a foundation for creating your own material. You will be encouraged to watch live storytelling performance and recordings, as well as reading theoretical and creative texts. You will be guided through research and improvisation exercises to explore the act of telling. Finally, you will write your own story to tell, live.
\nYou will also write reflective/critical comment that contextualises your choices in approaching the task. The emphasis is on the relationship between form and content, style and performance delivery. This course will help you develop your creative writing, communication skills, literary critical ability, performance confidence, and help you ‘find your own voice’.
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"377206","attributes":{"title":"History in the News","summary":"This 15-credit module offers a historical perspective on the headlines and shows how historians can use their knowledge and skills to evaluate and...","description":"This 15-credit module offers a historical perspective on the headlines and shows how historians can use their knowledge and skills to evaluate and critique the news. Each week we will examine a story or an issue currently making the news. Having been introduced to the historical background through lectures and readings, you will evaluate how newspapers, television, and online news outlets make the news, and discuss what a historical perspective might add. By completing this module you will have gained a solid understanding of how historical knowledge can inform current debates, and why mass media coverage of news stories sometimes glosses over such historical questions.
\nBecause the module’s aim is to focus on the current headlines, it is not possible to offer a definitive list of subjects. However, likely topics include the question of ‘fake news’, mass migration, the rise of the far right and populist movements across the world, Brexit (and the Irish Border), Russia and the west, and Black Lives Matter. Through these topics you will be introduced to a number of crucial topics for understanding the relationship of media to history: media’s framing of events, its use of language, its employment of stereotypes, and its use of experts.
\nThe module will be taught as ten one-hour lectures, which give the historical background to an issue in the news, accompanied by ten one-hour seminars where we discuss and analyse news coverage. Assessment will be through a 1200-word opinion piece offering a historical perspective on an issue in the news (formative) to be submitted after reading week, and a 3500-word essay on the connection between news and history.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"377211","attributes":{"title":"Healing, Magic, and Mindfulness on the Silk Roads","summary":"While history of medicine is usually taught focusing primarily on either ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ traditions, this course will focus on transmissions...","description":"While history of medicine is usually taught focusing primarily on either ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ traditions, this course will focus on transmissions of knowledge along the Silk Roads. More than just routes on which missionaries, travellers and merchants moved between east and west Asia, the Silk Roads has become a metaphor of east-west connections. This module will analyse the term “Silk Road”; look at how knowledge moved along the Silk Roads; analyse the fuzzy borders between “healing” and “magic”; discuss some narratives of medical history; look at what led to the archaeological expeditions of the Silk Roads; and deal with a few case studies of medical interactions between “east” and “west”: during the Mongol era, in the court of the Russian Tsar and current day uses of mindfulness.
\nThis module may include a visit to the British Library to see some of the Dunhuang manuscripts and meet with some of the International Dunhuang Project staff.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"461672","attributes":{"title":"How Computers Work","summary":"This module teaches a basic understanding of a range of different elements of computer systems. This is a fundamental understanding that underpins...","description":"This module teaches a basic understanding of a range of different elements of computer systems. This is a fundamental understanding that underpins both professional use of computer systems and further study in computer science. The broad overview provided in this course will support learning in a large range of topics in the degree and later modules will expand upon the topics covered here.
\nThis module aims to help you understand, and to interact with, computer systems. You will learn how to use knowledge about computational processes to analyse and explain the behaviour of computer systems. The module will use the concept of a Notional Machine, an abstract representation of the functioning of a computer system, to help you to reason about computer systems and to predict their behaviour. You will learn about these ideas apply to typical computer system architectures, basic networking and network services such as databases, These will be discussed using examples of commonly used computer/mobile device applications/systems and their use, with a global focus that highlights computer systems from outside the USA and Europe. The course will also address ethical issues raised by these systems ranging from security threats to data privacy and the impacts of new technologies such as machine learning.
\n\n
Assessment: quizzes (20%), presentations (20%), project (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89711","attributes":{"title":"Ideology and the Secular","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nContact hours: 1x 3 hour seminar per week, 4 hours independent study per week\nAs a self-avowed critical discipline,...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
\nContact hours: 1x 3 hour seminar per week, 4 hours independent study per week
\nAs a self-avowed critical discipline, anthropology’s present institutional identity and theoretical dispersal is rooted historically in a presumptive project of interrogating the idea of a natural, given, and commonsensical order of things. But from where does this stance of cultural critique spring? Moored in institutions that largely derive their epistemic and political authority from secular powers, what consequences might this have for anthropological studies of ideology and religion? This module aims to teach a more reflexive approach to the anthropology of ethics, morality, and the law as a way of understanding the subtleties of governance in the world today and the disputing it engenders.
\nGiven the faltering hegemony of the secular nation-state in attempts to govern the very possibilities left open to human life, critical anthropological analyses of the state may appear having never been more salient than they are today, but by taking this position anthropologists must not bypass and ignore secularism and the proliferation of ideologies tied to modernist state formation as objects of future research.
\nAs a module examining the specific transformations of everyday life through an ‘-ism’, our collected purpose will be to develop the conceptual and methodological means to study the ethics, moralities, and laws that govern secular subjectivities.
Assessment: 1x 3000 word report
Contact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 4 hours independent study per week
\nThis course is organised around a number of anthropological themes focused on Brazilian Amazonia, but with substantial reference to work in other disciplines.
\nYou will:
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90241","attributes":{"title":"Information Processing and Cognition","summary":"A conceptual overview of cognitive psychology as well as an introduction to topics that are central to the study of human information processing, are...","description":"A conceptual overview of cognitive psychology as well as an introduction to topics that are central to the study of human information processing, are provided throughout this module. The methods used by cognitive psychologists are illustrated with examples from the various topic areas. The history of the development of cognitive psychology from other schools of psychology (e.g., behaviourism) is emphasised.
\nTopics include: visual perception; models of attention and short-term memory; encoding and retrieval of information from long-term memory; learning theory; decision making.
\nContact hours: 2-hour lecture per week, 1-hour seminar per week.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90789","attributes":{"title":"Imagining Africa: Ideology, Identity and Text in Africa and the Diaspora","summary":"This module considers how ideas of Africa (its people, environment, history) were expressed through the writings of both prominent and lesser-known...","description":"
This module considers how ideas of Africa (its people, environment, history) were expressed through the writings of both prominent and lesser-known figures in Africa and the Diaspora.
\nThrough the examination of texts – ranging from slave narratives to autobiographies, speeches, essays, plays and novels – we explore how those ideas took shape within their particular historical and regional contexts.
\nAssessments: 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91365","attributes":{"title":"Independent Learning Strategies and Skills","summary":"This module develops study, academic and communications skills, such as written and verbal communication, academic writing, self-reflection, the use...","description":"This module develops study, academic and communications skills, such as written and verbal communication, academic writing, self-reflection, the use of academic resources and presentation skills, which are required for undergraduate level study in social sciences.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91456","attributes":{"title":"Improvisation","summary":"Creativity in performance is the main focus of this module. By engaging with some of the key ideas on improvisation, from the highly technical to the...","description":"Creativity in performance is the main focus of this module. By engaging with some of the key ideas on improvisation, from the highly technical to the purely spiritual, you are introduced to the concepts of spontaneous creativity. Lectures and workshops present improvisation in many forms – from completely free improvisation to creativity housed within more restricted musical parameters. You can choose to focus on one style of improvisation on which to be assessed.
\nPre-requisites: Previous experience of music improvisation.
\nAssessment: 15 minute performance
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91847","attributes":{"title":"International Business","summary":"The objective of this module is to introduce students to key theories and practices in international business and ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘where’ they...","description":"The objective of this module is to introduce students to key theories and practices in international business and ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘where’ they occur.
\nThese theories and case studies, to which they may be applied, will raise and explore key issues in international business. Key issues will be drawn from a broad range of Management sub disciplines and other academic disciplines, such as International Relations, Economics, Geography, Psychology and Sociology.
\nAssessment: 1x essay, 1x exam.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 2x1 hour seminar.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92568","attributes":{"title":"Interaction Design","summary":"This module provides an understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues that can be applied to the design and evaluation of interactive...","description":"
This module provides an understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues that can be applied to the design and evaluation of interactive computer-based systems and other interactive technology.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), coursework (50%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92826","attributes":{"title":"Intercultural Film","summary":"Why is film so affective? What do we understand about how film works? These questions are absolutely fundamental if we are to consider anthropology’s...","description":"
Why is film so affective? What do we understand about how film works? These questions are absolutely fundamental if we are to consider anthropology’s relationship to the moving image. This module will critically consider the general assumption that visual anthropology equals documentaries with ethnographic (ie. exotic) content. It will instead, explore a series of creative approaches to the moving visual image as evidence and witness from an anthropological perspective.
\nThe proliferation of so-called ‘indigenous media’, particularly on the web, arguably redefines the role of the visual anthropologist, and we will the problems and productive possibilities of intercultural looking.
\nThese questions are central to a renewed interest in various kinds of ethnographic film as a result of the recent convergence of contemporary art and documentary. The module will argue for an experimental approach to intercultural filmmaking and suggest what the future of anthropological film might look like.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93878","attributes":{"title":"Interpretation, Education and Communication in the Art Museum","summary":"It is not uncommon for the modern art museum to use words like interpretation, education and communication as a way of differentiating between the...","description":"It is not uncommon for the modern art museum to use words like interpretation, education and communication as a way of differentiating between the remit of individual departments and the type of responsibility each member of staff might have. But there are important fundamental differences inherent within each term that are rarely examined or explained.
\nThis course will focus on the way in which art museums define their relationship to content, meaning and context, how they communicate their ‘message’, the methods they use to address the diversity of their visiting publics and the kind of institutional struggles that sometimes take place.
\nThe course will look at the relationship between museums, government and their agencies and other cultural organisations. There will be an emphasis on examining education and learning, the importance of access, diversity and the role of marketing and income generation. It will introduce theories, which relate to the writing of interpretative text, and consider how the experience of looking at art might be different if text were not available. There will also be a discussion regarding the role of the aesthetic in art education and the range of expectations visitors have from a museum visit.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93984","attributes":{"title":"Innovation Case Studies","summary":"The Case Studies lectures set the stage for each week of teaching and encourage student exposure to and interaction with the theory, culture,...","description":"The Case Studies lectures set the stage for each week of teaching and encourage student exposure to and interaction with the theory, culture, economics, and emerging technologies of the theory and practices of innovation. The case study format encourages active learning and allows the application of theoretical concepts to be demonstrated, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. Each week features a different topic so students gain in-depth knowledge of 10 innovation topics through weekly case study demonstration and critical analysis. Each case study features an academic lecture followed by a case study presentation from a top-tier industry guest speaker at the executive level discussing challenges and opportunities related to a realworld implementation of the particular case study topic.
\nAssessment: 2x 1500 word case study essays
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129066","attributes":{"title":"Intermediate Mandarin","summary":"Intermediate Mandarin is taught in two parts: Intermediate Mandarin A and Intermediate Mandarin B. Intermediate Mandarin A is taught in...","description":"
Intermediate Mandarin is taught in two parts: Intermediate Mandarin A and Intermediate Mandarin B. Intermediate Mandarin A is taught in Autumn and Intermediate Mandarin B is taught in Spring.
\nIn order to join Intermediate Mandarin A you must have studied our module Lower Intermediate Mandarin B or have a good command of around 850 Chinese characters and 1200 words and expressions. In order to join Intermediate Mandarin B you must have completed Intermediate Mandarin A or have a command of around 850 Chinese characters and 1400 words and expressions.
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132718","attributes":{"title":"Intermediate Microeconomics","summary":"The first six weeks students will be introduced to the following topics: choice under uncertainty, inter-temporal choice, incomplete and asymmetric...","description":"
The first six weeks students will be introduced to the following topics: choice under uncertainty, inter-temporal choice, incomplete and asymmetric information, principal-agent problem, basic game theory, dynamic and static oligopoly, price differentiation, markup pricing and market concentration.
\nThe purpose of these six weeks is to give the student a good overview of the technical and theoretical analysis that forms the core of the neoclassical theory of consumption, production and market interaction. In contrast, the next three weeks will focus on aspects of microeconomic behaviour that do not conform to rational choice theory as developed in traditional neoclassical economics.
\nEach week will explore a different alternative approach in the following order: Simon’s Bounded Rationality, Sen’s Capability Approach, and Behavioural Economics. The last week will be devoted in contrasting the different theories of individual behaviour and discussing how departures from rational choice theory affect the internal and external consistency of neoclassical theory.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132723","attributes":{"title":"Intermediate Macroeconomics","summary":"Gaining a good understanding of the key areas of macroeconomics, through the analytical tools of different schools of thought is the main aim of this...","description":"Gaining a good understanding of the key areas of macroeconomics, through the analytical tools of different schools of thought is the main aim of this module.
\nThis module covers the evolution of macroeconomic analysis through a succession of key models, including Keynesian, Monetarist, New Classical, Real Business Cycle, New Keynesian, and Post Keynesian approaches. It studies the analytical details, the underlying economic assumptions, and the historical context in which they emerged. It also provides an introduction to structural theories of business cycles. You study economic growth and economic development, explaining the differences between the two and using historical examples. Classical, Keynesian, and neoclassical theories, as well as structural dynamics are discussed.
\nThe final two weeks are devoted to the political economy of economic policy, from the viewpoint of different schools of thought: controversies on the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy, individual rationality applied to policy decisions, economic and political disagreements, models of voting on macro-policy, and recent developments.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132739","attributes":{"title":"Individual and Institutional Economic Behaviour","summary":"This module compares and contrasts the behaviour of individuals and other institutions at economically significant levels of aggregation. It thus...","description":"This module compares and contrasts the behaviour of individuals and other institutions at economically significant levels of aggregation. It thus provides a more detailed understanding of the various levels of analysis that students have encountered throughout the programme and provides an applied discussion of the issues surrounding methodological individualism, including the construction of the individual from different geographical and disciplinary traditions.
\nThe first eight weeks cover four levels of aggregation: i) the individual; ii) firms and organisations; iii) the state; and iv) the supranational and international level.
\nThe last two weeks are devoted to how individuals and institutions cope with uncertainty. The view of uncertainty as risk is integrated and contrasted with theories of strong and fundamental uncertainty, as well as perspectives from other social sciences.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140611","attributes":{"title":"Ideologies and Interests: Political Thought in Modern Britain","summary":"A critical and historical study of political thinking and political argument in the United Kingdom since the early twentieth century, examining...","description":"A critical and historical study of political thinking and political argument in the United Kingdom since the early twentieth century, examining liberalism, socialism, conservatism, anarchism, feminism, the rise of the modern state, the nature of politics, and the character of the political community.
\nAssessment: 3,000-3,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140651","attributes":{"title":"International Trade","summary":"Students will be introduced to the study of international trade. Topics covered include the basics and critique of classical and neoclassical...","description":"Students will be introduced to the study of international trade. Topics covered include the basics and critique of classical and neoclassical trade theory, economies of scale, international factor mobility, and the effect of trade on wages and income distribution.
\nFurther, we will discuss the tools used by governments to conduct trade policy (e.g. tariffs and quotas) and their impact on trade volumes and welfare. Finally, we will turn our attention to the experience of developing countries in the global economy in order to examine key debates on trade and development, trade liberalisation, trade policies and development strategies.
\nAssessment: 1 x 1.5 hour exam.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140655","attributes":{"title":"International Monetary Economics","summary":"The purpose of the module is to provide students with a set of tools to understand and systematically analyse the monetary side of the international...","description":"The purpose of the module is to provide students with a set of tools to understand and systematically analyse the monetary side of the international economy.
\nKey topics covered include the balance of payments, the determination of exchange rates, interest rates and prices in open economies, different exchange rate regimes (fixed vs. floating), interdependence of economies, and the international financial markets.
\nPre-requisites: Basic knowledge of macro and micro economics.
\nAssessment: 1 x 2,000 word essay, 1 x group presentation.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89989","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Computational Arts Practice","summary":"Develop your own creative computing practices. You will combine the specialist technical skills acquired in other Computing modules with industry...","description":"
Develop your own creative computing practices. You will combine the specialist technical skills acquired in other Computing modules with industry standard software and to relate your learning in Critical Studies to your own practice.
\nAssessment: 1 x coursework
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90032","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Games Development Practice ","summary":"Combine your technical skills with our industry standard software to develop your own computer game. You’ll be using engines, tools and...","description":"Combine your technical skills with our industry standard software to develop your own computer game. You’ll be using engines, tools and middleware.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Explain the types of software used in games development (e.g. engines, middleware, editing tools)
\n• Explain and critique the development practices used in the games industry
\n• Present and critique prior examples of games and other cultural applications
\n• develop a complete computer game to a specific spec
\n• Work independently and in groups to produce a basic piece of work
\n• Propose, plan and execute a small project
\nAssessment: 1x Group project
\nContact hours: 3 x hours lecture/lab a week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90034","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Programming","summary":"This module will introduce the fundamentals of programming and object orientation, including the following basic ideas of programming, including:...","description":"This module will introduce the fundamentals of programming and object orientation, including the following basic ideas of programming, including: variables, memory and assignment statements, control through conditional statements, loops, functions and procedures, objects and classes, instance variables and methods, arrays, user interaction, interaction between objects.
\nAssessment: 40 hrs continuous assessment (40%), game project portfolio (40%), quizzes (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90383","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Literature of the Victorian Period","summary":"Writing in Britain between 1830 and 1870 is the focus of this module. Perhaps no period of literary history has been so subject to stereotyping as...","description":"Writing in Britain between 1830 and 1870 is the focus of this module. Perhaps no period of literary history has been so subject to stereotyping as the Victorian, yet, as its chronological span alone suggests, Victorian literature is marked above all by its diversity. The literature of the Victorian period contains both the legacy of romanticism and the origins of modernism; its aesthetic and moral ideals are powerful, varied, and unstable. Most crucially, it is the site of debate: about morals, politics, religion, science, sexuality, gender, nationhood, empire, and, at its very basis, about the nature and function of literature itself. The texts featured on this module will represent the early Victorian period as well as a range of its genres, including poetry, novels and essays.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90406","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Poetry","summary":"Introduction to Poetry subdivides into two five-week sections, on ‘practice’ and ‘close readings’. The first concentrates on pivotal and...","description":"Introduction to Poetry subdivides into two five-week sections, on ‘practice’ and ‘close readings’. The first concentrates on pivotal and innovative figures and movements in poetry from the early modern period to the present day, and the second explores fundamental issues in poetry through the lens of individual poems. Both sections are presented with the support of the department’s creative practitioners.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90478","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to the Study of Language","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce students to the main areas in the study of language: speech sounds (phonetics and phonology), word structure...","description":"
The aim of this module is to introduce students to the main areas in the study of language: speech sounds (phonetics and phonology), word structure (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), word and sentence meaning (semantics), meaning in context (pragmatics). Apart from these core areas of linguistics, students will also gain an appreciation of the unique nature of human language and explore some theories about the origins of language. The module will provide basic understanding of language acquisition, processing and storage in the brain, language history and change, regional and social variation and the relationship between language and culture. The aim of this module is to give students familiarity with the terminology, notions and theories that will underpin their further in-depth study of the English language. In addition to learning about the structure of language and its role in social relationships, students will be encouraged as part of the module to gain skills in hands-on analysis of words, sentences and texts. These are skills they will apply and develop further within the programme.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90534","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Comparative Literature","summary":"This comparative and interdisciplinary module is an introduction to the preoccupations and methodologies of comparative literature. It focuses on...","description":"This comparative and interdisciplinary module is an introduction to the preoccupations and methodologies of comparative literature. It focuses on themes, genres and movements across national literature and the relationship between literature and other arts. The module is divided into three parts:
\nAssessment: 1,500-2,000 word essay (50%), 1,500-2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129470","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages","summary":"The purpose of the course is two-fold: to provide a theoretical background to Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (TEFLA); and a...","description":"The purpose of the course is two-fold: to provide a theoretical background to Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (TEFLA); and a systematic and practical introduction to the skills and techniques of language teaching, with particular reference to English. The course will be highly reflective in an attempt to help students construct a personal understanding of language teaching and, with this goal in mind, the course will be as much as possible hands-on and will take the form of mini lectures, workshops and micro teaching.
\nSessions will include an overview of how language operates and of learning and teaching theory and emphasis will be given as to how these ideas may be related to the classroom, with particular reference to communicative and post-communicative approaches to teaching.
\nThus there will be sessions on the methodology for teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults, including techniques for teaching the language areas of phonology, lexis and structure, as well as sessions on teaching the four major skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 4,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129501","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Social and Cultural Research","summary":"This module provides an introduction to qualitative research methods and how they are used to look at culture and society.\nWe will introduce you to...","description":"This module provides an introduction to qualitative research methods and how they are used to look at culture and society.
\nWe will introduce you to some of the basic principles of qualitative methods and outline the differences between qualitative and quantitative research. We will consider how qualitative researchers approach their work, how to read statistics, reading and critiquing research, and research ethics. Linked to these strategies and methods we investigate sampling, gaining access to the research field, and ethical dilemmas. We will seek to nurture a critical and reflexive approach to research; one where knowledge, wisdom and understanding are both subject and object of enquiry, probing the interpretive gaps and forms of power inevitably bound up in their pursuit.
\nIn the spring term, you will plan and carry out your own piece of qualitative social or cultural research. We will introduce you to the practices of qualitative research and how qualitative methods are used to look at culture and society. Some of the areas we will cover include research design, participant observation, qualitative interviewing, assessing qualitative research, reflexivity in social research, data analysis, discourse analysis, and researching online. Linked to these we investigate sampling, gaining access to the research field, and ethical questions. We will seek to nurture a critical and reflexive approach to research: one where knowledge, wisdom and understanding are both subject and object of enquiry, probing the interpretive gaps and forms of power inevitably bound up in their pursuit.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,500 word essay (autumn students), 1x 2,500 word essay (spring students), 1x 2,500 word essay & 1x 2,500 word research proposal (full year students)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129546","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Cultural Studies","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\nThis course is...","description":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nThis course is offered as an option in the Media, Culture and Society pathway in the Spring term. It introduces students to Cultural Studies as a discipline, with particular reference to Western cultural production. The main content is delivered in first year Media and Communications lectures, which students audit. As students will have to attend and understand lectures on their undergraduate degree programmes, this course enables students to audit a real undergraduate lecture course and supports this with structured pre-reading and feedback classes. This is so that students can learn to get the most out of their lectures, and so the content is properly contextualised and students prepared. The lecture content is relevant to social sciences in general and provides students with a broad awareness of developments in contemporary Western culture. As an integrated skills course, it allows students to make practical use of the skills developed in the Academic Speaking and Listening and Reading and Writing courses.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132706","attributes":{"title":"Introductory Economics","summary":"This module has three distinct but constituent sections. After a week of introduction, its first part, made up of five weeks of lectures, deals with...","description":"This module has three distinct but constituent sections. After a week of introduction, its first part, made up of five weeks of lectures, deals with different key thinkers in economics and the schools of economic thought that they gave rise to. The focus of this section is to present important Economists, their core ideas, and discuss why their viewpoints are so different. The student will be introduced to Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx and Alfred Marshall. Through this sequence the student will become aware of different systems of analysis in the field of economics and start her/him thinking of the different frameworks of economic theorising.
\nThe neoclassical school, following the work of Alfred Marshall, will be presented last indicating that the next two sections will be primarily concerned with tools and analytical arguments emanating from this tradition. The next seven weeks will be on microeconomic theory. In contradistinction with the plurality of the first part of the module, this part will focus on deductive reasoning used in mainstream rational choice and perfect competition theory. The module will cover preference theory, demand and supply, income and substitution effects, cost and revenue curves, perfect competition and partial equilibrium theory. This progression will end with a description of general equilibrium and the two welfare theorems. The focus here is the internal consistency of neoclassical microeconomics as exemplified in rational choice theory and competitive markets, and its combination of mathematical methods and deductive logic.
\nThe last seven weeks will be on macroeconomics. In this section the focus will be on the following specific concepts: national accounting, inflation, unemployment and business cycles. The analysis of these concepts will be through the use of contemporary schools of economic thought (New Classical, New Keynesian, Post Keynesian, Austrian and Monetarist) and their analytical frameworks. By viewing these concepts through these different frameworks, the student is introduced into open ended discussions on these topics as different answers are equally valid as long as students can clearly identify the theoretical frameworks that he/she is using. This section’s purpose is also to introduce topics that will be investigated at greater length in the second year of the programme.
\nAssessment: 3x 2,000 word essay (20% each), 1x 2hour exam (40%).
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"136026","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Modelling and Animation","summary":"This module covers the basics of 3D modelling, texturing, rigging and animation,\nStudents will then learn how to use modelling software to create a...","description":"This module covers the basics of 3D modelling, texturing, rigging and animation,
\nStudents will then learn how to use modelling software to create a range of 3D rigid body assets varying from buildings to vehicles to household objects to vegetation to roads and terrain etc.
\nLighting and texturing will be taught as well as simple rigging and animation workflows.
\nAt the end of the module the students will be able to use Industry standard export pipelines, to integrate the assets they have created into simple prototype projects in a game engine (such as Unity or Unreal).
\nYou will learn:
\nPre-requisite: programming experience
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138102","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Natural Language Processing ","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per week
\nThis course combines a critical introduction to key topics in theoretical linguistics with hands-on practical experience of developing applications to process texts and access linguistic resources such as Corpora.
\nAssessment: 1x coursework, 1x 2 hour 15 min exam
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140649","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Political Economy","summary":"This module provides an introduction to the main theories, concepts, and topics in the field of political economy. The principal aim of the module is...","description":"
This module provides an introduction to the main theories, concepts, and topics in the field of political economy. The principal aim of the module is to explore how our conceptions of the economy and of economic action are inescapably political, by which I mean that they are a) based upon political assumptions concerning human agency and b) have political implications. After examining the sheer variety of political viewpoints which characterise modern economics, the module explores how this variety emerged from Adam Smith’s original statement of the underlying logic of the economy. By moving through the various liberal, socialist and then neoclassical interpretations of our economic choices, it demonstrates that economics has become increasingly politicised, to the extent that one cannot now make an economic argument without revealing one’s underlying politics. In the final three lectures, we examine the main schools of modern economics in order to see pose the question of whether or not there is a truly superior way of ‘doing’ economics.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000-2,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140650","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Economic Policy","summary":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning economic policy. The principal aim of the module is...","description":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning economic policy. The principal aim of the module is to examine the ways in which public, economic, and international policies (which are in practice interchangeable) are bound up with political economic understandings of the economy and economic agency. Put differently, the aim of the module is to explore the deep and ineradicable links between political practice and economic ideas. The module explores these links by progressing through the basic concepts in public policy (such as public goods and monetary/fiscal policies) before an examination of the main issues, questions and developments in modern policy such as gender, financial crises and international organisation.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140703","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Political Philosophy ","summary":"This module is designed to introduce students to some of the major concepts, principles and theoretical debates in political philosophy by drawing on...","description":"This module is designed to introduce students to some of the major concepts, principles and theoretical debates in political philosophy by drawing on the thought of influential political philosophers from both the Anglo-American and Continental traditions. The module will introduce students to major theories that seek to provide moral and political justifications of the state in general and answer the question of 'who should rule' by drawing on the thought of thinkers such as Bentham, Kant and Rousseau. Students will also be introduced to a number of important political concepts such as liberty, rights and equality by looking at the contribution of thinkers such as Locke, J.S. Mill and Marx. Finally, students will be introduced to the famous debate between Rawls and Nozick that concerns the idea of justice.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142436","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Dramaturgy","summary":"This module introduces the concept of ‘dramaturgy’ as the process of thinking about all the different elements that constitute a theatre experience:...","description":"This module introduces the concept of ‘dramaturgy’ as the process of thinking about all the different elements that constitute a theatre experience: the composition of a performance. It also looks at different ‘dramaturgies’, that is, different ways of telling stories through performance, exploring a range of methodologies post Stanislavski and integrating a diverse range of texts.
\nThe module will encourage students to understand the different roles in creating work, and to start putting ideas on their feet; introduce you to different ways of decoding a play, discovering its embedded clues and meanings and exploring how writing is composed; encouraging students to consider carefully how rehearsal and preparation processes can lead to creating ‘in the moment’ live performance in front of an audience; explore how ethics and politics inform dramaturgical decisions, particularly with regard to issues of representation; and examine how harnessing the creativity of individual members of a theatre-making team, facilitating new collaborative theatremakers.
\nTherefore, the module is primarily concerned with interpretation and collaboration. We will work both analytically and practically, exploring the necessary constant dynamic between the two (praxis), and students will be expected to read a range of theoretical texts, experience live performance and undertake other appropriate research (e.g. online) to provide context to their studies, and put this into action in a practical presentation.
\nIt will be taught by experienced theatre-makers, mainly in seminar-workshops involving analysis of text, practical exercises, lecture inputs and discussion.
\nAssessment: 15 minute presentation (50%), 1,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142464","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Arts and Cultural Theory","summary":"You will be given an introductory understanding of the history of arts. It will take a synoptic and synthetic view of arts and their histories amidst...","description":"You will be given an introductory understanding of the history of arts. It will take a synoptic and synthetic view of arts and their histories amidst broader cultural histories. The form of the course will take students through two key periods in art and cultural history- the Modern and Contemporary- up to the present day.
\nIt will look at the key themes of the developments of aesthetic concerns across a range of cultural forms these periods. It will address the way these periods have been theorised by arts practitioners, theorists and philosophers and understood in wider social terms. Indicative lecture titles will include; What is Art and Culture?; Ways to Look and Hear; Movement; Formalism; Expression; Selves: High/Low; Originality; Art and Life; Culture and Media.
\nAssessment: 1 x 2,000 word essay
\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 seminar per week, plus 2 additional tutorials per term and 10 hours independent study per week
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90590","attributes":{"title":"Inventing the Nation: American Literature in the mid-19th Century","summary":"One of the most productive and significant periods in American Literature will be covered in both breadth and depth by this module.Major authors of...","description":"One of the most productive and significant periods in American Literature will be covered in both breadth and depth by this module.Major authors of this period will be situated in the context of some of the key themes in political, social, intellectual and cultural history.
\nThe module will cover some of the key intellectual and literary movements of the period, including slave narratives and African American fiction, the radical philosophy of Transcendentalism and related forms of protest literature, sentimental fiction, early American feminist writing, colonial travel narrative, epic, avant-garde and gothic poetry, Civil War writing, and representations of the West and westward expansion.
\nThroughout, the module will continually demonstrate the self-fashioning nature of American cultural identity and the struggle of different American writers to mould the emerging nation in their image. It will address questions of national identity, race, gender, political institutions, religion, and American literary form.
\nAssessment spring: 1,500-2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment full year: 2,000 word essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (50%), exam (50%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91706","attributes":{"title":"Identity and Contemporary Social Theory","summary":"The module aims to introduce students to a range of contemporary debates, which relate broadly to the theorization of identity and identification....","description":"
The module aims to introduce students to a range of contemporary debates, which relate broadly to the theorization of identity and identification. The first half of the module will examine a variety of theories concerned with the examination of social class, gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality, and the way in which wider structural concerns intersect to both enable and constrain identification. Lectures 6-8 build on the ideas presented in the first half of the module in order to examine the relationship of identity to social memory, before the final two lectures consider the importance of emotion to process of identification.
\nAssessment: take home exam (100%), 1,000 word essay (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129459","attributes":{"title":"Issues in Political and Cultural Economy","summary":"Critical and cultural approaches to the major policy problems of today are considered along side key questions of contemporary political economy...","description":"Critical and cultural approaches to the major policy problems of today are considered along side key questions of contemporary political economy throughout this module.
\nThe module focuses on the failure of elites to respond to recent crises, such as the financial crisis and environmental crises, and offers some ways of analysing where power lies, the role of experts in contemporary economic policy, and how the notion of ‘neoliberalism’ helps us to understand the current state of political economy.
\nAssessment: 1 x essay outline, 1 x 2,500 word essay, 1 x group project, 1 x policy report presentation.
\nContact hours: 1 x hour lecture per week, 1 x hour seminar per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147983","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Programming","summary":"Learn the basics of programming and develop games and graphics using a programming environment called p5. You don’t need previous programming...","description":"Learn the basics of programming and develop games and graphics using a programming environment called p5. You don’t need previous programming experience.
\nTopics include: drawing on screens, interaction with mice and keyboards, simple statements, variables and conditionals, for and while loops; loops within loops, arrays; functions, objects.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"148107","attributes":{"title":"International Political Economy 1","summary":"This module introduces students to the sub-discipline of international or global political economy (IPE). Its focus will be on the connections and...","description":"This module introduces students to the sub-discipline of international or global political economy (IPE). Its focus will be on the connections and interactions between domestic economic processes and policies and international economic developments.
\nYou will be introduced to the major theoretical traditions in IPE and the overarching debates concerning international collaboration, coordination and competition, before exploring the various issues and problems faced by international actors, such as those concerning trade, finance and the environment. The module will draw attention to the potential (and contested) links between international developments/issues and domestic political and economic issues throughout, with the intention of encouraging you to develop a perspective on both the constraints the “international” poses upon domestic actors and the duties domestic actors have to the former.
\nAssessment: essay (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"149875","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Art, Play and Drama Therapy","summary":"You will develop an introductory understanding of Art Therapy, Dramatherapy and Play Therapy and their application in the mental health...","description":"You will develop an introductory understanding of Art Therapy, Dramatherapy and Play Therapy and their application in the mental health field.
\nStudents will be encouraged to learn and reflect on the group experience and the experiential and therapeutic aspects of play and dynamic communication in group settings (e.g. group therapy, experiential groups, organisational work groups).
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay + visual component
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149891","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to the History of the Modern Middle East ","summary":"You will be offered a general overview to the history of the Middle East from the decline of Ottoman rule in the area in the late 19th century until...","description":"You will be offered a general overview to the history of the Middle East from the decline of Ottoman rule in the area in the late 19th century until the present.
\nThe course focuses on political, social, and cultural trends that shaped the history of the region vis-à-vis the intervention of foreign colonial powers, the rise of nationalistic and Islamic movements and the place of the region as a geo-economic strategic place in the 20th century.
\nThe module is divided in two parts. During the first ten weeks, we will look at the history of the Middle East from an overarching perspective, discussing key elements and concepts that will helps us convey a holistic picture of the region.
\nThe second part will be dedicated to the study of specific case-studies that will inform a more nuanced understanding of the different areas. The goal of the course is to go beyond stereotypes that overburden our understanding of the region and its peoples.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: written coursework (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment spring: written coursework (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment full year: draft essay (formative), 250 word film review (formative), 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 1,500 word film review (40%), 3,000 word essay (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159515","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Statistics for Business and User Experience","summary":"Business Statistics aims to provide students with quantitative literacy skills to enable them to search out numerical information, understand it,...","description":"Business Statistics aims to provide students with quantitative literacy skills to enable them to search out numerical information, understand it, critique it, reflect upon it, and apply it in making decisions. This module introduces students to the principles and concepts of statistics when applied to business computing activities and challenges. It will equip students with quantitative skills necessary for them to interpret, analyse and communicate information derived from numerical data. The module will equip students with an understanding of how to present business numerical information in a variety of formats, and give them an understanding of the tools necessary to present such information. The module theme is to look at numerical data in a variety of forms, to determine the ‘story’ that this data is telling and to tell that ‘story’ to others. Subjects covered by the module will include some or all of the following:
\nData classification, tabulation and presentation
\nMeasures of central tendency, disperson, skew
\nProbability, sampling, and distributions
\nHypothesis testing
\nCorrelation and regression
\nTime series and forecasting
\n\n
The subject knowledge in this module will be presented in a context relevant for business and/or computer science.
\nAssessment: portfolio of small assignments (50%), 1,500 word essay (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140613","attributes":{"title":"International Politics of the Middle East","summary":"This module introduces students to the history and politics of the modern Middle East. Together we will explore the legacy of European colonialism...","description":"
This module introduces students to the history and politics of the modern Middle East. Together we will explore the legacy of European colonialism and its impact on state formation and the regional state system; the emergence of national and transnational ideologies and movements such as Arab nationalism, Pan-Arabism and political Islam during the global Cold War; the origins of Zionism and the Palestinian national movement and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. We will also debate state and Islamic feminisms in Turkey, Egypt and Iran; the causes and consequences of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as well as its wider repercussions. We will move next to discuss the nature of American empire and the politics of oil in the Persian Gulf; the rise of Salafi-Jihadism and the newfound prominence of non-state actors such as al-Qaeda and ISIS on the global stage. The module will end by reflecting upon the roots of the Arab Uprisings of 2011 and the mass mobilisations against entrenched authoritarianism and neoliberalism, as well as their revolutionary and counter-revolutionary consequences for the politics and society of the Middle East and North Africa.
\nAssessment: 15-20 minute presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166599","attributes":{"title":"International Political Economy 2","summary":"This module combines a variety of approaches from history, sociology, and political economy in the study of the global political economy. Its focus...","description":"This module combines a variety of approaches from history, sociology, and political economy in the study of the global political economy. Its focus will be on the connection between international economic integration and domestic socio-economic transformation in the making of the contemporary world order.
\nFurther, we will examine how theories have shaped policies in the context of increasing integration of the global economy. In the first segment of the module, we will examine some of the major scholarly contributions to political and economic theory and thought. We will further develop an interdisciplinary theoretical framework incorporating political economy and world history that will greatly aid us in the subsequent analysis of the global political economy.
\nThe second segment of the module will trace the historical development, structure, and function of the global political economy. The theoretical framework will include a brief introduction to the national income accounting and the balance of payments, the determination of exchange rates, and different exchange rate regimes. Further, we will employ this theory to better understand the historical evolution of the International Monetary System and the role of the International Financial Institutions in the global political economy.
\nThe last segment of the module examines the origins and nature of global trade integration with a particular emphasis on the experience of developing countries in the global economy. Key topics include the debate on trade and development, trade liberalisation, trade policies and development strategies, political economy of Foreign Direct Investment and the impact of Transnational Corporations.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"377213","attributes":{"title":"Ireland’s First World War","summary":"Ireland’s engagement with the First World War was profoundly connected with the politics of the day and the development of the Irish Revolution....","description":"Ireland’s engagement with the First World War was profoundly connected with the politics of the day and the development of the Irish Revolution. Memory of the conflict remains live in today’s politics, with the war playing a central role in unionist identity formation and expression, and nationalist attitudes continuing to change. Meanwhile, the history of Ireland’s First World War is intimately connected to the wider context of the United Kingdom’s war and the way that is remembered through the influence of popular culture. This module is focused on the day-to-day experiences of Irish soldiers in the British army. It also considers connections between the war and wider Irish politics, including the Easter Rising. Battalion war diaries are the core sources, recording the detailed movements of battalions once they had finished training. They provide both much detail and often, vivid description with the main focus being on eleven Irish battalions (1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st, 2nd and 9th Royal Irish Rifles, 6th Connaught Rangers, and 7th Leinsters) which are central to the module convenor’s books Belfast Boys and Dublin’s Great Wars. A wide range of other sources is used including historical artefacts, poetry, and individual letters/diaries. An optional visit to the National Archive at Kew is arranged to support research, while there is strong academic support and encouragement for research in other archives. An optional residential visit to key Western Front sites takes place at the end of the term following the module. Students make a contribution to the cost of that visit, with the rate published alongside the publication of options each year.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91630","attributes":{"title":"Imaginative Criminology","summary":"The module takes its lead from Jock Young’s call to the criminological imagination and his critique of a criminology based on a realist, positivist...","description":"The module takes its lead from Jock Young’s call to the criminological imagination and his critique of a criminology based on a realist, positivist and often quantitative conception of evidence. It is a direction that brings to the fore an understanding of what is referred to as ‘cultural criminology’, one which seeks to make sense of the lived cultures and phenomenological experiences of crime, but the module understands this call more broadly in terms of how crime and the criminological are refracted through a rich and diverse field of media and cultural forms, devices and practices. The module works through a series of examples and cases in order to provide depth and empirical focus. But it also provides a theoretical and methodological framework for understanding what the criminological imagination might mean and how we might bring to the fore its critical analytical force.
\nAssessment full year: 1,750 word coursework (25%), 3,500 essay (50%), 1,750 word coursework (25%), 500 word diagnostic essay (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (formative)
\nAssessment autumn term only: 1,750 word coursework (100%), 500 word introductory essay (formative)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90628","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Creativity and Learning","summary":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year, Spring(If you take this module for one term only then you will be awarded 15 credits)\nContact hours: 3 hours per week\nThis...","description":"
Term(s) Taught: Full Year, Spring
(If you take this module for one term only then you will be awarded 15 credits)
Contact hours: 3 hours per week
\nThis course focuses on an introductory exploration of the key concepts of creativity and it’s function in education, in society and in the arts. The course will combine theory with practice where the focus is on students’ experience of creative practice in a range of contexts. These include the art studio, computer lab, and performing arts spaces. Students will explore and combine a range of traditional and new technologies.
\nTwo introductory sessions will encourage students identify and reflect on the nature of creativity and creative learning through analysis of their own prior experience, engagement in the course activities, lecture and workshop discussion and focused reading. Students will be involved in researching the notion of creativity and will receive a lecture that introduces key theoretical concepts that explore aspects of creativity.
\nStudents will be introduced to definitions, issues, cultural contexts and current research perspectives into creativity and learning through a selection of readings. This is followed by four elements, which progressively allow students to explore creative practice; through visual and performance based methodologies. Students will be encouraged to make links between the creative processes in the different fields and expand their own conceptual and procedural understanding of creative learning and practice.
\nAssessment: 1x coursework (practical assessment), 1x essay, 1x critical and conceptual journal*
*If here for one term only: alternative assessment of 2500 word essay
This course will give a broad introduction to the nature, manipulation and creation of digital media. This is a concept-driven studio that emphasizes the integration of theory and practice in contemporary media practice, particularly in the areas of process art, video art, sound art and networked art. The module will cover how image, audio, and video files are structured, and take a broad overview of methods for manipulating digital media such as compositing, segmentation, compression, filtering, remixing, and encryption. Aesthetic conventions around image, sound and video will be demonstrated through the example of digital media practitioners who apply and subvert such conventions. Students will also consider socio-economic implications arising from digitisation, as well as how software defines and influences the creation of digital media. All of this theoretical knowledge will be linked to practical considerations when creating and manipulating digital media with software and applied as the students create their own work of digital media.
\n\n
Assessment: media art portfolio (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"857868","attributes":{"title":"Innovation Case Studies","summary":"The Case Studies lectures set the stage for each week of teaching and encourage student exposure to and interaction with the theory, culture,...","description":"The Case Studies lectures set the stage for each week of teaching and encourage student exposure to and interaction with the theory, culture, economics, and emerging technologies of the theory and practices of innovation. The case study format encourages active learning and allows the application of theoretical concepts to be demonstrated, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. Each week features a different topic so students gain in-depth knowledge of 10 innovation topics through weekly case study demonstration and critical analysis. Each case study features an academic lecture followed by a case study presentation from a top-tier industry guest speaker at the executive level discussing challenges and opportunities related to a realworld implementation of the particular case study topic.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1134366","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to US Literature and Culture: America and its Discontents","summary":"This module introduces students to key themes in U.S. literature and culture by focusing on the ways that the identities of Americans and the...","description":"This module introduces students to key themes in U.S. literature and culture by focusing on the ways that the identities of Americans and the identities of America have been imagined, negotiated and reimagined, from colonialism to the present day. We will look at visions of the New World and concepts of the frontier; war, genocide, slavery, and their legacies; democracy and its exclusions; and American’s modernization and modern America’s casualties. Across visual culture and literature and a variety of genres, from the slave narrative to the horror film, these themes will be examined for the way they shape a sense of American-ness.
\nThis module will introduce students the kinds of U.S. literature and culture they could study at Level 5 and 6 and to the Department’s approach to that material.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word essay (30%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1436301","attributes":{"title":"Interaction Design","summary":"This module provides an understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues that can be applied to the design and evaluation of interactive...","description":"This module provides an understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues that can be applied to the design and evaluation of interactive computer-based systems and other interactive technology.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), portfolio (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1821575","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Social Anthropology","summary":"The aim of this module is to acquaint you with contemporary social anthropology, as well as to give you the confidence and the tools to think...","description":"The aim of this module is to acquaint you with contemporary social anthropology, as well as to give you the confidence and the tools to think critically and work collaboratively. The module begins by locating the discipline within the social sciences and humanities before proceeding to an exploration of central themes, methodologies and ethical concerns. The course is structured around lectures, seminars and workshops. Lectures and seminar discussions will draw on late-20th century and contemporary anthropological texts and debates, the emphasis will be on the exploring how anthropology can give us a unique perspective on key contemporary social issues. Workshops will include practice-based activities to encourage the development of your critical awareness, thinking and reading, as well as collaborative work skills. Guest lecturers will be invited when appropriate and career-centered discussions will be embedded within the course, including two Panel and Q&A sessions.
\nAs the module progresses you will hopefully gain a growing sense of what social anthropology is and feel more confident to enter discussion concerning the kinds of questions it asks. Reflecting this gradual build-up of confidence and understanding, the portfolio assignment – which will involve a series of short texts and/or visual submissions – will be guided by regular discussions, receiving interim feedback at the end of the Autumn term, before final submission and assessment at the end of the Spring term.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 2,000 word portfolio
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word portfolio
\nAssessment full year: 1,500 word portfolio (formative), 3,000 word portfolio (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":[],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"132708","attributes":{"title":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Economy","summary":"The objective of this module is to explore some key perspectives on the economy provided by the social sciences.\nIn order to do so, you'll...","description":"The objective of this module is to explore some key perspectives on the economy provided by the social sciences.
\nIn order to do so, you'll investigate the nature of the social sciences, as well as the aims and methods of its different branches, and you'll gain a broad overview of the world views that underpin different disciplinary lenses within social sciences.
\nThis module is not meant to be an exhaustive or thorough exposure to all disciplines or even any one discipline. Rather, the emphasis will be on providing a flavour of how scholars from different disciplines reason about observed social and economic reality and the social constructions that they study.
\nIn addition to the exposure to different areas of social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology, you'll learn to analyse different viewpoints about socio-economic issues critically through case studies. You'll compare the approach taken by economics and contrast it with other disciplines to understand its scope and limitations. Lecture notes will be provided to supplement the readings wherever necessary.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138821","attributes":{"title":"Introduction to Social Justice in Education","summary":"This module is the core taught module of the MA in Education: Culture, Language and Identity. As such, it provides an introduction to the concepts of...","description":"This module is the core taught module of the MA in Education: Culture, Language and Identity. As such, it provides an introduction to the concepts of culture, language and identity and explains why they matter in the study of educational theory and practice. The module will investigate the social and cultural nature of teaching and learning and how teacher and learner identities are formed. It will explore a range of material from British and other national contexts, enabling students to become familiar with some of the main ways in which ‘culture’, ‘language’ and ‘identity’ have been conceptualised. This will form a starting point from which these ideas can be developed in other modules on the programme. The module will also provide students with support for their academic development. In addition to considering the content of the chapters and articles we read, we will dissect the structure, argument and tone of key writings to enable students to develop their own abilities as readers and writers at this level.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93568","attributes":{"title":"Journalism in Context","summary":"You will be introduced to the major theoretical debates in the study of journalism. We will cover: the current crisis in journalism, questions of...","description":"You will be introduced to the major theoretical debates in the study of journalism. We will cover: the current crisis in journalism, questions of political power and the public sphere; ownership forms and how they are changing; the role of audience: as well as regulation and representation.
\nWe will also look at journalism as a narrative form. All these debates will be situated firmly in a current and practical context and you will be encouraged to make connections between formal lecturers, seminar presentations and practical discussions of the day’s events and how they are reported.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94643","attributes":{"title":"Judgement and Creation","summary":"This module is also available as a 30 credit option.\nFocus on philosophical texts either developing a theory of judgment and/or creation or...","description":"This module is also available as a 30 credit option.
\nFocus on philosophical texts either developing a theory of judgment and/or creation or critically discussing the centrality of the relationship that has been ascribed to them throughout this module.
\nCentral to the course will be the question of how a concept of ‘judgement’ can continue to be a major pivot of philosophical thought in the wake of the numerous instabilities that have been introduced by post-structuralism and other lines of critical thinking.
\nIn addition, it will discuss texts by artists, critics and also activists calling for new modes of relating to creation, sometimes beyond the centrality of judgement. It will finally highlight, through readings of both historical and contemporary texts, the question of criticism and critique as a crucial practice that has long been linked precisely with modes of judging.
\n1 x 8,000 word essay, 1 x 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"721173","attributes":{"title":"Java for Industry","summary":"This module introduces students to Java for the first time whilst building on the programming techniques covered at level 4. Through learning about...","description":"This module introduces students to Java for the first time whilst building on the programming techniques covered at level 4. Through learning about more advanced concepts within object orientation students are able to design and implement large scale computer programs.
\nTopics covered include Types, Conditionals and Iteration, Methods, Exception handling, I/O, Classes, Inheritance and Abstract Classes. Throughout the module there will be a focus on developing student skills in problem solving through structured thought and familiarity with common resources such as IDEs, professional APIs and language specifications.
\nPre-requisite: JAVA programming experience
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), lab assignments portfolio (30%), home assignments portfolio (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89801","attributes":{"title":"Key Debates in Media Studies","summary":"How do the media shape our outlook on life, and the way we think about our place in the world? What influence do the media have over us and how...","description":"How do the media shape our outlook on life, and the way we think about our place in the world? What influence do the media have over us and how might we understand, access or influence these networks of power? What governs the interactions between the media and citizens? Key Debates in Media Studies looks into various approaches to these questions focusing on two main themes: control and resistance.
\nIssues of media control, structure and policy, and the ways in which media are ‘framed’ for us by powerful interests.
\nThe ways in which people are active in relation to media: producing their own meanings, resisting dominant structures and creating new types of content.
\nAssessment: coursework (10%), 1,000 word essay (formative), 2,000 word essay (90%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90662","attributes":{"title":"Knowledge and Power","summary":"Examine the relationship between knowledge and power within the sociology of education and society and culture more generally. The module seeks to...","description":"
Examine the relationship between knowledge and power within the sociology of education and society and culture more generally. The module seeks to explore, analyse and locate educational institutions and educational practices within a wider socio-political context.
\nThe module is explicitly concerned with the constitution and institutionalisation of knowledge in a socio-political context; and its transmission, acquisition and evaluation in a wide variety of educational settings. It examines the ways in which knowledge is constructed and its relationship to power in contemporary society and culture generally and in educational institutions and practices specifically.
Assessment autumn: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 2,500 word essay (50%), 2,500 word essay (50%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"61857","attributes":{"title":"Life in the Trenches: Perspectives on British Military History, 1914-18","summary":"Focus on the day-to-day experiences of soldiers in the British army, using battalion war diaries as the core sources. These diaries record the...","description":"
Focus on the day-to-day experiences of soldiers in the British army, using battalion war diaries as the core sources. These diaries record the detailed movements of battalions once they had finished training. They provide both much detail and often, vivid descriptions, with the main focus being on four Irish battalions (2nd and 9th Royal Irish Rifles, 6th Connaughts and 7th Leinsters.
\nThese diaries will be used as one way of judging the accuracy of popular memory of 1914-18, which is so deeply rooted in popular culture. In so doing, the module will also use poetry, film and individual diaries. A visit to the National Archive at Kew will be arranged to support primary research.
\nAssessment: 1x 5,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90473","attributes":{"title":"Literature of the Later Middle Ages: Society and the Individual","summary":"The fourteenth century was a turning-point in writing in the English language. There is an attractive familiarity amidst the pastness of its texts,...","description":"
The fourteenth century was a turning-point in writing in the English language. There is an attractive familiarity amidst the pastness of its texts, and they respond productively to modern critical approaches.
\nThe principal texts in this survey will embrace several genres: social satire (in the prologue-poems of Chaucer and Langland and Henryson’s beast fables); the comic tale (e.g. Chaucer’s Miller’s and Shipman’s Tales); the exemplary tale (e.g. Clerk's Tale); varieties of romance such as the Franklin's Tale, the alliterative Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Malory’s Morte Darthur and some verse romances (with a retrospective look at the 'lais' of Marie de France); narratives of martyrdom and interrogation; and autobiography- the first one in English, dictated by Margery Kempe. We shall study a range of works from ‘popular’ culture (e.g. medieval drama). A broad focus of the survey is the relation of individual to society in these writings.
\nThe module encourages investigation of how the writers’ constructions of society are ideologically driven; how elitism, misogyny and patriarchy attempt to remain dominant in both low comedy and knightly romance; yet how the loosening deference to authority in the period generates dissent and an increased interest in individual consciousness.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90591","attributes":{"title":"Literature of the Victorian Period","summary":"Writing in Britain between 1830 and 1900 is the focus of this module. Perhaps no period of literary history has been so subject to stereotyping as...","description":"
Writing in Britain between 1830 and 1900 is the focus of this module. Perhaps no period of literary history has been so subject to stereotyping as the Victorian, yet, as its chronological span alone suggests, Victorian literature is marked above all by its diversity. The literature of the Victorian period contains both the legacy of romanticism and the origins of modernism; its aesthetic and moral ideals are powerful, varied, and unstable. Most crucially, it is the site of debate: about morals, politics, religion, science, sexuality, gender, nationhood, empire, and, at its very basis, about the nature and function of literature itself. The texts featured on this module will represent the full chronological sweep of the Victorian period as well as a range of its genres, including poetry, novels, short stories, and essays.
\nMajor texts might typically include B Richards', English Verse 1830–1890, Dickens' Bleak House, C Brontë's Villette, Eliot's Middlemarch, Hardy's The Return of the Native, and Collins' The Moonstone.
\n\n
Assessment spring: 4 x 500 word journal entries (10%), 500 word annotated bibliography (10%), 2,000-2,250 word essay (80%)
\nAssessment full year: 4 x 500 word journal entries (10%), 500 word annotated bibliography (10%), 2,250 word essay (40%), 2,250 word essay (40%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90603","attributes":{"title":"Literary London, 1800 to 1900","summary":"Nineteenth century London easily outstripped all other contenders as the largest and most vibrant metropolis in the world. Inevitably, the city, with...","description":"Nineteenth century London easily outstripped all other contenders as the largest and most vibrant metropolis in the world. Inevitably, the city, with its extraordinary contradictions, was intimately involved with some of the century’s most major literary developments.
\nIn literary historical terms, London provided a vital milieu for the broad transition from the Romantic to the Victorian sensibility and beyond, to the new departures associated with the close of the century.
\nThis module will focus on representations of the metropolis by a range of writers living and working in London across the nineteenth century. With London as its unifying theme, our study will remain primarily author-based, addressing the particular characteristics and concerns that emerge in each writer’s response to, and representations of, the city. At the same time, the module will achieve a broad coverage both of genre (poetry, autobiography, the essay, the novel, short fiction, drama) and subject (society, poverty, drugs, crime, law, empire)
\nAssessment autumn: 1,500-2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 1,500-2,000 word essay, 1,500-2,000 word essay (33%), exam (67%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90632","attributes":{"title":"Language and Literacy in the Early Years","summary":"Learning to talk is one of the most difficult things we will ever have to do and yet we generally manage it when we are so young we do not even...","description":"Learning to talk is one of the most difficult things we will ever have to do and yet we generally manage it when we are so young we do not even remember. Some young children are learning to speak, and read and write in more than one language. Does that confuse them or does it actually give them a sensitivity to language that will help them think and learn more effectively?
\nThere has been a great deal of research into how young children learn to read and write which has led to many debates amongst educationalists and others. What do we mean by literacy? Is it a set of technical skills universally practised or are there different literacies that vary and are bound up with families and communities and ultimately individuals’ cultural identity?
\nAre all young children’s experiences of literacy learning the same when they start school or are they influenced by observing and participating in reading and writing events at home and in their communities?
Assessment autumn: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 10 minute presentation
\nAssessment full year: 5 minute presentation (30%), 3,500 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90676","attributes":{"title":"Learning and Thinking","summary":"This module introduces you to the central concepts of learning and thinking and the ways these have been constructed historically and culturally. The...","description":"This module introduces you to the central concepts of learning and thinking and the ways these have been constructed historically and culturally. The first elements of the course introduce you to theories of learning which encompass an introduction to the key debates about cognition. The final element encourages you to apply some of the theories to education.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 10 minute group presentation
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 5 minute presentation (30%), 3,500 word essay (70%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90780","attributes":{"title":"London's Burning: Social Movement and Public Protest in the Capital, 1830-2003","summary":"As the perceived seat of power and, historically, the most densely populated and socially and culturally diverse city in Britain, London has, since...","description":"
As the perceived seat of power and, historically, the most densely populated and socially and culturally diverse city in Britain, London has, since the mid-eighteenth-century, been the central focus of modern social movements and the theatre within which many of the most significant protest actions of the modern period have taken place.
\nConsequently, while the theoretical elements of the module will be generic, the case-studies will all relate to London-based movements or actions, including; Chartism, the women’s suffrage campaigns, anti-fascism/racism movements, gay and LGBT liberation movements, and protests against war or in support of peace.
\nThe course is broadly structured into two sections but with considerable interplay between the two. The first part is an outline and overview of the theoretical approaches to the study of social movements, public protest, spacial geopolitics and violent disorder. The second part adopts a thematic approach and examines case-studies of some key social, cultural and political social movements and their public protest activities in and around London.
\nThis will allow students to not only understand the political or ideological basis of such movements but also to discover how that translated into direct action in the capital.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 2,000 word blog (70%), 1,000 word coursework (30%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91657","attributes":{"title":"Leisure, Culture and Society","summary":"‘Leisure is free time’. But is it? We need only think about the annual subscription to gymnasiums to recognise that leisure-time really isn’t...","description":"‘Leisure is free time’. But is it? We need only think about the annual subscription to gymnasiums to recognise that leisure-time really isn’t ‘free-time’. ‘Leisure is a marker for time away from work’. But we need only think of the time of the harried vacation to know that the clock-time of work never ceases to operate. In critical theory, leisure-time is defined as functionally dependent on the labour market system. Indeed leisure is revealed as big business, as leisure-time becomes ever more central to consumer culture. This module examines the interconnections between leisure, culture and society.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91685","attributes":{"title":"London","summary":"Unlike other modules this is short and intensive: equivalent in time to a 10-week module, it takes place over five weeks of double time. It is...","description":"
Unlike other modules this is short and intensive: equivalent in time to a 10-week module, it takes place over five weeks of double time. It is organized into an introductory lecture, workshop and walk followed by 4 x 4-hour walking sessions. It is organized this way to give us sufficient time to explore London while learning key areas of urban theory. Sometimes we will meet at ӣƵ and move on; at other times, you will meet me at a designated meeting point. While most walks will be at the same time each week exploring the city at the most opportune moments means that we will have to be flexible.
\nIn this module yo will learn:
\n• Social inequalities and the ways in which cities generate and sustain them;
\n• The operation of globalization through London and the ways in which this inscribed in the city's built and social fabrics;
\n• Theories of space, time and rhythm and help you use these concepts as a lens through which to see and understand the city;
\n• Theories of 'pastness' and help you identify signs of the past in London’s buildings and streets;
\n• Ways of doing urban sociology with the camera lens.
\n• Demonstrate understanding of key urban theories and debates in group discussion and written work;
\n• Apply this understanding of urban theory to specific parts of London as evidenced in the assessment;
\n• Demonstrate knowledge of social inequalities and the ways in which cities sustain these in written work and group discussion;
\n• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the operation of globalization through London and the ways in which this inscribed in the city's built and social fabrics in group discussion and assessment tasks;
\n• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of space, time and rhythm and apply these concepts to specific areas of London in assessment tasks and discussion;
\n• Take your own photographs and use them in developing your learning about London as set out in the objectives above.
\nAssessment:
\n2x 1500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129515","attributes":{"title":"Language, Creativity and Education","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 3\nContact hours: 2 hours per weekThis module supports students to deepen their knowledge of language in...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 3
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week
This module supports students to deepen their knowledge of language in all its guises and allows them to explore their own language usage and the language of others. They will be able to debate language issues and explore some key research in this field, and there will be opportunities to reflect upon creative approaches to language use.
Assessment: 1x 2500 word essay
Arguably the most active and diverse musical city in the world, this module engages you with music making in London.
\nYou are introduced to a range of musical activities, from the O2 Arena to the wealth of musical events on London’s South Bank, as well as a number of smaller alternative venues. Visits to events in the city are discussed and put in context in seminar groups in the following week.
\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, plus additional independent study
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129585","attributes":{"title":"Liberal Government and Power","summary":"This module offers an alternative take on the politics of liberalism, through emphasizing the concept of government, as it has developed since the...","description":"This module offers an alternative take on the politics of liberalism, through emphasizing the concept of government, as it has developed since the late 18th century. While optimistic and normative theories of liberalism stress its commitment to individual rights and legal freedoms, the approach taken by this module is to view it more sociologically and empirically, in terms of the instruments of control and intervention which make it possible to influence and know how seemingly autonomous individuals will behave.
\nThis is a theoretical and empirical approach commonly associated with the work of Michel Foucault, which will be covered in the module, in addition to other similar critical perspectives. By focusing on government (and, later in the module, governance), students will be invited to view liberalism partly as a problem of expertise, scientific knowledge, identification of socio-economic problems, measurement and management. It will suggest to students that the history of liberal politics is inextricably entangled with efforts to achieve scientific knowledge of those who make up a liberal society.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129587","attributes":{"title":"Liberalism and its Critics","summary":"With the collapse of ‘socialist’ regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, liberalism today is a triumphant political theory and system....","description":"
With the collapse of ‘socialist’ regimes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, liberalism today is a triumphant political theory and system. Yet from the moment of its birth, liberalism has been subjected to sharp criticism, and alternatives to it have been and continue to be urged.
\nThis module is an introduction to liberal theory; to the circumstances of its historical emergence and, in particular, to the concepts and values which are central to liberal thought. It aims to promote critical reflection upon the political and ethical values that underlie Western liberal democracies.
\nAssessment: 750 proposal (formative), 3,000-3,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129620","attributes":{"title":"London Theatre","summary":"You will be introduced to the wide diversity of theatre in London from the major subsidised companies, through the commercial West End, to smaller...","description":"You will be introduced to the wide diversity of theatre in London from the major subsidised companies, through the commercial West End, to smaller fringe venues and productions.
\nWeekly visits to new or recently opened events in the capital are introduced with a critical context and are discussed the following week in seminar conditions. We will be challenging the narrow or conventional definitions of ‘theatre’ and ‘performance’, encouraging students to explore a wide spectrum of genre, styles and techniques.
\nKey areas of study:
\nAssessment: 3,000-word reflective journal.
\nContact hours: 2 hour class session per week, plus weekly London theatre visit (tickets provided).
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138720","attributes":{"title":"Learning in the Community","summary":"Through developing ideas such as learning and education being distinct from schooling, this module considers the application of learning and...","description":"Through developing ideas such as learning and education being distinct from schooling, this module considers the application of learning and education theory in the community setting.
\nStudents will consolidate their understanding of theory through considering its application within a placement situation. Conversely, students will critically analyse theory in the light of their practice.
We will draw on literature related to groups and how they work; communities of practice; community learning; and education and a tool for social justice.
\n
Contact hours: 2 hours per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"140612","attributes":{"title":"Life: A User's Manual","summary":"The politics of everyday life is analysed, critiques and experimented with throughout this module. It starts from the position that the study of...","description":"The politics of everyday life is analysed, critiques and experimented with throughout this module. It starts from the position that the study of daily life (or what the French call le quotidian) provides a necessary concrete specificity with which to address, engage with, or resist a range of important issues. In the course of our investigations, the insights of de Certeau, the Situationists, the Trapese Collective, CrimethInc and many others are extended into detailed investigations of the structures and mythologies of ‘everyday life’.
\nAssessment: 1 x group project, 1 x 2,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"141509","attributes":{"title":"Language Learning and Teaching","summary":"How do people learn a second language? What factors facilitate or prevent learners from becoming successful speakers? What pedagogical aspects should...","description":"
How do people learn a second language? What factors facilitate or prevent learners from becoming successful speakers? What pedagogical aspects should be considered to facilitate learning?
\nThis module explores these questions and other controversial issues related to the development and use of a second language within a multilingual perspective. Initially, the module will briefly overview research on how babies and children learn languages (First Language Acquisition) and then move on to how adults do so (Second Language Acquisition), including the individual/internal processes involved in second language acquisition, such as age, motivation, attitudes and learning strategies.
\nThen the module will consider the social factors and processes that influence language learners, such as learner identity, culture, power relationships, learning communities and contexts, discussing these in light of a multilingual turn. For each aspect of language learning the module will discuss how different teaching approaches can be considered and how these play out in the classroom. The module will finish with a consideration of language learning and teaching outside the classroom, with new media and in a multilingual context.
\nAssessment: essay (80%), presentation (20%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"141513","attributes":{"title":"Language and Gender","summary":"This course aims to give a comprehensive introduction to the study of language and gender. We will examine how gender is reflected and constituted in...","description":"This course aims to give a comprehensive introduction to the study of language and gender. We will examine how gender is reflected and constituted in language, that is, how women and men speak, how language is used to accomplish femininity and masculinity. Students will become familiar with a wide range of studies exploring the language used by women, men and children in a range of different contexts, including informal talk among friends and talk in work or public settings. We will also consider the nature and effect of sexism in spoken and written language on a variety of linguistic levels, including sexist terminology, sentence structure and discourse & ideology. The course encourages a critical engagement with past and present approaches to the study of language and gender and draws on a range of different theoretical and methodological frameworks to show how gender can be analysed in language.
\nQuestions which will be addressed on this course include: Do women and mean speak differently? How does gender interact with other social variables such as ethnicity, class and age? In what way does language constitute a resource for the construction of (gender) identity? How do men and women speak to their friends and to their colleagues at work? What is the relationship between (sexist) language and (sexist) ideology?
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\n\n
\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90760","attributes":{"title":"London’s History Through Literature","summary":"London’s history is examined through the work of writers who have lived in London, who have written about the city, or who have used London as the...","description":"
London’s history is examined through the work of writers who have lived in London, who have written about the city, or who have used London as the background or setting for their work. As well as secondary literature on the city’s development, a range of primary texts from Shakespeare to Orwell will be studied.
\nBy the end of the module you will have a good knowledge of London’s history, an appreciation of the works of a number of important writers, a sense of different historical periods and knowledge of the variety of locations that make up the textual map of London.
\nAssessment: 3,000 wrod essay (75%), 1,500 word journal (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129035","attributes":{"title":"Lower-Intermediate Mandarin","summary":"Lower Intermediate Mandarin is taught in two parts: Lower Intermediate Mandarin A and Lower Intermediate Mandarin B. Lower...","description":"Lower Intermediate Mandarin is taught in two parts: Lower Intermediate Mandarin A and Lower Intermediate Mandarin B. Lower Intermediate Mandarin A is taught in Autumn and Lower Intermediate Mandarin B is taught in Spring.
\nIn order to join Lower Intermediate A you must have completed the module Elementary Mandarin B or have a good command of around 550 Chinese characters. In order to join Lower Intermediate Mandarin B you must have completed Lower Intermediate A or have a command of around 700 Chinese characters.
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129537","attributes":{"title":"London: Arts Capital","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\nThis course explores...","description":"
Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nThis course explores London as a diverse and vibrant capital of the arts. Students will be introduced to a range of musical, theatrical and visual art activities taking place in well-known institutions, as well as in smaller alternative venues. Visits to events in the city are put in context in follow-up discussions.
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91839","attributes":{"title":"Leadership and Talent Management","summary":"This module is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of leadership and talent in organisations. Moreover, students will learn...","description":"This module is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of leadership and talent in organisations. Moreover, students will learn about methods for assessing leadership potential and talent, along with approaches to enhancing leadership ability and talent. The module will also cover use of technology in leadership development and talent management. By using case material and practical examples, students are introduced to the importance of theory and research-based practice in these fields.
\nAssessment: report (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149306","attributes":{"title":"Learning from Social Movements","summary":"This module revolves around contemporary debates in the anthropology of social movements. It considers the contribution of ethnographic approaches to...","description":"This module revolves around contemporary debates in the anthropology of social movements. It considers the contribution of ethnographic approaches to activism and protest to the theorisation of politics, collective action and social change. The anti-globalisation movement, #occupy, the anti-corruption movement in India, the anti-foreclosures movement in Spain (PAH), the Landless Workers' Movement, right-wing extremism, feminist reproductive health activists, independent-living activism, queer movements and the Indigenous Environmental Network are some of the examples that the module will explore. Rather than 'explaining away' these movements, the pedagogical orientation of the module is based on learning from them, i.e. devising ways of conceptualising their practice, methods and transformative power. The module will also consider, as a transversal issue, the question of 'engaged' or 'militant' research - and more broadly the relationship between the production of academic and activist knowledges.
\nThe assessment is organised around student projects that will present, in a multimedia portfolio format, the result of research conducted about/with social movements.
\nAssessment: portfolio (1,500 words plus 10 images or 3 minute film)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149989","attributes":{"title":"Landmarks in London History","summary":"This module will provide an introduction to the social and cultural history of London. Through the study of primary and secondary source material,...","description":"This module will provide an introduction to the social and cultural history of London. Through the study of primary and secondary source material, along with field trips to sites of cultural and historical significance, students will gain an understanding of the development of the city’s history and historiography. Surveying London from the early modern period until the 1970s, students will be able to assess key themes in development of London as a world city and compare them to current perceptions of the urban environment. A key aspect of the module is the idea of simultaneity; that past and present London and Londoners develop, grow and are built on top and alongside each other. The module will also engage students with methodological approaches to urban and metropolitan history and ask questions about how the history of a city like London can and should be approached and studied.
\nThe module takes a primarily thematic approach to London history, looking at ‘landmarks’ in terms of periods, events, people, ideas, locations and buildings. Themes covered on the module may include any of the following: health and disease, fire and disaster, rivers and water, wealth and poverty, social mobility, social geography, art and entertainment, transport, First and Second World Wars, migration and immigration, and suburbia.
\n\n
Assessment: 2.500 word essay (70%), 1,250 blogging exercise (30%), 1,500 word blogging exercise (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"158785","attributes":{"title":"Language, Creativity and Communication","summary":"This option will build upon work from years 1 and 2 in the areas of language, literacy and creativity. If ‘language … is the very medium in which we...","description":"This option will build upon work from years 1 and 2 in the areas of language, literacy and creativity. If ‘language … is the very medium in which we move’ (Eagleton, 1996), what are its links with culture, identity and communication?
\nIn this module we will consider the following topics:
\nThis module supports you to deepen your knowledge of language in all its guises and allows you to explore your own language usage and the language of others. You will be able to debate language issues and explore some key research in this field, and there will be opportunities to reflect upon creative approaches to language use.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166165","attributes":{"title":"Learning from Social Movements","summary":"This module revolves around contemporary debates in the anthropology of social movements. It considers the contribution of ethnographic approaches to...","description":"This module revolves around contemporary debates in the anthropology of social movements. It considers the contribution of ethnographic approaches to activism and protest to the theorization of politics, collective action and social change.
The anti- globalisation movement, #occupy, the anti-corruption movement in India, the anti-foreclosures movement in Spain (PAH), the Landless Workers' Movement, right-wing extremism, feminist reproductive health activists, independent-living activism, queer movements and the Indigenous Environmental Network are some of the examples that the module will explore. Rather than 'explaining away' these movements, the pedagogical orientation of the module is based on learning from them, i.e. devising ways of conceptualising their practice, methods and transformative power.
The module will also consider, as a transversal issue, the question of 'engaged' or 'militant' research - and more broadly the relationship between the production of academic and activist knowledges.
The assessment is organised around student projects that will present, in a multimedia portfolio format, the result of research conducted about/with social movements.
In this module we look at the law through a sociological lens. Treating it as a social institution, we explore the role of law in the organization of society and the establishment (and maintenance) of social order. We consider the relationship between legal and social norms and the ways in which they inform, reinforce and/or challenge each other. Through a series of local and international case studies focused on contemporary social issues affecting our world, we examine how the law responds to and in some cases triggers social change. We also explore law outside of legal institutions to consider its role in broader social processes and discourses. Examples of the types of case studies we may consider include: changing social conceptions of the family and the law’s response; the relationship between law and the body; the law’s role in responding to sexism, racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination; social and legal conceptions of justice and deviance; the development of human rights and international law; the role of law in post-atrocity settings; law and morality in relation to issues like euthanasia, abortion, torture and alternative sexual practices; law in the War on Terror; and the place of law in a multicultural society.
\nAssessment: 1,750 word report (50%), 1,750 word essay (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"186634","attributes":{"title":"Language Learning","summary":"How do people learn a second language? What factors facilitate or prevent learners from becoming successful speakers? This module explores these...","description":"How do people learn a second language? What factors facilitate or prevent learners from becoming successful speakers? This module explores these questions and other controversial issues related to the development and use of a second language within a multilingual perspective. Initially the module will briefly overview research on how babies and children learn languages (First Language Acquisition) and then move on to how adults do so (Second Language Acquisition), including the individual/internal processes involved in second language acquisition, such as age, motivation, attitudes and learning strategies. Then the module will consider the social factors and processes that influence language learners, such as learner identity, culture, power relationships, learning communities and contexts, discussing these in light of a multilingual turn. It is recommended that students wishing to take this module also select Language Teaching as an option.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"186635","attributes":{"title":"Language Teaching","summary":"This module provides a background to the theory and methods of language teaching. It is an ideal introduction for those interested in teaching...","description":"This module provides a background to the theory and methods of language teaching. It is an ideal introduction for those interested in teaching English as a second language, English as a foreign language or a lingua franca. Students will be introduced to different linguistic areas (e.g., Vocabulary, Grammar, Culture) and explore the methods in which they can be learned and taught effectively. Students will be encouraged to develop and apply these methods within a teaching context. Students will familiarize themselves with wider theoretical and applied issues through the exploration of developments in language learning as a multilingual activity and consideration of the status of English as a global Lingua Franca. It is recommended that students wishing to take this module also select Language Learning as an option.
\nAssessment: 2,000-2,500 word essay (80%), 10-15 minute presentation (20%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"377205","attributes":{"title":"Latin American Revolutions 1945-1990","summary":"This 15-credit module will explore the wave of revolutions that re-shaped Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century, capturing the...","description":"This 15-credit module will explore the wave of revolutions that re-shaped Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century, capturing the attention of the world. The engagement of the United States in the Second World War enabled reform movements to push back against authoritarian regimes that had been supported by the US, demanding democratic elections and land reform. But the challenge to US hegemony did not go unanswered. From the 1950s onwards the US government and media viewed political change in Latin America through the prism of the Cold War. Reformists and radicals alike were regarded as “Communists”, proxies for Soviet ambitions in the Americas. Revolutionary upheaval was met by brutal repression.
\nStudents will examine key moments in Latin America’s revolutionary decade and how they were connected: the CIA backed overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954; the Cuban revolution five years later; the dirty wars of the 1970s in Chile and Argentina and the upheaval in Central America in the 1980s. Students will explore the conditions that gave rise to this turbulent period in Latin American history, the influence of the Cold War, the role of the Catholic church and the fate of the revolutionary blueprints for change.
\nIn addition to secondary sources, students will read original pieces of reportage describing and analysing events. Formative assessment will be a piece of mock reportage demonstrating their understanding of the causes of revolutionary change in Latin America. Summative assessment will be a 3,000 word essay exploring a question related to the key topics explored in the module.
\nAssessment: mock reportage (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"857862","attributes":{"title":"Leadership and Talent Management","summary":"This module is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of leadership and talent in organisations. Moreover, students will learn...","description":"This module is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of leadership and talent in organisations. Moreover, students will learn about methods for assessing leadership potential and talent, along with approaches to enhancing leadership ability and talent. The course will also cover use of technology in leadership development and talent management. By using case material and practical examples, students are introduced to the importance of theory and research-based practice in these fields.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89607","attributes":{"title":"Making Data Matter","summary":"Approache learning about social research through data analysis. Data analysis is used as an exploratory device a means to generate questions about...","description":"Approache learning about social research through data analysis. Data analysis is used as an exploratory device a means to generate questions about topics such as class, gender and race and then attempt to suggest possible answers supported by evidence. The module is made possible by the existence of vast archives of sociological data that can be accessed from the ESRC survey resource network including the qualidata archive.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90296","attributes":{"title":"Magic and the Mind","summary":"We will start by looking the history of magic, and role that magical thinking plays in everyday life. We will then move on to look at distortions in...","description":"We will start by looking the history of magic, and role that magical thinking plays in everyday life. We will then move on to look at distortions in perception (visual illusions), awareness (misdirection), memory and errors in introspection.
\nNext we will challenge your sense of free will and focus on unconscious persuasion techniques, and current theories of hypnosis and suggestion. In the final part we will look our ability to detect lies and deceptions.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91473","attributes":{"title":"Mapping 20th-Century Music","summary":"Through an examination of key works, concepts and stylistic trends this module maps the development of musical style and culture across the 20th...","description":"Through an examination of key works, concepts and stylistic trends this module maps the development of musical style and culture across the 20th Century, with a particular focus on repertoires and works related to art, and experimental popular, musical practices. Areas of study include the inception of Modernism and the breakdown of tonality, the resultant reaction and nationalism, the Experimental movements in Europe and America and the post-war avant-garde to Minimalism, the rise of Postmodernism and the development of hybrids and crossovers. Through listening and research the course introduces a variety of conceptual approaches and developments of musical style and technique, along with a consideration of the process of musicological research and criticism. The module builds on work done at Level 1 in Approaches to Contemporary Music, but focuses more closely on particular repertoires and works.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94745","attributes":{"title":"Mapping Capitalism","summary":"Inspired by Fredric Jameson’s notion of ‘cognitive mapping’, understood as the demand to achieve a representation of one’s place in the system and...","description":"
Inspired by Fredric Jameson’s notion of ‘cognitive mapping’, understood as the demand to achieve a representation of one’s place in the system and the logic of global capital, this module explores contemporary efforts to provide social and political ‘cartographies’ of capitalist society, with particular attention to the question of race. To this end, the course will bring the literature on cognitive mapping in critical dialogue with theories and analyses of ‘racial capitalism’, as well as to a range of theoretical and analytical texts on the interlocking of race, class and gender, as well as their articulation in different films and visual works. Having laid the theoretical groundwork in an initial session on the relation and contrast between the paradigms of cognitive mapping and racial capitalism, we will move to think the relation of race and representation through Frederick Douglass’s 19th century lectures on photography, in the context of a broader consideration of the visual culture of abolitionism. This will be followed by a consideration of the way in which the visual presentation of data on racial exploitation and black experience were a crucial part of WEB Du Bois sociological inquiries. Our attention will then turn to Cedric J. Robinson’s crucial analysis of the ‘racial regime’ pertaining to the place of African-Americans in the pre-war US film industry. Robinson, perhaps the key reference for the debate on racial capitalism (see his Black Marxism), presents a powerful analysis of the complex and contested place of race in US film, and especially in the works of Black filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux. We will also consider Robinson’s analyses of the nexus of race and film representation in later works and genres, including ‘blaxploitation’, postcolonial cinema, and the ‘mulatta film’ – analyses in which issues of sex, gender and class are foregrounded. Robinson’s theoretical and analytical framework will also be compared to the work on race and cinema by other scholars, especially bell hooks. In the second half of the course, we will try to develop further the articulation between cognitive mapping and racial capitalism by considering the writings of Ruth Wilson Gilmore on race, violence, geography and the state, touching on her response to the Rodney King police brutality case and the LA uprising of 1992, relating it to Judith Butler’s analysis of the same conjuncture in terms of the ‘racial schematization of the visual field’. We will bring these theoretical debates into dialogue with several filmic and visual works, including the films Killer of Sheep, Handsworth Songs and Ferguson: A Report from Occupied Territory.
\nThe course will conclude with a reflection on the tensions between Jameson’s cognitive mapping paradigm and the analysis of racial capitalism, as evidenced by Fred Moten’s contrasting analysis of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers’ film Finally Got the News, and its argument that Jameson’s approach to totalization neglects a ‘sonic’ dimension critical to grasping the political and aesthetic dimensions of black struggles in the US. Throughout, we will try to think of how bringing together a 'cartographic turn' in contemporary theory, art and political activism with arguments around ‘racial capitalism’, can challenge our presuppositions about the relationship between social inquiry, spatial analysis and political aesthetics.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129584","attributes":{"title":"Making Modern Japan","summary":"Contact hours: 1 x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week\nThis module addresses a number of themes that relate to questions of nationalism,...","description":"Contact hours: 1 x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week
\nThis module addresses a number of themes that relate to questions of nationalism, imperialism, identity and gender, focusing on Japan’s emergence as a modern nation state, its imperial project and its catastrophic defeat, culminating in the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and its occupation by Allied forces.
\nThe historical perspective, which the module seeks to offer, is central to an understanding of Japan’s troubled relationship with its Asian neighbours, and of its claims of uniqueness, which have their legacy in its position as both coloniser and colonised.
\nThe module approaches questions of politics through a very expansive definition of the term, treating cinema, animation, manga, and other popular cultural forms as important sites for the articulation of political anxieties and concerns, which are not necessarily reflected in more conventional forms of political activity, such as political debates, deliberations of the Diet and so on.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"132736","attributes":{"title":"Manias, Bubbles, Crises and Market Failure","summary":"This module combines resources from three fields of economic theory: macroeconomic analysis, history of economic thought and economic history.\nFor...","description":"This module combines resources from three fields of economic theory: macroeconomic analysis, history of economic thought and economic history.
\nFor the first seven weeks it uses six episodes in economic history (the tulip mania of the 1630s, the Mississippi bubble of 1720s, the long Depression of the 1870s, The Great Depression of the 1930s, the Japanese asset price bubble of the 1980s, the dot-com bubble of late 90s) and ends with the current (post 2007) crisis. For each crisis the writings of different schools of economic thought are used and contrasted in order to see how different theorists understood and analysed the crisis and the types of solutions they offered to solve it. Competing schools have focused on expectations, technological changes, specialisation, and government intervention in order to explain economic crises. Discourses from outside economics (from psychology or/and sociology or/and anthropology) will also be utilised as competing interpretations that explain different aspects of these crises not captured by economic analysis.
\nFinally, the last three weeks we will focus on the general concept of economic crises, and related concepts of risk and uncertainty, and discuss how these events alter our understanding of the workings of the market economy.
\n\n
Assessment: 4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142467","attributes":{"title":"Managing Arts Organisations and Cultural Businesses","summary":"The goal of the module is to provide a broad understanding of arts organisations and cultural businesses, describing different business models, as...","description":"The goal of the module is to provide a broad understanding of arts organisations and cultural businesses, describing different business models, as they apply across creative industries. The module discusses some of the difficulties or contradictions inherent in cultural organisations. After this introduction, the module covers practical understandings of organisations, including organisational behaviour, organisational culture, strategic management, and entrepreneurship in organisational settings. These topics, drawn from the (arts) management literature, will help develop skills that will allow students to work more effectively in organisational settings, and to gain tools that are useful in the management of art and culture that is set in non-profit organisations or for-profit businesses. The module will use a case-study approach, allowing students to apply knowledge from research on organisations to real-world situations. A variety of case studies and points of discussion will be introduced, reflecting the cultural and professional diversity of the field in the UK and internationally.
\nAssessment: 20 minute presentation (20%), 5,000 word essay (80%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147291","attributes":{"title":"Management and Leadership","summary":"Students will be introduced to the evolution of leadership and management theories and be encouraged critically to assess how they might contribute...","description":"
Students will be introduced to the evolution of leadership and management theories and be encouraged critically to assess how they might contribute to the effective operation and leadership of organisations. They will be examined in the context of the changing nature of organisational structures, approaches to the design and delivery of youth and community development services and employment practices. The module offers an analysis of some of the key differences between leadership and management roles, functions and styles, introducing students to a range of theories, models and practices and exploring their relevance within community development and youth work settings. The emphasis of this module is on applying theory to practical skills and knowledge and how they can be used in a range of management and leadership situations and tasks, including for developing organisational strategy, project and programme management, financial management, team work, assessing staff performance and supporting the effective delivery of services. But the module sets these practical skills in the context of critiques of greater flexibility in working practices, including workplace insecurity and the so-called working ‘precariat’, changing notions of the individual and the team, and shifts in cultures and practices of deference, transparency and accountability, including changes in relationships between providers and users of services.
\nAssessment: 20 minute presentation (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"61858","attributes":{"title":"Healing, Magic and Mindfulness on the Silk Roads","summary":"While history of medicine is usually taught focusing primarily on either ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ traditions, this course will focus on transmissions...","description":"While history of medicine is usually taught focusing primarily on either ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ traditions, this course will focus on transmissions of knowledge along the Silk Roads. More than just routes on which missionaries, travellers and merchants moved between east and west Asia, the Silk Roads has become a metaphor of east-west connections. This module will analyse the term “Silk Road”; look at how knowledge moved along the Silk Roads; analyse the fuzzy borders between “healing” and “magic”; discuss some narratives of medical history; look at what led to the archaeological expeditions of the Silk Roads; and deal with a few case studies of medical interactions between “east” and “west”: during the Mongol era, in the court of the Russian Tsar and current day uses of mindfulness.
\nThe module will include a visit to the British Library to see some of the Dunhuang manuscripts and meet with some of the International Dunhuang Project staff.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89564","attributes":{"title":"Media History and Politics","summary":"Much attention is focused on today’s technologies, programmes, websites, innovations and media uses. Although this is understandable, it contributes...","description":"Much attention is focused on today’s technologies, programmes, websites, innovations and media uses. Although this is understandable, it contributes to a neglect of other issues that are essential in understanding contemporary media dynamics – in particular the historical evolution of the media and the political frameworks and consequences that accompanied this evolution. This module provides you with ways of thinking about media history and media politics and is designed to contextualise more contemporary debates about media industries, practices and texts. While the module focuses largely on the UK media system, you are encouraged to reflect on the relevance of these models to international media systems with which you may be more familiar.
\nAssessment: 1,500-2,000 word essay (formative), 2,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90030","attributes":{"title":"Mathematical Modelling for Problem Solving","summary":"An introduction to the basic mathematical tools for supporting computational and algorithmic inquiry. You’ll focus on options of experimentation,...","description":"An introduction to the basic mathematical tools for supporting computational and algorithmic inquiry. You’ll focus on options of experimentation, reasoning, and generalisation.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\nAssessment: 4 twice-termly written tests, 3 hour unseen examination. If here for one term only: alternative assessment given
\nContact hours: 2 hours lecture and 1 hour tutorial per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90761","attributes":{"title":"Mediterranean Encounters: Venice and the Ottoman Empire, 1453-1797","summary":"Examine the connected history of the two most powerful states in the early modern Eastern Mediterranean, the Venetian and the Ottoman Empires,...","description":"Examine the connected history of the two most powerful states in the early modern Eastern Mediterranean, the Venetian and the Ottoman Empires, from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the occupation of Venice by Napoleon in 1797.
\nThrough a range of textual and visual sources, the course explores a variety of topics: the Venetian-Ottoman wars; religious coexistence and antagonism; diplomatic relations and mediation; commercial and economic exchange; cultural and artistic transactions; the circulation of goods and material culture; travel and the movement of people; imperial rule and colonial subjects; the formation of pre-modern identities; the genealogies of orientalism.
\nThroughout the course, students will be encouraged to challenge the notions of ‘East’ and ‘West’ as distinct entities and develop alternative approaches for understanding cultural interaction in specific historical and geographical contexts.
\n\n
Assessment (autumn term students): draft essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment (spring term students): draft essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment (full year students): 5-10 minute presentation (formative), group work (formative), 1,500 word essay (formative), 2,500 word essay (40%), 3 hour exam (60%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90768","attributes":{"title":"Minorities in East-Central Europe: Coexistence, Integration and Annihilation, c.1870-1950","summary":"Explore the tragic history of East-Central Europe’s minorities from the late nineteenth century to the immediate aftermath of the Second World...","description":"Explore the tragic history of East-Central Europe’s minorities from the late nineteenth century to the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
\nThe module examines how the multi-ethnic empires and national or nationalising successor states which covered the area between Berlin, Kiev, Bucharest and the Baltic not only sought to rule but also reshape their highly diverse populations.
\nWe will consider how the concept of ‘minority peoples’ developed: who was categorised as a ‘minority’, what criteria were used and why was the existence of minorities considered to be such a ‘problem’? It studies the diverse and increasingly radical solutions that states pursued; Habsburg Austria’s attempts to arbitrate between peoples, German, Hungarian and Russian efforts to assimilate minorities and, in the aftermath of the First World War, widespread programmes of exclusion, expulsion or even ultimately annihilation.
\nThe module focuses not only on state plans but also on minorities’ actions, aspirations and relations with their neighbours of different language, culture, religion or ethnicity. It explores, for example, Czech activists’ plans for autonomy and independence, Polish nationalists’ rival schemes for a resurrected Poland and the spread of a Ukrainian national-identity.
\nIt examines how, as state borders shifted, majorities like Germans or Hungarians might suddenly find themselves as minorities, and how they and the nation-states from which they were separated reacted.
\nIt considers how Jews responded to the intensifying anti-Semitism characterising the period. Finally, it investigates how individuals marked as members of minorities experienced state action, from discrimination to deportation and extermination.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91436","attributes":{"title":"Media Composition","summary":"The module develops the awareness acquired in the module ‘Music in Film’ on music’s function in relation to other media, through practical...","description":"The module develops the awareness acquired in the module ‘Music in Film’ on music’s function in relation to other media, through practical composition work. It will introduce a number of technical and creative approaches to the composition of music for media such as narrative film and TV, documentary, videogames, production music, commercials, and podcasts, working with music technology software including Logic and Sibelius. This will include an overview of core concepts such as the role of synchronisation and illustration, awareness of genre, and how elements combine in multimedia forms, as well as of composition strategies, for example, using thematic organisation, temp tracks, orchestration/arrangement/production, and working to tight instruction. Case studies will be drawn from a number of prescribed films and videos. Elements of business practices and the organisation and logistics of film scoring will be covered in lectures. The module will be delivered through alternating lectures and group seminars/workshops, built around a set of practical exercises, from which a portfolio/showreel of three pieces (to picture) is to be prepared for final submission, accompanied by a commentary based on a template provided.
\nPre-requisites: Previous experience of composing and producing using a DAW.
\nAssessment: portfolio (80%), 1,000 word commentary (20%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91458","attributes":{"title":"Minimalism and Postminimalism","summary":"Through this module you will assess the history, techniques and aesthetics of musical minimalism in the context of contemporary cultural practice....","description":"
Through this module you will assess the history, techniques and aesthetics of musical minimalism in the context of contemporary cultural practice. The period covered ranges from its prehistory in the output of composers such as Satie, through its early maturity in the work of Young, Riley, Reich and Glass, to some of the manifestations of their heritage in the music of younger composers such as Pärt, Branca and Skempton.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, plus additional independent study
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91686","attributes":{"title":"Marxism","summary":"Basic concepts of Marxist theory that continue to be of critical importance to social and political thought, such as class, value, alienation,...","description":"Basic concepts of Marxist theory that continue to be of critical importance to social and political thought, such as class, value, alienation, exploitation, and fetishism will be looked at throughout this module. Each week will focus on a basic concept (or problem). We will consider its original formulation; explain, contextualise, and trace its development; and think critically about its uptake into contemporary social theory and sometimes into popular uses. Each concept (or problem) will be interrogated then developed in relation to contemporary issues, exploring its significance and explanatory power as a critical sociological tool. A seminar will follow each lecture. Students must read the original text and secondary commentary for each week. This is an intense close- and critical reading course.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• To introduce you to basic understandings of capitalism
\n• To enable you to apply concepts from Marxist social theory to contemporary problems
\n• A substantial understanding of the key concepts that have developed from Marxism, such as alienation, exploitation, value and class.
\n• An ability to apply these concepts to other theoretical developments in social theory such as post-structuralism.
\n• An ability to apply these concepts to everyday life, such as issues of economic crisis, global conflict, inequality.
\n• Substantive knowledge of one key concept to be developed in the essay.
\nAssessment:
\n1x 3500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91837","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Strategy","summary":"This module introduces students to the state-of-the-art in marketing strategy formulation. At the heart of marketing strategising typically lies the...","description":"This module introduces students to the state-of-the-art in marketing strategy formulation. At the heart of marketing strategising typically lies the creation of a strong brand and sustained customer value. This module also introduces the students to two foundational yet opposing strategic perspectives on market reality: market objectivism and market constructivism. Students will learn how these perspectives impact the way managers go about marketing strategy formulation and implementation. A unique feature of this module is the emphasis on new market creation processes - a strategic marketing competence that is not well understood, yet is key to organisational growth and survival in today's market environments.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93276","attributes":{"title":"Media Law and Ethics","summary":"Knowledge and skills to avoid the transgression of defamation and contempt and other principal media laws in the UK, the USA and Australia; An...","description":"Knowledge and skills to avoid the transgression of defamation and contempt and other principal media laws in the UK, the USA and Australia; An appreciation and ability to critically apply principles of ethical conduct in all fields of the media; A critical understanding of the cultural, social and political context of media law making and professional regulation; A critical appreciation of alternative methods of media law and those factors contributing to self-regulation by media practitioners.
\n
Assessment: 1x 4000 word essay
By taking a non ‘media-centric’ perspective, this module focuses on the different historical and cultural contexts within which these technologies operate and on the articulation of material and virtual geographies.
\nThe module highlights the role of what we have come to know as ‘television’ - as the most important medium of the last half century, with a particular focus on its contexts and modes of consumption.
\nThe question of technological change will be approached from a historical perspective, for instance, in relation to the late 19th century – as a period featuring a particularly rapid rate of technological change, compared with our own times.
\n
In this module you will become:
• familiar with a range of different theories and models in audience studies, and theorisation of the role of the media in the conceptualisation of postmodern geography.
• aware of the critical debates surrounding these issues.
• able to understand the development of research in this field in its specific historical contexts.
Assessment: 1x 4000 word essay
This module explores how the media operate as a focus of ritual action, symbolic hierarchy and symbolic conflict. In particular, it explores to what extent theoretical frameworks already developed in anthropology and social theory can help us analyse contemporary media and mediated public life.
\nThis module explores various approaches, theoretical and empirical, to understand what might broadly be called the ritual dimensions of contemporary media.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word essay
\nThis module is also available at postgraduate level
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94790","attributes":{"title":"Media Philosophy","summary":"Investigate media by a close analysis of key texts and authors in this field throughout this course. We understand media as much from an...","description":"Investigate media by a close analysis of key texts and authors in this field throughout this course. We understand media as much from an engineering point of view as from a philosophical one.
\nWe look at how information and media comprise self-reproducing non-linear systems; and how this involves the interchange of information between media and ourselves as physical, social and cultural beings.
\nThis course is uncompromising in dealing with the philosophical questions underpinning contemporary media and technology and is at the same time always embedded in the critique of today's capitalist political economy.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129123","attributes":{"title":"Media Arts","summary":"How do we decide if a piece of media art or a YouTube clip is any good? How do we combine critical thinking about the media with making interesting...","description":"How do we decide if a piece of media art or a YouTube clip is any good? How do we combine critical thinking about the media with making interesting media? In the age of social media and user generated content, are we all artists now?
\nThe module starts by looking at some of the different ways in which artists have used media and technology across different historical periods. Through this, it introduces aesthetic concerns to the study of media, raising questions about cultural appreciation, value and taste, but also about social and political issues concerning art. It also teaches students to be critical towards many forms of media art – both old and new.
\nThe notion of ‘art’ as a unified field of specialist cultural production is then put into question in the context of the wider discussions of creativity and amateur media practices. By studying contemporary forms of media production via social media, open web, etc., we consider whether in the age of online media and cheap digital technology everyone is potentially an artist. Blurring the boundary between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’, the module attempts to get students to think about media and make media as part of the same classroom experience and module assignment.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word review (formative), project (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129130","attributes":{"title":"Media, Memory and Conflict","summary":"Media representations of both historic and recent conflicts, social movements and popular struggles play a significant part in the way these events...","description":"
Media representations of both historic and recent conflicts, social movements and popular struggles play a significant part in the way these events are subsequently remembered and commemorated. Media portrayals are also significant in terms of psychological affect and emotional responses to violence upheaval and social change.
\nYou’ll be equipped with the skills to understand the relationship between symbolic, mediated aspects of violence and conflict and the underlying social, political and economic processes which may be lost in the process of remembering. You’ll gain the skills to analyse visual and textual representations of war and social conflict in a variety of media material including newspapers, feature and documentary film, archive newsreels and photographs and digital sources.
\nAfter a theoretical induction, this module will explore the importance of memory in relation to some key experiences and events over the past century. We’ll then shift to a more thematic discussion of how memory affects experiences according to race, gender, sexuality and class. However, throughout the module the impact of these categories upon memory will remain an important element of our work.
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (100%)
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of the thought of some of most prominent social theorists (Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel) and to explore how these works have influenced our understandings of the media, modernity and power. It should be evident that whilst media theorists have their own particular focal concerns, in many cases they are responding to problems posed within this classic tradition. The social theory examined in this course asks crucial questions both about the nature of society – power, stratification, agency, regulation, identity and spectacle – as well as about the media’s status as a key instrument of social reproduction. The course thus provides a theoretical map on which to locate some of the key issues confronted in media, communication and cultural studies.
\nThe course will be divided into two different parts. In the first half we will explore the different contributions made by Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel to our understanding of modernity. In the second half of the course, we confront a more contemporary version of social theory that critically challenges some of the foundations of Western modern thought by looking at postmodernism, race and ethnicity, gender, and globalisation.
\nIn order to emphasise the link between social theory and media studies, sessions will address specific cultural or media-related phenomena connected to the sociological topic under discussion. We will, for example, investigate a range of issues including ‘McDonaldisation’, branding, reality television, celebrity and spectacle.
\n
Assessment: 1,000 word analysis (33%), 2,000 word essay (67%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132713","attributes":{"title":"Mathematics for Economics and Business","summary":"This module introduces the mathematical methods used in the analysis of modern economics. This module is suitable for students both with and without...","description":"
This module introduces the mathematical methods used in the analysis of modern economics. This module is suitable for students both with and without an A Level in Mathematics (or equivalent). Students will revise and apply the basic concepts from algebra and differential calculus to relevant economic problems. Furthermore they will learn partial derivatives and second partial derivatives of functions of two or more independent variables, constrained and unconstrained optimization. The students will be taught how to use these tools in economic applications.
\nAssessment: exam (70%), test (10%), test (10%), weekly problem sets (10%)
\nPre-requisite: Equivalent of Grade B/Grade 6 in GCSE Maths or Statistics.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"135911","attributes":{"title":"Migration, Gender and Social Reproduction","summary":"Chart the gender dimensions of transnational migrations in the contemporary world from an interdisciplinary approach with this module. As a...","description":"Chart the gender dimensions of transnational migrations in the contemporary world from an interdisciplinary approach with this module. As a growing number of migration scholars emphasize, a gender perspective is crucial to orienting our theories and understanding of migration and global human geographies in the twenty-first century.
\nThe module will be divided in two parts. First, you will analyse the recent history and political economy of migrations through the lenses of gender, as well as ‘race’ and class theories. We will focus particularly on the notions of ‘feminisation of migrations’ and ‘crisis of social reproduction’ in order to examine their root causes and dimensions. Second, you will learn to explore the social and cultural representations of migrants in the Global North and to identify the ways these representations can be scrutinized through theories of gender, ‘race’ and class. We will thus take a critical perspective on key concepts such as ‘sexualization of racism’, ‘racialization of sexism’, ‘gendered assimilation’, ‘civic integration of migrants’ and ‘gendered colonial technologies of domination’.
\nTaking a case study approach throughout the course, you will also learn how to evaluate the feasibility and appropriateness of different methodologies and techniques of social research when undertaking empirical research projects involving migrants.
\nAssessment:
\n1 x 4000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"138078","attributes":{"title":"Medicine, Culture and Critique","summary":"Students will explore multiple dimensions of the concept of subjectivity in relation problems of health and medicine: the epistemological...","description":"Students will explore multiple dimensions of the concept of subjectivity in relation problems of health and medicine: the epistemological dimension, where ‘subjectivity’ implies a reference to the subject/object dichotomy and to different forms of knowledge; the phenomenological dimension, where ‘subjectivity’ points to questions of embodiment, experience, and transformation; and the political dimension where ‘subjectivity’ points to the construction of different types of subject within different forms of governance. We will trace a path across these dimensions by examining a range of phenomena at the margins of conventional/mainstream biomedical knowledge, from contested illnesses to placebo/nocebo effects, to pedagogical programmes designed to restore to medicine the element of ‘art’ it has allegedly lost to science.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Demonstrate a historically informed understanding of how the subject/object dichotomy informs the construction of medical knowledge
\n• Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of ‘subjectivity’ in the context of approaches to health, illness and medicine in social science
\n• Critically apply arguments and make use of empirical knowledge gained in analysing substantive examples related to subjectivity, health and medicine
\n• Demonstrate ability to research and study independently in order to present findings of independent study, orally and/or in written work
\nAssessment:
\n1x 4000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142545","attributes":{"title":"Methods and Processes 1/Technical Studies 1","summary":"This course offers a series of workshops that focus on specific skills and techniques necessary to designing and producing work in different areas of...","description":"This course offers a series of workshops that focus on specific skills and techniques necessary to designing and producing work in different areas of design. The workshops offer a diverse set of skills that aim to complement the first level of study. They are designed to provide a technical foundation and build critical reference so that these can be taken into the studio work and drawn on to develop more sophisticated ways of producing design work.
\nWorkshops include: digital fabrication, physical computing, graphics, materials, web, textiles, moulding and casting, image
\nAssessment: technical journal
\n15 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145814","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Management","summary":"This module aims at providing a good understanding of core marketing management principles applied in consumers, industrial services and organisation...","description":"
This module aims at providing a good understanding of core marketing management principles applied in consumers, industrial services and organisation both from a theoretical and a practical standpoint. It seeks to explain the value of a marketing focus to both customer and supplier, and analyses what marketing can do and does contribute to both individual and organisational users.
\nThis module will cover all the topics needed for marketing management and planning. The module will start analysing strategic tools for marketing strategy definition such as segmentation, targeting and positioning. It will then analyse the marketing process through a review of the marketing mix principles i.e. the 4Ps (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price). It will then explore in detail each one of these tactics. Specifically, students will learn about the strategic role of the product within marketing strategy looking at product management practices and the product innovation process. Students will then analyse the elements of the augmented product model with a focus on the role of branding within marketing management and they will be exposed on how to build brand equity within the company. Finally, students will look into differences between the definition of product and services, and they will be introduced to service marketing practices.
\nThe module will then move to analyse other tactics of the marketing mix. Specifically, students will look into pricing strategies as tools for maximising the profitability of the company and as a promotional tool for reaching consumers. The module will then focus on the Promotion tactics. Students will analyse the topic of Integrated Marketing Communications in order to understand how the different promotional practices used by the company do not happen in isolation, but they are the result of an integrated strategies in order to reach the objectives of the company. The module will then investigate the elements of Integrated Marketing Communication (or Marketing Communication Mix) with a particular focus on advertising, digital advertising and PR (from a management perspective). Furthermore, the module will look at the relationship between sales promotion and sales management, with a particular focus on how Integrated Marketing Communications influence the sales of the company.
\nFinally, the module will investigate the Place tactics looking into distribution strategies. This section will explore both on B2B and B2C distribution tactics. However, the focus will be mostly on retailing practices within the company. The theories presented so far will be complemented with real life examples and exercises. Students will also be exposed to case studies analysis to apply the theory into practice.
\nAssessment: exam (50%), 1,500 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145821","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Communications","summary":"This module will provide students with the theories, principles and practice of marketing communications. Students will be exposed to a variety of...","description":"This module will provide students with the theories, principles and practice of marketing communications. Students will be exposed to a variety of theories and real life case to learn. They will learn to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing communication campaigns, and how to create their own marketing communications plan. The module covers two areas of study: marketing communications strategy, and the analysis of effective communication.
\nThe first area concerns the marketing communication process and all the different channels and practices used by companies in order to reach the customer. Students will explore integrated marketing communication strategies, learn about the marketing communication mix, study the media planning process, and reflect on how communications relate to the overall marketing strategy of the company. Students will also look into the measures that companies should use in order to evaluate the performance of their communications mix.
\nThe second area will then deepen their knowledge of the different elements of the marketing communications mix, surveying topics such as PR, direct marketing, sales promotion, events management, trade fairs and guerrilla marketing—before focusing on advertising. Students will gain insight on different types of advertising and their impact in consumer behavior, as well as develop tools for the analysis of their effectiveness.
\nThe third section will look into marketing communications planning and evaluation. In this section, you will look specifically into the media planning process and how it relates to the overall marketing strategy of the company.
\nThen you will look into the measures that companies should use in order to evaluate the performance of their marketing communications strategy. You will also be exposed to an overview of how the marketing communications industry works, and the major players in the marketing communications chain.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (20%), 2,000 word essay (40%), 2,500 word report (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90345","attributes":{"title":"Modern American Fiction","summary":"Modern American Fiction provides an introduction to American fiction since 1945, encompassing the diverse forms, genres, histories and identities...","description":"Modern American Fiction provides an introduction to American fiction since 1945, encompassing the diverse forms, genres, histories and identities which have helped shape literature and culture in modern America. The module covers both canonical and ‘marginal’ texts of the period, reflecting the variety and complexity of American culture.
\nWe will look at texts through the lenses of form (Realism, Postmodernism), genre, regional identity and racial/ethnic identity (Black writing, Jewish writing, Native American writing), as well as addressing issues of gender and sexuality.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word portfolio (100%)
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word portfolio (100%)
\nAssessment full year: 3,000-4,000 word portfolio (50%), 3,000-4,000 word portfolio (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90539","attributes":{"title":"Moderns","summary":"Designed to develop your understanding of the literature and culture of the twentieth century, this module intends to strengthen your abilities in...","description":"Designed to develop your understanding of the literature and culture of the twentieth century, this module intends to strengthen your abilities in literary analysis. Through a close reading of representative texts, the module will explore the historical and critical contexts within which modern writers strove to ‘make it new' in poetry, fiction and drama.
\nAssessment autumn: 1,500-2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment spring: 1,500-2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment full year: 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (34%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90575","attributes":{"title":"Modern Poetry","summary":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring\n(If you're studying this module for only one term then you'll be awarded 15 credits)\nContact hours:...","description":"Term(s) taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring
\n(If you're studying this module for only one term then you'll be awarded 15 credits)
\nContact hours: 2 hour seminar each week
\nThe module examines representative poets, schools, and trends in the post-1945 period of English-language poetry, chiefly in Britain, Ireland and the USA. Close attention is paid to the linguistic, formal, and stylistic resources of modern poets. Patterns of influence and reaction are traced among individual poets, within and across national traditions, and among such schools as the British ‘movement’, the American ‘confessionals’, and the Northern Irish ‘renaissance’ group.
\nAuthors to be studied include W.H.Auden, Dylan Thomas, R.S.Thomas, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Elizabeth Bishop, Philip Larkin, Allen Ginsberg, John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Geoffrey Hill, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Louise Glück, Eavan Boland, and a range of younger poets born after 1950.
\nAssessment: 3x essays amounting to 6,000-8,000 words*
\n*If here for one term only: alternative assessment given
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90771","attributes":{"title":"Modern South Asia: Body, Society, Empire and Nation c.1600-1947\n","summary":"This course will introduce you to South Asian history, from the height of Mughal power through to Partition and Independence. It will do this through...","description":"This course will introduce you to South Asian history, from the height of Mughal power through to Partition and Independence. It will do this through the lens of medicine, disease and imperial encounters in both the Subcontinent and ‘metropolitan’ Britain.
\nBy exploring a number of themes and measuring the impact of specific diseases on South Asian and British society, this course investigates some of the ways in which diseases shaped peoples, the British empire and the Indian nation.
\nTopics will include:
\nAn examination of some of the diseases that had a specific impact on imperial rule, including plague, venereal disease and malaria, will be interwoven throughout.
\nAssessment full year: 500 word book review (formative), 1,500 word essay (formative), 500 word book review (10%), 2,000 word essay (30%), 4,000 word essay (60%)
\nAssessment autumn: draft essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91078","attributes":{"title":"Modernisms and Postmodernity B","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring Contact hours: 2 hour lecture/seminar session per weekPre-requisites: Fluent English is essential. We also...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
Contact hours: 2 hour lecture/seminar session per week
Pre-requisites: Fluent English is essential. We also recommended that the student have some prior knowledge of avant garde theatre history and/or modernism/postmodernity.
The module aims to:
\nAssessment: 1x 4,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91100","attributes":{"title":"Women, Feminism & Playwrighting","summary":"This module investigates the relationship between modern women playwrights (writing in English) and the ways in which their work intersects with the...","description":"This module investigates the relationship between modern women playwrights (writing in English) and the ways in which their work intersects with the tenets of feminist thought. Each week two polemical pieces: one on social history or feminist theory, the other on drama or theatre will be analysed in tandem with the play under discussion.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91141","attributes":{"title":"Bertolt Brecht and Political Theatre","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 2\n \nMore information coming...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
\nGoldsmiths Year: Year 2
\n\n
More information coming soon.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91730","attributes":{"title":"Modern Knowledge, Modern Power","summary":"For autumn term students, this course is divided into two major blocks.\n\nClass, Power and Identity. This consists of an introduction to Marx...","description":"For autumn term students, this course is divided into two major blocks.
\nFor spring term students, this course is divided into two major blocks.
\nFor full year students:
\nThis module aims to introduce you to the ‘sociological imagination’. What is distinctive about Sociology? With a focus on knowledge and power, the module looks at how Sociology has developed, with an emphasis on the study of relations between individuals and groups in modern industrial societies.
\nThis module will:
\nAssessment autumn: 2,500-3,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,500-3,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: exam (100%), 500 word essay (formative), practice exam (formative), 5-10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93651","attributes":{"title":"Music as Communication and Creative Practice","summary":"Why does music matter? What is its value? What makes music a distinctive form of communication? In what ways does music enhance people’s lives, and...","description":"Why does music matter? What is its value? What makes music a distinctive form of communication? In what ways does music enhance people’s lives, and produce forms of individual and collective flourishing? Conversely, how can music reinforce social hierarchies? How does music link to questions of social power, notably in terms of class, ethnicity and gender, in relation to its production and consumption? How can music lead to individual and collective forms of flourishing?
\nThis course explores how musical meanings are conveyed and understood and how this is mediated through the cultures and technologies of production and consumption. We will consider how music communicates mood and meaning, not only through associated imagery and the lyrical content of songs, but as sound itself. We will also think about the processes that link production, circulation and consumption, as well as explore the ways that music connects with individual and collective identities.
\nUnderlying the option are a series of wider questions about how we might research, analyse and understand the complex of sounds, words and images that constitute contemporary popular and many other kinds of music. How and in what ways may we argue that music can express, influence and affect human actions and perceptions? How are beliefs, values and identities encoded and communicated as part of a collective experience or to individual listening subjects? How is what we listen to mediated by technologies and what affects does this has? How do we analyse and talk about musical sound when this often considered as having little to do with representation?
\nSuch questions have received relatively little attention in media, communication and cultural studies, and many of these issues remain under-researched. Hence, you are encouraged to draw on your own personal experience of music in everyday life and to make use of this material in connection with some of the theoretical approaches under discussion during seminars (as well as others you will have come across in your reading and on other courses).
\nThis option is more theoretically demanding than it might initially appear, as it entails thinking critically about a number of everyday musical and sonic experiences that are often taken for granted. It also requires you to both bring a range of critical ideas to your analysis of music and musicians as well as musical examples (on CD, phone, mp3 file etc) to play to your seminar group. You are encouraged to read widely for seminar discussion and when writing essays, and to make connections to a number of relevant and related theoretical debates outside of the immediate popular music literature.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129198","attributes":{"title":"Moving Image Spectatorship","summary":"An ever increasing portion of a waking lives is spent interacting with media screens. This is an accepted and routine fact of life disrupted only...","description":"An ever increasing portion of a waking lives is spent interacting with media screens. This is an accepted and routine fact of life disrupted only occasionally by sporadic media panics about our addiction to screens that hint at an undercurrent of disquiet we generally suppress. But what do we actually know about these screen interactions and experiences? How might we think critically about the diversity of screen interfaces, environments and media formats with which we interact on a daily basis? How do contemporary screens and viewing situations relate to a longer history of screen practice and spectatorship focused on the circulation and display of moving images?
\nThis is a module about how we live with and experience media screens and screen-based media. We look to make the familiar strange by juxtaposing screen interfaces, practices and venues from different historical periods and by thinking through a range of ideas about spectatorship across the disciplines of media, film and visual culture. We will examine how the media institutions and technologies that deliver and display screen-based moving image forms, produce the environments we inhabit and organize our visual and auditory senses, whilst considering how we negotiate these spaces and conditions. We will think about the orientation of our bodies towards screens, which are both physical, material objects and surfaces on which impermanent images flow: the different possibilities involved in sitting still or walking, being with others or alone, touching or being ‘touched’ by, holding a screen in our hands or reaching out towards one on the horizon. Media screens and screen based media construct publics and make public space. Screen media spectatorship implicates us in ethical dilemmas as we bear witness to the distant suffering of others and acquires uncanny resonance as the dead are brought back life.
\nThis module aims to equip students to think critically about how we see moving images as well as what we see. It encourages students to make connections between theories and concepts from a range of disciplinary perspectives and in their assessed work apply these to specific examples of media screens and/or screen-based media that they have chosen.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
This module asks students to think about the ways in which our economic lives shape and are shaped by society and culture. How do social and cultural forces influence our understanding of wealth, poverty, and inequality? How is economic news reported, and why is it often difficult to understand? How might technological developments such as digital currencies or platform-based forms of exchange change our economic behaviour? How do financial advice columns shape our understanding of the ‘good life’?
\nThis module explores the role of communication and culture in economic life through a range of theoretical approaches and case studies. It encourages students to think about the economy both as a mediated phenomenon – something that is represented in the news, in culture and in everyday life in a variety of ways – and as a set of mediating concepts and ideas (‘markets’, ‘value’, ‘worth’) that shape the way we understand the world.
\n
Assessment: 2,500 word essay (70%), 1,000 word report (30%)
Museums and Galleries of art make an important contribution to income generation in the UK. To achieve this successful outcome it is necessary for them to understand the role that culture plays in our society. The manner in which they display works of art, provide information and education, are committed to making their collections more accessible and generally strive to be welcoming, entertaining, friendly and rich in diverse opportunities shows how well they have understood the part they play in establishing culture at the heart of all that we do.
\nThis course will focus on the growing importance of cultural organisations, how key texts still have relevance for cultural studies today, how taste is shaped by museums and galleries and how commercial organisations are keen to engage in large-scale cultural projects as a way of attracting a new, younger audience and establishing themselves as key players in a modern society.
\nDuring the course, references will be made to important writers on culture like Clement Greenberg, Raymond Williams and Brian Eno and the connections between culture and class and class and taste. The course will also use case studies of large scale public cultural projects like the Unilever series in Tate Modern’s turbine Hall and the Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square.
\nMany of the sessions will take place in a museum or gallery and where possible, will involve a member of staff. There will also be opportunities for interactive and workshop activities.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129319","attributes":{"title":"Museums and Galleries as Creative Entrepreneurs – Communicating Culture","summary":"Museums and galleries of art make an important contribution to income generation in the UK. To achieve this successful outcome it is necessary for...","description":"Museums and galleries of art make an important contribution to income generation in the UK. To achieve this successful outcome it is necessary for them to understand the role that culture plays in our society. The manner in which they display works of art, provide information and education, are committed to making their collections more accessible and generally strive to be welcoming, entertaining, friendly and rich in diverse opportunities shows how well they have understood the part they play in establishing culture at the heart of all that we do.
\nThis ten-week course will focus on the growing importance of cultural organisations, how key texts still have relevance for cultural studies today, how taste is shaped by museums and galleries and how commercial organisations are keen to engage in large-scale cultural projects as a way of attracting a new, younger audience and establishing themselves as key players in a modern society.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129579","attributes":{"title":"Modern Britain: Politics from 1979 - today","summary":"Contact hours: 1 x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week\nThe course brings an historical perspective to key issues in British politics from...","description":"Contact hours: 1 x hour lecture per week, 1x hour seminar per week
\nThe course brings an historical perspective to key issues in British politics from 1979 to the present day.
\nIt does that by examining themes such as rise of Thatcherism, the divisions in the main political parties, the rise and fall of New Labour, and the politics of the 2010 Coalition.
\nThe aims of this module are:
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000-3,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":[],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142494","attributes":{"title":"Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions: Unpacking the Field","summary":"What are the philosophical foundations of museums – and how can those theories of museums be critiqued? These modules explore how the museum has...","description":"What are the philosophical foundations of museums – and how can those theories of museums be critiqued? These modules explore how the museum has evolved from an object-centred educational institution into an idea-oriented site for the production of experiences. These modules also consider the development of the museum from a colonial tool - an apparatus of the modern state – into a multi-layered, socially diverse space – a space in which multiple narratives of the modern unfold.
\nThese modules will consider a wide range of institutions and investigate different frameworks for understanding and defining museums. In addition, they examine key exhibitions and museum collections, asking how our understanding of contemporary culture is constructed and displayed. A particular emphasis is placed on critical concepts such as representation and institutional critique.
\nModule I explores the origins of the museum, its many disciplines and it politics. It looks at various narratives of display and collecting at the turn of the nineteenth century, exploring museums’ and exhibitions’ role in shaping our understanding of history, culture and society. Case studies include: The Louvre, the British Museum, Sir John Soane’s Museum, The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art and Charles Wilson Peale’s Museum, but also the Salons, the Universal Exhibitions and the human zoos. Teaching involves student presentations, museum visits, and discussions of key historical and theoretical texts. Furthermore, the modules have a strong trans-disciplinary component and students are encouraged to take the same approach in their presentations and assessments.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay or 15 minute presentation (formative), 3,000 word essay OR visual project with a 1,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142555","attributes":{"title":"Mughals, Munshi and Mistresses: Society and Rule in Early Colonial India","summary":"As a social and cultural history of the ‘Company Raj’, this module will explore the transition from Mughal rule to British colonial rule in the...","description":"As a social and cultural history of the ‘Company Raj’, this module will explore the transition from Mughal rule to British colonial rule in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will examine the interface between ‘Indian’ forms of rule and ‘European’ and what it meant to be each at this time.
\nWe’ll discuss Indian rulers, intermediaries and collaborators in the context of how each shaped early colonial rule in areas of law, education and revenue. We’ll then turn our attention to a series of contemporary social debates: on the family, sati, education, widow remarriage and social ‘vices’ in order to gain a fuller understanding of this dynamic period in Indian history.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91397","attributes":{"title":"Music of Africa and Asia","summary":"The module introduces the diverse musical traditions of Africa and Asia. It concentrates on traditional musical practices, although some attention...","description":"The module introduces the diverse musical traditions of Africa and Asia. It concentrates on traditional musical practices, although some attention also will be given to newly created styles. Geographical areas covered will include Southern Africa, West Africa, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia (mainland and island), Oceania and East Asia. Students are expected to become familiar with the sounds of the music of these areas, and to understand something of their underlying structural principles and the social and cultural contexts in which they are performed.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91433","attributes":{"title":"Music in Film","summary":"The phenomenon of film music and the theory that has accompanied it through various genres, will be considered in this module through active...","description":"
The phenomenon of film music and the theory that has accompanied it through various genres, will be considered in this module through active engagement in interdisciplinary study.
\nIt will introduce a number of perspectives on the use, function and reception of music in (primarily) narrative film. This will include a discussion of practices from the so-called 'silent era' through to contemporary mainstream Hollywood cinema; exploration of the distinctions between the deployment of dramatic scoring and pre-existent music; the position of music in film's narrative fabric; and the interaction between music and other elements of film sound.
\nKey concepts and theorists in film music and film sound scholarship will be introduced, and the module will be supported by engagement with significant literature.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay (cuesheet and analytical essay).
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91480","attributes":{"title":"Musicians, Commerce and Commodification","summary":"Since the emergence of the printing press, the performance, dissemination and reception of music has been integrally linked to various media and...","description":"Since the emergence of the printing press, the performance, dissemination and reception of music has been integrally linked to various media and industries. From the late twentieth century the internet and digital technologies have been dramatically reshaping the production, circulation and consumption of music due to the increasing shift from physical artefact (CDs, cassettes, LPs) to non-material digital distribution, with streamed access challenging the idea of owned musical artefacts.
\nThis module examines the role of various media and industries in the music making process. It considers the historical significance of printing, recording, radio, the moving image media, digital technology and the internet. It also considers the range of different companies that have a vested interest in music making, and explores how music has become ever more significant for corporate promotion and branding.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129190","attributes":{"title":"Music Computing 1","summary":"Music Computing 1 develops students’ knowledge and understanding of core music computing concepts, including: the fundamentals of digital audio,...","description":"
Music Computing 1 develops students’ knowledge and understanding of core music computing concepts, including: the fundamentals of digital audio, sound synthesis, sampling, filters, wave shaping, spectral analysis, and instrument design. The basic theory of digital signal processing is introduced with examples of time and spectral domain processing as well as physical modelling.
\nStudents use a programming language for music computing purposes and explore algorithms to generate musical structure and content. They are introduced to decision-making strategies appropriate to both user-interface design and organising temporal structure, leading to the production of musical compositions as well as digital audio tools. Finally, they are asked to reflect critically on the value systems such an approach can connote and to position their work in a larger historical and aesthetic context.
\nAssessment autumn: lab assignments (10%), composition/software assignment (40%), composition/software assignment (50%)
\nAssessment spring: lab assignments (10%), composition/software assignment (40%), composition/software assignment (50%)
\nAssessment full year: lab assignments (10%), composition/software assignment (20%), composition/software assignment (20%), composition/software assignment (20%), composition/software assignment (30%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129572","attributes":{"title":"Music Computing 2","summary":"This module covers advanced topics in Music Computing such as: generative and reactive compositional systems, machine learning tools, and live...","description":"This module covers advanced topics in Music Computing such as: generative and reactive compositional systems, machine learning tools, and live electronics. Students complete several smaller projects while they work towards the production of a concert hall performance for instrumentalist and accompanying software.
\nAssessment autumn: composition/software assignment (40%), composition/software assignment (60%)
\nAssessment spring: composition/software assignment (40%), composition/software assignment (60%)
\nAssessment full year: composition/software assignment (20%), composition/software assignment (20%), composition/software assignment (20%), performance/software assignment (40%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149874","attributes":{"title":"Mind Projections: Psychopathology and Cinema","summary":"Cinema has the unique visual capacity and the power to communicate something about the complexity of human emotions and offers a different insight...","description":"
Cinema has the unique visual capacity and the power to communicate something about the complexity of human emotions and offers a different insight into the human psyche and the workings of the unconscious.
\nFar from merely representing reality, film questions reality and common perception and produces through visual means a new thinking and understanding of the subjective experience of mental distress, emotional suffering and symptoms. The art of cinema can offer a new language (different from psychiatry and psychology) to think and talk about madness, insanity and psychopathology.
\nIn this module students will explore the links between films and psychoanalysis and will study a series of films that portray different forms of mental distress (for example anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, narcissistic personality disorder). Some of the selected films the module will focus on are Vertigo, A Beautiful Mind, Melancholia, Black Swan, An Angel at My Table, Zelig.
\nStudents will be encouraged to think critically and respond creatively to some of the following questions: how can cinema affect our understanding of ‘mental illness’? Does cinematic language provide an alternative to an increasing medicalised understanding and definition of mental and emotional distress and anguish? How can the cinematic image produce meaning and its own thinking on the human psyche and human emotions?
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149886","attributes":{"title":"Multiculturalism, Identity and Difference ","summary":"The module ‘Multiculturalism, Identity and Difference’ critically revisits the tensions between identity and difference, individual - community and...","description":"The module ‘Multiculturalism, Identity and Difference’ critically revisits the tensions between identity and difference, individual - community and introduces students to major theoretical and political debates around citizenship rights, politics of race, sexuality/gender and multiculturalism throughout the 20th century (civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s) and 21st century (Islamophobia and war on terrorism, the veil debate, politics of forgiveness and cultural trauma). The module will depart by reviewing critical reflections on the universalism of human rights discourses.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"150074","attributes":{"title":"Machine Learning","summary":"This course provides a broad introduction to machine learning and statistical pattern recognition. The very general topics will include supervised...","description":"This course provides a broad introduction to machine learning and statistical pattern recognition. The very general topics will include supervised learning (generative/discriminative learning, parametric/non-parametric learning, ), unsupervised learning (clustering, dimensionality reduction), and learning theory (bias/variance tradeoffs). The course will also discuss recent applications of machine learning (e.g., in computer vision, or other applications relevant to the research orientation of the department of computing). This will include a discussion of machine learning ethics and the potential for real world bias. These topics will be included in the assessments, as appropriate.
\nPre-requisite: programming experience
\n\n
Assessment: exam (50%), portfolio (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"154468","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Analytics","summary":"Digital technologies allow for the creation and storage of an unprecedented amount of data. The advent of the Internet of Things will further...","description":"Digital technologies allow for the creation and storage of an unprecedented amount of data. The advent of the Internet of Things will further accelerate the growth of digital data, as more and more devices and physical objects will connect to the internet. The ‘digital universe’ is expected to grow from 4.4 trillion gigabytes today to around 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020. This deluge of data presents an immense opportunity for marketing, yet seizing this opportunity requires specific market research skills.This module will introduce students to the rapidly growing field of data science and will familiarise them with its basic principles and general mindset. Students will learn concepts, techniques, and tools that are used to deal with various facets of large data sets. It is essential to develop a deep understanding of the complex ecosystem of tools and platforms, as well as the communication skills necessary to explain advanced analytics. This course will provide an overview of the wide area of data science and the tools available to analyse large amounts of data. The module will also highlight limitations of big data analytics. Specifically, big data analytics assist in improving and developing existing product portfolios, yet their ability to derive insights that may inform the creation of radical innovations and new markets is limited. Potential approaches to address this limitation will be discussed (e.g., combinations with qualitative/netnographic research methods).
\nIn summary, this module aims to provide students with the skills needed to work in data-driven marketing environments.
\nPre-requisite: Marketing and research methods module with 60% pass mark
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"157201","attributes":{"title":"Museums and Galleries as Cultural Entrepreneurs","summary":"Museums and Galleries of art make an important contribution to income generation in the UK. To achieve this successful outcome it is necessary for...","description":"Museums and Galleries of art make an important contribution to income generation in the UK. To achieve this successful outcome it is necessary for them to understand the role that culture plays in our society. The manner in which they display works of art, provide information and education, are committed to making their collections more accessible and generally strive to be welcoming, entertaining, friendly and rich in diverse opportunities shows how well they have understood the part they play in establishing culture at the heart of all that we do. This ten week course will focus on the growing importance of cultural organisations, how key texts still have relevance for cultural studies today, how taste is shaped by museums and galleries and how commercial organisations are keen to engage in large-scale cultural projects as a way of attracting a new, younger audience and establishing themselves as key players in a modern society.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"158813","attributes":{"title":"Money, Banking and the Financial System","summary":"This module expands on the topic of macroeconomics and focuses on the nature of money and credit in the modern economy. It covers the different...","description":"This module expands on the topic of macroeconomics and focuses on the nature of money and credit in the modern economy. It covers the different public and private institutions that govern behaviour in the modern financial economy and their historical evolution in different parts of the world. For example, it discusses the central banks of US, UK, Japan and the Eurozone, as their decision-making structures, capacities and occasionally objectives, are partly determined by their different histories. Furthermore, the module covers the theoretical analysis underpinning the modern operation of central, commercial and investment banks. It covers topics of exchange rates, the supply of money, interest rate setting, and the evolving institutional political economy that banks operate. It introduces students to central bank balance sheet analysis in relation to liquidity and capital assets. Finally, it presents key aspects of the recent literature on regulation that has substantially altered operations in the financial sector since the 2008 crisis.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2 hour exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159213","attributes":{"title":"Migration in Context","summary":"With migration frequently presented as a situation of ‘crisis’, this module considers broader contexts and longer histories of migration to and...","description":"With migration frequently presented as a situation of ‘crisis’, this module considers broader contexts and longer histories of migration to and within Europe, and will consider the academic field migration as an inter-disciplinary field of study. Exploring contemporary literature from writers and theorists working in a European context, the module will present students with starting points from which to consider migration using core sociological concepts, particularly of place, ‘race’ and power. The module will follow a migration pathway, with focus points considered through lenses of: leaving, moving, arriving and staying.
\nWhy does music matter? What is its value? What makes music a distinctive form of communication? In what ways does music enhance people’s lives, and produce forms of individual and collective flourishing? Conversely, how can music reinforce social hierarchies? How does music link to questions of social power, notably in terms of class, ethnicity and gender, in relation to its production and consumption? How can music lead to individual and collective forms of flourishing?
\nThis course explores how musical meanings are conveyed and understood and how this is mediated through the cultures and technologies of production and consumption. We will consider how music communicates mood and meaning, not only through associated imagery and the lyrical content of songs, but as sound itself. We will also think about the processes that link production, circulation and consumption, as well as explore the ways that music connects with individual and collective identities.
\nUnderlying the option are a series of wider questions about how we might research, analyse and understand the complex of sounds, words and images that constitute contemporary popular and many other kinds of music. How and in what ways may we argue that music can express, influence and affect human actions and perceptions? How are beliefs, values and identities encoded and communicated as part of a collective experience or to individual listening subjects? How is what we listen to mediated by technologies and what affects does this has? How do we analyse and talk about musical sound when this often considered as having little to do with representation? Such questions have received relatively little attention in media, communication and cultural studies, and many of these issues remain under-researched. Hence, you are encouraged to draw on your own personal experience of music in everyday life and to make use of this material in connection with some of the theoretical approaches under discussion during seminars (as well as others you will have come across in your reading and on other courses).
\nThis option is more theoretically demanding than it might initially appear, as it entails thinking critically about a number of everyday musical and sonic experiences that are often taken for granted. It also requires you to both bring a range of critical ideas to your analysis of music and musicians as well as musical examples (on CD, phone, mp3 file etc.) to play to your seminar group. You are encouraged to read widely for seminar discussion and when writing essays, and to make connections to a number of relevant and related theoretical debates outside of the immediate popular music literature.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166755","attributes":{"title":"Methods and Processes\n","summary":"The module begins with an introduction to the notion of method and process. The group examine whether and what methods and processes exist in their...","description":"The module begins with an introduction to the notion of method and process. The group examine whether and what methods and processes exist in their work. You are asked to question whether the analysis of creative processes is necessary in developing yourselves as designers. And if it is how, and in what way, may different methods and processes be used to produce shifts in design outcomes.
\nThe module is constructed through a range of standalone workshops that aim to give you a range of methods and processes to expand and apply in your studio practice. All of the staff teaching the module have developed their own methods and processes throughout their careers and education, this module aims to share these methods with you.
\nThe module focuses on three main areas; research, modelling and idea generation. The workshops start to build a range of different tools that can be used, adapted and co-opted into your design process.
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"168901","attributes":{"title":"Musical Theatre in London","summary":"This module aims to explore the nature of the musical as the predominant form of popular theatre in the twentieth century. Background lectures and...","description":"This module aims to explore the nature of the musical as the predominant form of popular theatre in the twentieth century. Background lectures and seminars introduce you to the history and aesthetics of the form. By examining and reviewing a selection of shows in detail, you will learn to analyse and assess the contribution of various artists to the success of a show and to the evolution of the genre as a whole.
\nAfter taking a close look at the main components of the genre, the course focuses on the chronological development of the musical. You will learn about the British and American roots of the genre (operetta, vaudeville, minstrel show), before discussing seminal Broadway shows such as Show Boat and Oklahoma! The course will then trace the development from the classic book musical to concept musicals and the mega-musicals of the 1980s, before finishing with a discussion of the current state of the stage musical on Broadway and in the West End.
\nThe course will include theatre visits and the content of certain classes may be amended slightly during the semester to take account of the shows available.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175298","attributes":{"title":"Mobile Journalism","summary":"This is a practice based module aimed at teaching students how to create journalistic video content using a mobile phone or similar device.\nStudents...","description":"This is a practice based module aimed at teaching students how to create journalistic video content using a mobile phone or similar device.
\nStudents will learn the practical and editorial skills involved in recording video with sound and editing content to produce multimedia journalism.
\nStudents will also learn how to identify stories with potential for mobile journalism and how to upload and configure their work for social media and online publication.
\nThe module will be taught in a series of three-hour workshops, which will include presentations, essential skills teaching and, in the second half of term, will focus on editing and feedback on student work. Students will be expected to work on some assignments outside the classroom for editing and feedback during workshops.
\nPlease note that this modules is only open to Study Abroad students and will only run if enough students choose to enrol on it.
\nAssessment: 1x news report, 1x essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"311249","attributes":{"title":"Masculinities, Femininities, and Identities in Education","summary":"This module considers various forms of masculinity and femininity and how they impact upon identity, and upon education. In it we discuss the social...","description":"This module considers various forms of masculinity and femininity and how they impact upon identity, and upon education. In it we discuss the social construction of masculinities and femininities and how this construction is enacted through and underpinned by the ways in which gender roles are practised. We will consider how stereotypical gender roles —and the behaviour they prescribe— are learned, and how these impact on our sense of ourselves and of others. We will also look at the extent to which personal identity, including gender identity, is affected by expectations of masculinity and femininity in Western society. The module will also be concerned with how particular masculinities and femininities and the identities associated with them affect how people are able to learn, both inside and outside of educational institutions. We will also look at the role of policy – state and educational – in reifying particular gender identities.
\nThe topics we will address include:
\nSome might say that Museums and Galleries of art have been forced to develop an entrepreneurial strategy so that they can remain free, look after their buildings, realise ambitious new projects, compete with other forms of entertainment, including educational and leisure venues and establish themselves as important players on the international art scene. It may be unsurprising that working in an entrepreneurial way has come naturally to those in the creative industries and museums and galleries have enthusiastically embraced the challenges before them to increase audiences, embrace issues of diversity and offer a visitor experience that is both educational and enjoyable. This ten-week course takes place on Thursday afternoons and will include visits to museums and galleries such as Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and where possible other smaller galleries. Individual sessions will examine how museums use their collections for education, interpretation and event programming and have successfully developed a dedicated communications strategy to market, promote, fund-raise and attract sponsorship.
\nThe course will focus on education and interpretation as well as communication, sponsorship, fundraising, event management and curating.
\nMany of the sessions will take place in a museum or gallery and where possible, will involve a member of staff. There will also be opportunities for interactive and workshop activities.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word project
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"337023","attributes":{"title":"Mediating Violence: Feminist, Queer, Decolonial Perspectives","summary":"From #BlackLivesMatter to the ‘refugee crisis’, from the ‘war on terror’ to school shootings in the US, the framing of and responses to urgent...","description":"From #BlackLivesMatter to the ‘refugee crisis’, from the ‘war on terror’ to school shootings in the US, the framing of and responses to urgent political and cultural debates often rely on the mediation of violence. Violence is mediated as something palpable, recognizable, physical, spectacular, and something that evokes strong emotions. Increasingly, violence is also often mediated as distant, routine, and normalized, sparking fears of ‘viewer’ desensitization and fatigue. This module draws on interdisciplinary feminist, queer, and decolonial theory to unpack and interrogate violence and its mediation. It asks – What is violence and how is it represented and mediated? How is violence theorized and understood? What forms and shapes does violence take? What are the material and affective economies of violence? How does gender, sexuality, race, class, caste, and (dis)ability intersect with violence? How do social justice struggles and activisms relate to violence? By foregrounding critical feminist, queer, decolonial perspectives in cultural, social, media, and political theory, this module illuminates the intersectionalities and assemblages of power that ‘make’ and mediate violence and the racial-gendered-sexual grammars that connect the seemingly disparate locations of (everyday) violence. In the first weeks of the module, we visit key debates in the feminist, queer, decolonial theorizations of violence and its mediation. In the following weeks, we examine the mediation of violence through several ‘sites’ and ‘processes’ (such as bodies, borders, migrations, nations, nationalisms, empires, capitalism, war, torture, death, debility, trauma) using feminist, queer, decolonial theory and examples/case studies from popular media.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word essay (25%), 3,000 word essay (75%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"608912","attributes":{"title":"Media, Law and Ethics","summary":"The module investigates the nature of media law and ethical regulation for media practitioners primarily in the UK, but with some comparison with the...","description":"The module investigates the nature of media law and ethical regulation for media practitioners primarily in the UK, but with some comparison with the situation in the USA and references to the experiences of media communicators in other countries. The students are directed towards an analysis of media law, as it exists, the ethical debates concerning what the law ought to be, and the historical development of legal and regulatory controls of communication. The theoretical underpinning involves a module of learning the subject of media jurisprudence- the study of the philosophy of media law, media ethicology (the study of the knowledge of ethics/morality in media communication), and media ethicism (the belief systems in the political context that influence journalistic conduct and content). The module evaluates media law and regulation in terms of its social and cultural context. Media Law and Ethics is a dynamic subject with dramatic and significant changes and developments occurring from year to year addressing acute issues in journalism, current affairs and politics. As a result the module content is substantially revised year after year in response to these developments.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"857880","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Strategy","summary":"This module introduces students to the state-of-the-art in marketing strategy formulation. At the heart of marketing strategising typically lies the...","description":"This module introduces students to the state-of-the-art in marketing strategy formulation. At the heart of marketing strategising typically lies the creation of a strong brand and sustained customer value. This module also introduces the students to two foundational yet opposing strategic perspectives on market reality: market objectivism and market constructivism.
\nStudents will learn how these perspectives impact the way managers go about marketing strategy formulation and implementation. A unique feature of this module is the emphasis on new market creation processes - a strategic marketing competence that is not well understood, yet is key to organisational growth and survival in today's market environments.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"880201","attributes":{"title":"Marketing Analytics","summary":"Digital technologies allow for the creation and storage of an unprecedented amount of data. The advent of the Internet of Things will further...","description":"Digital technologies allow for the creation and storage of an unprecedented amount of data. The advent of the Internet of Things will further accelerate the growth of digital data, as more and more devices and physical objects will connect to the internet. The deluge of digital data produced on a daily basis presents an immense opportunity for marketing, yet seizing this opportunity requires specific market research skills. This module will introduce students to the rapidly growing field of marketing analytics and will familiarise them with its basic principles and general mindset. Students will learn concepts, techniques, and tools that are used to generate actionable research insights, from defining a marketing problem to producing strategic and tactical recommendations. It is essential to develop a deep understanding of the complex ecosystem of tools and platforms, as well as the communication skills necessary to explain data analytics.
\nThis module will not only discuss big data analytics, but will also highlight its limitations. Specifically, big data analytics assist in improving and developing existing product portfolios, yet their ability to derive insights that may inform the creation of radical innovations and new markets or the identification of market shifts is limited. Potential approaches to address this limitation will be discussed (e.g., combinations with qualitative/netnographic research methods).
\nIn summary, this module aims to provide students with the foundational skills needed to work in data-driven marketing environments.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word team report (50%), 2,000 word individual report (50%)
\nPre-requisite: Marketing and research methods module wth 60% pass mark
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"900804","attributes":{"title":"Mediating Violence: Feminist, Queer, Decolonial Perspectives","summary":"From #BlackLivesMatter to the ‘refugee crisis’, from the ‘war on terror’ to school shootings in the US, the framing of and responses to urgent...","description":"From #BlackLivesMatter to the ‘refugee crisis’, from the ‘war on terror’ to school shootings in the US, the framing of and responses to urgent political and cultural debates often rely on the mediation of violence. Violence is mediated as something palpable, recognizable, physical, spectacular, and something that evokes strong emotions. Increasingly, violence is also often mediated as distant, routine, and normalized, sparking fears of ‘viewer’ desensitization and fatigue. This module draws on interdisciplinary feminist, queer, and decolonial theory to unpack and interrogate violence and its mediation. It asks – What is violence and how is it represented and mediated? How is violence theorized and understood? What forms and shapes does violence take? What are the material and affective economies of violence? How does gender, sexuality, race, class, caste, and (dis)ability intersect with violence? How do social justice struggles and activisms relate to violence? By foregrounding critical feminist, queer, decolonial perspectives in cultural, social, media, and political theory, this module illuminates the intersectionalities and assemblages of power that ‘make’ and mediate violence and the racial-gendered-sexual grammars that connect the seemingly disparate locations of (everyday) violence. In the first weeks of the module, we visit key debates in the feminist, queer, decolonial theorizations of violence and its mediation. In the following weeks, we examine the mediation of violence through several ‘sites’ and ‘processes’ (such as bodies, borders, migrations, nations, nationalisms, empires, capitalism, war, torture, death, debility, trauma) using feminist, queer, decolonial theory and examples/case studies from popular media.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"905258","attributes":{"title":"Making Black British Histories: Community, Preservation and Public History","summary":"Public history is active, reactive and connected to the present. It is an essential part of a historian’s toolkit; it means putting historical...","description":"Public history is active, reactive and connected to the present. It is an essential part of a historian’s toolkit; it means putting historical research and writings into dialogue with public understandings of the past to have the broadest possible impact. It also means learning about the past and shaping research agendas by engaging with communities and the public. It can be developed on a grass-roots level beyond the university, or it can mean taking academic research and making it accessible to the public.
\nBlack British histories were developed, formed and shaped by activists, communities, and local archives before this field emerged as an academic discipline in universities. This module: 1) explored the community and activist roots of Black British history, and the ways organisations like the Black Cultural Archives, Institute of Race Relations and George Padmore Institute have preserved Black British pasts and histories of race in Britain; 2) examines the ways that Black British histories are created, developed and shared in the present. This includes: heritage projects, media, TV and film, digital resources, public commemoration, and the use of history to create public policy; 3) explores the historical roots of present-day actions taken to ‘decolonise the curriculum’ and the university, the ways Black British histories and histories of race have been made invisible in education and public memory, and what it means to create new systems of knowledge production and exchange.
\nThe rise and popularity of public history has become so widespread that some scholars have called it a ‘public history turn’. This interdisciplinary and interactive module not only introduces students to the methods and ideas behind public history, it will also help students learn how to make Black British histories more accessible and build transferable skills in public engagement and communication. The module includes field trips, guest lectures and a walking tour. This module is suitable for all students; prior knowledge or experience in Black British history not required.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000 word review (formative), 5 minute podcast (formative), 1,000 word blog post (25%), 2,000 word essay (30%), project (45%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91533","attributes":{"title":"Making Experimental Sound","summary":"This module introduces students to some of the key experimental methods for creating sounds within the realm of Sonic Art. It will focus on practical...","description":"This module introduces students to some of the key experimental methods for creating sounds within the realm of Sonic Art. It will focus on practical aspects, with some historical and creative context. The module will be taught through a series of lectures and workshops in which students will experiment with these methods, some of which will be selected for their assignment submissions. These aspects are supported by one-to-one tutorials. Areas covered may include: field recording practices and mics as tools (contact mic, coil mic, hydrophones), working with feedback and drones, hardware electronics, circuit bending, improvisation as method, synthesizers, creative processing.
\nIn order to succeed on this module students must be able to work independently with sound editing and sequencing software such as Logic Audio, Pro Tools, Reaper, or Ableton.
\nPre-requisites: Competence in composition using music technology
\nAssessment: portfolio of 3 exercises and commentary (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1355254","attributes":{"title":"Migration, Technology, and Humanitarianism","summary":"This research-led module explores the entanglements between migration, humanitarianism and technology in Europe and at its external frontiers. The...","description":"
This research-led module explores the entanglements between migration, humanitarianism and technology in Europe and at its external frontiers. The module focuses on how migrants are controlled through technologies and managed by humanitarian actors and measures; simultaneously, it analyses how migrants and refugees use technology and how human rights organizations and activists strategically appropriate technological tools to support migrants. The module engages with debates and literature in Politics & International Relations which deal with humanitarianism, security and technologies as well as their mutual articulations as strategic terrains of governance, activism and resistance. It explores how to rethink both collective and individual subjects in light of digital technologies and their contestations.
\nThe course is divided into three main sections. The first section will illustrate how migrants are governed by humanitarian measures, and how these latter are entangled with processes of securitization of migration. It will explore the recent transformation of the European asylum politics, drawing attention to humanitarian-security mechanisms and to the centrality of border cooperation with African countries in the European migration agenda. The second section will focus on how technologies are used for purposes of surveillance and control, with a specific focus on forced migration. The module will look at how digital technologies function to identify migrants (biometrics) and to govern them at a distance (monitoring tools, data exchange activities) in the Mediterranean Sea as well as along land borders. It will analyse the crucial role played by digital frontiers in border cooperation between the EU and third-countries. In the third part, the module will centre on the different political uses and appropriations of digital technologies by migrants, activists and as part of citizen mobilisations. It will take into account critical migration scholarship on border controls and migrant subjectivities (autonomy of migration theory).
\nThe module will touch upon the following topics:
\nAssessment: 1,000 word policy report (30%), 2,500 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"144490","attributes":{"title":"Music and Screen Media","summary":"This module will investigate the convergence of sonic and visual media in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Focusing on the relationship...","description":"This module will investigate the convergence of sonic and visual media in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Focusing on the relationship between artists, composers and filmmakers, we will consider a wide range of moving image media, from film, television and music video, to the interactive forms of computer games and VJing. We will investigate the ways in which music and the moving image interact with one another and how these interactions can influence our reception of, and engagement with, an audiovisual work. Of particular interest will be artists who work across genres and transgress disciplinary boundaries. Our explorations will be informed by the most recent critical work on audiovisual media, and we will use the notions of realism, narrative, screen space, immersion and transmedia to inform our thinking about each genre. This module will be delivered in conjunction with the Level 7 module of the same title; students will therefore experience discussion of these issues with the MA cohort as well as their level 6 peer group.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word project
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90021","attributes":{"title":"Numerical Mathematics","summary":"Effective computational experimentation will be introduced, alongside the numerical tools that you will use to support areas of computational...","description":"Effective computational experimentation will be introduced, alongside the numerical tools that you will use to support areas of computational and algorithmic inquiry.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n\n
Assessment: coursework (100%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90634","attributes":{"title":"New Media Technologies and Learning","summary":"The effects of new media on education are considered in this module, with the intent of giving students a detailed understanding. It will focus...","description":"
The effects of new media on education are considered in this module, with the intent of giving students a detailed understanding. It will focus on aspects of social media and other types of centralised media and will recruit the ideas of theorists such as Foucault, Barthes, Saussure, Friere, McGann, McLuhan, Bakhtin and Bourdieu.
\nSince this is an area of study that is developing very fast the course will refer to the most up-to-date material available and will look at all new developments that affect this area. In addition students will learn about movie making and how to represent ideas using this most effective media. We shall be examining areas such as Auteur, visualisation, editing, deformance, emotion, acting and message.
\nWe will examine the work of people trying to use moving images to influence others as well as learning from the work from a canon of established directors such as Orson Wells, Trufaut, Kitano, Hitchcock and Silberman.
\n\n
Assessment: 10 minute multimedia piece (50%), 2,500 word essay (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91556","attributes":{"title":"Narrative, Representation and Popular Song","summary":"You will be expected to engage with theories of representation and narrative in order to analyse how popular songs combine words and music to convey...","description":"You will be expected to engage with theories of representation and narrative in order to analyse how popular songs combine words and music to convey information about, comment upon and tell stories about the world throughout this module.
\nWe will also consider the non-representational, and non-narrative, along with the ambiguous and elusive qualities of songs. The course encourages you to think critically about questions of meaning, authorship, character and expression, along with the assumptions we make when interpreting songs.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, plus additional independent study.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94525","attributes":{"title":"Navigating Urban Life","summary":"Address significant issues in the contemporary organisation of urban landscapes, urban life and connections between cities as well as the interface...","description":"Address significant issues in the contemporary organisation of urban landscapes, urban life and connections between cities as well as the interface between human and architectural fabric. Drawing on specific empirical examples in based in China, Hong Kong, the US, London and parts of mainland Europe this module examines key debates in urban sociology and research. There is a strong focus on visual apprehension of cities and ways of accessing and researching cities through photography.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129147","attributes":{"title":"Neural Networks","summary":"The module introduces the theory and practice of neural computation.\nIt offers the principles of neuro-computing with artificial neural networks...","description":"The module introduces the theory and practice of neural computation.
\nIt offers the principles of neuro-computing with artificial neural networks widely used for addressing real-world problems such as classification, regression, pattern recognition, data mining, time series prediction, etc.
\nTwo main topics are covered: supervised and unsupervised learning:
\nSupervised learning is studied using linear perceptrons, and non-linear models such as probabilistic neural networks, multilayer perceptrons, and radial-basis function networks.
\nUnsupervised learning is studied using Kohonen networks. Recurrent networks of the Hopfield type are briefly covered. There are contemporary training techniques offered for all these neural networks.
\nProgram implementations in Matlab of the studied neural networks are provided.
\nAssessment: coursework (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129462","attributes":{"title":"New Radical Political Economy","summary":"Key issues in the field of contemporary radical political economy are considered during this module. It will outline and critically evaluate orthodox...","description":"Key issues in the field of contemporary radical political economy are considered during this module. It will outline and critically evaluate orthodox economic approaches to globalisation as well as challenges from the anti-capitalist movement.
\nMarxist, autonomist and green economics will be examined and criticised. The module will look at the effects of global capitalism on poverty, equality and environmental sustainability. Alternatives to the market and state regulation of economic activity such as commons regimes, open source and social sharing will also be put under the microscope.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"141514","attributes":{"title":"Narratives of the Great War (1916-22)","summary":"Providing a survey of some major perspectives in modern narrative writing on the problematics of the Great War, this module engages with appropriate...","description":"Providing a survey of some major perspectives in modern narrative writing on the problematics of the Great War, this module engages with appropriate strategies for analysing and interpreting literary techniques for the exploration of representative themes; it deals with perceptions of the war as part of contemporary history in narratives published between 1916-1922. Particular attention is paid to the significance of gender and to divergent cultural perspectives in Britain, Germany, and France.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147391","attributes":{"title":"Natural Computing ","summary":"Throughout history, nature has been a source of inspiration for scientists and researchers. Observations, many made accidentally, have been...","description":"
Throughout history, nature has been a source of inspiration for scientists and researchers. Observations, many made accidentally, have been triggering inquisitive minds for centuries.
\nIn this module, students will be introduced to various concepts in nature to build an understanding of nature-inspired swarm intelligence and evolutionary computation techniques.
\nStudents are then guided through the process of implementation of adaptation of these techniques to apply to various existing real-world problems (e.g. clustering, medical imaging, optimisation and visualisation).
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"156436","attributes":{"title":"Narratives of the Great War (1923-1933)","summary":"You'll gain an understanding of some major perspectives in modern narrative writing on the problematics of the Great War, with appropriate...","description":"You'll gain an understanding of some major perspectives in modern narrative writing on the problematics of the Great War, with appropriate strategies for analysing and interpreting literary techniques for the exploration of representative themes; it concentrates on ways of remembering and/or historicising the war in narratives published between 1923 and 1933.
\nParticular attention is paid to the significance of gender and to divergent cultural perspectives in Britain, Germany, and France.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166675","attributes":{"title":"Nationalism and Unionism in Ireland, 1798-1998\n","summary":"Covering the period from the attempted revolution by the United Irishmen to the Good Friday Agreement, this module focuses on the political history...","description":"Covering the period from the attempted revolution by the United Irishmen to the Good Friday Agreement, this module focuses on the political history of the island of Ireland, with close reference to political cultures and identities. At its core are the two political allegiances around which politics has been organised for the past two centuries: nationalism and unionism.
\nThe module considers the key political events of the period: the 1798 rebellion, the Act of Union, the famine and debates on land/religion, Home Rule, the First World War and the Rising, and the subsequent politics of the two states on the island before and during the Troubles. Special attention will be paid to aspects of political culture, including the roles of religion and sport, and to theoretical perspectives on conflict. It will also consider issues around sectarianism, violence and paramilitarism.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 2,500 word essay (formative), class discussion (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90189","attributes":{"title":"Organisational Behaviour and Health","summary":"The module aims to provide an introduction to individual and organisational health and the ways in which organisational environments can be designed...","description":"The module aims to provide an introduction to individual and organisational health and the ways in which organisational environments can be designed to facilitate this. The module begins with a discussion of the antecedents of individual and organisational health and wellbeing, and also discusses the likely symptoms of when health and wellbeing are poorly managed by organisations. The ways in which this process can be mitigated is then discussed in light of the impact of individual differences as well as the impact of health and safety management systems. After this, the module broadens out to discuss the organisational context for health, wellbeing and performance in more detail through the design of work, organisational structure and culture, and planned change for improving organisational effectiveness.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90563","attributes":{"title":"Old English","summary":"Students will be introduced to the earliest literature in English. The module explores the origins and development of both the English language and...","description":"Students will be introduced to the earliest literature in English. The module explores the origins and development of both the English language and literary forms such as the dream-vision, elegy, epic and romance. In order to appreciate the literature of the pre-Conquest period, a good reading knowledge of Old English is acquired, through regular weekly exercises and translations. This close attention to language raises important issues such as language's lack of transparency and the gaps between signifiers and signifieds.
\nAssessment autumn: 1,500-2,000 word essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay portfolio (100%)
\nAssessment full year: 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (33%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (34%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90765","attributes":{"title":"Of Revelation & Revolution: A Social & Political History of Twentieth-Century South Africa","summary":"This module examines key social, economic and political developments in the history of 20th-century South Africa. Topics include the mineral...","description":"
This module examines key social, economic and political developments in the history of 20th-century South Africa. Topics include the mineral revolution, the migrant labour system, segregation and apartheid, resistance and the transition to democracy in 1994. The module charts important social transformations in the context of this changing political history.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91845","attributes":{"title":"Organisational Behaviour","summary":"How organisational, team-level and individual characteristics affect productivity and mental health is explored in this module through introducing...","description":"How organisational, team-level and individual characteristics affect productivity and mental health is explored in this module through introducing students to psychological theories and research.
\nThis module will also consider the limitations of our understanding of these issues and how occupational psychology theory and research is trying to overcome them.
\nAssessment: 2x essays.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142501","attributes":{"title":"Objects of Difference: Race & Capital","summary":"Students will begin by investigating the ways in which the discursive field has been analysed by postcolonial, feminist and queer theorists of...","description":"Students will begin by investigating the ways in which the discursive field has been analysed by postcolonial, feminist and queer theorists of capitalism and biopolitics, but we will then move forward to consider the ways in which “objects can and do resist” through particular strategies and performances of opposition including community‐building, improvisation, film‐making, activism, and other forms of fine art practice including sculpture, painting, and site‐specific installation art.
\nAssessment: group presentation, 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"162916","attributes":{"title":"Online News Reporting","summary":"Aimed at students who want practical hands-on experience of journalism, it offers a grounding in the principles of online news and short feature...","description":"Aimed at students who want practical hands-on experience of journalism, it offers a grounding in the principles of online news and short feature research and writing and the use of images and other digital material to illustrate your work. You will be given the opportunity to work as a reporter and your skills into practice working for Southlondonlines or Eastlondonlines, the news websites run by the Department.
\nYou will be taught key journalistic skills in researching, interviewing and writing and how Wordpress works in a journalistic context. This will assist in potential journalistic careers but are also all important skills for those pursuing communications-based careers such as brand development, public relations or perhaps working with think tanks or NGO’s
\nEach weekly workshop will focus on specific skills, with weekly assignments. Students will research and write a number of news stories and/or short features for their portfolio. Feedback will be given as appropriate and are in both group and individual formats.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"857869","attributes":{"title":"Organisational Behaviour and Health","summary":"This module aims to provide an introduction to individual and organisational health and the ways in which organisational environments can be designed...","description":"This module aims to provide an introduction to individual and organisational health and the ways in which organisational environments can be designed to facilitate this. The module begins with a discussion of the antecedents of individual and organisational health and wellbeing, and also discusses the likely symptoms of when health and wellbeing are poorly managed by organisations. The ways in which this process can be mitigated is then discussed in light of the impact of individual differences as well as the impact of organisational systems designed to manage health and wellbeing. After this, the module broadens out to discuss the organisational context for health, wellbeing and performance in more detail through the design of work, organisational structure and culture, and planned change for improving organisational health and effectiveness.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166387","attributes":{"title":"The Ocean as Archive","summary":"The Ocean as Archive explores several interdisciplinary approaches to reading the water. It starts by examining discourses on the ‘watery...","description":"The Ocean as Archive explores several interdisciplinary approaches to reading the water. It starts by examining discourses on the ‘watery anthropocene’. Spurred by this crisis it considers other ways of reading the water: materially through oceanographic studies of watery depths and strata, and marine life therein; and temporally by considering the ocean as a speculative site, and as a space of residues. This module also explores alternate ways of reading this crisis: through non-western (Pacific Island, West African) maritime epistemologies and myths, through discourses on migration (both contemporary and historical), through the mobilisation of the image of water in critical theory, in literature, in music and in art.
\nThe class examines the site of the ocean not with the aim to systematically plumb its depths so to speak, but rather sees the ocean as a laboratory with which to examine multiple and often contradictory approaches when taking to the sea. As a result a key summative assignment is a creative journal, which is intended as a site to explore critical experimental approaches to interdisciplinary ways of knowing, which the crisis of the watery anthropocene urgently demands.
\nThe Ocean as Archive considers methods with which we can begin to understand what is at stake in articulating the visual cultures of the sea. These methods are practice-led, and are aimed at students interested in exploring experimental methods in their critical work.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89540","attributes":{"title":"Philosophy and Methodology of Social Science","summary":"All sociologists have had to deal with some conflict between the idea of sociological knowledge as scientific, guided by reason, and human...","description":"All sociologists have had to deal with some conflict between the idea of sociological knowledge as scientific, guided by reason, and human subjectivity, which gives us differing conceptions of what is real or true. This module looks at some problems in finding out about the social world, dealing with values, and interpreting social reality or realities.
\nThe module provides a basis to think about problems and methods of producing sociological knowledge. The sorts of question we will be asking include:
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• To develop students’ understanding of classical approaches to sociological knowledge, and to introduce students to important recent contributions to these debates.
\n• To examine the status of sociology as a social ‘science’.
\n• To trace the connections between theory and methodology within social research.
\n• To critically examine the forms of knowledge produced by sociologists in relation to issues of values, politics, subjectivity and difference.
\n• To understand key classical and contemporary approaches to knowledge and methodology within sociology and related social sciences
\n• To analyse sociological knowledge in relation to wider debates about scientific knowledge and method
\n• To analyse the relation between theory and methodology in social research
\n• To examine sociological knowledge in relation to issues of fact and value, objectivity and subjectivity, power, difference and ethics
\nAssessment: 1x 2 hour exam or alternate assessment
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89605","attributes":{"title":"Philosophy, Politics and Alterity","summary":"Considering the work of Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Wendy Brown and others in order to explore what they understand by the term...","description":"Considering the work of Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Wendy Brown and others in order to explore what they understand by the term ‘politics’ and the political constitution of difference/alterity. In pursuit of this aim, we will consider the importance of spatiality and especially borders, the construction of subjectivity as a political process, the importance of contemporary geo-political formations and the different analyses of resistance offered by these theorists, whether that be in terms of revolution and uprising, or in terms of aesthetic interventions. My hope is that in our discussions we will be able to use our reading and explorations not only to understand the work of these thinkers, but also to turn our collective attention to current geo-political controversies and the legacies of those from the past.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• To display detailed written knowledge of a selected article or chapter by one of the chosen thinkers in the context of the writer’s other works
\n• To show knowledge of context, both theoretical and historical, of development of thought of their chosen thinker(s)
\n• To relate key arguments of different perspectives on the course themes to each other, orally and/or in written work
\n• To give examples of how philosophical and/or political concepts have potential contemporary relevance
\n• To research and study independently in order to present findings of independent study, orally and/or in written work
\nAssessment: 1x 4500 word essay Or 3x coursework (1000 word critical study, 1000 word creative piece and 2500 word essay)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90000","attributes":{"title":"Perception and Multimedia Computing","summary":"This module aims both to build on the skills and competences developed in Graphics and Sound and Signal at level 4.\nIt provides students with a...","description":"This module aims both to build on the skills and competences developed in Graphics and Sound and Signal at level 4.
\nIt provides students with a detailed appreciation of human visual and audio perception, allowing them to understand the limitations of their own sensory gamut, and to be able to exploit similarities and differences between observer’s perceptual systems. The students will learn the fundamentals of signal processing and systems,and how they are applied in typical multimedia applications.
\nPre-Requisites: Programming experience. You must also have taken an intro to maths course
\nAssessment: lab portfolio (50%), project (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90178","attributes":{"title":"Personality and Individual Differences","summary":"This module explores individual differences, the psychology of how and why people differ, and what the implications those differences have.\nTopics...","description":"
This module explores individual differences, the psychology of how and why people differ, and what the implications those differences have.
\nTopics include:
\nContact hours: 2-hour lecture per week, 1-hour seminar per week
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91374","attributes":{"title":"Pathologies of the Modern Self","summary":"The module ‘Pathologies of the Modern Self’ encourages students to reflect critically on the notions of the ‘normal’ and the ‘pathological’ and...","description":"The module ‘Pathologies of the Modern Self’ encourages students to reflect critically on the notions of the ‘normal’ and the ‘pathological’ and introduces a range of critical questions: what does it mean to ‘have a self’? How has the notion of the ‘normal’ arisen? How are we to understand the changes in diagnostic classifications, which have occurred over the last 40 years or so? What kinds of ‘selves’ do counselling and therapy promote?
\nIn revisiting critically the notion of the ‘modern self’ within the context of late modernity (late capitalism, urbanism, surveillance society) and post-Enlightenment thinking(s), the module invites students to develop a psychosocial understanding of modern individual pathologies and societal pathologies that combines the social, the political and the personal in new ways. The module questions the modern division of ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’ and encourages a critical inquiry towards the increasing medicalization of mental distress and emotional suffering as well as the growing psychologisation of modern subjectivity.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (80%), 30-40 minute presentation (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91422","attributes":{"title":"Performance: Styles and Contexts","summary":"Building on the musical performance skills acquired at Year 1 level, this module develops not only practical performance skills but also critical...","description":"Building on the musical performance skills acquired at Year 1 level, this module develops not only practical performance skills but also critical listening skills and interpersonal skills. Individual tuition is provided by expert visiting staff. You will give several unassessed performances as part of Tutor-led performance seminars, as well as assessed mid-term and end-of-year recitals. You will also work with a composer during the second term on a new work for your instrument or voice, the premiere of which will also form part of your assessment.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 12-15 minute recital performance/presentation plus programme notes c. 600-800 words
\nAssessment spring: performance (50%), performance/presentation (50%)
\nAssessment full year: technical test (20%), performance (35%), final performance and commentary (45%)
\n\n
Pre-requisite: as this is a performance-based class, a reference, a performance recording, and a written statement may be requested before you can enrol on this module. You also may be invited for an audition when you arrive on campus.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91455","attributes":{"title":"Phonography","summary":"This compositional module creatively explores the domain of field recording, including the use of recorded sounds in documentary, acoustic ecology...","description":"This compositional module creatively explores the domain of field recording, including the use of recorded sounds in documentary, acoustic ecology and sound art. It theoretically and practically tackles the salient issues and simultaneously builds up the technical skills required in the practice of phonography.
\nPre-requisites: Experience of using music technology and sonic art techniques.
\nAssessment: 1 x compositional project, 1 x written project.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91466","attributes":{"title":"Performance","summary":"Develop not only practical performance skills but also critical listening and interpersonal skills. The module is closely linked to individual...","description":"Develop not only practical performance skills but also critical listening and interpersonal skills. The module is closely linked to individual specialist tuition on your first study instrument or voice, thus building a strong technical and musical foundation for confident performance in a range of genres.
\nAssessment autumn: 10-12 minute performance (80%), learning journal (20%)
\nAssessment spring: ensemble assessment (35%), final performance (65%). Assessments will take place in class in May
\nAssessment full year: technical test (20%), ensemble performance (20%), final performance (40%), exam (20%)
\n\n
Pre-requisite: as this is a performance-based class, a reference, a performance recording, and a written statement may be requested before you can enrol on this module. You also may be invited for an audition when you arrive on campus.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91592","attributes":{"title":"Political Theory and Ideologies","summary":"This module is designed to introduce you to some of the fundamental concepts, theories and ideologies that influence our understanding and evaluation...","description":"This module is designed to introduce you to some of the fundamental concepts, theories and ideologies that influence our understanding and evaluation of the political world.
\nYou'll explore key political concepts such as legitimacy, democracy, liberty, equality and justice by introducing some of the ideas of major political thinkers such as Hobbes, Bentham, Locke, Kant, Marx, J.S. Mill, Rawls and Nozick.
\nYou'll also learn about major political ideologies including liberalism, socialism, conservatism and anarchism.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91843","attributes":{"title":"Perspectives on Capital: Cultural, Social, Financial, Critical","summary":"This course examines key concepts of capital, and multiple different perspectives for examining these capitals. It explores the grounding of capital...","description":"This course examines key concepts of capital, and multiple different perspectives for examining these capitals. It explores the grounding of capital types in economic systems, societal norms, and their creative and cultural roles.
\nThe module provides the theoretical foundations for students to understand the creation and interplay of intellectual, social, cultural, and economic resources.
\nThis course addresses multiple capital types: physical capital (natural resources), social capital (bonding/bridging capital and strong/weak ties), human capital (education, skills, and investment therein), and financial capital (access to finance, operation of debt, equity and working capital). Over the spread of the module, students will develop their knowledge of these capitals alongside frameworks to understand their different forms, their flows and interdependencies.
\nThe module examines how different forms of capital are acquired, maintained, enhanced and exchanged, and the role that networks, evaluation materials and legal systems play. By tracing the historical context of different societal mechanisms to create and distribute capital, students can appreciate how current theories of capital in our digital revolution age are constructed and contested.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (50%), 1,500 word essay (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92830","attributes":{"title":"Photography & Sound","summary":"Photgraphy and Sound takes up Weinberger’s criticism of contemporary visual anthropology for adopting a narrow definition of its field and its...","description":"
Photgraphy and Sound takes up Weinberger’s criticism of contemporary visual anthropology for adopting a narrow definition of its field and its available tools, when the conjunction of ‘visual’ with ‘anthropology’ should actually open up a whole range of creative possibilities for conducting and presenting research. It will explore the role of photography and sound in anthropology in terms of both the history of their use within the discipline, and also the potentials they hold for new ways of conducting research. The module will take an anthropological approach to develop a new understanding of photography and the way in which it participates in society.
\nPhotographs have become one of the primary and most tangible forms for recording memory, and we will explore the magical animist nature of photography. The module will also consider the potential of sound as a means of anthropological description and a way of researching space and place, time and memory, identity and belonging.
\nWe will consider the relations between words and sounds, and ways of knowing and being in the world. The distinctions between the word as it is written and as it is spoken is important here, as are issues of translation – sound into recording, sound into text, one sense into another, as well as adequate cross-cultural translation.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93312","attributes":{"title":"Politics and Difference","summary":"Take a selective route through 20th and 21st century philosophical reflections on politics & philosophies of difference. The module seeks to...","description":"Take a selective route through 20th and 21st century philosophical reflections on politics & philosophies of difference. The module seeks to locate contemporary debates as part of a longer discussion.
\nEach year certain key themes are pursued. In 2016-7 we will explore questions of politics and difference through the entangled themes of radical pluralism, relationality, divergence, multiplicity, and becoming.
\nThe course has been designed to critically review the continuing relevance of questions raised by our key thinkers by pairing them with other contemporary writers who either explicitly speak to that thinker or who share the key thinker’s attentions or philosophical imaginary in some way. So each week we will have two set readings, and students are encouraged to read both if possible. In this way it will be possible for students to follow a more overtly theoretical route through the course, or follow a route that stays closer to theoretical controversies as they are played out in contemporary sites or issues.
\nSome of the philosophers and writers covered this year include: William James, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Edouard Glissant, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Clarice Lispector, Donna Haraway, Isabelle Stengers, and Catherine Keller, among others. Relevant journals include: Public Culture, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Cultural Studies, Cultural Criticism, Cultural Anthropology, Critique, Diacritics, Feminist Theory, Feminist Issues, New Formations, Signs, Theory, Culture & Society, Radical Philosophy, South Atlantic Quarterly, Positions, Angelaki.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93390","attributes":{"title":"Politics of the Audiovisual","summary":"Since the beginning of moving images, the world has moved from industrial and imperial to digital and global. Among the political movements that have...","description":"Since the beginning of moving images, the world has moved from industrial and imperial to digital and global. Among the political movements that have been most important in the period since the invention of the movies are (neo)liberalism, Marxism, fascism, nationalism, feminism and anti-colonial struggles. These trends are inescapably bound up in the technologies, techniques and forms of the moving image and the sound arts, from the early days of cinema to contemporary handheld and immersive media. This module investigates the politics of these forms and technologies as attempts at controlling the dispositions of minds and bodies and as struggles for their emancipation. It will address a broad range of topics from the power of sounds, images and visual apparatuses in the 20th and 21st centuries to the relationship of politics and aesthetics, the problem of democracy, and ideology critique.
\nMankind, which in Homer’s time was an object of contemplation for the Olympian gods, now is one for itself. Its self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order. This is the situation of politics which Fascism is rendering aesthetic. Communism responds by politicizing art.
\nWalter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. 1936.
\nSince the beginning of moving images, the world has moved from industrial and imperial to digital and global. Among the political movements that have been most important in the period since the invention of the movies are Marxism, populism, nationalism, feminism, anti-colonial struggles and environmentalism. These trends are inescapably bound up in the technologies, techniques and forms of the moving image and the sound arts.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word review (25%), 3,000 word essay (75%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93397","attributes":{"title":"Political Economy of the Media","summary":"What part do the media play in the democratic processes of society? What influences the media? How do different societies organise their media...","description":"What part do the media play in the democratic processes of society? What influences the media? How do different societies organise their media systems? To what extent do ‘new media’ change things? And (briefly) what influence do the media have? This is a module about the transformations of the media and media systems.
\nFrom changes in the mass media of broadcasting and print, to multimedia and the Internet, we look at different ways of making sense of these transformations and consider a range of questions concerning media power and influence. This is also a module about the political and economic organisation of the media. We explore a central claim of political economists that there are important relationships between the content and output of media and the way in which media production is organised in a particular economy and social system.
\nPolitical economy is concerned with questions about the relationship between media and society, with questions of media influence, and questions about how media power connects with other forms of power in society. It is concerned with questions about how media industries and cultural work is organised, and why this matters for the range and quality of what is produced by journalists, media professional and creative workers. It considers such issues as the influence of policy and regulation, market forces and commercial dynamics. In doing so, the module compares culturalist interpretations with studies emphasising the role of the state, media ownership, advertising and market structures as forms of media control.
\nTopics include:
\nAssessment: 1x 3,000 word essay
\nThis module is also available at postgraduate level
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129168","attributes":{"title":"Physical Computing","summary":"Encompassing basic physics, electronics, programming and software engineering, this module will help you develop the skills needed for designing and...","description":"Encompassing basic physics, electronics, programming and software engineering, this module will help you develop the skills needed for designing and building interactive physical devices.
\nThe module will be taught as a series of seminars and lab sessions oriented around the popular Arduino platform and development environment.
\nAssessment: 4x lab coursework, 1x mid-term quiz, 1x final project
\nPre-Requisites: Programming and at least an introductory maths course
\nContact hours: 1 hour lecture and 2 hour workshop each week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129461","attributes":{"title":"Political Economy","summary":"This module introduces the various attempts to clarify and understand the links between economic and political processes, which come under the banner...","description":"This module introduces the various attempts to clarify and understand the links between economic and political processes, which come under the banner of ‘political economy’.
\nAs a whole, the module is intended to draw out the links between the broad “school”-level approaches (such as Marxism, economic sociology, methodological individualism and institutional economics) and contemporary issues and analyses (concerning questions of resource scarcity, predation, coordination failures and trust).
\n\n
Assessment (autumn term students): 2,500 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment (full year students): 2,500 word essay (50%), 2,500 word essay (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129581","attributes":{"title":"Politics of Vision","summary":"The visual and its discursive political effects are considered in this module. It starts from the premise that vision is not merely a neutral way of...","description":"
The visual and its discursive political effects are considered in this module. It starts from the premise that vision is not merely a neutral way of seeing the world, but rather is intimately bound up with the political.
\nAs such, the module is interested in unpacking the political nature of how we code and construct the world through vision, the position that art and aesthetics play in moderating political debate and even knowledge construction itself, as well as investigating the relationship between ‘seeing’ and ‘doing’ more broadly in terms of surveillance, control and power.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (70%), visual project (30%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"135717","attributes":{"title":"Philosophy and Power: The Philosopher and the Colonies","summary":"The question of power cuts across many school and texts of modern and contemporary philosophy. Though principally associated with the field of...","description":"
The question of power cuts across many school and texts of modern and contemporary philosophy. Though principally associated with the field of political philosophy, from ancient disquisitions on the relation between ethics, justice and political power, to contemporary explorations of power as a multi-dimensional social relation, power has also been crucial to debates in ontology and metaphysics, as well as to philosophy's complex interactions with other disciplines, from sociology to psychiatry, anthropology to feminism and gender studies.
\nAssessment: 1x 4000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"138723","attributes":{"title":"Policy and Practice in Early Childhood Education","summary":"You will explore cross-cultural and international themes as they relate to young children and their families. This will include beginning to...","description":"You will explore cross-cultural and international themes as they relate to young children and their families. This will include beginning to understand the diversity in the structure and purpose of Early Years settings and the reasons for this, children’s rights domestically and internationally, and a comparison of what constitutes quality in Early Years settings and the role of adults in ensuring this.
\nAssessment spring: 2,500 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 3,000 word essay (50%), 10 minute presentation (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Spring","tags":"Full year, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140626","attributes":{"title":"Politics of Conflict and Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa","summary":"This module explores the origins and dynamics of conflict in Africa and evaluates interventions aimed at peace and political transformation. It...","description":"
This module explores the origins and dynamics of conflict in Africa and evaluates interventions aimed at peace and political transformation. It examines the different forms of conflict that emerged on the continent in the post-Cold War period, including genocide, civil war, electoral violence and non-violent protests. It considers the political significance of the historical characteristics of the African state and social forces, and the influences of regional and international actors. It draws on relevant theoretical debates on the drivers of conflict to inform the analysis of country case studies, and to identify critical issues such as ethnicity, resources, land grabbing, militarised masculinity, corruption and globalisation. It looks both at international interventions in peacebuilding, and at less visible initiatives by local actors. The module provides an in-depth understanding of recent African experiences and offers insights into the wider problems of conflict and challenges for peacebuilding in the contemporary era.
\n\n
Assessment: 4,000 word report (100%), 10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142441","attributes":{"title":"Education Policy into Practice","summary":"In this module we will consider the relationship between theory, research and practice, particularly in an education context, with sessions...","description":"In this module we will consider the relationship between theory, research and practice, particularly in an education context, with sessions delivering both a critical framework and an opportunity to discuss new ideas and alternative approaches. We will consider a number of themes including the impact of a move towards ‘craft based’ teaching on classroom inclusion and the impact of the recent Prevent agenda and The Equalities Act on classroom practice, as well as the political, social and economic forces that shape them. We will explore how policy can be adopted to enhance and inform practice, in tandem with professional expertise, rather than undermining it.
\nAll participants will be encouraged to link theory with their own practice and, through research, to further develop their engagement with active professional, and school development in collaboration with colleagues and/or pupils in their own context. Students will also have the opportunity to investigate an area of their own choosing through an assessment based in research-engaged practice.
\nPlease note this module will be taught in the summer term.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89982","attributes":{"title":"Principles and Applications of Programming","summary":"This module will enable students to design and implement large scale computer programs. The main areas covered are: \n\nGeneral and specific...","description":"This module will enable students to design and implement large scale computer programs. The main areas covered are:
\nPre-requisite: programming experience
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90317","attributes":{"title":"Postcolonial Literatures in English","summary":"Students will analyse the literature and culture produced in the aftermath of, and in response to, the end of European formal colonialism. It...","description":"
Students will analyse the literature and culture produced in the aftermath of, and in response to, the end of European formal colonialism. It will address representations of colonialism and decolonisation, of the experience of postcolonial societies and of diasporic peoples.
\nAttention will be paid to the issues of ethnicity, class and gender in postcolonial literatures, the claims of nativist ideologies and cosmopolitan theories of hybridity. The module is designed to provide an historical account of the development of postcolonial literatures and to investigate their formal specificities, their commonalities and differences through a comparative analysis of different genres, regions and historical experiences of (post) colonialism.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90397","attributes":{"title":"Post-Victorian English Literature","summary":"By examining selected literary works across several genres in the period 1901-36, this model concentrates upon English-based writings in the...","description":"
By examining selected literary works across several genres in the period 1901-36, this model concentrates upon English-based writings in the non-modernist tradition. Topics for consideration include responses to social change and warfare, and new conceptions of Englishness and modern sexuality. Authors include Hardy, Forster, Brooke, Owen, Graves, Mansfield, Lawrence, Waugh, Joyce, Huxley and Orwell.
\nContact hours: 1 hour lecture and 1 hour seminar per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91369","attributes":{"title":"Professional Frameworks in Therapeutic Practice","summary":"The module focuses on wide-ranging concerns and controversies which are informing therapeutic culture(s) today, including state regulation of the...","description":"The module focuses on wide-ranging concerns and controversies which are informing therapeutic culture(s) today, including state regulation of the ‘psychological therapies’ ; issues associated with the concept of ‘therapeutic relationship’; codes of ethics governing therapeutic cultures and issues of difference.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000 word take home paper
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91699","attributes":{"title":"Privacy, Surveillance and Security","summary":"This module will engage with issues of privacy, surveillance and security. Recent years have seen a huge growth in demands for: certainty in the...","description":"This module will engage with issues of privacy, surveillance and security. Recent years have seen a huge growth in demands for: certainty in the verification of identity; accountability of individual and organisational activity; and mechanisms designed to accumulate knowledge of what individuals and groups may do in the near future. Across Europe and the United States, these demands have been incorporated into, amongst other things, increasing numbers of CCTV cameras, forms of biometric identification, enhanced border crossing security, more frequent use of profiling and categorising techniques and a growth in automated, algorithmic surveillance. These technological developments do not stand alone, but form the focus for a rapidly expanding legislative environment, the production of new and amended forms of expertise and the swift generation of means of assessment (to cover everything from the legality of a system to its value for money). These developments each emerge alongside an expansion of the industry of protest and movements to enhance civil liberties. They have led to claims that we are witnessing an expansion of state and organisational attempts to capture, store and categorise information about everyday activities. Travel, shopping, work, and leisure activities are all implicated in this growth of socio-techno-legal systems.
\nHowever, what is it that we know about the everyday activities that go into establishing and maintaining these systems? In what ways are our daily activities subtly (and not so subtly) re-oriented through these systems? Do we need protection from or more imaginative responses to, surveillance systems?
\nAssessment: 4,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93521","attributes":{"title":"Promotional Culture","summary":"This module looks at the rise of promotional culture (public relations, advertising, marketing and branding) and promotional intermediaries and their...","description":"This module looks at the rise of promotional culture (public relations, advertising, marketing and branding) and promotional intermediaries and their impact on society. The first part of the module will look at the history of promotional culture and will offer some conflicting theoretical approaches with which to view its development. These include: professional/ industrial, economic, political economy, Post-Fordist, audience, consumer society, risk society, and postmodern perspectives. The second part will look at specific case areas of promotional culture. These are in: fashion and taste, technological commodities, popular culture (film TV, music), celebrities and public figures, political parties, and financial markets. In each of these areas questions will be asked about the influence of promotional practices on the production, communication and consumption of ideas and products as well as larger discourses, fashions/ genres and socio-economic trends.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93978","attributes":{"title":"Project Management","summary":"Project Management involves all aspects of defining, designing, delivering, and supporting organisational initiatives and product development. These...","description":"Project Management involves all aspects of defining, designing, delivering, and supporting organisational initiatives and product development. These aspects include planning and controlling for scope, time, cost, quality, HR, communications, risk, procurement, and their integration. It involves all activities from initiating projects to managing, directing, controlling, and closing them. This module will address all of these areas in a rigorous and structured way, using three dominant methodologies currently active in operational environments. It will provide students with an active skillset in project management and prepare them to pursue certification in any of these three methodologies. The curriculum will use lectures, activities, case studies, group work, role-play scenarios, and presentations. Students will be taught in a single lecture environment each week before breaking off into smaller groups for project management tools and software training in labs in five of the weeks.
\nAssessment: group work project (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94789","attributes":{"title":"Practical Methods 1 - Media Systems, Media Ecologies and Turbulence","summary":"We use a series of defamiliarisation techniques to create an environment of enquiry rapidly producing small projects. As the lab work is student...","description":"We use a series of defamiliarisation techniques to create an environment of enquiry rapidly producing small projects. As the lab work is student centered, the specific experiments undertaken depend on the current mix of students’ backgrounds.
\nSubjects covered might include Introduction to Media systems and Media ecologies; Linux command line; Formal Language vs Informal Language; the dissection of a unix file; Eco-media;programming Perl; variables lists, hashes, modules; editing with Vim; introduction to networking; introduction to electronics; introduction to physical computing (Arduino); Free-media; Radio waves including video sniffin; Telegraphy, submarine cables; garden hose telephones; introduction to Relational Machines- Database; introduction to Natural Language processing.
\nThis module culminates in a group project and presentation. During previous years the module has culminated in the creation of a network of Coin Laundries, in a performance, reconfiguring a Laurie Grove Bath House as a media-scape. Working with world renowned artist Shu Lee Chang on Moving Forrest in 2011, students have created performances on the Thames as an analogue computer. In 2013, students have produced Evil Media for YoHa at Transmediale.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129189","attributes":{"title":"Problem Solving for Computer Science","summary":"This module introduces students to a number of classical problems in computer science, algorithms to solve them, and an introduction to data...","description":"
This module introduces students to a number of classical problems in computer science, algorithms to solve them, and an introduction to data structures and complexity. As a result of attending this module, students should have the ability and confidence to tackle new problems using a general and abstract approach to algorithmic solutions.
\nAssessment: lab portfolio (50%), exam (50%)
\nPre-Requisites: Some web programming experience and knowledge of discrete maths
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129568","attributes":{"title":"Practical Popular Music Studies","summary":"Practical Popular Music Studies allows you to develop your practical skills in the broadest sense via a weekly performance class and individual...","description":"
Practical Popular Music Studies allows you to develop your practical skills in the broadest sense via a weekly performance class and individual vocal/ instrumental lessons.
\nIt provides instruction in all areas of practical musicianship including aural skills, transcription, sight-reading and improvisation as well as ensemble playing and performance. You will be given supporting classes in performance technology (how to use PA, Mics etc) and other issues relating to rehearsal, practice and presentation.
\nAssessment full year: performance (20%), presentation (20%), exam (20%), performance (40%)
\nAssessment autumn: performance (100%)
\nContact hours: 1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, 10 hours of weekly vocal/instrumental tuition, plus additional independent study.
\nPre-requisite: as this is a performance-based class, a reference, a performance recording, and a written statement may be requested before you can enrol on this module. You also may be invited for an audition when you arrive on campus.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129615","attributes":{"title":"Practising Urban Ethnography","summary":"This is an intensive, fieldwork-based module, aimed at further developing your skills and experience of doing and writing ethnographic research....","description":"This is an intensive, fieldwork-based module, aimed at further developing your skills and experience of doing and writing ethnographic research. Learning is framed around encouraging you to develop detailed knowledge and understanding of how to design, carry out and write up an ethnographic research project. In this way, the module aims to develop your capacity to apply ethnographic research skills. The central feature of the module is your participation in a collaborative ethnographic project taking place in Reading Week. This is a module that is particularly well-suited to students who want to the opportunity to further enhance their ethnographic research skills by conducting a more sustained piece of ethnographic fieldwork under the guidance of an experienced ethnographer.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Describe and explain ethnographic research from principles to practice
\n• Draw on their own experiences of doing urban ethnography to develop their knowledge and understanding of ethnographic practice
\n• Understand the different stages in the process of conducting ethnographic research
\n• Critically discuss the strengths and values of conducting ethnography for sociological research
\n• Develop capacity in leadership, team work and organisation
\n• Design, plan and carry out ethnographic research
\n• Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of the methods, tools and devices involved in ethnographic research
\n• Critically evaluate the ethical issues relating to ethnographic research
\n• Produce sociological knowledge on the based on the analysis of ethnographic information
\n• Critically evaluate the contemporary ethnographic practice of themselves and others
\nAssessment: 1x 3500 word research report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129638","attributes":{"title":"Popular Modernism Part 1","summary":"A new angle on the debates about modernism and postmodernism is constructed through this module. It will posit the concept of popular modernism as an...","description":"A new angle on the debates about modernism and postmodernism is constructed through this module. It will posit the concept of popular modernism as an alternative both to “high” modernism and to post‐modernism. It will show that, especially during the period 1950‐1985, many techniques and approaches pioneered in modernism were not only disseminated, but extended and transformed in popular contexts.
\nThe module will therefore explore connections, lines of influence and resonances coming out of theory, visual art, literature, music, film, and television. It will also analyse the political, economic and culture infrastructure that allowed popular modernism to emerge, focusing for instance on the role of art schools, paperback publishing and public service broadcasting in opening up a circuit whereby the avant‐garde could connect with the popular.
\nKey figures discussed will include Alfred Hitchcock, Patricia Highsmith, Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, William Burroughs, J. G. Ballard, Delia Derbyshire and Patti Smith.
\nAssessment: 1 x 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"138080","attributes":{"title":"Programming for Dynamic Websites ","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nPre-requisites: Basic web programming HTML + CSS\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture, 2 hour lab with Data Networks plus additional...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
\nPre-requisites: Basic web programming HTML + CSS
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture, 2 hour lab with Data Networks plus additional 1 hour lecture per week
\nThis module will introduced the methods used to programme dynamic web site, i.e. sites whose pages are generated dynamically from data (normally data from databases).
\nAssessment: 1x coursework, 1x exam
\nNB This is a 15 credit version (term 2 only) of IS52027B Data Network and the Web
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"139265","attributes":{"title":"Postcapitalist Desire","summary":"This module is also offered as a 30 credit option\nConsider recent debates on post-capitalism from the perspective of political aesthetics. This...","description":"This module is also offered as a 30 credit option
\nConsider recent debates on post-capitalism from the perspective of political aesthetics. This module will explain and analyse some of the most influential theories of post-capitalism and ask whether post-capitalism is the best concept for theorising a shift out of capitalism.
\nWhat advantages does it have over older terms such as communism and socialism? The module will identify the antecedents of theories of post-capitalism in socialist-feminism, anti-authoritarian leftism, cyberfeminism and accelerationism.
\nAt the heart of the module is the question of what role culture and aesthetics can play in imagining, pre-figuring and facilitating a move beyond capitalism.
\nWhat are the major obstructions to the development of post-capitalist desire? How has capitalism’s use of culture enabled it to engineer and commandeer desire, and how can this be overcome?
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"142440","attributes":{"title":"Progressive Leadership and Mentoring in Education","summary":"Leadership in schools requires educators to manage large, complex systems. This requires specialized understandings and strategies, ranging from a...","description":"
Leadership in schools requires educators to manage large, complex systems. This requires specialized understandings and strategies, ranging from a deep comprehension of how policy is made and implemented and the training of new staff-members; to the development of empowering, collaborative relationships, and the important business of involving the pupil voice in managing an institution that has been organised for them. In this module we engage with issues of equity, identity, self-awareness, policy into practice, youth participation in governance, learning as leadership, organisation, change management, and the embedding of meaningful strategic objectives through pragmatic action. We examine the relationship between management and education, considering what this means in practical terms in the school context, through developing the skills necessary for effective communication, strategic thinking, and the leading of whole-school initiatives. The link between theory and practice will be the backbone of our seminars, with sessions delivering both a critical framework and a useful set of leadership strategies with which to engage. The mentoring component will offer participants the skills to support and embed teacher training as a tool for school improvement. It will constitute a case study for dovetailing leadership and management tasks so that they work in harmony with each other.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142500","attributes":{"title":"Popular Modernism Part 2","summary":"Students will consider a new angle on the debates about modernism and postmodernism.\nIt will posit the concept of popular modernism as an...","description":"Students will consider a new angle on the debates about modernism and postmodernism.
\nIt will posit the concept of popular modernism as an alternative both to “high” modernism and to postmodernism. It will show that many techniques and approaches pioneered in modernism were not only disseminated, but extended and transformed in popular contexts.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word practice essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"145739","attributes":{"title":"Professional Communication","summary":"Critical analysis of professional communication in contemporary society is the main focus of this module. Using a variety of linguistic tools, we...","description":"
Critical analysis of professional communication in contemporary society is the main focus of this module. Using a variety of linguistic tools, we will analyse language as social practice in a range of spoken, written and computer mediated contexts.
\nThe module starts with an overview of basic theories in the field of genre analysis and more broadly discourse analysis. You will then explore how language is used in the workplace, issues in intercultural communication, successful communication and misunderstanding in multilingual/transnational organisations, doctor-patient interaction, courtroom discourse, service encounters in face to face and online contexts and political discourse.
\nIn the second term you will explore classroom interaction, scientific and academic communication in a globalising world, drawing on corpus-based as well as ethnographic approaches (and reflecting on methodological choices in research).
\nThe final part of the module looks at discourses of food, sustainability/climate change, tourism and finally discourses of trust. We will conclude by reflecting on the role of power and social responsibility in institutional contexts.
\nAssessment full year: 2,000-2,250 word essay (40%), 2,000-2,250 word essay (40%), 20 minute presentation (20%)
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145819","attributes":{"title":"Product Innovation and Management","summary":"This module invites you to explore in-depth product management and product innovation strategies, aiming to underscore their significance within...","description":"
This module invites you to explore in-depth product management and product innovation strategies, aiming to underscore their significance within modern business environments. Throughout the journey, you'll uncover practical approaches to product and innovation management, investigating the principles of new product development. Divided into three sections – innovation theories, innovation management, and new product development - you will engage in a learning experience tailored to meet the demands of contemporary markets.
\nIn the initial section, you'll delve into theories of innovation and new product development, reinforced by real-life examples and case studies. Through contextualising theoretical concepts within practical scenarios, you'll gain valuable insights into applying these principles effectively in real-world contexts, enhancing your problem-solving abilities and critical thinking skills.
\nTransitioning to innovation management, you'll explore dynamic processes such as creativity cultivation and idea generation within organisational contexts. Topics include managing the innovation lifecycle, research and development strategies, and understanding the impact of emerging paradigms like open innovation on fostering a culture of creativity and invention.
\nThe module's final section focuses on new product development and commercialization strategies, emphasising the critical role of market research in informing product ideation, testing, and launch. Through engaging in hands-on projects and simulations, you'll develop practical skills in crafting compelling value propositions, designing effective go-to-market strategies, and managing product performance throughout its lifecycle.
\nBy integrating theoretical frameworks with practical marketing applications, this module equips you with the strategic acumen and practical skills necessary to drive product innovation and foster business growth in today's competitive marketplace.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145926","attributes":{"title":"Popular Music Contexts","summary":"We concentrate on three contextual areas in particular:\n\nthe social and political dimensions of popular music production and reception\nthe analytical...","description":"We concentrate on three contextual areas in particular:
\nIn approaching these issues we make use of scholarly literature, but we also consider the different (and often competing) ways that they have been interpreted in journalistic writing and audience discourses.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90147","attributes":{"title":"Psychology and Law","summary":"This module will provide the opportunity for advanced study of psychological science applied to the investigation of crime and the process of...","description":"This module will provide the opportunity for advanced study of psychological science applied to the investigation of crime and the process of criminal law. Research will be primarily, but not exclusively, drawn from applied cognitive psychology. It will be of interest to students considering postgraduate study in forensic psychology.
\nThe module will cover current issues in psychology and law selected from: interviewing suspects, false confessions, detection of deception, interviewing witnesses, eyewitness identification, false memories, interviewing children, offender profiling, CCTV, decision making in forensic contexts.
\nAssessment: exam (70%), 1,500 word essay (30%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90177","attributes":{"title":"Neurodevelopment, Neurodiversity and Education","summary":"You'll gain an insight into how psychological theory and practice can inform education. The module includes an overview of how psychology and...","description":"You'll gain an insight into how psychological theory and practice can inform education. The module includes an overview of how psychology and education can interact and will consider how the latest psychological findings and theory might be applied to the classroom and education policy.
\nYou will be encouraged to develop their applied psychology skills including critically evaluating available literature and begin to formulate ideas for working with children with special educational needs.
\nContact hours: 2-hour lecture per week, 1-hour seminar per week
\nAssessment: 1,500 word case study (50%), exam (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90225","attributes":{"title":"Psychopathology: Cognitive behaviour models and treatments","summary":"Major forms of psychopathology will be considered in depth, addressing (a) clinical description; (b) theoretical explanations from...","description":"Major forms of psychopathology will be considered in depth, addressing (a) clinical description; (b) theoretical explanations from cognitive/behavioural perspectives; (c) principles and evaluation of psychological interventions. Interrelationships between different psychopathologies will also be highlighted. The historical context in which CBT has emerged as a dominant force within psychotherapeutic practice will also be addressed.
\nThis module is designed to introduce students to different forms of psychopathology and to demonstrate how psychological theories have contributed to the understanding of their aetiologies and to the development and evaluation of interventions.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word case study (formative), 2 hour exam (100%)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91417","attributes":{"title":"Psychological Approaches to Music","summary":"This module aims to provide an introduction to the study of music psychology. Lectures will focus on the perception, cognition and neural basis of...","description":"
This module aims to provide an introduction to the study of music psychology. Lectures will focus on the perception, cognition and neural basis of musical understanding, perception of musical structure and emotions and theories about music’s evolutionary roots. The scientific methods used in research will be explored in a research participation session and in lectures.
\nThe module will provide an introduction to music psychology. Lectures will focus on four main themes. These are (1) musical perception and cognition, (2) musical cognition and learning, (3) musical origins and emotions in music, and (4) musical creativity.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (30%), exam (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93916","attributes":{"title":"Psychology of Marketing and Advertising","summary":"This module will introduce students to the science of marketing and advertising. It will compare and contrast the old and the new in terms of theory...","description":"This module will introduce students to the science of marketing and advertising. It will compare and contrast the old and the new in terms of theory and research, and examine the scientific literature on buyer behaviour and psychology in order to provide the state-of-the-art in the field. It also considers research on the most effective ways of communicating information to consumers – knowledge very much rooted in cognitive psychology and information processing models. It will examine different types of media, present research on the relative effectiveness of each, and identify best practices within each media strategy. The module will cover topics such as: advertising effectiveness, different types of media: online, TV, radio, print, communication strategies and cognitive psychology: Attention and Memory, and the six general principles of influencing. This information will help students understand the complexities and best marketing and advertising practices in creating and growing products, brands, and organisations.
\nThe lectures in this module will be supplemented by several assignments designed to develop and enhance practical skills, and further develop familiarity with consumer psychological methods and theories.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word business report & presentation (50%), exam (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129201","attributes":{"title":"Psychology, Subjectivity and Power","summary":"This module will examine the place of ‘experience’ in thinking about our self-formation. What does it mean to ‘know ourselves’ and what role does...","description":"
This module will examine the place of ‘experience’ in thinking about our self-formation. What does it mean to ‘know ourselves’ and what role does psychological thinking, norms and concepts play in this process of knowing? We will examine arguments which suggest that psychology, as a body of knowledge and set of practices, does not actually reveal or disclose who we are, but plays a central role in constructing whom we take ourselves to be. The approach to psychology we will take throughout the module is deeply historical, examining the place of psychology in systems of governance and regulation, and how we might think about our own self-formation in light of this perspective. The module will explore arguments that suggest psychology is a science of population management, rather than a science of the self or the individual. One particular issue we will examine is the emergence of ‘the individual’ as an object and target of a process that philosopher Michel Foucault called Governmentality.
\nThis issue will be explored by interrogating the relationships between psychology, media and popular culture, and systems of government and regulation. During the module, we will identify events where psychological ideas, norms and concepts are produced, and to think about the possibilities and problems with such forms of psychologisation.
\nWe will begin by considering the rise of ‘therapeutic cultures’ and their role in the production of particular norms of personhood; specifically the ‘fiction of autonomous selfhood’. The student will then be introduced to some of the key concepts which will be used throughout the module to further interrogate the performative basis of psychological knowledge and its circulation within media cultures. These concepts will include; discourse, Governmentality, genealogy, subjectivity, subjectification, power, fantasy and desire. We will explore how Foucault’s power/knowledge coupling produces a perspective on power relations that challenges more traditional notions of ‘sovereign’ power, centred on the polity or the State.
\nThe module will encourage students to interrogate their own self-formation and autobiographies and help to situate these narratives in relation to concepts such as power, discourse, desire, imagination, affect and corporeality. The module will extend the usefulness of the concept of subjectivity by exploring both Foucauldian and psychoanalytic approaches to subjectivity and illustrate their application by exploring certain themes and issues which will include: makeover culture, body-language (specifically facial expression), the emotions, mass psychology, makeover culture, televisual affect, positive psychology and the science of happiness, and historical aspects of the ‘media effects’ debates. We will also consider how we might begin to understand the complex relationships between sexuality, class, race and gender in relation to the performative force of communication practices such as magazines, film, television, etc.
\n
Assessment: essay plan (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132258","attributes":{"title":"Psychoanalytic Culture and Society","summary":"This module focuses on the emergence of psychoanalysis and how this has influenced ways of theorising and historicising the arts. A major aim of the...","description":"
This module focuses on the emergence of psychoanalysis and how this has influenced ways of theorising and historicising the arts. A major aim of the module is to explore the juncture in the history of therapeutic theories and practice wherein the concerns of Freudian psychoanalysis with sexuality and the unconscious became articulated with expressionism, the abstract, and the surreal, as well as examining these in postmodern approaches beyond 1930.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"148016","attributes":{"title":"Power and Resistance in the 1980s: Understanding the Sociological Legacy","summary":"Think in depth about the legacy of the 1980s in terms of key concepts and debates througout this module for example about identity, class, race,...","description":"Think in depth about the legacy of the 1980s in terms of key concepts and debates througout this module for example about identity, class, race, gender and sexuality, which have an enduring impact on current sociological thought. In so doing it bridges more traditional canons of sociology (e.g. Marx, Durkheim, Weber) and post-identity claims from the early 1990s (e.g. Butler). It will allow students to identify the legacy of these ideas within current events - for example the activities of groups such as Occupy – through a sociological lens.
\nWe cannot understand the legacy of 1980s without tackling the sociological concepts that arose in terms of Thatcherism and its goals for a ‘free economy’ and ‘strong state’ (Gamble, Hall), but also those internal debates in the discipline around gender, class analysis and the professions (Goldthorpe, Crompton, Dale). The riots of the 1980s stimulated new perspectives on urban culture, race and ethnic conflict (Solomos, Gilroy).
\nWeek by week students will be introduced to a series of case studies and the sociological research and concepts that emerged in relation to these cases. These will include the New Cross fire (and links to the rise of the National Front), Brixton riots, the miners’ strike, protests about Nicaragua, Greenham Common peace camp, the Alton Bill, Clause 28 and the introduction of student loans.
\nEach case study will foreground a set of sociological concepts, and also allow students to understand the genealogies of contemporary sociology. The module will draw on theoretical and empirical sources, including texts and audio-visual material, including films such as Which Side Are You On (1984) and Carry Greenham Home (1983).
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"150075","attributes":{"title":"Pervasive Gaming and Immersive Theatre","summary":"Pervasive gaming and immersive theatre are two related fields that have enjoyed significant interest and growth over recent years.\nThis module...","description":"Pervasive gaming and immersive theatre are two related fields that have enjoyed significant interest and growth over recent years.
\nThis module provides an opportunity to create embodied experiences, ranging from pervasive games, to escape rooms and theatrical installations. As well as consolidating skills learnt in other modules, you will be taught a range of technical and soft skills necessary for producing large interdisciplinary projects.
\nAssessment: coursework
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"153992","attributes":{"title":"Processes of Performance: Encounters with Space","summary":"This module will focus on how performers and spectators socially and culturally encounter space. This includes exploration of space as a tangible...","description":"This module will focus on how performers and spectators socially and culturally encounter space. This includes exploration of space as a tangible entity, space as an internalised experience, and space as resonant with readings from different cultural, historical, political, psychological perspectives.
\nThis module explores the process of creating site-specific ensemble performance in response to a chosen space and spectators. Your company is able to choose from a range of interesting spaces in which you can locate your performance and learn how to work creatively within, and in response to, your chosen environment and site.
\nSpace generates its own narratives and meanings, and in both theory and practice, you explore different approaches to working with non-traditional theatre spaces or alternative spaces. You will consider how space impacts upon reception, our relationships to the audience, and on how it is integral to the making and meaning of a work.
\nSuch work can be called environmental, site-specific or site-sensitive, but integral is an emphasis on the site as a prime location of material, process and engagement.
\nA series of five lectures and related film screenings at the start of the spring term will introduce various ways of interpreting spaces through different critical frames, practices and case studies, and this will be further explored in the practical/seminar sessions. The practical component of this module will develop imaginative, physical, and vocal skills along with further improvisational and devising strategies for ensemble group composition in a site-specific context. Physical training methodologies expand to include more internal ways of connecting to space, time, body, spaces and atmosphere, history and narrative, as well as techniques to encourage a playful, physical freedom in connection to surfaces, bodies and architectures. In addition methods of working with voice and text allied with physicality, within the context of the ensemble and site-specific practice, will be developed.
\nStudents will also attend a set number of master classes during the term. These training methodologies assist in developing your approach to working environmentally and site-specifically, either indoors or out within the Goldsmiths campus.
\nThere will be one departmental visit in the spring term to s show in a London site to see a company working in relation to site/space/place. Students will be asked to write a 1000-word essay analysing the show and drawing on the language of Performance Analysis and Site Specific Practice, which are introduced and explained on the course. This component enables you to begin to extend your critical vocabulary with which to ‘read’ the entirety of a performance in relation to site/space/place, and to articulate your responses accordingly. In the final post-show evaluation seminar, you will be guided to understand how to apply such a methodology to the development of your own company’s practical performance, and the critique of others’ work.
\nAssessment: ensemble contract (formative), 250 word statement of intent (formative), programme (formative), 10 minute ensemble performance (50%), 1,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"158697","attributes":{"title":"Principles of Arts Funding","summary":"Money is a key ingredient in the production of the arts. Performances, exhibitions, and festivals need a financial base, as does the making of...","description":"Money is a key ingredient in the production of the arts. Performances, exhibitions, and festivals need a financial base, as does the making of objects or audio/audio-visual recordings. Art produced or exhibited in or by formal organisations, as individual events, or by individual artists all require funds (or in-kind equivalent). A key skillset of an arts manager, therefore, is seeking and ensuring funding. In a competitive environment, these skills involve significant creativity and ingenuity.
\nFunding the arts falls into two main categories, earned income (from ticket sales/admissions or subsidiary activities) and fundraising. This module covers principles of earned income, such as fixed, variable and sunk costs, and pricing, and then turns to fundraising, covering grants, sponsorship and philanthropy, as well as donor development and a brief consideration of major gifts. The module considers approaches to government agencies, corporations, and individuals as well as digital approaches including crowd-funding. It also considers the costs of fundraising.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159460","attributes":{"title":"Performing War: Representations of Conflict on the Modern Stage","summary":"Along with love, warfare has been one of the most constant themes since the earliest European theatre. Rather than just studying theatrical...","description":"Along with love, warfare has been one of the most constant themes since the earliest European theatre. Rather than just studying theatrical representations of war, this module examines how theatre might contest war, condemn war, and seek peace, justice and respect for human rights. Significantly, given the context of the ‘Culture and Performance’ umbrella under which this module will be taught, students will examine how theatre might challenge the ways in which elements of performance – spectacle, theatrics, mise en scène – are militarized by the military, states and the dominant media during times of war. The module asks the following questions: To what extent can/does theatre reveal the atrocities of war that tend to be omitted from more mainstream formats, which tend to glorify or sanitise war? To what extent is it appropriate to stage these atrocities? In each case, the module will situate the play within the historical, geographical and cultural contexts in which it was written and produced. Given current debates around viewing images of beheadings, or chemical gas attacks in the news, and the theatricality intrinsic to the creation of these images, these questions concerning the ethics of spectatorship are timely and urgent.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word coursework (50%), 2,000 word journal (50%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159471","attributes":{"title":"Political Islam: Ideology and Discourse","summary":"This course is designed to provide intellectual and analytical tools to understand the phenomenon of political Islam in contemporary world politics....","description":"This course is designed to provide intellectual and analytical tools to understand the phenomenon of political Islam in contemporary world politics. Taking an in-depth perspective and highlighting the complex interaction between history, religion and politics, the module looks at the ideology and discourse of political Islam, examining its historical and intellectual origins as well as the reasons, implications, and effects of its evolution from its emergence in the early twentieth century to the Arab Spring and afterwards.
\nWhile offering an analysis of the main ideas and doctrines that have inspired Islamist theorists and movements, it critically examines key historical junctures in the complex development of Political Islam as a political force inside and outside the Middle East. The course will explore the variety and diversity of approaches of main Islamist organisations, from mainstream and domestic groups as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Nahda and Hamas to the late emergence of global jihadism, al-Qaeda and Daesh. Focus will also be given the phenomenon of Islamic terror in Europe, and the debates about the social and political dynamics behind recent terrorist attacks.
\nAssessment: 1x group presentation, 1x 3,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":[],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"163007","attributes":{"title":"Promotional Culture","summary":"This module looks at the rise of promotional culture (public relations, advertising, marketing and branding) and promotional intermediaries and their...","description":"This module looks at the rise of promotional culture (public relations, advertising, marketing and branding) and promotional intermediaries and their impact on society. The first part of the module will look at the history of promotional culture and will offer some conflicting theoretical approaches with which to view its development. These include: professional/industrial, economic, political economy, Post-Fordist, audience, consumer society, risk society, and postmodern perspectives. The second part will look at specific case areas of promotional culture. These are in: fashion and taste, technological commodities, popular culture (film TV, music), celebrities and public figures, political parties, and financial markets. In each of these areas questions will be asked about the influence of promotional practices on the production, communication and consumption of ideas and products as well as larger discourses, fashions/genres and socio-economic trends.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"163008","attributes":{"title":"Politics of the Audiovisual","summary":"Since the beginning of moving images, the world has moved from industrial and imperial to digital and global. Among the political movements that have...","description":"Since the beginning of moving images, the world has moved from industrial and imperial to digital and global. Among the political movements that have been most important in the period since the invention of the movies are (neo)liberalism, Marxism, fascism, nationalism, feminism and anti-colonial struggles. These trends are inescapably bound up in the technologies, techniques and forms of the moving image and the sound arts, from the early days of cinema to contemporary handheld and immersive media. This module investigates the politics of these forms and technologies as attempts at controlling the dispositions of minds and bodies and as struggles for their emancipation. It will address a broad range of topics from the power of sounds, images and visual apparatuses in the 20th and 21st centuries to the relationship between politics and aesthetics, the problem of democracy, and ideology critique.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166226","attributes":{"title":"Power and Subjectivity","summary":"This module introduces students to key theories, debates, and interdisciplinary interrogations across the human sciences around the question of...","description":"This module introduces students to key theories, debates, and interdisciplinary interrogations across the human sciences around the question of subjectivity. The concept of subjectivity intimates a provocative relation between the personal and the political: it at once points to the question being a “self”, of “who we are”, and it reminds us that to be a subject is also to be “subjected”– to exist in intimate ties that bind us to other subjects, as well as to wider historical, social, cultural and political arrangements.
\nFollowing the thread of a guiding question, “How have we become who we are?”, this module will introduce students to the historical, social, cultural, and political dimensions through which subjectivities are formed by exploring relevant debates in social and cultural theory, feminist theory, psychoanalysis, historical sociology, and cultural anthropology. It will explore how these theorists and social scientists have understood the processes of the formation and transformation of subjectivities, the varying tensions between subjectivity and subjection, the construction of habits and desires, and the imbrications of subjects in different forms of power and practices of resistance.
\nAssessment: essay (70%), diary (30%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166386","attributes":{"title":"Psychopower and Subjectivity","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\nThis module explores the interrelationship between power and subjectivity with a particular...","description":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\nThis module explores the interrelationship between power and subjectivity with a particular focus on the question of ‘psychopower’. The problematic of ‘psychopower’ (as proposed, in varying terminologies, by Bernard Stiegler and others) signals that more than ever, and in pervasive ways, power relations today draw on subjective capacities and specifically operate on capacities of the subject which are constitutive of its psychic life: attention, care, concern, desire, the capacity to relate to others, anxiety, guilt, etc. As a result, new forms of ‘dispossession’ and suffering have emerged which require a new critical language informed by various disciplines such as philosophy, political theory, media theory, psychoanalysis, and theories of contemporary labour relations. Moreover, the problematic of psychopower intersects with new regimes of visuality and a new aesthetics, and is thus crucial for an understanding of various contemporary art practices.
\nThe module is divided in three main parts: The first part (Autumn term, weeks 6–11) focuses on recent critical analyses revolving mainly around questions of contemporary labour relations, shifting regimes of visuality, and the role of communicative technologies in contemporary forms of production and consumption (Berardi, Terranova, Dean, Chun, Galloway, Stiegler). The second part (Spring term, weeks 1–5) engages with a number of classical philosophical and psychoanalytic theorizations of constitutive subjective capacities, in order to proceed to more recent discussions of the psychic and affectivity (Husserl, Levinas, Klein, Winnicott, Bion; Kristeva, Ahmed, Malabou). The third and final part (Spring tem, weeks 6–11) focuses on theories of power relations and resistance which specifically highlight the role of subjectivity in its both passive and active capacities (Foucault, Butler, Guattari, Massumi, Institute for Precarious Consciousness, Precarias a la deriva).
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166998","attributes":{"title":"Public Law and the Human Rights Act","summary":"This module introduces students to the theoretical principles, institutional structures and legal practices that underpin Constitutional and...","description":"This module introduces students to the theoretical principles, institutional structures and legal practices that underpin Constitutional and Administrative Law in the UK, and their intricate relationship with human rights law.
\nA contextual approach is adopted, placing significant emphasis on the constitutional crisis generated by Brexit, and leading students to explore fundamental constitutional law concepts from the angle of the current ‘political crisis’: parliamentary sovereignty; the Royal Prerogative; the relationship between the House of Commons and House of Lords; the separation of powers; the role of the UK Supreme Court in constitutional matters and challenges to judicial independence; devolution; the absence of a written Constitution.
\nSignificant emphasis is also placed on the effect of the Human Rights Act on common law doctrines in public law. The module confronts students with the critical question of whether the Human Rights Act has fundamentally altered the balance of power between the judiciary, legislative and executive powers, and whether traditional principles of public law need replacing, particularly in the light of the UK’s imminent departure from the EU.
\nThe links between Brexit and the debate on the repeal of the Human Rights Act are investigated from a historic and socio-legal perspective, with direct reference to Eurosceptic and isolationist trends in the UK.
\nThe module also examines the range of public law processes that regulate the relationship between the individual and the state, with a focus on judicial review.
\nTo bridge the gap between theory and practice, and introduce students to key players in the relevant debates, the module integrates research and public engagement activities undertaken as part of the ‘Britain in Europe’ think tank and ‘Knowing Our Rights’ (KOR) research project. The following can be indicatively mentioned: meeting MPs, select committee and ‘Britain in Europe’ experts; attending research events; taking part in human rights workshops delivered at local schools as part of KOR (selected groups of students); visiting Parliament, when in session, or attending select committee hearings.
\nAssessment: 1x essay, 1x exam
\nPre-requisite: field of study must be sufficiently connected with the study of Law
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Law","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"168351","attributes":{"title":"Performing Shakespeare","summary":"In this 10 week x 20 hours course you will be introduced to the theory and practice of Shakespearian verse speaking by close examination of...","description":"In this 10 week x 20 hours course you will be introduced to the theory and practice of Shakespearian verse speaking by close examination of texts as performance material. In a page-to-stage process of textual analysis and interpretation, you will approach this material as a research exercise. By learning the construction, imagery, language, alliteration, rhythm and meaning of chosen text(s) you will study an appropriate monologue and develop this to an off-the-page performed presentation.
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"168903","attributes":{"title":"Performance Analysis","summary":"This module is designed to develop awareness of and critical responses to contemporary performance in London in a range of venues from large stages...","description":"This module is designed to develop awareness of and critical responses to contemporary performance in London in a range of venues from large stages to intimate ones.
\nYou will be introduced to a wide range of performance practices and spaces. Background lectures introduce semiotics, performance sign systems and strategies for phenomenological analysis, as well as their application to the critical and contextual analysis of performance. Throughout the module you will explore key concepts in the production of meaning with regard to the different performance styles, and the different conditions of performance making.
\nThe wider context of each performance will be discussed in order to enable the students to understand contemporary theatre as a result of certain historical processes; we will discuss the interrelations between the city and performance venues as a means to understand the material conditions that define the production of theatre and the production of meaning. The work of companies and individuals is explored in relation to cultural and sexual politics, interculturalism, globalisation, and new technologies.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"362838","attributes":{"title":"Philosophy, Freedom and Existence","summary":"This module explores the ideas of thinkers in the ‘phenomenological’ tradition of western philosophy. Phenomenology sought to ground our thinking in...","description":"This module explores the ideas of thinkers in the ‘phenomenological’ tradition of western philosophy. Phenomenology sought to ground our thinking in a rigorous examination of ordinary experience and perception, not in abstract metaphysics or scientific determinism. This approach opened the way to new and often rebellious intellectual currents aimed at putting philosophy in a critical dialogue with life. Their focus was on how our attitudes and emotions, our bodies, desires and feelings, were central to a commitment to freedom and achieving an ‘authentic’ existence. They often rebelled against bourgeois morals and politics, capitalism and technology, and devoted themselves to radical causes on both the right and the left of the political spectrum. The module requires you to read some dense philosophy and reflect critically on its continuing validity for contemporary social and political experience. You will also submit a short phenomenological analysis of experience in addition to a critical essay.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word report (20%), 3,000 word essat (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"460232","attributes":{"title":"Principles of Arts Management","summary":"The module provides knowledge, reflection and insights into the state of the field of arts management – definitions, historical development,...","description":"The module provides knowledge, reflection and insights into the state of the field of arts management – definitions, historical development, dilemmas, the scope, possibilities and the future of the field. The focus of the module will be on the project management in the arts. Through the module, students will be gaining knowledge relevant to managing events and projects in the culture and the arts. The focus is on the management of individual events and offers a “start to finish” view of all the steps necessary and desirable to manage a single event. A good deal of the material is however transferrable to the management of permanent cultural spaces (e.g. arts centres, theatres, galleries and museums) and also entertainment and corporate events such as conferences, fashion shows, promotions. Case studies, discussions, as well as references used, will be reflecting the diversity of practices in the field coming from different cultures, environments, countries and schools of thinking. A special attention will be placed on the questions of professional ethics, diversity, accessibility and inclusion in the field of arts management. The module broadly covers 3 areas: Project Management; Marketing and PR; Project Financing. Students must select a Case Study event from 5-6 events preselected and introduced by the lecturers. Lecturers will select options which offer a range of art forms and scales, allowing students to follow individual interests if they so wish.
\nAssessment: 1,000 word project plan (formative), 2,000 word marketing strategy (60%), 2 page coursework (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"583881","attributes":{"title":"Politics, Identity and the Law","summary":"What is the relationship between legal and social identity? What are the different critical approaches to law and identity? How do we...","description":"What is the relationship between legal and social identity? What are the different critical approaches to law and identity? How do we understand the politics of law and justice? This course explores these questions by examining key theories of identity and law, from critical race feminism to deconstruction. These theoretical debates are explored through contemporary case studies, such as sexual assault; refugee rights; human rights; terrorism and war crimes.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"595718","attributes":{"title":"Psychology of Marketing and Advertising","summary":"This module provides the knowledge requirement for marketing and advertising. The module will provide a critical understanding of what consumers buy,...","description":"This module provides the knowledge requirement for marketing and advertising. The module will provide a critical understanding of what consumers buy, how they buy (i.e., buying patterns), and why they buy the way they do (i.e., why we see these patterns). This knowledge in turn will enable you to improve marketing and advertising strategies of organisations both on large scale and small-scale projects. By using theory, case material and practical examples, you are introduced to the importance of theory and research-based practice in these fields.
\nThroughout the module you will develop a contemporary, cognitive toolkit for researching, analysing, and understanding buyer behaviour. You will contrast this current approach with traditional models of marketing and advertisement. Finally, you will learn to apply this knowledge for organisational strategy initiatives (e.g., launching a new marketing campaign). This module brings together a wide range of approaches to buyer behaviour, marketing and advertising, both on organisational and project-by-project levels. You will also be offered an opportunity to apply your learning to analysing case studies.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"689746","attributes":{"title":"The Politics of Popular Music","summary":"This course explores the intersection between popular music and politics. It starts from the premise that ‘the political’ is a site of contestation...","description":"This course explores the intersection between popular music and politics. It starts from the premise that ‘the political’ is a site of contestation whose parameters are constantly being rearticulated by multiple cultural practices, including music.
\nThree limitations provide the course with a coherent focus. First, while the historical relationship of music and politics extends back to (at least) ancient Greek tragedy, the subject matter is limited to contemporary, i.e. post-World War Two music. Second, while many late 20th century classical, avant-garde and jazz artists have engaged with politics, the course focuses on ‘popular’ music, broadly defined. Third, while music has often been deployed in the service of state power, the onus is on music associated with political movements that have sought to challenge established orders.
\nThe course, then, explores popular music as a conduit for, expression by which, and manifestation of political struggle, protest and contestation.
\nWhereas it is standard to focus on the popular music/politics nexus exclusively with respect to US and UK experiences this course has a broader purview, exploring this dynamic within and between societies and cultures across the world.
\nThe course also explores the music/politics relationship beyond the obvious messaging of political lyrics. It assumes that the politics of music are communicated through (and limited by) a complex of cultural systems – song structures, album artwork, music videos, fanzines, fashion, concert rituals, the music press, the recording industry, social media etc. which can reinforce, rearticulate and importantly distort or undermine intended political gestures or meanings.
\nIn terms of material to be studied, while academic literature is important, students will be encouraged to listen to and think critically about songs, albums and videos as texts which either implicitly or explicitly engage or challenge the political.
\nSome of the substantive themes the course will address include: the contribution of folk and soul music to the US Civil Rights Movement; the struggles of Tropicália and Afrobeat with military dictatorships in Brazil and Nigeria; black consciousness in US Hip-Hop and Rap; class and race in Punk and post-punk in the UK and Europe; the feminist politics of the Riot Grrrl movement; transnational anti-globalisation music activism in Latin America and the US; the spatial politics of Electronic Dance Music; the postcolonial iterations of European Rap and Heavy Metal in the Middle East; xi K-Pop and the political economy of hybridity.
\n\n
Assessment: 10-15 minute presentation (30%), 3,000 word essay (70%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"857870","attributes":{"title":"Project Management","summary":"Project Management involves all aspects of defining, designing, delivering, and supporting organisational initiatives and product development. These...","description":"
Project Management involves all aspects of defining, designing, delivering, and supporting organisational initiatives and product development. These aspects include planning and controlling for scope, time, cost, quality, HR, communications, risk, procurement, and their integration. It involves all activities from initiating projects to managing, directing, controlling, and closing them. This module will address all of these areas in a rigorous and structured way, using three dominant methodologies currently active in operational environments. It will provide students with an active skillset in project management and prepare them to pursue certification in any of these three methodologies. The curriculum will use lectures, activities, case studies, group work, role-play scenarios, and presentations. Students will be taught in a single lecture environment each week before breaking off into smaller groups for project management tools and software training in labs in five of the weeks.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"865308","attributes":{"title":"Practical Public Engagement","summary":"This module will focus on the ideas behind and practicalities of public engagement and learning across the arts including galleries and museums,...","description":"This module will focus on the ideas behind and practicalities of public engagement and learning across the arts including galleries and museums, heritage sites, dance, music and theatre.
\nIt will address
\nAssessment will include the creation of a learning resource or activity for a specified audience of a cultural organisation. This could be a one page family learning map, a digital resource or 2-4 page education pack for a specified school subject / age group (i.e key stage 2 history).
\nThe lecture / seminars will cover these subjects:
\n\n
Assessment: education resource or activity (75%), self-reflective report (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"889075","attributes":{"title":"Politics and Technology","summary":"This module deals with the diverse fields, uses and functions of technologies, analysing how they have been received in International Relations and...","description":"This module deals with the diverse fields, uses and functions of technologies, analysing how they have been received in International Relations and the current debates in Science and Technology Studies. It introduces students to a critical study of technology, analysing the colonial history of contemporary technology. The module focuses on technology as a strategic terrain, between control and surveillance on the one hand, and resistance and political mobilisations on the other. Concerning technology and modes of control, it takes into account different fields in which technology is today used and developed: borders and remote control, military uses, dual-uses technologies, development and digital inclusion, big data, social media, migration and biometrics. It explores how digital governance and digital economy have transformed international politics. Concerning technology and resistance, it looks at how technology has been used in social movements, civic mobilisations and new forms of activism (digital activism, hacking).
\nThe module will run over ten weeks and it is structured in three parts. In the first part it will first introduce students to the key debates and texts in International Relations about technology and will retrace the colonial history of technology. In the second part it will discuss how technologies are used for security, humanitarian and military purposes, touching upon surveillance, remote control, migration, humanitarian wars and new conflicts. The third part of the module will deal with information technology, social media. It will analyse contemporary debates on how to rethink agency and collective subjects in light of digital technologies, highlighting citizen mobilisations that engaged in subverting surveillance.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000 word essay (75%), bibliography (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"900802","attributes":{"title":"Political Economy of the Media","summary":"This is a course about the political and economic organisation (‘political economy’) of the media with particular reference to western industrial...","description":"This is a course about the political and economic organisation (‘political economy’) of the media with particular reference to western industrial democracies. It addresses the issues raised by commentators who explain media processes and the relationship of mass communications to society in terms of political economy. However, it steps outside the confines of this tradition of thought to consider other explanations of the functioning of the mass media. This opens up a broad based discussion of the role of the media in society, what shapes the media, how it should be organised and what influence it has, viewed from a variety of viewpoints. As you will see, there are liberal and radical political economy answers to all these questions. But there are also other answers as well. You will have to make up your mind about which positions you think are most convincing and best supported by the evidence. This course is designed to help you make your way through the literature, guide you through the relevant debates and assist you to reach your own conclusions.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"900826","attributes":{"title":"The Past on the Move: Migrations and Diasporas of South-East Europe from Late Antiquity until the Modern Era (4th-20th c.)","summary":"This module aims at reflecting upon migrations that defined modern Europe, focusing, in particular, on the movements taking place in/from SEE between...","description":"This module aims at reflecting upon migrations that defined modern Europe, focusing, in particular, on the movements taking place in/from SEE between Late Antiquity until the present day. This region, itself created and shaped by migrations in a DzԲ-ܰé historical perspective, is often seen as a “bridge”/transition area between Europe and the Near/Middle East. Hence, by diachronically studying the human movements taking place in/from SEE continually for almost 2000 years, this module essentially helps situate historically its modern, most recent migrations (“the Balkan Route” “migrant crisis”), explaining, at the same time, the development of SEE as a dynamic process of exchange and interaction based upon the common experience of migration. Aiming at understanding the region’s rich migration background, this module focuses on the following key questions:
\nUnderstanding the pathways of the region’s development generated by the experience of migration, students will be able to evaluate the place of SEE in the context of European past and present and its global development, comparing it to other mobility trends recorded as taking place elsewhere in the world.
\nTo answer its central questions, the module will comparatively examine five exemplary historical paradigms (“case studies,” each case analysed for 4 consecutive weeks of the module) – specific contexts of past migrations, in which diverse peoples, goods and ideas were recorded as comprehensively interacting across the SEE, over a long period of time (perspective of DzԲ-ܰé) that spans Late Antiquity and the modern era. The first studied case will be the Great Migration that brought diverse East German groups to the Balkans in the 4th c. to be followed by the settlement and Christianization of South Slavs between the 6th and the 10th c. A.D. Analyzing this case, particular attention will be paid to the role which these movements had in the general destabilisation of the imperial power, as well as on the nexus of mutual interactions between the migrating “barbarians” and the Roman/Byzantine world, and the broad cultural border fixed in this period between Europe’s East and West to last until the very day today. The second case will focus on high medieval “invasions” of the Balkan peninsula 10h-14th c., namely the conquest-type incursions of the peoples from the ‘steppes’ and other parts of the medieval globe (Hungarians, Pechenegs, Cumans, Mongols, Catalans, Ottomans) whose raids challenged the region’s government structures and its overall political setting. The third case will deal with late-medieval/early-modern migrations caused by the Ottoman government in the Balkans, 15th-19th c. These migrations included forced mass-displacements (both internally and externally) of diverse ethnic groups from SEE, most apparently Serbs, Bosnian Catholics, Wallachs, Greeks, etc. – but, also, voluntary moves of traders, sailors and intellectuals, whose diasporic networks expanded across the early-modern Christian Europe (both East and West) and the New World. Additionally, this case will examine also the settlement of Jews, Armenians, Turks, Egyptians, Roma, and Ashkali in the Balkans, all engineered by the Ottoman regime, and all adding special features to the region’s diversity and its trans-regional connections (e.g. the “export” coffee trade and spread of culture of coffee-drinking, and the “import” of the Western delicacies to Istanbul). The fourth case will concentrate on modern diasporas of SEE, that, emerging from the 19th and the early 20th c., migrated to the New World or, internally, from the region’s rural areas to the developing urban centres affected by industrialization and internationalization in parallel with the decline of the Ottoman Empire; it will also take into consideration the reverse processes – still reluctantly researched by the national historiographies in the Balkans – in which the local Muslim population of the area migrated to Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The final, fifth case will deal with migrations caused by the region’s conflicts and transitions of the 20th c. – with a focus on the political, economic and intellectual diasporas generated by forced displacements during the two WWs, the region’s communist regimes, and, more recently, Yugoslavian wars, all contributing to the contextual frame in which the current refugee crisis is taking place across SEE.
\nThe interpretative basis of the studied contexts will be historical analysis. To it, the module will also add the perspectives of historical anthropology, migration and settlement studies, sociology, archaeology and ethnography – all disciplines currently extensively applied in the scholarly study of historical migrations. Combining these approaches, the module will inform the students of important topics such as:
\nThroughout the module, students will be exposed to diverse primary evidence that directly reflects the studied migratory contexts (authentic historical documentary evidence, historical and literary narratives, oral traditions, images and other material objects and non-material evidence such as symbols, practices, etc.), as well as to the most recent historical scholarly debate on the studied cases. Among the innovative tools that have been increasingly used by historians pursuing migrations of the past, students will have the opportunity to analyse and discuss narrative interpretations of migration experiences on film, or gain a “hands-on” experience of examining the examples of the material heritage of SEE migrations (e.g. digital collections of books disseminated or used by Greek intellectual diaspora in the UK, oral histories or digital identifications of the region’s diasporas established in the UK during the 20th c., etc.).
\n\n
Assessment: 6,000 word essay (100%), 2-3,000 word essay (formative), presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"1441131","attributes":{"title":"Popular Culture in the Age of Shakespeare","summary":"The module will explore a selection of early modern literature through the lens of popular culture. This will offer advanced study of major texts...","description":"The module will explore a selection of early modern literature through the lens of popular culture. This will offer advanced study of major texts while prioritising their engagement with popular genres and formats and their reflection of the quotidian. The themes addressed will range from alehouse culture, ballads and crime to animal fable and fairy tales. Works by William Shakespeare, Thomas Dekker, Edmund Spenser, Anthony Munday, John Taylor, Thomas Middleton and Ben Jonson will be explored, alongside historical research and popular print, in order to disrupt expectations about processes of literary influence. A number of literary genres will be discussed, including drama, poetry and prose, and we will consider how different modes of writing reflect, and construct, ideas of the popular or everyday. Students will also be asked to engage closely with the problems involved in identifying popular culture in the early modern period. This will necessitate reading a range of historical criticism by writers such as Peter Burke. Time will also be spent familiarising students with the database Early English Books Online (EEBO) via the library’s subscription to JISC. All the texts studied fall into the date range 1590-1620 and therefore reflect a period of intense literary and dramatic experimentation, from the rise of the public playhouses to the widespread dissemination of popular print.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1441132","attributes":{"title":"Poetry since 1945","summary":"This module examines a selection of representative poems, schools, and trends of English-language poetry, chiefly in Britain, Ireland and the USA,...","description":"This module examines a selection of representative poems, schools, and trends of English-language poetry, chiefly in Britain, Ireland and the USA, from 1945 to the present day. Close attention is paid to the linguistic, stylistic and formal resources of modern poets and how their work might be situated within the broader contexts of historical, political and socio-cultural change. Patterns of influence and reaction are traced within and across national traditions, diverse identities and among schools and evolving lineages including the American ‘confessionals’, the New York poets, the Northern Irish ‘renaissance’, feminist and LGBTQI+ poetics to name a few. Authors for study include Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Frank O’ Hara, Audre Lorde, Sharon Olds, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon and a range of poets emerging in the 21st century such as Terrance Hayes, Daljit Nagra and Danez Smith.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91450","attributes":{"title":"Performance: Creative Practice","summary":"This module builds on previous work (MU51020C Performance: Techniques & Repertoire, MU52063A Performance: Styles & Contexts), and challenges...","description":"This module builds on previous work (MU51020C Performance: Techniques & Repertoire, MU52063A Performance: Styles & Contexts), and challenges students to develop their Creative Practice as a performer in a rigorous and personally invested way. They will think more deeply about the decisions performers make when interpreting their chosen musical texts – scores, charts, arrangements, editions, etc.
\nPerformances will be presented and assessed under broad repertoire categories of Jazz and CCE (Classical, Contemporary & Experimental) which are flexible and sometimes overlapping. It will be possible to focus on one genre, or to move fluidly between different areas of practice, and students may self-select different repertoire categories across three assessments. Where appropriate, students may also perform their own compositions.
\nCollaboration takes a central role in this module, with a substantial collaborative project mid-year. Each student will then curate a Final Performance that may include solo and/or ensemble repertoire. In addition to the two assessed performances, students will also explore ways to articulate and present their working process in a Creative Practice Commentary presentation. Diversity & Representation will be considered in repertoire, with guidelines, discussion, and resources provided.
\nStudents will be supported in the development of advanced musicianship, proficiency and embodied knowledge among a Community of Practice. The lectures, seminars, masterclasses and coachings that make up the module will be supported by 1-to-1 specialist tuition on their first instrument/voice.
\n\n
Pre-requisite: as this is a performance-based class, a reference, a performance recording, and a written statement may be requested before you can enrol on this module. You also may be invited for an audition when you arrive on campus.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1838545","attributes":{"title":"The Politics of Climate Change","summary":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning the international politics of climate change...","description":"This module provides an introduction to the main issues, approaches, and controversies concerning the international politics of climate change including political economy, climate justice/ decolonisation.
\nIt will explore the natural and social forces contributing to climate change. It will examine how varied agents including social movements such as Extinction Rebellion, trade unions and political parties attempt to shape responses to climate change. It will critically evaluate the implications of international, national, regional and local policies to mitigate climate change and to adapt to the effects of climate change.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91137","attributes":{"title":"Postcolonial Theatre","summary":"While the idea of 'postcolonial theatre' is problematic because of the imported discourses and terminology of postcolonial studies in general, the...","description":"While the idea of 'postcolonial theatre' is problematic because of the imported discourses and terminology of postcolonial studies in general, the term postcolonial still provides a useful discursive framework for engaging with the drama, theatre and performance practices of the former colonies of Great Britain and other European countries. This course will introduce students to the debates and issues about the scope and frame of the postcolonial field and its critical theory. It will specifically look at the relationship between postcolonialism and postmodernism; the shifts and tensions in the centre-periphery relations; issues of cultural oppression and cultural imperialism; issues and strategies surrounding the politics of culture, identity and representation. Underpinning all our explorations will be the ideas of seminal thinkers such as Franz Fanon, Edward Said, Albert Memmi, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Homi bhabha and Gayatri Spivak.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89932","attributes":{"title":"Philosophical and Methodological Issues in Sociology and Anthropology","summary":"Contact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 3 hours independent study per week\nThis course aims to introduce students to...","description":"Contact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week, 3 hours independent study per week
\nThis course aims to introduce students to critical debates about knowledge and method within anthropology and sociology, and to examine how these debates have shifted over the history of these disciplines. The objectives of the course are:
\nAssessment: 1 x 2 hour exam
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91074","attributes":{"title":"Post-War British Theatre","summary":"British Theatre since the end of the Second World War has undergone a series of profound changes. From the abolition of censorship on the stage in...","description":"
British Theatre since the end of the Second World War has undergone a series of profound changes. From the abolition of censorship on the stage in 1968, through to the explosion of information brought on by the technological age, and the changing role of women in society, theatre has remained consistently relevant, engaging blatantly with social and political commentary. This option considers the relationship between post-war drama and the cultural, political and social milieu in which it has been situated. It explores the social history and creation of ‘In-Yer-Face’ theatre and its relationship to class. It also examines the theatre as an arena for engagement with political dialogue in the guise of verbatim theatre, which presents its own unique challenge to authority. It considers a contemporary understanding of 'Britishness', looking at Black and Asian playwrights as well as the new generation of young female playwrights and what they have to say about the state of the nation in a fragmentary, ‘post-modern’ Britain. The course culminates by looking at the relatively new discourse of eco-criticism and what the theatre has to say around issues of climate change. We will attempt a theatre visit if a relevant production is playing and if enough students wish to attend.
\n\n
Assessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91056","attributes":{"title":"Questions of Performance","summary":"Questions of Performance delivers training by introducing students to practitioners’ theories practically and critically, through options of learning...","description":"Questions of Performance delivers training by introducing students to practitioners’ theories practically and critically, through options of learning and teaching clustered around questions, methodological enquiries and issues that guide contemporary practice such as, ‘character,’ ‘image,’ ‘self,’ etc. Students are asked to broaden their historical, theoretical and embodied knowledge of Twentieth Century and contemporary practice, to contextualise their learning within current performance practice and/or debates in performance studies, and to begin to formulate their own research questions.
\nThis is a 30-credit module that runs over two days
\nAssessment: group practice 1 (50%), group practice 2 (50%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132724","attributes":{"title":"Quantitative Economics","summary":"This module will introduce students into the quantitative methods used by economists in their empirical work. Students will learn elementary concepts...","description":"
This module will introduce students into the quantitative methods used by economists in their empirical work. Students will learn elementary concepts of probability and statistics: random variables, probability distributions, measures of location and dispersion, point estimation, sampling distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. They will study the difference and relation between a regression model and its estimation method. In particular, the module will focus on the Classical Linear Regression Model (CLRM) estimated by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). Furthermore, they will learn about problems that may arise in this setting, for example: multicollinearity, omitted variable bias and heteroscedasticity. This technical analysis is to be followed by a methodological discussion on the appropriate use and limits of these techniques in analyzing social and economic phenomena. The objective of the module is first to technically train students in estimation and inference, and second to introduce students to broader questions regarding the use of these tools in applied analysis.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"154741","attributes":{"title":"Queer Public History","summary":"History surrounds us, but most people engage with history through the mass media, exhibitions, historic sites, online blogs and journalism. Public...","description":"History surrounds us, but most people engage with history through the mass media, exhibitions, historic sites, online blogs and journalism. Public History has, therefore, become a key site for making history accessible to the widest audiences. Queer History is no different, and so this module explores the diverse ways in which Queer History is brought to the public. Through the critical examination of scholarship on Queer Public History as well as real-world examples of Queer History project and products created for the wider public, students will develop an appreciation for the unique skills, voice, and methods employed by public historians of the queer past. This module will further prepare students to engage in and make use of history and historical debates in queer history outside the academy in areas such as media, policy and planning, heritage, etc. Participation from expert speakers from these fields will also expose students to the widest application of Queer History beyond the academy, and help them build connections and networks in contexts outside the university.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166680","attributes":{"title":"Queer History Through Film\n","summary":"Film offers a unique access point into queer histories across the twentieth century. Using film as a source presents several angles through which to...","description":"Film offers a unique access point into queer histories across the twentieth century. Using film as a source presents several angles through which to understand queer lives and experiences:
\nTaken together, and studied in the context of particular historical moments in twentieth-century history, this module explores not just histories of LGBTQ people, but of societies more broadly.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000 word blog (40%), 2,000 word essay (60%), 1,000 word blog (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166682","attributes":{"title":"Queerman. The History of Homosexualities in 20th century Germany\n","summary":"This module explores German LGBT histories: from the “invention” of homosexuality around 1900, across Weimar attempts at furthering more tolerant...","description":"This module explores German LGBT histories: from the “invention” of homosexuality around 1900, across Weimar attempts at furthering more tolerant attitudes towards queer people, to the Nazi persecution of gays and lesbians, to queer lives in the post-war decades in East and West Germany, and to processes of de-criminalisation, emancipation and normalisation since the 1970s. It will end with contemporary discussions about gay marriage and about the politics involved in remembering the queer history of stigmatisation and victimisation.
\nThe module addresses gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender aspects of this history. It also covers political, legal, economic, cultural, emotional and everyday dimensions of the history of homosexuality in 20th century Germany.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 500-1,00 word essay (formative), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"377216","attributes":{"title":"Queer History in Practice ","summary":"Some of the most exciting work in queer history is done outside the academy. LGBTQ community groups, museums, archives, galleries, and heritage...","description":"Some of the most exciting work in queer history is done outside the academy. LGBTQ community groups, museums, archives, galleries, and heritage bodies engage with wide publics in their efforts to uncover, share and celebrate the histories of LGBTQ lives and experiences. These efforts are not only about the past, but have incredible impact in the present, highlighting long histories of gender and sexual diversity, struggle, oppression and community building. Sharing these histories with both LGBTQ people and the wider public today is both important and urgent. In this module students apply their knowledge of queer history and public history in professional settings through targeted placements at heritage, community, and policy organisations around London. In these placements students hone and develop transferable skills related to queer history to better prepare them both for future academic work and also opportunities beyond the academy.
","level":"","subject":"History","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"61855","attributes":{"title":"Religious and Political Controversies in Early Modern Europe","summary":"Study some of the central debates that pre-occupied early modern politicians, theologians, revolutionaries, scientists and philosophers...","description":"Study some of the central debates that pre-occupied early modern politicians, theologians, revolutionaries, scientists and philosophers alike.
\nSubjects to be investigated within this culture of disputation and investigation include: issues of sovereignty and the divine right of Kings; republicanism; natural rights; the nature of virtue; the authority of the Bible; religious doctrines; predestination; the role of the Church and the Pope; the nature of the body and the soul.
\nStudents will be introduced to a number of important primary sources ranging from political treatises and religious tracts to philosophical meditations.
\nAssessment: 1x 5,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"158692","attributes":{"title":"Researching Society and Culture 1B ","summary":"This module is lecture and workshop based and aims to introduce the methods that sociologists have developed to analyse their societies and to...","description":"This module is lecture and workshop based and aims to introduce the methods that sociologists have developed to analyse their societies and to produce sociological knowledge.
\nYou will develop core skills in methods of research by being introduced to the practice of sociological research. Methods are introduced in relation to key sociological topics and research traditions that are closely identified with them, allowing you to confront methods as real practices rather than abstractions. The aim is to build on the concepts and the issues that are being discussed in other first-year modules.
\nAssessment: workshop exercises (formative), 2,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89590","attributes":{"title":"Race, Racism and Social Theory","summary":"This module examines the emergence of modern ideas of ‘race’ and forms of racism as well as the social and political forces that have shaped their...","description":"This module examines the emergence of modern ideas of ‘race’ and forms of racism as well as the social and political forces that have shaped their development. We will consider how racial ideas are conceptualized and justified through separate and interrelated forms of biological, social, and cultural description and explanation. The module covers the history of racial ideas from the Enlightenment and Romantic periods through to contemporary debates. We will consider the historical formations of ‘race’ and racism in relation to Atlantic slavery and emancipation in the Caribbean and North America, classical scientific racism, and anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. The module also engages a range of critical issues: the rise of ethnicity as an alternative category to ‘race’; ‘racial’ epidemiology and public health; feminist approaches to the ‘intersections’ between ‘race’, class and gender; ‘differentialist’ forms of ‘new’ or ‘cultural’ racism; and eliminativist perspectives arguing that race ought to eliminate altogether as a category and concept. We will also examine the conceptual work performed by racial ideas as well as its analytical coherence, political functions, and social effects. The module will emphasize a critical approach to the understanding of ‘race’ and encourage students to evaluate the social implications of racial ideas.
\nAssessment: 1,350 word essay (30%), 3,150 word essay (70%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90645","attributes":{"title":"Re-imagining Social Class and Education","summary":"‘Class no longer matters’ is often heard within mainstream media and from politicians. This module asks students to look afresh at the role of social...","description":"
‘Class no longer matters’ is often heard within mainstream media and from politicians. This module asks students to look afresh at the role of social class at a time in which this refrain is so often used. Indeed, efforts to apply a class analysis to such salient areas as social inequality, changes to welfare and housing policy are often dismissed as ‘the politics of envy’.
\nIn a globalised world, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and even leisure and consumption, are, it is claimed, of more significance to social relations in post-industrial societies than social class. But does arguing the continued importance of life chances linked to social location require a jettisoning of these other categories of social identity?
\nAssessment: 1x 2,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91373","attributes":{"title":"Religious Literacy for Public Professions","summary":"Explore ways in which religious diversity in society is encountered and engaged across the public professions, and what questions and challenges this...","description":"Explore ways in which religious diversity in society is encountered and engaged across the public professions, and what questions and challenges this poses for their practice.
\nWe'll consider:
\nThis module is lecture and workshop based and aims to introduce students to the methods that sociologists have developed to analyse their societies and to produce sociological knowledge. You will also develop core skills in methods of research by being introduced to the practice of sociological research. Methods are introduced in relation to key sociological topics and research traditions that are closely identified with them, thus allowing students to confront methods as real practices rather than abstractions. The aim is as far as possible to build on the concepts and the issues that are being discussed in other first year modules.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (100%), workshop exercises (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91855","attributes":{"title":"Research in Management","summary":"This module provides a broad appreciation of management and entrepreneurship research frameworks. It will introduce students to the fundamentals of...","description":"This module provides a broad appreciation of management and entrepreneurship research frameworks. It will introduce students to the fundamentals of research design and methodology with an eye towards conducting research in the fields of entrepreneurship, organisational behavior, and management. We will explore data collection efforts and data analysis from a quantative, qualitative and mixed-methods approach, while also considering ethical implications. The module will also focus on how to craft a research question, engage in a literature review and how to structure a research proposal. The module will culminate in a final research proposal.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word proposal (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93963","attributes":{"title":"Research Design and Applied Statistics","summary":"Skills required for effective research design and analysis of data in work environments to enable inferences about cause and effect relationships are...","description":"
Skills required for effective research design and analysis of data in work environments to enable inferences about cause and effect relationships are considered in this module. Students will also learn to critically evaluate the research appearing in academic and business literatures. In addition, this course fulfils a British Psychological Society (BPS) requirement for accreditation of the OP programme.
\nThe course aims to equip students with the skills to collect, code, analyse and interpret data; to understand how to design studies to ethically test hypotheses; to use analysis software; and to present data appropriately in text, tables and figures.
\nAssessment: 2 x 2,000 word research reports.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture and 2 hour lab per week.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94472","attributes":{"title":"Race, Gender And Social Justice","summary":"Investigate discourses of equality and social justice in the context of the changing manifestations of race, religion, class, gender and sexuality in...","description":"
Investigate discourses of equality and social justice in the context of the changing manifestations of race, religion, class, gender and sexuality in advanced capitalist and neoliberal times. Taking an interdisciplinary case study approach the course examines international research on pertinent issues such as educational inequalities, migration, religious difference and gendered violence.
\nThe course takes an intersectional approach drawing on feminist perspectives and critical race theory to understand the ‘border crossings’ of transnational peoples as they ‘live out’ new and affective religious, ethnic, class, sexual and gendered identities in rapidly changing global contexts.
\nThe course will focus on three broad areas of inquiry: First, discourses on multiculturalism and concern about ‘the migrant’ frames our focus on social justice. Here we look at race, gender, citizenship and belonging in the context of Islamophobia, securitization and the nation state. Second, mapping differences among raced, gendered, classed and faith based groups in education, health and employment enables a critical analysis of social justice discourses such as ‘diversity‘ in the context of the ubiquitous nature of whiteness, patriarchy and elitism in our institutions. Third, we contextualise the courses’ concern with social justice and inequality by looking at agency and ‘voice’ and the struggle for civil, political and social rights. In particular we examine transnational feminist, ethnic and indigenous social movements and the emergence of postcolonial pedagogies of difference and dissent.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94678","attributes":{"title":"Reading the Performative","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\n‘Reading the Performative’ addresses the potential of performativity to think through...","description":"
Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\n‘Reading the Performative’ addresses the potential of performativity to think through contemporary art, focusing on feminist and queer theories and artworks. The course begins by exploring the ‘contemporary’ of contemporary art as a performative concept, setting up key issues around temporality and reenactment that will be explored throughout the course. Different approaches to performativity will be discussed, focusing on Judith Butler’s use of the term in relation to gender. The course continues with the theme 'Performing History/Imagining Futures', looking at various aspects of performance and performativity in contemporary art, focusing on feminist and queer narratives. Of central concern is the critical potential for performance to disrupt stable notions of identity and history.
\nThe performing of histories will be considered as a way of actively engaging with the past, moving from the creation of personal histories to the passionate re-working of political legacies. We will also address the possibilities of performative writing as an affective and political strategy. The reading will draw upon theoretical perspectives from performance studies, queer and feminist studies, art theory, and philosophy, alongside selected encounters with contemporary art and performance works. The focus of this course is on Anglo-American art since the 1970s, but students are encouraged to use the theoretical tools discussed to address a broader range of case studies.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"95909","attributes":{"title":"Race, Culture and Education","summary":"This module focuses on issues of race, ethnicity and cultural diversity in education. We will begin by considering what these terms mean, before...","description":"This module focuses on issues of race, ethnicity and cultural diversity in education. We will begin by considering what these terms mean, before discussing how and why ethnic and racial boundaries have been constructed through history, and across the world, and to what extent people accept or contest these boundaries. We will pay particular attention to the history of the concept of racism, and to some of its contemporary global manifestations. We will consider what a positive but critical stance on global diversity might look like. From these starting points we will move on to consider how these concepts impact on education. Issues such as the nature of the teacher’s role in the classroom, how ethnicity and race influence teacher-student interactions, and what knowledge is valued will be investigated. We will also consider how other aspects of identity, notably social class and gender, intersect with ethnicity and race to affect learning and learner identities in different ways. The module aims to challenge stereotypes, and notions of identities as fixed and unchanging. It invites participants to reflect on their own background, and to explore how this influences their own understandings of racialisation and identity. It also expects participants to draw directly on their own personal experiences as learners and, where appropriate, as teachers. Throughout the module we will consider strategies and discourses which lead to a more inclusive socio-cultural approach to teaching and learning, and will grapple with the complexity of what it means to be part of an inclusive multicultural classroom ourselves.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129205","attributes":{"title":"Race, Empire and Nation","summary":"This module will examine how histories of Western imperialism have shaped the landscapes of the present. Our task is to explore how contemporary...","description":"This module will examine how histories of Western imperialism have shaped the landscapes of the present. Our task is to explore how contemporary racial and national formations (ideas about ‘Britishness’, ‘whiteness’, and so on) exist in a complex and intimate relationship to longer histories of empire. In addition to introducing key concepts from critical race and postcolonial studies, lectures will also offer phenomenological interpretations of how race structures the present often by receding into the background, as well as drawing on theories of affect and emotion to explore how security regimes become racial regimes. Our concern is with how histories of empire ‘get under the skin,’ and set reading include works that reflect on the experience of being or becoming strangers, or ‘bodies out of place.’ We attend to the intersection between race, gender and sexuality throughout.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (75%), 1,000 word journal (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129610","attributes":{"title":"Race and Representation in Popular Culture","summary":"Through exploring the emergence of ideas of race and racisms, this module considers the complex relations between the production of identity,...","description":"Through exploring the emergence of ideas of race and racisms, this module considers the complex relations between the production of identity, difference and the cultural politics of representational practices.
\nWe will consider a diversity of theoretical perspectives from cultural studies, anthropology, sociology and social theory to examine the importance of popular culture in the production of modern identities.
\nContact hours: 2 hours per week
\nAssessment: essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"134212","attributes":{"title":"Representing Reality","summary":"Consider the relationship of documentary to re-presenting ‘reality’ and its various ‘truth claims' through this module. It explores documentary...","description":"Consider the relationship of documentary to re-presenting ‘reality’ and its various ‘truth claims' through this module. It explores documentary production in its changing social and historical contexts, and across its different distribution platforms, and deals with current debates about documentary ethics and aesthetics. Taught by a range of lecturers (mainly) from the Media & Communications Department, it encompasses both Anglophone and some international documentary traditions, and historical examples from the early Soviet avant-garde to contemporary documentary.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":[],"meta":"Postgraduate","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"141945","attributes":{"title":"Race and the Cultural Industries","summary":"While both academic and industry research has long established how racial and ethnic minorities are portrayed in the media negatively, in recent...","description":"While both academic and industry research has long established how racial and ethnic minorities are portrayed in the media negatively, in recent times there has been an increase in the level of campaigning around issues of representation – from the trending of #oscarssowhite, to the activism of the website Media Diversified and recent parliamentary interventions made by actors Lenny Henry and Idris Elba demanding more diversity on-and-off screen. The aim of Race and the Cultural Industries is to develop a rigorous, theoretically and empirically grounded approach to the topic of media diversity in order to help students develop an in-depth and nuanced understanding of how cultural industries work to produce discourses around race.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147275","attributes":{"title":"Race, Racism and Professional Practice","summary":"This module aims to clarify definitions and understandings of racism and explore its manifestations. It argues that racism affects the whole...","description":"This module aims to clarify definitions and understandings of racism and explore its manifestations. It argues that racism affects the whole community, and that institutional racism is embedded within UK organisations. It brings into focus professional and managerial practices that sustain institutional racism, and examines interventions that can challenge and change equality of outcomes in services. Students will be equipped to identify, engage and create change in professional and organisational practice.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147287","attributes":{"title":"Religion, Belief and Spirituality in Professional Practice","summary":"This is an interdisciplinary module which explores the links between religion, belief, and spirituality and professional practice. Western societies...","description":"This is an interdisciplinary module which explores the links between religion, belief, and spirituality and professional practice. Western societies are increasingly religiously diverse, and law and guidance require engagement with the religion and belief identities of service users. Yet public discourse and professional training has been dominated by post-religious assumptions which impede a good quality of conversation and debate. Instead discourse has revolved around risks, controversies and crises poses by religion and belief, usually associated with sex, gender, money and violence. This module explores these discourses as starting points for practice with religiously diverse publics. It considers points of connection and disconnection between them, and practice settings providing services in physical and mental health, social work and social care, and community and youth work settings. The module will introduce multi-professional perspectives, while also allowing students to delve deeper in to their own professional frameworks and paradigms in profession-specific seminars.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (60%), 30 minute presentation (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91448","attributes":{"title":"Romanticism and its Legacy","summary":"Though a notoriously difficult concept to define, Romanticism had a powerful impact throughout the nineteenth century, and continues to shape music...","description":"Though a notoriously difficult concept to define, Romanticism had a powerful impact throughout the nineteenth century, and continues to shape music and musical culture today. It generated new conceptualisations of the composer and performer, encouraged composers to explore new musical forms and styles, shifted analytical procedures, played a part in the formation of musical canons and altered listening habits.
\nThis course investigates the legacy of Romanticism in these areas with reference to musical genres from the Lied and the symphony to Blues and film music. It begins with an introduction to Romanticism, before historicising concepts such as genius, the work, nationalism, celebrity, the canon, self-expression, organicism and originality.
\nYou Students will be encouraged to consider how these concepts were (and still are) reflected in compositional, listening, performing and critical practices. This will involve developing an understanding not only of a range of musicological arguments about Romanticism, but also those found in reception, performance, gender, film and cultural studies.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91453","attributes":{"title":"Russian Music in Context: Glinka to Stravinsky","summary":"Western audiences have long been drawn to Russian music for its supposed unique qualities. With the arrival of Diaghilev's Ballets russes in...","description":"
Western audiences have long been drawn to Russian music for its supposed unique qualities. With the arrival of Diaghilev's Ballets russes in the early twentieth century, this reached fever pitch, with audiences, critics and composers across Europe and the United States thoroughly besotted with the elusive ‘Russian soul’. This module explores how (and why) music was used to create powerful images of Russian nationhood, focusing on the years between the premieres of Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar (1836) and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913). During this period, Russian nationalist composers and critics developed a complex dynamic with the West, seeking to prove that Russian culture was distinct from, but able to compete with existing art music traditions. In order to investigate how certain Russian composers sought to beat the West at its own game, this module will centre on the genres of programme music, symphony, opera, art song, piano music and ballet. But it was not only in Russia that the ‘Russian soul’ was constructed. This module also looks at some of the earliest reactions to Russian music abroad, and shows how composers towards the end of the century were strongly influenced by musical forms, harmonies and genres developed in Russia. As well as gaining an overview of Russian music in this period, therefore, students will be encouraged to consider Russian music in its Western context – not just as a peripheral, passive observer and absorber of Western art music traditions, but as an increasingly active player and influence on the world’s stage.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129595","attributes":{"title":"Rough Politics","summary":"Social scientists are frequently at pains to grasp the significance of “rough” political actors in the contemporary world. They either treat...","description":"Social scientists are frequently at pains to grasp the significance of “rough” political actors in the contemporary world. They either treat political participation as connected to active citizenship or focus on struggles for emancipation grounded in well-argued political ideas. Although we lack a proper understanding of who they are and what they want, pirates, guerrillas, gangs, militias, and terrorists are a permanent feature of our social and political landscape.
\nTo gain a more sophisticated (and less prejudiced) knowledge of “rough politics” is particularly vital today, as the age of globalization seems to be framed by the conflict between the rule of law represented by western democracies, and the violent disorder embodied by the Global South. In this module we will trace the murky contours that separate politics from lawlessness, political ideas and ideals from mere gibberish, political activism from sheer violence, and social bonds from criminal complicity. In studying this shadowy territory we will touch upon fundamental issues for today´s social sciences: the afterlives of Twentieth Century revolutionary politics, the connections between political violence and religion, the nature of informal and illegal economies, the current debates on globalisation from below, the prospects for social rebellion, the construction of new political subjectivities and novel ways of representing the “other”.
\nWe will do all of this by studying the political significance of guerrilla warfare in shaping global politics; the language of martyrdom in religious based terrorism; Al Qaeda´s dependence on mass-murder to advance a populist theology, Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea reinventing the fascination and fear caused by pirates from a bygone age, Colombian paramilitaries enforcing order and disregarding at the very same time the Rule of Law, The Mara Salvatrucha street gang dominating neighbourhoods in El Salvador and Los Angeles, and hackers disturbing the otherwise unalterable profitmaking arrangements of the Internet. We will take our main cues from four theorists that represent diverse positions and intellectual traditions: Carl Schmitt, Pierre Clastres, Frantz Fanon and Jean Genet.
\nAssessment: 3,500-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138070","attributes":{"title":"Researching Society and Culture 2A","summary":"This methods module aims to help you to make the transition from reading about sociological research to designing and doing your own research. It...","description":"This methods module aims to help you to make the transition from reading about sociological research to designing and doing your own research. It combines theoretically informed lectures with practical, hands-on workshops. The module is designed in two halves:
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (100%), workshop exercises (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138072","attributes":{"title":"Researching Society and Culture 2B","summary":"This research methods module aims to help you to make the transition from reading about sociological research to designing and doing your own...","description":"This research methods module aims to help you to make the transition from reading about sociological research to designing and doing your own research. It combines theoretically informed lectures with practical, hands-on workshops.
\nThe module aims to provide you with the tools necessary to design your own research. The aim is to learn how to respond to a research question and turn it into a research proposal. There is one formal (summative) item of assessment, which involves the design of a research study; entitled “Constructing and Writing a Research Design”.
\nIn workshop settings and via workshop exercises, you will be given feedback on developing your annotated bibliography and a draft of your research study proposal, which constitutes part of your formative assignment; and this will be in conjunction with practice-based formative workshop exercises.
\nThe summative assessment requires you to design a research project and present this in written form as a research proposal. This module is referred to as SO52084A, Researching Society & Culture 2B.
\nAssessment: workshop exercises (formative), 2,500 word assignment (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140628","attributes":{"title":"Rhetoric and Politics","summary":"Rhetoric is the art of speech and persuasion. In classical Greece and Rome, rhetoric held a central place in politics. To speak and argue well was an...","description":"Rhetoric is the art of speech and persuasion. In classical Greece and Rome, rhetoric held a central place in politics. To speak and argue well was an integral part of being a citizen.
\nIn modern, democratic societies, speeches and arguments remain a primary source in political life. But we have become more suspicious of what we hear, and perhaps less attentive to the ways we are being persuaded. This module examines the techniques of rhetorical analysis and applies these to the study of contemporary political speeches.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"156535","attributes":{"title":"Realising the Film: Production Values","summary":"This course will encourage you to expand your understanding and appreciation of the strategies and skills that enhance film production. This...","description":"
This course will encourage you to expand your understanding and appreciation of the strategies and skills that enhance film production. This module explores elements that impact directly on the shoot process: image composition, colour, sound, and musical composition; production design, propping and the importance and significance of location.
\nThese topics will be raised in a critical context with lectures, seminars and screenings of film extracts, to expand all students’ understanding of the scope of film creative techniques and strategies.
\nIt will be of direct benefit to filmmakers and screen writers, as well as to those studying film theory, and subjects outside Media and Communications - such as Music, Drama, Art and Visual Cultures - where cinematic values and debates are of significance.
\nWe will bring in visiting industry speakers in such fields as cinematography, musical composition and performance, the practicalities and aesthetics of location; production design and propping; and advanced work with performance.
\nAssessment:
\n3000 word essay on an aspect of filmmaking that enhances screen production values. Visual references may be included.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"162975","attributes":{"title":"Radical Performance Vocabularies","summary":"This module introduces key issues in community, applied, and political drama and performance through a focus on critical analysis of case studies....","description":"This module introduces key issues in community, applied, and political drama and performance through a focus on critical analysis of case studies. Weekly topics will address a wide range of forms and genres. The plays, companies, and performances discussed will be evaluated through the application of relevant theoretical frameworks, with an emphasis on influential philosophical and ideological trends of the 20th and 21st century. Students will consider a thematic topic each week through the study of a related performance, and will analyse the work with reference to assigned critical readings. Topics will include, for example, theatre for development, postcolonial theatres, youth theatre, feminist and queer performance, and others, and these will be contextualised within an exploration of post-structuralism, globalisation, neoliberalism, post-Cold War international relations, and other global political issues. This module will provide broad subject knowledge alongside fundamental skills in research and critical reflection, and will prepare students for further and more detailed study in subsequent years.
\nAssessment: Research portfolio (formative), 2,000 word essay (summative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"163754","attributes":{"title":"Race, Empire and Nation","summary":"This module will examine how histories of Western imperialism have shaped the landscapes of the present. Our task is to explore how contemporary...","description":"This module will examine how histories of Western imperialism have shaped the landscapes of the present. Our task is to explore how contemporary racial and national formations (ideas about ‘Britishness’, ‘whiteness’, and so on) exist in a complex and intimate relationship to longer histories of empire. In addition to introducing key concepts from critical race and postcolonial studies, lectures will also offer phenomenological interpretations of how race structures the present often by receding into the background, as well as drawing on theories of affect and emotion to explore how security regimes become racial regimes. Our concern is with how histories of empire ‘get under the skin,’ and set reading include works that reflect on the experience of being or becoming strangers, or ‘bodies out of place.’ We attend to the intersection between race, gender and sexuality throughout.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166223","attributes":{"title":"Researching Culture: Case Studies","summary":"The course is designed to develop skills in the sociological analysis of culture through the use of case study methods. The use of the case study...","description":"The course is designed to develop skills in the sociological analysis of culture through the use of case study methods. The use of the case study form will enable a critical understanding of the application and query of concepts familiar to social science and humanities study. It will provide practical illustration of the mode and contribution of situated case study research, reflecting on a range of research methods (textual and image analysis, ethnography, interviews and archival research). Students will have the opportunity to review the thinking and practice involved in the collection and contribution of different forms of data.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166232","attributes":{"title":"Race Critical Theory and Social Justice","summary":"The module offers a strong theoretical and conceptual basis for understanding critiques of race and racialisation historically and with regard to...","description":"The module offers a strong theoretical and conceptual basis for understanding critiques of race and racialisation historically and with regard to contemporary cultural contexts and political debates. In addition, our attention to media extends beyond media objects and technologies (texts, the audio-visual and new media platforms) to include how race and ethnicity are mediated and become in everyday life through complicated and changing interrelations between discourses, emotions and bodies. Attention is focused on an examination of race critical theories and related concepts that sociologists and cultural studies theorists have used to think about the formation of ethnic and racial identities in relation to social justice, specifically the social ideals of equality, valuing diversity, and the right to live in dignity. The module explores the challenges of reconciling the analytical rigour of race critical theories and practical aims of oppositional political agendas within the contemporary conjuncture. This exploration entails using a range of historical and contemporary examples to interrogate concepts and theoretical approaches. In this sense, we do not make a priori assumptions about the content and processes that are involved in racialisation, rather we investigate them in situ.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"167142","attributes":{"title":"Research into Writing Practices in Contemporary Contexts","summary":"This module provides students with the opportunity to develop theoretical understanding of creative writing practices and pedagogies and develop...","description":"This module provides students with the opportunity to develop theoretical understanding of creative writing practices and pedagogies and develop insights into creative writing practices that provide a critical perspective on relations and discourses of teaching and learning in contemporary educational contexts. This module relates to the Workshop in Creative and Life Writing and enables students to develop more detailed knowledge and increased confidence in combining their skills as both writers and educators. Students will work in collaboration with local cultural institutions and develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of recent and relevant literature relating to writing practices, education, and educational research, and be able to demonstrate a grasp of current major issues in the field of creative writing.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166717","attributes":{"title":"Radical Philosophy: Discourse, Power and Desire","summary":"Much of Western political theory is based on Enlightenment ideas about reason, and in particular on a paradigm of the autonomous, rational individual...","description":"Much of Western political theory is based on Enlightenment ideas about reason, and in particular on a paradigm of the autonomous, rational individual derived from liberalism. However, a number of contemporary thinkers in the Continental tradition have challenged these preconceptions, showing that we also have to take account of certain external, and often ‘irrational’ forces – such as language, the unconscious, ideology and power relations – that often shape our perception of the world and our place in it, therefore influencing the way we do politics. This module examines some of these alternative approaches to the political, exploring themes such as discourse, power, subjectivity, desire, resistance – as well as contemporary approaches to radical politics today. While largely a theoretical module, it also deals with concrete questions and issues such as the role of language in the construction of political and gender identities, how power functions in society, and how people resist domination.
\n\n
Assessment: 3,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"377196","attributes":{"title":"Radicalism During the English Revolution, 1641-1660","summary":"This module examines arguably the most turbulent period in all English history: 1641–1660. These years were marked by rebellion in Ireland; bloody...","description":"This module examines arguably the most turbulent period in all English history: 1641–1660. These years were marked by rebellion in Ireland; bloody Civil Wars in Britain; political, religious and social radicalism; regicide; eleven years of republican rule; and the de facto restoration of the monarchy. One would think that by now there is nothing new for historians to learn about the English Revolution, that all the important issues have been resolved. Yet the opposite is true, for there remains a lack of consensus as to the causes of events, the manner in which some of them occurred and their significance. Even the name is in dispute. Moreover, whereas class and ideological conflict once seemed a plausible explanatory tool, it has been a major achievement of the so-called revisionist interpretation of early modern England to shift the emphasis away from tension towards consensus and contingency.
\nOne outcome of this approach has been the attempted marginalisation of radicalism during the English Revolution. Thus prominent figures within what might be termed the canonical English radical tradition (itself largely a twentieth-century historical construction) have been regarded as unrepresentative of the conforming, traditionalist, uncommitted majority; their extreme opinions apparently advocated for only a brief period of their lives; their influence upon society supposedly exaggerated both by panicked political elites and skilled propagandists preying on fears of property damage or cautioning against introducing religious toleration and its corollary, moral dissolution (abhorrent beliefs begat aberrant behaviour).
\nSimilarly, conventional forms of popular protest such as food, enclosure and tax riots were reduced in scale and scope and drained of radical ideological content. Instead these incidents were presented as sporadic, uncoordinated, locally specific, largely bloodless and sometimes richly symbolic examples of conservative disorder. Whatever your opinion, you will get ample opportunity to formulate your arguments, thus adding your own distinctive contribution to these on-going debates.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90532","attributes":{"title":"Renaissance Worlds","summary":"This module surveys major texts, authors, and ideas in England from about 1500 to about 1660, offering both a broad introduction to the period and...","description":"This module surveys major texts, authors, and ideas in England from about 1500 to about 1660, offering both a broad introduction to the period and the opportunity for more specific study of particular works. Considerable attention will be paid to the social, religious, and political currents of the day, but mostly we will concentrate on the emergence and development of multiple forms of imaginative writing under the Tudors and early Stuarts. In the first term alone we move from the court poetry written under Henry VIII to the sonnet craze that emerged under Elizabeth to the invention and development of blank verse, the appropriation of the epic in the service of the Reformation, and the maturation of the public theatre. In the second term, the range is arguably as great, encompassing Jacobean tragedy and comedy, the erotic and religious lyric, and literary responses to political upheaval.
\nAssessment full year: 1,800-2,000 word essay (40%), 3 hour exam (60%)
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"905274","attributes":{"title":"Regional Histories of Black Britain","summary":"How can historians write Black histories of Britain that explicitly acknowledge that the United Kingdom is a regionally complex nation? This is the...","description":"How can historians write Black histories of Britain that explicitly acknowledge that the United Kingdom is a regionally complex nation? This is the question that this module considers. Its starting point is the fact that the United Kingdom is a country of countries. Moreover, within each of the four constituent countries are distinct regions that have had historically specific trajectories influenced by a combination of environmental, cultural, and social factors. This module examines the possibilities of doing regional histories of Black Britain in at least two ways: 1) histories that take region and country seriously by historicizing them; and 2) histories of Black people who lived across Britain and the United Kingdom. By putting Black British history in conversation with the methods of regional and local histories, the module also situates the field within an important debate within British historiography: the extent to which historians should avoid treating England or London as representative of the entire country. Bringing this question to Black British history allows the module to challenge popular conceptions of Black British history as mainly London-centered and postwar history. The module will approach this task methodologically, analytically, and practically: How does one do regional histories of Black Britain? Are such histories possible archivally? How should historians creatively approach the challenges they pose? What do we gain from these histories? And how does the field of Black British history change with greater attention to region and locale? The module will include scholarship about the early Black communities that formed in Britain’s port towns, migration experiences of newcomers to cities in the Midlands and the North of England, and histories of Black people in Wales and Scotland. It will also explore scholarship that rejects cultural ideas of rural Britain as an exclusively white space. It will be interdisciplinary in its approach, considering how historians can draw on the insights of disciplines like sociology, anthropology, and geography, which have theorized space, place, and culture and which have given considerable attention to Black communities across Britain since the 1990s.
","level":"","subject":"History","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"1134371","attributes":{"title":"(Re)writing America: from the nineteenth century to the present day","summary":"This module will introduce students to major texts, themes and movements of nineteenth-century American literature and then explore the ways that...","description":"This module will introduce students to major texts, themes and movements of nineteenth-century American literature and then explore the ways that literary concerns of the nineteenth century have evolved or been adapted or interrogated in and by twentieth- and twenty-first century American authors. The module will engage with the ways that nineteenth-century literature narrated national identity, the ways America was experienced, and so the tensions between the idea of nation and its realities. Studying twentieth- and twenty-first century counterparts to this literature, the module will examine how the nation has been rewritten. Of particular interest to this module will be the literary representation of migration, frontiers and indigeneity; the experience of modernity (of the city, technology, industrialisation, and economic transition); notions of independence, revolution and democracy; slavery and its legacies; the transatlantic and global dialogues of this nation’s literature; the social and cultural position of women; the relationship between religion and power; and environmentalist sensibilities and ecological catastrophes. The module will examine these topics and their evolution through a variety of genres and forms particular to American literature.
\nAssessment: learning journal (30%), class test (20%), 3,500-4,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1353692","attributes":{"title":"Religion, Crime, and Law","summary":"Most people in the world are religious and religion is a significant social force across societies. Research within the Sociology of Religion shows...","description":"Most people in the world are religious and religion is a significant social force across societies. Research within the Sociology of Religion shows that while a few years ago many sociologists and criminologists thought religion’s influence was decreasing, especially in the ‘west’, this view has changed with the realisation of religion’s continuing, and in some cases increasing, significance. Religious individuals and institutions both protect and harm individuals: where are the boundaries marking acceptable or unacceptable religious practice? New questions arise concerning the legal rights and responsibilities of religious actors, the shifting boundaries between public and private, the roles of those who police and enforce individual and collective rights and the type and quantity of religious laws and rules. What is meant by religious equality, and how does this impact on human rights and social justice? Do religious people have the ‘right’ to follow their religion’s teaching if it affects the rights of other people, and who decides?
\nWhat is considered to be ‘criminal’ activity changes over time and place, as does the nature of law and other forms of regulation. Most literature on religion and crime speaks to the normative, taken-for-grantedness that religious people are ‘good’. Such assumptions ignore the way religion actually ‘works’ on the ground. Globally, terrorism, conflicts and war crimes are often driven by ethno-religious claims and aspirations. Those in positions of religious power and authority sometimes abuse their roles and the people who follow them. How does the law, and religion, construct certain behaviours as either deviant or permitted, and how is that changing and why? The activity of such diverse arenas as sharia courts, secular courts and the United Nations are explored to show how religion is regulated and represented. Finally, the role of religion in the care of criminals is explored, starting with early prison reform and more contemporary initiatives such as prison chaplaincy. Using theories and cases from around the world, with an emphasis on the UK and Europe, this module helps students of sociology, law, criminology and sociology of religion to understand the critical relationships between religion, crime and law.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094791","attributes":{"title":"Race and Technology","summary":"Race has shaped myriad aspects of media technologies—from representations of social groups in entertainment, to algorithms that enable facial...","description":"Race has shaped myriad aspects of media technologies—from representations of social groups in entertainment, to algorithms that enable facial recognition. Media provide images and narratives that help us understand ourselves and others; they also provide platforms for us to live and work. Yet, these cultural representations and technical infrastructures are patterned by racial categorization, calculation, and commerce. This module goes beyond discussions of racial stereotypes in media representations to explore how the technologization of race connects recording media such as film to computing techniques such as artificial intelligence. Featuring readings that theorize aesthetic and political-economic relationalities between blackness, whiteness, and Asianness, this module combines seminar discussions with weekly screenings of science fiction and documentary films. Building on each other, the weekly topics progress from abstract to concrete: (I) Form provides a framework for understanding race as co-constitutive of technological infrastructures and imaginaries; (II) Flow discusses the dynamism of racial concepts as they circulate commercially, biologically, and computationally; (III) Fabrication examines racial stratification and competition in tech labour through contemporary case studies in India and China. The module directly addresses the principles highlighted in the College’s Curriculum Review. The module addresses Principle 1: Articulating our Mission, Values and Approach by using relevant topical events such as the Covid-19 pandemic to explore the curriculum and deliver greater social justice as well as by embedding creativity and practice in learning through assessments such as a social media campaign. The module also addresses Principle 2: Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Learning & Applied Academic Skills, through the focus on Social Justice and Inequality and Race and Identity. Finally, the module addresses Principle 3: Personalised Learning Journey by creating and communicating an offer that is inclusive and representative—where students can see ‘themselves’ in the course objectives, materials and readings. These readings cover theories of race beyond blackness and whiteness to include East Asian, South Asian and transnational perspectives.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91049","attributes":{"title":"Russian Theatre","summary":"Three seminal figures in the Russian theatre of the first half of the twentieth century have had an extraordinary impact on the development of world...","description":"Three seminal figures in the Russian theatre of the first half of the twentieth century have had an extraordinary impact on the development of world theatre to this day: Konstantin Stanislavsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Evgeny Vakhtangov. This course focuses on their different views of the theatre, their directorial principles and their collaboration with actors, playwrights and designers in the context of unprecedented political and social upheaval. The plays selected here were indicative of the changes taking place, and of fundamental importance to the revaluation of theatre practice during this time.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89570","attributes":{"title":"Social Change and Political Action","summary":"What is politics? For many people, the answer is simple: politics, as the management and organisation of the public good, is the province of...","description":"What is politics? For many people, the answer is simple: politics, as the management and organisation of the public good, is the province of government and parties. Its occurrences and machinations are played out, more or less openly, in parliaments, bureaucracies, elections, as well as in our newspapers and on our television and computer screens.
\nSociologists and social theorists have tended to adopt broader definitions of politics. While recognising the importance of parliamentary and institutional politics, Marxism, in particular, drew attention to the political content of economic activity, and in particular to the centrality of struggles over the means and relations of production – linking the study of political exclusion to that of economic exploitation. More recently, social theory and cultural studies, influenced by the politics of feminism, environmentalism and civil rights, have sought to expand the domain of politics further, to include questions of sexuality, ecology, the body and race, as well as foregrounding the role of social movements in taking politics outside of its traditional arenas.
\nIn considering how we might think about the relation between politics, culture, and society this module focuses on the way sociologists, social historians and political theorists have reflected on the relationship between social transformations - including regime changes, shifts in class power, the emancipation of minorities - and the forms taken by political action. Each session will seek to present, analyse and criticise some of the crucial concepts that have been put forward to illuminate the forms taken by collective political action and to analyse its social bases, from hegemony to collective violence, from new social movements to revolution.
\nThe module will begin by considering some of the perspectives on collective action provided by social history, considering issues such as the role of ‘disruptive power’ in insurrections and the role of class, race and gender in generating intersectional types of struggles. It will then consider some of the salient theoretical debates on the sources and subjects of transformative political action, from debates about the ‘racialised’ and ‘gendered’ Other in relation to the French revolution and the Declaration of Human Rights, to discussions on the place of violence in anti-colonial and liberation movements. Throughout, attention will be placed on the relevance of concepts in political sociology to the study of contemporary movements for political change - from labour movements to recent anti-racism struggles, from feminism and the new women’s protests, to activism in the age of the Internet and social media. The module will both provide an analytical toolbox for approaching the sociological study of politics and serve as an introduction to some of the most important positions in political sociology.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89577","attributes":{"title":"Sociology of Culture and Communication","summary":"The module begins by discussing theories of culture that have been advanced in sociology and social/cultural anthropology. Then we move on to look at...","description":"The module begins by discussing theories of culture that have been advanced in sociology and social/cultural anthropology. Then we move on to look at the intellectual roots of the sociology of culture before turning to the special contributions of cultural studies. Jeffrey Alexander’s ground-breaking work in cultural sociology comes up next; we give consideration to how cultural sociology differs from more established approaches in the sociology of culture and in cultural studies, while itself being informed by these and by social/cultural anthropology. We then turn to discourse – language in use – and consider its roots in linguistics and in literary studies; we next explore discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis. Narrative is a special type of discourse and we examine how it has been used in social research. Network/information society is the background against which any contemporary social science must operate, and we discuss some of the key ideas that have been advanced in the wake of Castells’ path breaking work. We then turn our attention to the cultural practices of gamers, hackers and ‘prosumers’. The final substantive session situates the preceding lectures in the context of globalisation.
\nAssessment: 10 minute presentation (formative), 1,000 word practice exam (formative), exam (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89909","attributes":{"title":"Sex, Drugs & Technology","summary":"The module will introduce our sex (ambiguity intended) as an achievement of historico-material process or what might be termed ‘worldly forces,’ not...","description":"
The module will introduce our sex (ambiguity intended) as an achievement of historico-material process or what might be termed ‘worldly forces,’ not reducible to the conventional explanation of a natural/given/essential mode of existence. The terms ‘drugs’ and ‘technology’ in the title are intended to signal that ‘sex’ and ‘sexuality’ are contingent on phenomena more commonly thought as if external or distinct to our being. Beginning with the work of Michel Foucault on how sexuality has come to function as a promise of liberation, thus disguising modes of normalisation and regulation, we consider his linking of power to knowledge and what this suggests of conventional modes of political struggle. Increasingly, we will give consideration to an emerging field of process thinking post Foucault, inviting you to reflect on how sex and sexuality are not stagnant entities fixed to set notions of pleasure, desire, violence but, rather, there is a becoming of experience in our relations with technologies of knowledge, drugs, social media and a host of other phenomena.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90232","attributes":{"title":"Social Psychology","summary":"This module gives you a thorough grounding in fundamental topics in experimental social psychology. You will critically examine social-psychological...","description":"This module gives you a thorough grounding in fundamental topics in experimental social psychology. You will critically examine social-psychological explanations and theories of individual, interpersonal, and group processes.
\nTopics include the concepts, theories and empirical research related to:
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90243","attributes":{"title":"Social Psychology of Social Problems","summary":"This module engages with social psychological approaches to understanding major social problems of contemporary society.\nYou will learn how to...","description":"This module engages with social psychological approaches to understanding major social problems of contemporary society.
\nYou will learn how to apply social psychology to analyse and solve social problems in intergroup contexts. You will gain experience in applying social psychological knowledge to understand and explain such issues as social inequality, tyranny, revolution and collective action, conflict escalation and resolution, genocide, terrorism and war.
\nAssessment: exam (70%), 1,500 word essay (30%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90386","attributes":{"title":"Shakespeare","summary":"A study of the majority of Shakespeare’s plays, undertaken roughly in the order in which they were written or performed, is augmented by close...","description":"A study of the majority of Shakespeare’s plays, undertaken roughly in the order in which they were written or performed, is augmented by close analysis of the poetic means and theatrical conditions through which the playwright emerges.
\nLooking at the plays alongside the theatres of Elizabethan London and the social politics of the period, we will examine how language and drama evolve in Shakespeare’s craft and the enduringness of his art. The module will take in a range of early modern concerns, political, social, domestic, geographical and aesthetic to explore the evolution of media – the written text and the theatrical production.
\nSpecified passages from ‘set plays’ (annually varied) are set for close reading exercises in the module. Shakespeare’s other texts are placed within Shakespeare’s whole work and the culture of the age.
\nAssessment full year: 2 hour exam (60%), 1,800-2,000 word essay (40%)
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90541","attributes":{"title":"Sensibility and Romanticism: Revolutions in Writing and Society","summary":"This module addresses the literature and culture of one of the most exciting and traumatic periods of British history. Not only was British society...","description":"
This module addresses the literature and culture of one of the most exciting and traumatic periods of British history. Not only was British society electrified by political revolutions in America and France, but it was also destabilised by the social and economic upheavals of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, and by the significant imperial expansion that ensued after victory in the Seven Years War against France in 1763.
\nIn parallel with these phenomena, there evolved a discourse of science and a philosophical scepticism about the claims of religion. The literature of this whole period is correspondingly energised and fraught, and it is marked by numerous radical departures: the rise of the novel, the prominent appearance of women writers, the terrifying apparition of the Gothic, the development of a revolutionary new poetry and the beginnings of what we might recognise as the kind of literary criticism that we ourselves write.
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 1,500-2,000 word essay (pass/fail), 1,500-2,000 word essay (pass/fail), exam (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91700","attributes":{"title":"Sociology of Visuality","summary":"Seeing, vision and visuality are the focus points of this module. Broadly speaking, it considers visuality to be a ‘force’ comparable to other social...","description":"Seeing, vision and visuality are the focus points of this module. Broadly speaking, it considers visuality to be a ‘force’ comparable to other social forces. It asks: how do historically and culturally specific ways of seeing shape epistemologies, methodologies and ethics? What are the roles of material technologies and practices in shaping and delimiting how we see and what it is possible to see? What are the relations between vision, visuality and power?
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how modes of visuality are historically and culturally specific
\n• Critically evaluate the epistemological, methodological and ethical issues raised by different modes of visuality
\n• Critically evaluate the relations between visuality and power
\n• Demonstrate skills in sociological writing, with an emphasis on the construction of cogent arguments based upon the use and citation of supporting evidence.
\nAssessment: 1x 4500 word essay.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91740","attributes":{"title":"Sociologies of Emerging Worlds","summary":"Conventional ways of demarcating economic, power, and cultural relationships have long relied up notions of \"north and south\", \"first and third\",...","description":"Conventional ways of demarcating economic, power, and cultural relationships have long relied up notions of \"north and south\", \"first and third\", \"east and west\", \"colonial and post-colonial.\" these means of envisioning the world and of tracing the intersections among diverse places, times, and peoples, while maintaining some salience, no longer seem to grasp what is really taking place.
\nThe module, in particular, explores the emerging relationships between Southeast Asia, south Asia, the Middle East and Africa—articulations that have been elaborated over a long history but which now take shape in new and powerful ways.
\nAdditionally, there are a plurality of \"worlds” that enjoin different actors and spaces that cannot be easily defined according to geopolitical understandings--where information infrastructure, design, telecommunications, and travel combine to create new possibilities of transaction. The module looks at how these worlds affect our understandings of sociality, actors, and collective life, in general, and the shape and operations of emerging powers in particular.
\nIn this module you will learn:
\n• To critically engage a new generation of post-globalization literature that focuses on the remaking of historical Diasporas, trade circuits, and geopolitical alignments in the global south.
\n• To critically generate ideas and discourses reflecting new forms of social space, notions of sociality, and a more global perspective on social processes.
\n• To understand the relationship between novel, transnational social forms, and the everyday life of local culture.
\n• To demonstrate basic capacities in intersecting analyses of new geopolitical and economic formations, digital space, and new geographies of virtuality.
\nAssessment:
\n1x 4500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94300","attributes":{"title":"Sociological Exhibition Making","summary":"You will be expected to build on your understanding of media and materials in terms of sociological research projects by addressing a particular...","description":"You will be expected to build on your understanding of media and materials in terms of sociological research projects by addressing a particular research theme during this module. You will respond to a theme to create a visual, sensory or experimental object or media.
\nThe course asks you to think about the appropriateness of different kinds of visual and sensory materials when addressing sociological questions, conducting research projects, and presenting their outcomes. It combines lectures and seminars with presentation and feedback workshops at which each student is expected to present their work-in-progress. The course has a practice-based outcome, and will finish with an exhibition/public event at which student work will be shown.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94665","attributes":{"title":"Sex, Gender, Species","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\nThis module asks how animal and sexual differences matter in and through a range of...","description":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\nThis module asks how animal and sexual differences matter in and through a range of contemporary art, films and literature. Methodologically, it brings contemporary feminist thought into creative dialogue with deconstruction.
\nRecent years have shown a surge of interest in what Derrida’s late writings name ‘the animal question’, that is to say, the philosophical tendency to divide ‘man’ from ‘animal’ and for this difference to allow for a ‘non-criminal putting to death’ of the latter. This module provides an in depth investigation into the ‘logics’ that erect this critical division thought together with those of gender and sexuality. Thus this module interweaves study of works by feminist thinkers to enable the ways that ‘the feminine’ is problematically figured in relation to both ‘the animal’ and to a supposedly neutral and human ‘subject’ to come into view (Beauvoir, Haraway, Jardine, Kristeva, Wilson). In so doing, what we call ‘nature’ is necessarily refigured (Haraway, Kirby, Wilson).
\nWhile the module may have different foci from year to year, it will initially explore animal and sexual differences through one particular interface: the mouth. This oral locus bridges eating, biting, sucking, licking, and speaking, all of which trouble strict divisions between literal and figural. Identification, sexuality, kinship and cannibalism are all implicated. Eating appears to be literal and described by need alone, yet it has a strenuous metaphorical connection with identification and thus both introjection and incorporation (Freud, Abraham & Torok, Derrida). It marks the interface between sexuality and language (Freud, Irigaray, Klein). Kinship ostensibly asks to whom am I related, keeping a watchful eye on the incest taboo as symbolic law. Closer inspection shows it to also necessarily ask who – or what – can I eat? (Derrida, Haraway, Kristeva). Speech opens up the relation to voice and conflicting positions between the dialectical overcoming of voice by speech defined as human (Lacan) and the performative bridging of both voice and speech and thus a non-hierarchical relation between human and animal voices (Derrida, Cixous). Need becomes enmeshed in desire, and sexuality becomes enmeshed in a politics of species (Oliver, Wolfe, Adams). Thus, questions of the limits of actual and symbolic cannibalism as well as vegetarianism/veganism inevitably comes to attention, anchored by Derrida’s enquiry into what it might mean to ‘eat well’ as well as Haraway’s ethical insistence that we also rethink what it might mean to ‘kill well’.
\nStudents will be encouraged to explore these questions as they are refracted through contemporary art, films and literature on a weekly basis and through their assessed work. Examples include films such as White God, Trouble Every Day, Babette’s Feast, Whiplash; plays such as Equus; fiction such as We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, art by Catherine Bell, Kira O’Reilly, the Tissue Culture & Art Project, Diana Thater, Dorothy Cross, Olly & Suzi, Christine Wertheim.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"95720","attributes":{"title":"Social-Moral Development","summary":"Gain an insight into the development of social and moral understanding in childhood and adolescence, and how this underlies the emergence of...","description":"Gain an insight into the development of social and moral understanding in childhood and adolescence, and how this underlies the emergence of prejudice, social inclusion and exclusion, peer relationships and bullying. The development of social category awareness, group identity and social-moral reasoning will be studied from infancy, through early childhood to late childhood and adolescence.
\nThis module will address how these social-moral developments relate to empirical evidence showing changes in attitudes, behaviour and peer relationships during childhood and adolescence. Consideration will also be given to developmentally informed interventions to promote positive peer relationships.
\nAssessment: 1 x 1,500 word essay, 1 x 2 hour exam
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129217","attributes":{"title":"Social Media in Everyday Life: A Global Perspective","summary":"The module explores the consequences of social and mobile media in a comparative context. What does it mean to live entangled with social and mobile...","description":"The module explores the consequences of social and mobile media in a comparative context. What does it mean to live entangled with social and mobile media? What are the consequences of the culture of ‘always on’ connectivity for our identities, relationships and communities? What are the implications for inequality? Are there any opportunities for protest movements or for coping during emergencies? These questions have never been as urgent as they are today. During the pandemic, we have collectively experienced a huge dependency on social and mobile media as our professional and social lives migrated online. The module offers an opportunity to critically unpack some of the assumptions made about media technologies, starting by unravelling the very notion of social media.
\nThe module pivots on the double logic of social media: while social media enable socialities and intimacies at a distance, they are also key instruments of extraction and surveillance. This tension between agency and corporate or state control through datafication is a theme that runs across all lectures. The module takes a distinctly non-western approach focusing on the experience of social media in the context of everyday life. The key texts informing our seminar discussions are ethnographies from the global south. Through this comparative approach, we aim to question widely held assumptions about social media as well notions of intimacy, care, labour, protest and inequalities.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129618","attributes":{"title":"Sociology of Religion in the Modern World","summary":"Critically reviews the role of religion in the modern world by examining how religion is being re-asserted in the public sphere. Ten lectures will...","description":"Critically reviews the role of religion in the modern world by examining how religion is being re-asserted in the public sphere. Ten lectures will explore contemporary issues analysed through classic and modern sociological theory. Through exploring the research methods sociologists employ in the social scientific study of religion, the course will provide opportunities for students to develop theoretical and methodological skills and knowledge that can be used to support their dissertation research. During several seminars students will conduct participant observation exercises around the university and New Cross.
\nIn this module you will learn to:
\n• develop a clear sociological understanding of the history and location of religion;
\n• appreciate the nuances and complexities of religion as lived and embodied;
\n• critically examine and evaluate theories about religion as a social force;
\n• acquire knowledge and practice of different methods used in the Inter-disciplinary social scientific study of religion;
\n• work independently and collaboratively within an Interdisciplinary environment including sociology, psychology, politics, history, and anthropology;
\n• write effectively about the concepts, theories, and practices learned in the module
\n• Demonstrate a critical understanding of religion and belief as social ‘facts’ and forces;
\n• Develop a sound knowledge of different methods used in the Inter-disciplinary social scientific study of religion;
\n• Demonstrate a critical appreciation of historical and contemporary issues;
\n• Use relevant case studies, quantitative data, fieldwork experience and theories to understand religion and belief in contemporary contexts;
\n• Critically read, evaluate and synthesize scholarly literature on different theories and uses/practices of religion in sociological research and in social life;
\n• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively, both independently and collaboratively, with an interdisciplinary set of concepts and readings from disciplines including sociology, psychology, politics, history, and anthropology;
\n• Describe and express the concepts explored in the module clearly and effectively in written form and in class presentations and discussions
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"134205","attributes":{"title":"Social Activist Film","summary":"You will be introduced to activist filmmaking and digital media for social change. The course will be relevant for you both if your...","description":"You will be introduced to activist filmmaking and digital media for social change. The course will be relevant for you both if your interest is primarily theoretical, and/or practical (for instance if you are interested in employment in this area).
\nThe module will give you a grounding in current debates in the field and, as well as exposing you to a range of contemporary projects and practices, some of the history of activist media.
\nAmongst the sessions and topics covered will be current film representations of activism, the history of activist and alternative media, a workshop in participatory media techniques, and case study sessions in media use in migratio and asylum activism, and in contemporary web-based projects.
\nThe module will help you gain a practical and critical knowledge of contemporary approaches to activist media practice across different platforms, as well as the history of activist/community/participatory media.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138082","attributes":{"title":"Social Media, Crowdsourcing and Citizen Sensing","summary":"Providing a combination of critical understanding and practical skills relating to the journalistic impact of emerging socio-technical...","description":"
Providing a combination of critical understanding and practical skills relating to the journalistic impact of emerging socio-technical platforms, this module will promote independent critical and evaluative skills, analytical and creative engagement with technologies, and self-development with respect to emerging forms of professional journalistic practice.
\nIt will provide both critical understanding and practical skills relating to different socio-technical forms (platforms, networks, sensors), their social and participatory context, and the application of their observational, analytical, and empirical affordances for professional journalistic practice. The teaching will combine lectures and practical experimentation.
\nThis module is also available at year 3 level.
\nAssessment: project (50%), social media writing (50%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138692","attributes":{"title":"Social Media in Everyday Life: A Global Perspective","summary":"The module explores the consequences of social and mobile media in a comparative context. What does it mean to live entangled with social and mobile...","description":"
The module explores the consequences of social and mobile media in a comparative context. What does it mean to live entangled with social and mobile media? What are the consequences of the culture of ‘always on’ connectivity for our identities, relationships and communities? What are the implications for inequality? Are there any opportunities for protest movements or for coping during emergencies? These questions have never been as urgent as they are today. During the pandemic, we have collectively experienced a huge dependency on social and mobile media as our professional and social lives migrated online. The module offers an opportunity to critically unpack some of the assumptions made about media technologies, starting by unravelling the very notion of social media.
\nThe module pivots on the double logic of social media: while social media enable socialities and intimacies at a distance, they are also key instruments of extraction and surveillance. This tension between agency and corporate or state control through datafication is a theme that runs across all lectures. The module takes a distinctly non-western approach focusing on the experience of social media in the context of everyday life. The key texts informing our seminar discussions are ethnographies from the global south. Through this comparative approach, we aim to question widely held assumptions about social media as well notions of intimacy, care, labour, protest and inequalities.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142438","attributes":{"title":"Scenography","summary":"This module introduces you to the fundamental principles of Scenography. The practice of Scenography is concerned with the dramaturgical exploration...","description":"This module introduces you to the fundamental principles of Scenography. The practice of Scenography is concerned with the dramaturgical exploration of space, the parameters of which might be described as all that exists in the performance space relating to the senses, for example, the visual/aural language of the performance. This module will allow you to explore Scenography as a complex system of signs by which we can both examine and imagine the potential of space through decoding/encoding the performative space.
\nYou will practically explore and critically examine Scenography as a dramaturgical system through five scenographic disciplines:
\nYou will be introduced to key concepts, practitioners, and practical processes relating to these five disciplines before choosing to specialise in one elected Scenographic Discipline. From here, you will work in Companies throughout the term to devise a short Scenographic Exercise together. You will each take a specific role in contributing to the project, dependent on the Scenographic Discipline you have elected. Each company, therefore, will comprise of a team of specialists in a range scenographic practices.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142519","attributes":{"title":"Social Psychology of Social Problems: Intergroup Perspective","summary":"Term(s) taught: Spring\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week\nThe objectives of this module are to expand your understanding...","description":"Term(s) taught: Spring
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week, 1 hour seminar per week
\nThe objectives of this module are to expand your understanding of social psychological approaches to major problems in contemporary society. You will learn how to apply social psychology to analyse social problems in intergroup contexts.
\nAssessment: 1 x 1,500 essay, 1 x 2 hour exam
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89615","attributes":{"title":"Structure of Contemporary Political Communications","summary":"This module examines the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. It combines theoretical insights and...","description":"This module examines the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. It combines theoretical insights and empirical information from the fields of media studies, journalism, sociology and political science. It mainly focuses on democracies, particularly in the US and UK, but literature and examples are also drawn from other types of political system and country.
\nWeekly topics combine standard political communication topics and contemporary examples, with discussions of related theory and concepts. The following topics are covered: The crisis of politics and media in established democracies; mass media and the news production process; political parties, citizen relations and political marketing; the production of news and the future for traditional print and broadcast news media; media effects and influences, and citizen engagement and participation; historical and cultural elements of political communication, and digital politics and communication. In addition, key case study areas will be explored, including: the 2015 UK Election and EU Referendum; the economics of austerity and financialisation; media management and mediatisation of politics; and health and welfare policy.
\nTheories and concepts drawn upon include: Theories of democracy (from weak, representative to direct, deliberative); public sphere theory (national, parliamentary, local, global, online, and counter); Political economy and related critiques of capitalist democracy; Work, organisation, professionalization and bureaucracy; mediatisation, popular culture and politics; Primary definition, media consecration, and celebrity; New technologies, technological determinism and social shaping.
\nMuch of the material for this module is highly contemporary, so students are encouraged to maintain an awareness of current developments in political communication in the UK and elsewhere, through newspapers, television, radio and the internet. Students are very much encouraged to bring contemporary examples into the seminar discussions and their essays
\n
Assessment: 4,000 word essay (100%)
This module explores the relationship between literature and film in the 20th century. We look at texts and film from various national traditions to examine the particular characteristics of literature and film as they respond to one another and to establish the precise nature of the cross-connections between them.
\nWe will look at a range of film adaptations from modern fiction. Going beyond conventional issues of ‘fidelity’, we will focus instead on of how different kinds of narrative fiction have been ‘translated’ into the medium of film and often also another culture. We will explore the ways in which these cinematic ‘translations’ articulate new cultural, social and political concerns.
\nWe will also explore how modern and contemporary writers have responded to the challenges of film. We will study connections between modernism and early cinema, to work out what film and cinema meant for the modernists from Gorky and Eisenstein to Nabokov, Woolf, the Surrealists and Brecht, and how it shaped their often quite radical artistic and political views. We will also study examples of the Hollywood novel and explore how poets from Auden to T Harrison have attempted to use film and poetry.
\nContact hours: 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar per week.
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 6,000-8,000 word essay portfolio
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90626","attributes":{"title":"Studies in Inclusion and Exclusion","summary":"This module will deepen your understanding of core theories and their application through an examination of a range of case studies, with a focus on...","description":"This module will deepen your understanding of core theories and their application through an examination of a range of case studies, with a focus on the experiences of young people.
\nCase studies to be presented in the context of inclusion and exclusion will provide the opportunity to discuss a range of topics, for example:
\nContact hours: 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar per week
\nAssessment: 1x 2,250 word case study (autumn students), 1x 2,250 word case study (spring students), 1x 4,500 word case study (full year students),
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91500","attributes":{"title":"Songwriting","summary":"The songwriting module explores many dimensions of song composition including standard (and non-standard) song conventions, lyric writing, strategies...","description":"The songwriting module explores many dimensions of song composition including standard (and non-standard) song conventions, lyric writing, strategies and sources for inspiration, sound and identity. The module explores differences in the work of composer-songwriters and singer-songwriters, together with related issues such as the influence of commerce, authorship, and interpretation. You will be set weekly songwriting tasks, designed to help develop a variety of creative and reflective skills. You will have the opportunity to have your draft songs mediated in workshops and work towards the recording of two original songs.
\nPre-requisites: Experience of writing, performing live and recording original songs.
\nAssessment: performance (40%), performance + 1,000 words (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94136","attributes":{"title":"Spaces of Practice (in association with the Whitechapel, Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art and the Gasworks)","summary":"This Module, in partnership with The Whitechapel Gallery, Cubitt and The South London Gallery, gives you the opportunity to engage in a study of...","description":"This Module, in partnership with The Whitechapel Gallery, Cubitt and The South London Gallery, gives you the opportunity to engage in a study of contemporary art practices in order to develop pedagogical and artistic knowledge and understanding. It is aimed at initiating and extending practical, critical and contextual understanding of contemporary art practices and how these can be used to explore social and cultural issues. You will engage with contemporary theory in critical and cultural studies such as semiotics, hermeneutics, post-structuralism and psychoanalysis.
\nAssessment: Essay 5000 words
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94611","attributes":{"title":"The Truth in Painting","summary":"Cézanne promised Emile Bernard that he would tell him ‘the truth in painting’, adding that this was something he owed him. This promise of the truth...","description":"Cézanne promised Emile Bernard that he would tell him ‘the truth in painting’, adding that this was something he owed him. This promise of the truth (which Derrida adopted as the title for a book of essays on painting and aesthetics) seems to imply that painting has something akin to a philosophical or ethical dimension. The course will be concerned with examining points at which painting and philosophy come into contact (often through later philosophical or theoretical reflection on earlier art). Several broad themes will be seen to recur throughout our discussions, concerning spectatorship, optics, the theorising of practice, problems of explanation and interpretation, and the relationship between painting and language.
\nIn the first part of the module, we will discuss a small number of painters working between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, approaching them largely through present-day critical and theoretical perspectives. The second part will be concerned with twentieth century attempts to re-found painting and to redefine the terms both of practice and of the viewer’s engagement with the work. Main topics here will include Cubist collage, 1920s abstraction, American abstract painting, and painting after the critical turn to semiotics. Painters to be particularly considered during the course will include, among others, Velazquez, Chardin, Cézanne, Mondrian, Klee, Barnett Newman, Agnes Martin, Marlene Dumas, Gerhard Richter. There will be scope for students to discuss work by painters of their own choice, in the context established by the module, in presentations and written work.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), oral report (formative), 2x 3,000 word essay OR 1x 6,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94612","attributes":{"title":"Sexual Poetics","summary":"Terms such as sex, gender, sexuality, and sexual difference now frequent in visual culture, yet they stem from divergent theoretical trajectories....","description":"Terms such as sex, gender, sexuality, and sexual difference now frequent in visual culture, yet they stem from divergent theoretical trajectories. This module will reflect upon some of these past and future paths. While critically engaging the anthropological and sociological traditions that produced ‘gender’ as the central term of feminist inquiry (Rubin), the module delivers a stronger engagement with feminist theory influenced by continental philosophy (Kristeva, Irigaray), psychoanalysis (Freud, Laplanche and Pontalis) and material feminism with its renewed engagement with the life sciences (Haraway, Wilson). In light of queer theory’s critique of heteronormativity (Butler), the module asks after the past and future trajectories of key figures such as the maternal, paternal and the child
\nAll aspects will be discussed in relation to a wide range of films, plays and art including:
\nfilms such as Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014); The Woman (Lucky Mckee, 2011); The Gold Diggers (Sally Potter, 1983); plays such as A Number (Caryl Churchill); art by Andreas Serrano, Lee Mingwei, Kira O’Reilly, Samantha Sweeting, the Tissue Culture & Art Project, Patricia Piccinini, and others.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94770","attributes":{"title":"Software Studies","summary":"Software Studies is specifically concerned with the inter-relation between the cultural, social, and the technical. The module provides key...","description":"Software Studies is specifically concerned with the inter-relation between the cultural, social, and the technical. The module provides key theoretical tools for understanding digital technologies and the software that underlies them. It provides an essential interface for modules that aim to link cultural and social concerns and practices with the technical.
\nDuring this module, you will read and work with current and historical documents from the history of computing and computing culture, alongside those from cultural theory, as such this is be a uniquely interdisciplinary module that brings together and works through different approaches to the problematic of effective and inventive working in contemporary creative and social technologies.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129177","attributes":{"title":"Software Projects","summary":"This module will take students through the entire software production process, from user centred design, to proposal development and...","description":"This module will take students through the entire software production process, from user centred design, to proposal development and implementation.
\nThis module will have a particular focus on user centred design. This will re-enforce abilities in project management, planning, critical awareness and design that students need to develop in order to create better software.
\n\n
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147660","attributes":{"title":"Stand-Up","summary":"A lecture/seminar/studio praxis based module to explore the rise of Stand-Up in the UK within an historical and political/cultural context. This...","description":"
A lecture/seminar/studio praxis based module to explore the rise of Stand-Up in the UK within an historical and political/cultural context. This module introduces students to a basic understanding of economic systems, arts and social policy as affecting the creation and production of Stand Up comedy live, on-screen and radio. It looks at the Festival and Open Mic circuits, and considers also the role of Social Media in disseminating the comic and subversive voice. The tutor will introduce the social, political and historical dimensions to the rise of Stand Up in the UK (with reference also to other countries such as the USA). Thatcherism and the New Comedy circuit will be the focus for study, but also the role of Popular Entertainment in TV and Radio, Arts Council funding, and the role of key Awards and Prizes such as the Perrier at the Edinburgh Festival. The role of social media and the meme as well as the cartoon will be studied. Following this theoretical overview, students will research a group seminar on a topic selected by/negotiated with the Tutor and a very brief practical exercise in Stand Up as a chance to test their own approach to this specific genre. The latter will be delivered in class for formative assessment feedback by tutor and peers. The emphasis of this module is to both historicise and politicize Stand Up as a form and understand Stand Up as a subversive as well as potentially high profile and lucrative business.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (70%), 5 minute routine (30%), 20 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147707","attributes":{"title":"Sound and Signal 1","summary":"Apply and manipulate digital audio media for interactive context and learn about sound synthesis theory and fundamentals, basic signal analysis...","description":"Apply and manipulate digital audio media for interactive context and learn about sound synthesis theory and fundamentals, basic signal analysis techniques, and rudimentary digital signal processing in an audio buffer.
\nYou'll practice this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises, undertaken throughout the module, using appropriate procedural environment with supported audio libraries.
\nPre-requisite: Would be useful to take alongisde Introduction to Programming
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), programming assignments portfolio (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89602","attributes":{"title":"Subjectivity, Health and Medicine","summary":"During the term we will explore multiple dimensions of the concept of subjectivity in relation problems of health and medicine: the epistemological...","description":"During the term we will explore multiple dimensions of the concept of subjectivity in relation problems of health and medicine: the epistemological dimension, where ‘subjectivity’ implies a reference to the subject/object dichotomy and to different forms of knowledge; the phenomenological dimension, where ‘subjectivity’ points to questions of embodiment, experience, and transformation; and the political dimension where ‘subjectivity’ points to the construction of different types of subject within different forms of governance. We will trace a path across these dimensions by examining a range of phenomena at the margins of conventional/mainstream biomedical knowledge, from contested illnesses to placebo/nocebo effects, to pedagogical programmes designed to restore to medicine the element of ‘art’ it has allegedly lost to science. I very much look forward to working with you on these topics this term, and hope that you in turn will find the work exciting and productive.
\nAssessment: 4,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"148019","attributes":{"title":"Stories and the Social World: Identity, Politics, Ethics","summary":"Interrogate the work that stories do in shaping social life. As such, its focus lies less on the literary or representational dimension of stories...","description":"Interrogate the work that stories do in shaping social life. As such, its focus lies less on the literary or representational dimension of stories and more on the way that stories and 'storying' operate as one of a number of cultural processes through which the possibilities of and for social life and identity are shaped and delimited. It is for this reason that the concept of stories that will be explored in this course has significant social, cultural, political and ethical implications, and also raises provocative methodological questions in the context of social research. In this course students will come to understand the different ways that stories have been analysed in both classic and contemporary social theory and in research. Stories will be understood as descriptive (representational), constitutive (ontological) and relational (ethical). Although stories are strongly associated – for example in sociology, literature and history - with verbal narrative and narrative representation, this course will stimulate thinking and analysis of stories more broadly
\nin terms of what Mary Louise Pratt has called a 'contact zone' (Pratt 1992) between historically and geographically separate subjects and between different levels, scales and kinds of experience. Course topics such as ‘Stories and the social’, ‘Fiction as method’ and ‘Case stories’ will demonstrate ideas and discussions about how stories move across, divide, puncture and assemble diverse perspectives, spaces and temporalities of experience. Students will be introduced not only to the cultural and discursive dimensions of stories, but also to stories and storying as social, political, affective, visual, and material.
\nBy discussing and investigating these different approaches to stories, students will be introduced to a range of theorists, debates and methods, inviting and supporting trans- and inter-disciplinary thinking. In this course, students will learn to identify and recognise the different implications of working with stories, and stories and doing an analysis of stories. Thus, as well as addressing issues of representation, ontology, epistemology and ethics, the course will consider some of the methodological issues that are raised, appeased or aggravated by the use of stories in social research. These issues may include the problems of interpretation, power, reflexivity, ‘truth’ and inter-subjectivity as they apply to textual data and to qualitative research. The course will provide opportunities for students to develop theoretical and methodological skills and knowledge that can be used to support their own research.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"154732","attributes":{"title":"Sex and the African City","summary":"This module explores how the African city was both understood and experienced by its inhabitants. Throughout southern Africa, the 20th century was a...","description":"This module explores how the African city was both understood and experienced by its inhabitants. Throughout southern Africa, the 20th century was a time of rapid urbanisation and profound social and political change. Within this historical context, we examine how women and men differently negotiated the transition to urban life. Key themes include: gender relations and family structures; sexuality, race and ethnicity; religion and ritual; informal economies and livelihood strategies; health and development; urban politics and resistance. We consider the formation of new urban identities and we explore, through in-depth analysis of primary source material, how language and narrative gave voice to these changing identities. The chronological range of the module begins with the mineral discoveries of the late 19th century and extends to present-day debates around the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The geographical focus is mainly South Africa, but historical and cultural material from present-day Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe are also incorporated.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"154740","attributes":{"title":"Sexualities and Transnational Mobilities in the 20th Century","summary":"The module explores how different forms of travel and migration have shaped sexual cultures around the world since 1900. Against the backdrop of...","description":"The module explores how different forms of travel and migration have shaped sexual cultures around the world since 1900. Against the backdrop of current debates about homonationalism and attempts at ascribing sexual repression to Muslim immigrants within supposedly liberated European societies, the module questions such dichotomies and asks under which social, economic and cultural conditions global mobilities could and did enable queer and emancipatory critiques and re-configurations of sexual regimes. In this vein, the module will address the intricacies of same-sex and other forms of desire in colonial encounters, the role of ‘exotic’ sexual cultures in early twentieth century ‘Western’ debates about sex reform, the effects of gay and other kinds of sex tourism, discussions around sexual diversity in multi-cultural societies, the situation of queer diasporas, and the experiences of queer refugees. The module will highlight how trans-cultural interactions affected sexual patterns and practices within all the groups involved in the encounter, thus opening up fresh, non-Eurocentric vistas into queer history.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"155949","attributes":{"title":"Southeastern Approaches: A History of Serbs and Serbia since the Middle Ages","summary":"Serbia has throughout its history been a key region in Southeastern Europe: as a borderland and periphery of Byzantine, Ottoman and...","description":"Serbia has throughout its history been a key region in Southeastern Europe: as a borderland and periphery of Byzantine, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, situated between and simultaneously looking towards Russia/Soviet Union and the West/EU.
\nMost recently, it played a main role in Yugoslavia's violent disintegration, but while there appears to be a broad consensus that the 1990s wars came at least in part because of 'history', Serbia and its past remain relatively under-researched, misunderstood and sometimes unknown. Western-centric historians often overlook or misinterpret Serbia and the Balkans, while area specialists tend to operate within non-historical disciplinary frameworks, thus largely ignoring pre-1991 events.
\nInside Serbia and among Serbs, 'national history' is often viewed through an uncompromising ideological lense and there is little genuine debate among scholars or in public about key historical controversies. As a result, Serbia's history tends to be understood in extreme, often stereotipical, categories, which, in the past century alone, have included a view of Serbia as a heroic bastion of independence and victim of the Great Powers' ambition, neglect and rivalry, and of Serbia as a pariah not worthy of being considered a member of the civilised world.
\nThis module, the only one of its kind in London and the UK, will explore some of the main developments in the history of Serbia and Serbs be able to place the country's current predicament in a wider historical context.
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000 word essay (100%), written coursework (formative)
\nAssessment spring: 3,000 word essay (100%), written coursework (formative)
\nAssessment full year: 6,000 word essay (100%), 2,500 word written coursework (formative), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159513","attributes":{"title":"Symbolic Mathematics","summary":"This module introduces fundamental logical tools to support computational and algorithmic inquiry, and to assist effective computational...","description":"This module introduces fundamental logical tools to support computational and algorithmic inquiry, and to assist effective computational reasoning.
\n\n
Assessment: 2hr 15min exam (80%), in class tests (20%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"163002","attributes":{"title":"Strategies of World Cinema","summary":"This module examines a selection of films generally understood as examples of “world cinema”. It analyses the critical and conceptual approaches...","description":"This module examines a selection of films generally understood as examples of “world cinema”. It analyses the critical and conceptual approaches which have come to define the academic study of national and international film cultures, specifically ideas of “third” and “third world” cinema, and theories of regional and transnational cultures of production and reception. Divided into three sections, the module will address a body of movies from Africa, Latin America and Asia that have been released over the last forty years according to three guiding themes: globalised economies, activism and populism. We will be investing these films’ formal strategies and thematic concerns; their social and cultural specificity or “universalism” (alongside the politics of that distinction); their industrial and institutional contexts; and their national and international status (for example, in their home countries and in the festival circuit). How different forms of colonisation are absorbed and interrogated will be a question that threads through the entire module.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166082","attributes":{"title":"Security Studies","summary":"Since the end of the Cold War, both the theory and practice of international security have undergone radical changes. In the era of globalization...","description":"Since the end of the Cold War, both the theory and practice of international security have undergone radical changes. In the era of globalization security is no longer confined to questions of interstate conflict and cooperation but embraces a plethora of new concerns. Most significant among these are the prevalence of new wars fought within rather than between states and the range of phenomena such as environmental destruction, transnational criminal activity, development and insecurity, and migration and disease, that these conflicts generate. Furthermore, the terms by which the institutions of international society engage with these security threats has been rearticulated within a discourse of liberal humanitarianism in which human rather than state security has become the main referent.
\nThis module explores this transformation of the ‘new security agenda’ by means of
\na) an exploration of the theoretical and conceptual reframing of security
\nb) analysis of a selection of important challenges framed as security threats.
\nThe module is in two parts. The first part examines and debates a range of competing theories and concepts of security. It considers different meanings of the term ‘security’ and whose security we can talk about. The second part examines some contemporary security threats with implications for international politics. These will include, among other subjects: inter and intra-state conflict; the role and future of international and regional security institutions; the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; international terrorism and the war on terror; cyber-warfare and transnational crime; and development, resources and conflict.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166222","attributes":{"title":"Sociology of Intimacy and Personal Life","summary":"This module provides an overview of the sociology of intimacy and personal life – an area of growing interest in light of increased social change,...","description":"This module provides an overview of the sociology of intimacy and personal life – an area of growing interest in light of increased social change, diversity, and transformations in both family formations and the ‘doing’ of family and personal life. It will examine why personal relationships and the seeking of intimacy, remain significant features of contemporary society and evaluate theoretical accounts that suggest our relationships are becoming more transient and individualised, with others that suggest that intimate personal relationships remain significant and fundamental in our lives with many relationships being long-term, and also examine debates around whether gender inequalities persist in contemporary relationships or whether there is a ‘democratisation’ in family & intimate relationships (Chambers, 2012).
\nThe module will explore key concepts in the study of intimacy such as the role of marriage and sexuality, friendships, and the relationships between intimacy, love and sex across religion, gender and culture. The significance of the role of religion and spirituality in the formation of intimate selves, sexuality and relationships across differing belief and non-belief systems will also be explored.
\nThe module will also include topics such as digital intimacies; partnership formation and dissolution (‘de-coupling’); intimacy, care and relationships; pets and relationships; singlehood, celibacy and childlessness. The module will also provide students with an overview of research methods used when researching personal lives and intimacy.
\nAssessment: essay
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166725","attributes":{"title":"Studio Practice Part 2","summary":"This module aims to create a foundation for your own personal design practic. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate...","description":"This module aims to create a foundation for your own personal design practic. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate ideas, rather than being directed toward a coventional design outcome or specialist area. The course is presented through briefs that define a contextual field in which students are expected to locate a specific design project. Students are asked to critique and question the notion of the self as subject of experience and action in the production and reception of design. They are further asked to define and use themselves as resource and a medium in design and the act of designing. This involves finding ways of understanding and exploring the kinds of communication that can exist between self and other.
\nContact time: minimum of 5 x 20min tutorials; 10 x 6 hour studio sessions
\nAssessment: studio tutorials, presentations, final project
\n30 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166727","attributes":{"title":"Studio Practice Part 1","summary":"This module aims to create a foundation for your own personal design practice. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate...","description":"This module aims to create a foundation for your own personal design practice. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate ideas, rahter than being directed toward a conventional design outcome or specialist area. The course is presented through briefs that define a contextual field in which students are expected to locate a specific design project. Students are asked to critique and question the notion of self as subject of experience and action in the production and reception of design. They are further asked to define and use themselves as resource and a medium in design and the act of designing. This involves finding ways of understanding and exploring the kinds of communication that can exist between self and other.
\nContact time: minimum of 5 x 20 mins tutorials; 10 x 6 hour studio sessions
\nAssessment: final project
\n30 credits
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166753","attributes":{"title":"Studio Project Year 1","summary":"This module’s aim is to create a foundation for a personal design practice. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate ideas,...","description":"This module’s aim is to create a foundation for a personal design practice. The briefs set out a framework within which the students generate ideas, rather than being directed toward a conventional design outcome or specialist area. The module is presented as a series of briefs that define a contextual field in which students are expected to locate a specific design project.
\nDuring this module students are asked to critique and question the notion of the self as subject of experience and action in the production and reception of design. They are further asked to define and use themselves as resource and a medium in design and the act of designing.
\nThis involves finding ways of understanding and exploring the kinds of communication that can exist between self and other. This module is formed of a series of design briefs that ask students to engage with ever growing scales and readings of design. As the module progresses students will have to focus on and consider socio-cultural contexts. During the first term students will deal with Object - Object and Object Network relationships:
\nObject – Object: Students are asked to examine how they can express themselves - mediate a personal perspective - through utilising as well as questioning established typologies or categories of artifacts.
\nObject – Network: Students are asked to engage with artifacts not as discrete entities but as components within a network of meanings, values, narratives and functions.
\nIn the second part of the year students will deal with Object - Subject and Object Environment relationships:
\nObject – Subject: Students engage with objects as both designer and user, to develop an awareness of how they can relate to objects through empathetic experiences.
\nObject – Environment: Students examine and reflect on the importance and role that space, place and environment plays within the formation of objects and the designing of repossess.
\nStudents will be expected to read and engage as widely as possible, due to the fact that the briefs set out a field of enquiry and students navigate their own specific route through this field.
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"168352","attributes":{"title":"Shakespeare's London","summary":"This 10-week module considers Shakespeare within his socio-historical and political context, looking at a range of play texts across the Elizabethan...","description":"This 10-week module considers Shakespeare within his socio-historical and political context, looking at a range of play texts across the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. We will attend a workshop at The Globe Theatre before attending an evening performance. We will also attend other productions that are current at the time the course is running. The majority of the course concentrates upon the genres of comedy, tragedy, history and ‘problem’ plays, and we will explore these with reference to a range of critical and theoretical material.
\nAssessment: 15 minute presentation (20%), 3,000 word essay (80%)
\nThis module is only available to Study Abroad students.
\nThis module will only run if enough students enrol on it.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"186632","attributes":{"title":"Language and Society","summary":"This module explores how and why language is used differently in a range of contexts. We will examine the variation of spoken language in relation to...","description":"This module explores how and why language is used differently in a range of contexts. We will examine the variation of spoken language in relation to region, gender, ethnicity, age and social class; we will see that individuals are able to shift their style of speaking from one situation to the next and we will explore the attitudes that people have towards different varieties of English. We will also examine a range of tools and frameworks used by sociolinguistics to examine these topics.
\nThe questions that will be addressed may include the following:
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"721175","attributes":{"title":"Sound and Signal 2","summary":"Students will cover a range of topics relating to sound, perception, signal processing and music information retrieval:\n\nAdvanced audio and music...","description":"Students will cover a range of topics relating to sound, perception, signal processing and music information retrieval:
\nTopics will be practically explored through a series of lab assignments and final project in which students apply what they have learnt to creative ends.
\nPre-requisite: Must be taken with Perception and Multimedia Computing
\nAssessment: lab portfolio (50%), project (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"722648","attributes":{"title":"Spreadsheet Modelling for Business","summary":"The digital economy has created new opportunities and innovations across the economy disrupting existing business models of many established...","description":"The digital economy has created new opportunities and innovations across the economy disrupting existing business models of many established industries.
\nThis course covers business modelling and analysis techniques: the development, implementation, and utilisation of business models for managerial decision making.
\nThe module will cover various techniques for analytical modelling. These could include trend curves, multiple regressions, forecasting and classification. Students will develop business orientated models for decision making covering applications such as marketing, sales, financial management and operations/project management.
\nAssessment: lab portfolio (40%), take home assignments (40%), quizzes (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"865309","attributes":{"title":"State of Hip Hop","summary":"The State of Hip Hop is a module that will engage the students in the process of understanding of the art, culture and politics of and through hip...","description":"The State of Hip Hop is a module that will engage the students in the process of understanding of the art, culture and politics of and through hip hop, reflecting on number of aesthetic, social, cultural, political and economic issues using hip hop as a transnational and global transgressive form of expression. Hip hop with its principles of respect, openness and mutual understanding will serve as a framework to discuss the historical and contemporary examples from global hip hop experiences that speak to important topics such as postcolonialism, racism, feminism, religion, revolution, violence, different ways of oppression and class issues. In a world that is balancing between methodological nationalism and aesthetic cosmopolitanism, hip hop will be examined as a framework that is moving from the bottom up community politics to the focal point of global creative economy – and back. The position of hip hop within global creative economy will be discussed, including the topics of IT and entrepreneurship.
\nIn geographical terms, module will focus mostly on cases from the UK and Europe, Asia and Africa with the special focus on the relationship between hip hop and religion, critical hip hop film studies, grime, hip hop as a tool for intercultural dialogue and Eastern European hip hop. Reflective and critical guest talks from some of the most important UK and international hip hop artists will be integrated in the classes.
\nStudents, lecturers and guest will be contributing to a wider discourse on hip hop by participating in the European Hip Hop studies network.
\n\n
Assessment: reflective blog/vlog post (20%), 2,000 word critical essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1134364","attributes":{"title":"The Short Story","summary":"Shortness and the story\n1) Intro – LB\nTexts: one parable from the Gospels (Parable of the Talents); two French fabliaux from the 13th century...","description":"Shortness and the story
\n1) Intro – LB
\nTexts: one parable from the Gospels (Parable of the Talents); two French fabliaux from the 13th century (‘Brunain, the Priest’s Cow’ and ‘The Turd’); one tale by Boccaccio from The Decameron (14th century: the story of Madonna Filippa, 6th day, 7th story); and one modern story/parable by Franz Kafka, ‘Before the Law’
\nOral and written models
\n2) Fairy tale - MCG
\nTexts: Charles Perrault, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Puss in Boots’, ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Donkeyskin’
\n3) Caribbean tale – NK
\nTexts: Edwidge Danticat, ‘Caroline’s Wedding’; Jamaica Kincaid, ‘Girl’; Nalo Hopkinson, ‘Greedy Choke Puppy’
\n4) American ghosts – RC
\nTexts: Washington Irving, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’; Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’; Herman Melville ‘The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids’; Nathaniel Hawthorne, ’The Birth-Mark’ and ‘Wakefield’; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’; Ambrose Bierce, ‘One Summer Night’; Charles Chestnutt, ‘The Goophered Grapevine’
\n5) African-American short story – NK
\nTexts: Ernest Gaines, ‘The Sky is Gray’; Toni Cade Bambara, ‘The Lesson’; Alice Walker, ‘Everyday Use’
\nOR James Baldwin, ‘Sonny’s Blues’
\n6) READING WEEK
\nGenres
\n7) Gothic/decadent short story– AC
\nTexts: Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘The Masque of the Red Death’; Jean Lorrain, ‘Funeral Oration’
\n8) Realist short story – JD/MER
\nTexts: Flaubert, ‘A Simple Heart’; Maupassant, ‘Boule de Suif’, ‘The Necklace’, ‘Madame Fifi’; Chekhov, Lady with the Toy Dog’; Henry James, ‘Paste’
\n9) Modernist short story – LB
\nTexts: James Joyce, ‘Eveline’, ‘The Dead’; Katherine Mansfield, ‘Bank Holiday’, ‘The Garden-Party’; Virginia Woolf, ‘Kew Gardens’, ‘A Haunted House’
\nBreaking the story down
\n10) Post-modernist short story – CSw
\nTexts: R. Coover, ‘The Babysitter’; Lydia Davis, ‘The Thirteenth Woman’, ‘The Center of the Story’, ‘A Position at the University’, ‘Break It Down’, ‘What She Knew’
\n11) Contemporary/viral short story: a writer’s perspective – TL
\nTexts: Kristen Roupenian, ‘Cat Person’; Mary Gaitskill ‘This is Pleasure’: Colin Barrett, ‘The Clancy Kid’
\n\n
Assessment: 300-500 word annotated bibliography (5%), 1,500-2,000 word essay (45%), 1,500-2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1436300","attributes":{"title":"Security and Encryption","summary":"The aim of this module is to gives students an understanding of the need for computer security and the technologies that support it. It will have...","description":"The aim of this module is to gives students an understanding of the need for computer security and the technologies that support it. It will have practical emphasis which allows students to discover for themselves, with the support of their tutors, the pitfalls of security design and to comprehend the mathematics underlying the protocols by programming small examples.
\nPre-requisite: programming and at least and introductory maths course
\nAssessment: quizzes (30%), portfolio (30%), project (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Computing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1441127","attributes":{"title":"Staging Women’s Voices: Feminism and Writing (Enlightenment to now)","summary":"This course investigates the relationship between modern women dramatists, poets and prose writers (writing in English) in the contexts of Britain,...","description":"This course investigates the relationship between modern women dramatists, poets and prose writers (writing in English) in the contexts of Britain, the United States and Australia and the ways in which their work intersects with the tenets of feminist thinking. It begins with a broad and necessarily selective historical sweep to create a problematized continuum, to explore initiatory ideas, featured in two periods that heralded the concepts and practices of limited emancipation for women, notably, the ages of revolution and the Enlightenment, and the late-nineteenth-century suffrage movement. From these Eurocentric pillars, we begin to consider the trajectory of modern woman’s dramatic, poetic, prose and life-writing heritages via their affinity with experimental writing. The investigations will loosely subscribe to Marianne DeKoven’s approach in her analysis of Gertrude Stein’s work (1983):
\nThis approach will be underpinned by a decolonial and imperial consequentialist ethics that enables reflection upon African-descent, Indigenous, LGBTQI+, and disabled perspectives as represented in the creative works and critical theoretical texts authored by womxn and the unsettling of ‘woman’ as a category in contemporary cultural representation. Each week two polemical pieces: one on social history or feminist theory, the other a manifesto will be analysed in tandem with the creative text under discussion. We will aim to interweave ideas about women’s status both in society and cultural legitimation processes, their positioning in relation to the canon as revisionists and rewriters of it.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1450534","attributes":{"title":"Sound as Art","summary":"This module focuses on the relationship between concepts and making by exploring some of the key themes in sonic art, and how they continue to...","description":"This module focuses on the relationship between concepts and making by exploring some of the key themes in sonic art, and how they continue to engender and stimulate creative practice. We will also have a chance to engage with some of the unique sonic art archives held at Goldsmiths, for instance Longplayer, Daphhe Oram, Lily Greenham, Hugh Davies, Women's Revolutions Per Minute.
\nThrough lectures, seminars, an archival visit and one-to-one tutorials we will examine topics such as: listening and walking practices, sound and the environment, site-specificity, sound installation, the politics of sound, sound objects and instrument making, performativity and liveness, and durational art. For the assessment students will have the chance to create either a piece of sonic art with an accompanying commentary that explains the relationship between their work and their chosen theme, or an essay exploring topics discussed in class.
\nAssessment: creative project & commentary OR 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1474083","attributes":{"title":"Sustainable Development","summary":"One of the most famous definitions of sustainable development is that it ‘seeks to meet the needs of the present world without compromising the...","description":"One of the most famous definitions of sustainable development is that it ‘seeks to meet the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland Commission). This module will introduce students to the concept of sustainable development, which combines concern for economic development and the elimination of poverty with awareness of environmental limits. Starting with an overview of the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social, and environmental – the module will explore how societies' choices about the sustainable use of economic, environmental, and social resources have influenced their chances of survival throughout history. To that purpose, we look at a series of case studies ranging from the fate of ancient civilizations to the environmental and social choices of contemporary societies. Some of our key case studies will include the Anasazi and the Easter Islands, the Maya Collapse, the Vikings and Norse Greenland as well as the modern-day cases of Rwanda, China, and Australia.
\nAssessment: 15 minute presentation (30%), 2,800 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1474094","attributes":{"title":"South-East European Approaches: The Ottoman Empire and the Balkans (14th-20th c.)","summary":"South-eastern Europe, or as we popularly call it the Balkans, was one of the most redeemed provinces of the Ottoman Empire. From there, the imperial...","description":"South-eastern Europe, or as we popularly call it the Balkans, was one of the most redeemed provinces of the Ottoman Empire. From there, the imperial administration was supplied with elite human resources (elite military, but also harem members and highest court dignitaries); it represented the starting/returning border point which the Ottomans used for their further expansion to Europe; there the Ottomans took over the genuine Roman imperial legacy with which they could justify their presence and claims in Europe (as is attested from the Ottoman very name of the region, “Rumelia,” coming from ū-ė, meaning the “land of the Romans”). The local perceptions of the Ottoman rule in the Balkans, however, greatly varied, starting from those that, fully adopting the Ottoman power, projected the romanced ideal of cohabitation of diverse ethnic and religious denominations in a “harmonious neighborhood”, to those that called for a large-scale resistance, with the strongest among them turning into 19th century national anti-Ottoman movements (Greeks, Serbs) that prompted the eventual retirement of the Ottoman Empire from the region (1870s-1912). In many parts of the Balkans, the newly formed national states subsequently applied comprehensive damnatio memoriae which resulted in systematic “de-Ottomanisation” of the public space and collective memory, or, in most notorious instances, new conflicts (e.g. the ex-Yugoslavian conflict) that are still shaping the region’s outlook and challenging its stability.
\nIn order to survey the processes which generated so huge oppositions, ranging between DzԲ-ܰé transregional/global collaboration and conflict in the Balkans, in this module we shall observe the historical development and change in the Balkans during the Ottoman rule, late 14th- early 20th c. Among themes that will be explored in depth, special attention will be put on:
\n-the Ottomans’ origins and the nature of their Empire, as well as the initial stages of its expansion
\n-the first encounters of the Ottomans with the Balkans (14th c.)
\n- the narrative of the Conquest, centred in the theme of the Fall of Constantinople (1453), and chronology of the Ottoman advancement across the Balkans (1400 – 1500)
\n- Ottoman administration in the Balkans, 16th-19th c., with special attention to the taxation and administrative apparatus, as well as autonomous tendencies, uprisings and traditional forms of local resistance (brigandage/hajduks)
\n-local societies and institutions under the Ottoman governance, 16th-19th c.
\n-migrations, 16th – 19th c. – of the local population from the alleged Ottoman “pressure” to other parts of Europe, but also (internal) displacements of various ethnic groups within the Balkans, usually defined as the “Ottoman Ethnic Engineering” (settlement of the Roma population, Jewish Sefards, and Egyptian/Ashkali groups, displacement of rebellious Albanian groups to Bulgaria)
\n-Islamisation, 16th-18th c., local religious (non-Muslim) practices under the Ottomans – in the light of conflict, cohabitation and dialogue
\n-local economy and its transregional outreach, 16th-19th c.
\n-interest and intervention of Christian Europe, especially since the internationalization of the “Eastern Question” in late 18th c./19th c.; “Ottoman Orientalism” (with special reflection upon Austro-Hungarian, French, British and Russia views)
\n-local “national awakenings” in the light of the Empire’s crisis and transformation (Niẓām-ı Cedīd and Tanzimat reforms) and the retirement of the Ottoman rule from the region in the 1870s.
\nIn addition to these themes, in its summary of the consequences of the studied historical change, the module will also address some more recent questions and debates, among which the migration of the local Muslims (taking place c. 1878-1941) to the Empire/Turkey following diplomatic acknowledgement of the post WWI national states in the region; position of Muslims in communist regimes (esp. in Tito’s Yugoslavia), politics of “de-Ottomanisation” (of cityscapes, places of common memory, etc.) and Neo-Ottomanism that is currently being heatedly debated across the region.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 1,500 word coursework (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1669643","attributes":{"title":"Shakespeare’s Sisters: Contemporary Women’s Writing 1960s to the present","summary":"Proceeding chronologically from the mid-twentieth century and the flourishing of second wave feminism to the #metoo movement of the twenty-first...","description":"Proceeding chronologically from the mid-twentieth century and the flourishing of second wave feminism to the #metoo movement of the twenty-first century, this module offers an overview of different forms of women’s writing (short story, documentary chronicle, the experimental novel, parody) which are examined in corresponding cultural and historical contexts ranging from South Africa, Belarus, Haiti, the U.S., France, to the UK. and Northern Ireland. In addition to providing a detailed knowledge of the intellectual and cultural history of second and third wave feminisms and contemporary gender theory, this module examines the aesthetic and intellectual diversity of women’s writing across several interconnected thematic headings including class, art, sexual violence, the queer child, ethics, memory, shame and intimacy. The module will develop an understanding of how social, political and cultural contexts have shaped (and constrained) women’s lives and have had different effects on their literary creation and production. The module encourages careful attention to the distinct aesthetic and intellectual concerns of the writing as well as to the ideological content of literary texts. We will also debate the political efficacy and continuing desirability of the term ‘women’s writing’ in the twenty-first century by considering questions of essentialism, marginalisation and the marketing of contemporary literature.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word book or article review (30%), 2,000-2,500 word research essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"145803","attributes":{"title":"Strategic Management","summary":"This module will introduce students to theories, insights and methods which help a manager to think and act strategically. The module will place an...","description":"This module will introduce students to theories, insights and methods which help a manager to think and act strategically. The module will place an important emphasis on the meaning and content of Organisational strategies. It will give students an understanding of the nature and significance of strategic management within an organisational context. It covers topics such as the meaning of strategy, the different organisational forms and structures, in which strategies are devised, the role of environmental context in deciding the strategy, strategy choice, formulation and implementation. The module will also cover topics such as corporate strategy, dynamic strategy in the global context, creating and sustaining competitive advantage, analysis of industry and its competitive structure. It will help students develop some of the tools they require in order to analyse an Organisation’s positioning within the marketplace, and think/plan strategically in order to make it more competitive. In particular, it aims to enhance students’ understanding of organisation as a context for strategic management and appreciate the interrelated dynamics of both strategic and organisational research and practice.
\nLectures will be supplemented by several assignments designed to develop and enhance practical skills and further develop familiarity with organisational strategic methods.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"61853","attributes":{"title":"The History of Emotions","summary":"The history of emotions is a burgeoning field within the historical discipline—so much so, that some are invoking an ‘emotional turn’ or ‘affective...","description":"The history of emotions is a burgeoning field within the historical discipline—so much so, that some are invoking an ‘emotional turn’ or ‘affective turn’. The University of London’s own Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary is one of the many signs of the institutionalisation of the field. This module takes stock of what has been done so far and sketches where the history of emotions might head in the future. We will grapple with some of the complex questions that have defined the field—are emotions socially constructed or reducible to a universal biological substrate? Is there a set of ‘basic’ human emotions, such as anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise?
\nWhat sources are available for the study of emotions in the past? How can historians factor in emotion as a cause motivating human action? In coming to terms with these questions, we will look to the existing history of emotions, including that of the French Annales school, Norbert Elias, Peter Stearns, William Reddy, and Barbara Rosenwein.
\nAnd we will venture outside history proper and probe how other disciplines—especially cultural anthropology and life science, including the latest affective neuroscience—have dealt with these (and other) questions. We will also examine the links between the history of emotions field and the fields of gender history, transnational/postcolonial history, the history of science, media and visual studies, economic history, legal history, and more.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"89583","attributes":{"title":"The Making of the Modern World","summary":"There is a growing consensus in contemporary scholarship on stressing the interdependence and complexity of the processes which contributed to the...","description":"There is a growing consensus in contemporary scholarship on stressing the interdependence and complexity of the processes which contributed to the distinctiveness of modern societies, rather than assigning primacy to any one factor or process – be it economic, political, cultural or social. This module places an emphasis on historical reflexivity: it will seek to illustrate how historical processes, however multiple and complex, are not simply 'given' as historical objects but reflect the adoption of particular perspectives that are themselves historically specific.
\nAssessment: 3,500 word essay (100%), 1,500 word essay (formative), 10 minute presentation (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90282","attributes":{"title":"The Psychology of the Person","summary":"Issues, theories and research in personality and individual differences, social psychology and developmental psychology are introduced throughout...","description":"Issues, theories and research in personality and individual differences, social psychology and developmental psychology are introduced throughout this module - all of which represent aspects of \"the psychology of the person.
\nYou will gain an overview of concepts, measures, methods and theories in studying: personality and intelligence; social influence and group processes; social cognition; and human development.
\nContact hours: 2-hour lecture per week, 1-hour seminar per week.
\nAssessment autumn: 1,500 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 1,500 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90586","attributes":{"title":"The Art of the Novel","summary":"Key developments and trends in the novel form from the early seventeenth century to the present day are followed through this module. Beginning with...","description":"Key developments and trends in the novel form from the early seventeenth century to the present day are followed through this module. Beginning with Don Quixote, the module goes on to look at representative landmarks of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ‘realism’ and of later modernist and postmodernist fiction.
\nAs well as attending to the distinctive features of the individual novels, we will investigate critical and theoretical accounts of the genre, paying particular attention to debates about mimesis, character, and narrative strategy.
\nAssessment full year: 3,000-4,000 word essay (50%), 3,000-4,000 word essay (50%) OR 3,000-4,000 word book review (50%) OR 3,000-4,000 word essay with a creative/critical component (50%)
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word draft essay (formative), 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90630","attributes":{"title":"The Curriculum: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives","summary":"This module is about 'epistemology'. Your first task? Find out what this word means! Ask yourself the question – what are schools and universities...","description":"This module is about 'epistemology'. Your first task? Find out what this word means! Ask yourself the question – what are schools and universities for? What is at stake in constructing a 'curriculum'? Who should decide what goes on a curriculum and what stays off? What counts as knowledge? Why do some forms of knowledge carry so much weight and others so little? Why are we all, as children and young people, required to learn history but not, say, hairdressing?
\nThis module explores how understanding of such questions has changed over time and in relation to different forms of society from the late-eighteenth century to the present day. It will examine why states in the West and beyond took on the responsibility for the institutionalisation and distribution of knowledge on a massive scale and consider relations between curriculum and power, not least in relation to colonisation.
\nThe module also examines the curriculum in the present school system in the UK. The historical development of a broad range of sectors (early years, primary, secondary, further and higher education) is explored in relation to political, social and cultural histories. The module will engage with relationships between 'training' and 'education' and the significance of separating the two out. It will ask what is meant when we talk about 'education in a democracy' or more specifically 'education for a democracy' and consider how curriculum has been formulated in relation to issues of class, race, gender and disability.
\nOver the course of this module you will develop a clear and critical understanding of why curriculum is important and how it shapes the contemporary world.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 400 word coursework (20%), 1,500 word essay (80%)
\nAssessment spring: 400 word coursework (20%), 1,500 word essay (80%)
\nAssessment full year: 2 x 1,200-1,500 word essays (80%), 1,200 word glossary entry (10%), 5 minute presentation (10%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90751","attributes":{"title":"The Central Powers in the First World War, 1914-18","summary":"No single event had a greater impact on the module of the twentieth century than the First World War. The experiences of mass mobilisation and...","description":"No single event had a greater impact on the module of the twentieth century than the First World War. The experiences of mass mobilisation and industrialised violence brought by the conflict reshaped European societies, reordered international geopolitics and spawned new extremist ideologies. This module encourages students to engage with a wide range of historiographical methodologies – social, cultural, economic, political and military – in order to comprehend the conflict and its consequences in their totality.
\nThe module focuses on the Central Powers – Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. It investigates the origins of the war, the causes in which these powers fought and their leaders’ war aims. The military experience, with its atrocities against civilians, campaigns of conquest and nerve-wracking attritional battles, is examined. The module also scrutinises everyday life on the home fronts, exploring popular support for the war and seeking to explain how ‘national communities’ were first built and then broken under unprecedented suffering and deprivation. The impact of all these experiences on mentalities in Europe, their cultural and political legacies and their role in ushering in a new age of totalitarianism, genocide and conflict is considered. Through its broad scope, the module offers the opportunity to understand how Central European governments and their peoples grappled with and were changed by the extraordinary demands and costs of fighting the world’s first ‘total war’.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90758","attributes":{"title":"The People's Century: Social, Political and Cultural Change in Twentieth Century Britain","summary":"The People’s Century explores modern British history, its regional, national and imperial contexts and cultures. The focus is on change, continuity...","description":"The People’s Century explores modern British history, its regional, national and imperial contexts and cultures. The focus is on change, continuity and the ways in which the future was anticipated.
\nLectures will introduce you to the historical debates and interpretations while seminars will enable you to engage with primary sources and develop your analytical skills.
\nAttention will be given to the concepts and methods necessary for historical research and interpretation. You will be expected to read widely in the history and fiction of the period.
\nBritain in 1900 was a self-confident union of four industrialised nations, a centre of world finance and world empire. It was governed by a narrow ruling elite educated in Greek and Latin, nominally responsible to a propertied parliamentary franchise. Within a lifetime the empire had vanished, Britain’s industrial base had been reduced to a fraction of its national product and the City of London fell behind New York, Tokyo and others as the broker of world finance.
\nThe century which had begun with world war, welfare, universal suffrage, women’s emancipation and national liberation movements in its colonies, ended with a powerful Labour Government presiding over a multi-ethnic, multicultural monarchy. How was life lived in Britain through these changes? What have been their consequences and legacies?
\n\n
Assessment (autumn term students): 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment (spring/summer students): 3,000 word essay (100%)
\nAssessment (full year students): 2,500 word essay (formative), presentation (formative), group work (formative), 3,000 word essay (50%), 2 hour exam (50%)
\nAssessment: 1x 3,000 word essay (autumn student), 1x 3,000 word essay (spring students), 2x essay, 1x presentation, 1x exam (full year students)
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90777","attributes":{"title":"The Fictional Nineteenth Century","summary":"The novel gained respectability as a literary genre in nineteenth-century Britain and became a key vehicle for the exploration of social problems....","description":"
The novel gained respectability as a literary genre in nineteenth-century Britain and became a key vehicle for the exploration of social problems. Women writers especially, though not exclusively, seized the opportunity fiction offered to contribute to social and political debates. Furthermore, with developments in the publishing industry making novels increasingly cheaper as the century progressed, and with literacy rates simultaneously improving, fiction was read by an ever-widening audience. This module will examine the use of fiction as a historical source through exploration of the way in which key issues in British History during the long nineteenth century were portrayed in fiction. Focusing each week on a selected novel we will consider themes such as industrialisation and the Condition of England, the Poor Law, the Woman Question, slavery, radicalism, religious dissent, anti-Semitism, and domestic service. These fictional texts will be compared and contrasted with other, non-fictional, primary sources and the relevant historiography. The module will conclude with a consideration of ‘neoVictorian’ fiction (modern historical fiction set in the nineteenth century) and the extent to which the themes and approaches selected by modern authors coincide with fiction written during the period.
\n\n
Assessment: essay plan (formative), 10-15 minute presentation (formative), 750-1,000 word essay (25%), 3,000 word essay (75%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91353","attributes":{"title":"The Individual in Society and Culture","summary":"This module involves an interdisciplinary exploration of sociological, anthropological and psychological approaches to issues impacting the...","description":"This module involves an interdisciplinary exploration of sociological, anthropological and psychological approaches to issues impacting the individual in society. Beyond a familiarity with basic approaches in sociology and anthropology, key concepts such as family, relationships, the self, conformity, race, gender and identity, will be explored through the three disciplines. Teaching will involve lectures, small group discussions and experiential exercises.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (40%), take-home paper (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91457","attributes":{"title":"Techniques of Contemporary Composition","summary":"This module will introduce you to techniques of contemporary composition through a varied set of elementary and fundamental composition...","description":"This module will introduce you to techniques of contemporary composition through a varied set of elementary and fundamental composition studies. The aim of the module is to develop your understanding of techniques relating to a wide range of 20th and 21st-century compositional strategies as well as to engage you in creative practice. The focuses of this module are:
\nTimbre and materials via a range of musical materials and experimental approaches.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91548","attributes":{"title":"Techniques in Jazz and Popular Music","summary":"Students gain an introduction to the harmonic and melodic vocabulary of jazz and commercial music. The module studies: tonality, standard chord...","description":"Students gain an introduction to the harmonic and melodic vocabulary of jazz and commercial music. The module studies: tonality, standard chord progressions, chord/scale relationships, modes, extended chords, dissonance and reharmonisation. You are also instructed in the conventions of jazz and popular music notation, including the presentation of lead sheets and full scores.
\nPre-requisites: Musical literacy and a basic grasp of chord formation. Please bring manuscript paper and a pencil to each class
\nAssessment: 1 x course workbook - a number of short exercises, 1 x rhythm chart assignment.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"92716","attributes":{"title":"The City and Consumer Culture","summary":"In this module students will be introduced to a series of sociological questions about the city and urban life from a perspective which focuses on...","description":"
In this module students will be introduced to a series of sociological questions about the city and urban life from a perspective which focuses on public culture, consumer culture and everyday life. There is an emphasis on lived space, patterns of housing, spaces of leisure and enjoyment, spaces for multi-culturalism and for sharing public provided resources such as parks, libraries, schools and open spaces, as well as detailed considerations of changes within the retail landscape.
\nThe aim will be to become familiar with the concepts and ideas developed by cultural geographers, social and cultural theorists, by feminists, by post-colonialist scholars, by artists, writers and film-makers about the growth of urbanism, about the sensations and subjective states of intensity which city life generates. The module will also adopt a historical approach charting the rise of urban modernity, the development of shopping and the department store, and it will consider the city as the space for crime, for prostitution and for gang culture. We will also examine processes of migration to the city, and to the way in which power relations in the city result in boundaries, barrios, ghettos, enclaves and fortresses. We will ask questions about the urban workforce, the new service sector, and jobs such as nannies and ‘baristas’. Cities have long been laboratories for sociologists and ethnographers and we will critically examine some of the results of these activities, with a view to producing short ‘urban diaries’ based on close observation of local neighbourhoods or districts in London, e.g. Changes to the East End through gentrification and development. With this in mind we will do an afternoon field trip later in the term to look at the old and the ‘new’ Kings Cross.
\nThe wider conceptual frames for this module are drawn from postmodern theories of space (Jameson, Soja, Massey), from the writing on space by Foucault, from anthropological ideas of everyday life (de Certeau) from sociological studies of urban neighbourhoods (Wacquant), and from sociologists who examine urban micro-economies of culture and creativity (McRobbie). There will be the chance to debate the work of Richard Florida and to reflect on the ideas which inform ‘creative city’ policies. In the first 5 weeks we adopt an approach informed by cultural history and social theory. In the second half we pay close attention to the rise of the ‘creative city’, to processes of gentrification and to neighbourhood politics. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to draw on their own experience of urban culture, as well as draw on the module material to develop a greater understanding of the cities and urban environments in which they grew up.
\nAssessment: 4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"132492","attributes":{"title":"Television and After","summary":"Television has undergone crucial transformations since its establishment in the mid-20th century. From the analogue ‘age of scarcity’ characterised...","description":"Television has undergone crucial transformations since its establishment in the mid-20th century. From the analogue ‘age of scarcity’ characterised by a limited number of national channels, television has grown into a commercial multichannel ecology and further expanded into a multiplatform, digital environment characterised by post-broadcast network transmission. But while rapid expansion of the spectrum and diminishing costs of entry have contributed to how the medium and its future development is perceived, the established political and economic patterns continue to have their stronghold. The increased transnational trade contributed to a reconfiguration of the economic landscape of television and while promising a more global medium, they have hardly redefined its inherently national character. This module will focus on contemporary debates about television as a cultural form, critically examining its continuities and changes of its economic and political context. While the module will rely on mainly British and US examples, it welcomes examples and comparisons with other national contexts.
\n
Assessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), group presentation with a 200 word summary (50%)
\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"134209","attributes":{"title":"The Ascent of the Image","summary":"Photography has been understood as the founding innovation for all that we have in our visual world today. But what was that innovation? To...","description":"
Photography has been understood as the founding innovation for all that we have in our visual world today. But what was that innovation? To bring a world in motion to a halt? The first verifiable evidence that there is such a thing as the past? The start of an all out mania to get a hold of an object or an experience with an image? When these static images were aligned in a sequence and run through a projector, we called them movies. This module will examine the values and meanings once attached to photography and film as regards their relationship to objective reality, to history and to the part they play for our sense of intimacy in being in the world. Much of photography and film theory have required a second thought these days, as the way we make, look at, and more importantly value images has changed significantly many of the canonical texts were written. This module will question the differences between still and moving images and assess their significance in today’s visual social world.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"141515","attributes":{"title":"The American South","summary":"The American South has long been regarded as a region standing outside of mainstream America, not only because of its withdrawal from the United...","description":"
The American South has long been regarded as a region standing outside of mainstream America, not only because of its withdrawal from the United States during the Civil War, but before and after that cessation. The South has been characterised by a peculiar relationship between the land and the Southern identity, the extremes that race relations reached during and after slavery, the region’s historical dependence on slavery for an identity, the way in which anxieties over race shape gender, the South’s positioning of itself contrary to American modernity and then facing a rapid and belated modernisation with dramatic impact on the nature of Southern society. In summary, the South has been regarded as a region of extremes and unresolved historical tensions, producing a rich cultural mix of anxiety and affirmation, heritage and its contestation. This module examines a variety of representations of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century American South, in order explore and interrogate the differing and often contradictory versions of the South that inform its regional identity. The module will investigate literary (and some filmic) representations of the South from slavery to the present day, tracking the region’s rapid transformation from the Old South through to its Reconstruction following the Civil War, and then on to the New South and the late twentieth and early twentieth-first century. The module concludes with the ways in which environmental catastrophes illuminate long social histories of the South. Dominant versions or myths of the South will be pitted against competing and often marginalised interpretations of the region. Particular attention will be paid to the way in which considerations of slavery, race, white supremacy, the gothic, class and economics, gender, nostalgia, family, agrarianism, regional heritage and tradition versus counter-histories, environmentalism, and religion, shape representations of the region.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay portfolio (100%)
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"141516","attributes":{"title":"The Classic Fairy Tale","summary":"What are fairy tales? What are their origins? What meanings do they communicate? Why are they still so popular? This module will attempt to answer...","description":"
What are fairy tales? What are their origins? What meanings do they communicate? Why are they still so popular? This module will attempt to answer these questions by exploring fairy tales from around the world, ranging from ancient Greece and Rome to modern-day America.
\nIt will look at founding seventeenth-century French contes de fées, explore the confluence of European traditions with Middle Eastern stories in the eighteenth century, investigate the ‘invention’ of the fairy tale for children by the brothers Grimm in nineteenth-century Germany, and address how and why fairy tales have been and are still rewritten today for polemic or entertainment purposes.
\nThere will be additional material on film to illustrate this continued presence of fairytale imagery and themes in contemporay culture.The module will also discuss ways of reading fairy tales and introduce the students to the necessary theoretical tools to interpret them, whether structuralist, psychoanalytic or sociological.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142544","attributes":{"title":"Technical Studies","summary":"You will study the following workshops:\nGraphics\nThis workshop is intended as a preliminary understanding of Graphic Communication. The students will...","description":"
You will study the following workshops:
\nGraphics
\nThis workshop is intended as a preliminary understanding of Graphic Communication. The students will be encouraged to look in more depth and be inquisitive about communication around them.
\nExploration will move from simple letterforms to words and logos, and the published and printed page. Using a range of basic drawing skills, students will then be introduced to the typographic and communicative capabilities of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Indesign for publishing work.
\nA series of briefs will be set to assist students in developing basic typographic knowledge, and then realise this in practical terms.
\nImage
\nThe aim of this workshop is to encourage students to develop a critical focus around image production using photography and computers. There is a strong emphasis on composition, colour and developing visual analysis.
\nThe students will create an image based around photographic/sketch book impressions from a chosen environment. The student should develop a greater understanding of image production and verisimilitude.
\nStudents will be encouraged to engage with and develop skills that combine the traditional + I.T. By the end of the workshops, all students should produce a final image that utilises and demonstrates these skills.
\nMaterials
\nTo design things effectively, students will need a broad knowledge of making techniques (processes) and a rich understanding of materials. Processes can be separated into these categories. Session 1: Wood: exploring key material qualities and making processes Session 2: Metal: exploring key material qualities and making processes. Session 3: Casting: Controlling a soft or setting material. These categories only deal with the man-made. Natural systems of production include growth, decay, and accident. These areas could be interesting to explore as designers. How can we use, learn from, or influence them?
\nTextiles
\nAs an introduction to textiles, this workshop focuses on the following: Fabric Manipulation - 3D forming effects Fabric Manipulation - Plastics & Bonding / heat press Colour onto fabrics - Direct / transfer & manual / digital methods Colour onto fabrics - Screen printing CAD Repeat Patterns - Photoshop for textiles
\nPhysical Computing and Creative Coding
\nThis workshop will introduce the Arduino platform so the student can sense and control more of the physical world. They will also be introduced to Processing to create images, animations, and interactions.
\nDigital Fabrication
\nRapid manufacture is an introduction to both the idea of using digital fabrication processes within design practice and to the department's Computer Aided Manufacturing facilities. Students will learn how to use 2D drawing software, how to prepare files for manufacture and how to use the laser cutters and plotter within the Design Workshops.
\n\n
This module is only available to students studying the Design programme
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Design","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147637","attributes":{"title":"The Political Significance of Freud's Legacy","summary":"This module addresses how psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic understanding and theorising has contributed to our knowledge of human experience...","description":"
This module addresses how psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic understanding and theorising has contributed to our knowledge of human experience throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. It will explore the political significance of Freud’s legacy through the way in which psychoanalytic ideas have been applied to politics, the economy, racism, war and violence, group experience, art, cinema, literature as well as all the varying approaches to mental health and psychological epistemology. In this, post-psychoanalytic ideas from a range of thinkers such as Jung, Bion, Winnicott, Bowlby, Klein, Meltzer, Lacan, Kristeva, Rank, Fromm and Ferenczi will be encountered. Synthetic areas of thought such as that from the Frankfurt School, Foucault, Bataille and Fanon will also be studied.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90136","attributes":{"title":"Topics in Neuropsychology","summary":"This module is intended to provide:\na) knowledge of a range of issues fundamental to understanding cognitive deficits following brain damage;\nb)...","description":"This module is intended to provide:
\na) knowledge of a range of issues fundamental to understanding cognitive deficits following brain damage;
\nb) understanding of underlying theories of neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychology;
\nc) understanding of research methods and application of this expertise in the clinical and research domain.
\nTopics include: methodology in neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychology; main techniques of investigation in neuropsychology; cognitive impairments following brain injury to the following abilities: visual object recognition, facial recognition, memory, language, executive processes, attention and action control.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (50%), 2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90674","attributes":{"title":"Theoretical and Practical Aspects of SEN","summary":"Culture and identity are important themes in this module. You will also consier: challenging the deficit model and the inevitability of deprivation;...","description":"Culture and identity are important themes in this module. You will also consier: challenging the deficit model and the inevitability of deprivation; the discourse of ‘need’; cultural capital; and docile bodies. As such it will draw on the theories of Thomas and Loxley, Foucault, Bourdieu, and Montessori.
\nThe module is underpinned by an overview of theoretical and historical explorations of SEN (special educational needs). From a starting point which challenges the deficit model, the module introduces students to a range of SEN, including Asperger’s Syndrome, dyslexia, hearing impairment and Tourette’s Syndrome. Appropriate supportive resources for each SEN are also investigated as part of this section.
\nThe remainder of the module focuses on SEN in global cultural contexts, drawing on approaches found in Kenya, Turkey and China, amongst others.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90781","attributes":{"title":"Topics in Early Modern Visual and Material Culture","summary":"This module provides an introduction to the visual and material culture of Europe between 1450 and 1800. It examines images, objects and performances...","description":"
This module provides an introduction to the visual and material culture of Europe between 1450 and 1800. It examines images, objects and performances and considers them as historical sources for the interpretation of cultural and intellectual developments within a wide range of early modern European societies, like Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to discuss the meanings of visual and material artefacts drawing on secondary research from a number of disciplines, such as art history, the cultural history of images, material culture research, visual anthropology, the history of science and global history. The main topics include: the birth of consumer culture; state building and the arts; religious visual cultures; European trade, colonisation and global connections; the printing revolution and the rise of the printed image; scientific imagery and the visual production of knowledge; fashion, gender and representations of the body; the visual and material culture of daily life.
\nAssessment: presentation (formative), group work (formative), 3,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91354","attributes":{"title":"Theories of Individual Development","summary":"This module addresses human development across the life-span. The individual is not a static entity but subject to changes which occur from infancy...","description":"This module addresses human development across the life-span. The individual is not a static entity but subject to changes which occur from infancy to old age and experiences which affect later development. These changes apply to different domains of human development that will be explored, for example biological, cognitive, emotional, moral, psychoanalytic and social. Growing older is a process marked by important transitions, transformations and milestones in the individual's life, while different phases of the lifespan make different psychological demands on the individual. This module investigates the nature of those psychological demands and the way individuals respond to them, taking into consideration research conducted in the field.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93285","attributes":{"title":"Through The Lens Part B: Urban Identities*","summary":"Focus on the relationship between urban spaces and identities. You will examine how sociological, psychological and anthropological theories of self...","description":"Focus on the relationship between urban spaces and identities. You will examine how sociological, psychological and anthropological theories of self relate to notions of culture, community, personal space and identity. The module will reference theoretical and critical sources exploring and questioning notions of selfhood and collective identity constructions such as gender, ‘race’, class, sexuality, aging and other cultural formulations, in relation to photographic image-making. You are encouraged to relate the theoretical readings, lectures and seminar discussions to ongoing visual and urban research practices, and where appropriate, to provide a critical framework for your own image-making.
\n* only open as an option for students who have studied Through the Lens A
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"93580","attributes":{"title":"The Structure of Contemporary Political Communications","summary":"Examine the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. THis modules core concern is to explore notions of...","description":"Examine the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. THis modules core concern is to explore notions of ‘crisis’ in mature democracies as voter turnouts and ‘trust’ in formal political institutions steadily drop, national economies struggle, and news media decline. It combines theoretical insights and case examples from the fields of media studies, journalism, sociology and political science. It mainly focuses on democracies, particularly in the US and UK, but literature and examples are also drawn from other types of political system and country. Weekly topics combine political communication themes and contemporary examples, with discussions of related theory and concepts. Topics covered include: The crisis of politics and media in established democracies; comparative political and media systems; mass media and news production and regulation; political parties, citizen relations and political marketing; government media management, war and propaganda; symbolic and cultural political communication; forms of public participation and public opinion; media effects and audiences; policy-making, lobbying and power; economic policy and the financial crisis; digital media and online politics; globalisation and international political communication. Much of the material for this module is highly contemporary, so students are encouraged to maintain an awareness of current developments in political communication in the UK and elsewhere.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93959","attributes":{"title":"Training, Coaching and Counselling","summary":"The module aims to provide an introduction to the ways in which individuals learn and develop within organisations. The module begins with a...","description":"The module aims to provide an introduction to the ways in which individuals learn and develop within organisations. The module begins with a discussion of how people learn, training design and delivery and the organisational context in which all of this occurs. Following this, a specific application of training, namely Stress Management Training (SMT), is explored in detail. Next, training is contrasted with a contemporary form of development activity known as coaching. Finally, these different forms of development are discussed within the context people’s careers, and the ways in which career counselling can be used to help people navigate their professional lives are examined.
\n\n
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"94484","attributes":{"title":"Theory, Concepts and Methods of Social Research I","summary":"An advanced understanding in the relationships between theory, concept and methods in social research is gained through this module. It does this by...","description":"
An advanced understanding in the relationships between theory, concept and methods in social research is gained through this module. It does this by situating the methods taught and practised in the course in relation to relevant debates in epistemology and ontology and providing the sociological contexts and issues in which theory and methods are presented by specialist researchers. With a focus on research design, it provides advanced training in identifying and combining appropriate research strategies for specific social contexts and in the formulation of research aims. This course will equip you to evaluate current social research and sociological scholarship and to formulate social research for yourself.
\nThe advanced training provided by this course is exemplified by:
\nThroughout this course, we teach and reward students' work which shows the ability to apply a range of skills in defining a research problem, choosing an appropriate methodology and responding to critical theoretical, ethical and political issues.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94825","attributes":{"title":"Theories of the Culture Industry","summary":"Explore key theorisations of the culture industry. While incorporating classical figurations of the culture industry, the module is primarily...","description":"Explore key theorisations of the culture industry. While incorporating classical figurations of the culture industry, the module is primarily concerned with assembling a clear engagement with contemporary research, such as that spearheaded by leading researchers at Goldsmiths.
\nIt considers:
\nYou will learn to strategise cultural production and intervention through exploration of relevant material. The globalisation of the culture industry will provide a persistent and ambitious point of reference.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"142561","attributes":{"title":"Transforming Critical Practices","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\nOver the past few years, novel modes of interaction and collaboration have been sweeping...","description":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\nOver the past few years, novel modes of interaction and collaboration have been sweeping through economic, political and social life: peer-to-peer platforms, time banks, cooperatives, alternative currencies, self-managed spaces and crowdsourcing schemes. The course investigates the relationship between these developments and contemporary art practices. Artistic experiments with alternative forms of funding, production and distribution are not only shaking up the roles of creators, audiences, institutions and the art market but have also begun to spearhead a new culture of operations, in which citizens become enlisted in the self-servicing of the social, cultural and infrastructural fabric of societies. These processes raise critical questions about issues of access and technology, global inequality and citizenship arrangements.
\nIn this module we will discuss these questions by considering the ways in which art and culture are enlisted in shaping new public experiences, attitudes and expectations. The public of these new “data publics” is a multi-faced figure. In that it is implicated in its own generation, conventional political paradigms such as the protection of rights or the division and demarcation of powers fall short when it comes to engage the dynamic realities of the hybridised analogue-digital realm. Departing from this much more active participation of today’s populations in the shaping of new public spheres, we will discuss the political implications of environments, in which individual, commercial and governmental agendas and actions become increasingly blurred.
\nWe will explore this changing relationship between art and politics by way of a mapping project that aims to capture the transformative capacity of new modes of artistic engagement, new “commons” for collective action and new social and political climates. Producing individual case studies, we will trace, map and analyse specific cultural, temporal, geographic and systemic dimensions of the changing ways in which art practices are embedded in today’s socio-economic environments. Addressing the global scope of these changes, this project will allow us to critically engage with discourses on globalisation, social and political movements, technological restructuring, contemporary public culture and creative economies.
\nThe module is structured as a series of ten half-day workshops. Each workshop will be dedicated to a particular segment of critical theory and the changing relationship between politics and the arts. Drawing on the individual case studies produced for the mapping project, the module will conclude with a collectively organised public event.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"144996","attributes":{"title":"Theories and Debates in Visual Research","summary":"Visual sociology has taught sociology that text is not the only medium. This module introduces you to the problems of visuality and representation in...","description":"Visual sociology has taught sociology that text is not the only medium. This module introduces you to the problems of visuality and representation in sociology, beginning with classical debates in visual sociology, but including more recent debates surrounding the notions of media and methods to discuss how sociology can represent the social. The module will introduce you to the complexity of decisions to be taken in inventive sociology once the primacy of text is relinquished.
\nThe module has two aims: first to introduce you to key fields of visual and inventive sociology, and second to key problems of doing inventive sociology. We discuss the cooperation of sociologists with other specialists, such as photographers or videographers, the relationship between self-representations of research subjects and those of the sociologist, the problem of representing objects which are not visual or textual in nature, combining different media, and how to address specific audiences.
\n","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"148021","attributes":{"title":"Thinking Animals","summary":"This module explores how animal-human relations have been understood in Western thinking. It is co-taught by Mariam Motamedi-Fraser and Monk, who is...","description":"
This module explores how animal-human relations have been understood in Western thinking. It is co-taught by Mariam Motamedi-Fraser and Monk, who is a black Labrador. Students will not be obliged to approach Monk (although see below for more details). Topics that will be covered include: laboratory animals; animal deaths; transformative relationships with animals; animal play; companion animals; animal methods; animals and language; animal cooperation and captivity.
\nIn the context of this module, 'Western thinking' will stretch from some of the key philosophers of Renaissance humanism and early modern science through to contemporary animal liberationists, animal rights activists, analytic and continental philosophers and ethicists, feminists, and so on. In each case, the focus will lie in particular on how conceptions of the relations between animals and humans in turn shape expectations (and proscriptions) as to how animals should be treated.
\nThe lectures in this module build one upon another, gradually introducing students, through the lens of animal life, to the value and limitations of some of the most contested concepts in humanist and post-humanist thinking. Among those concepts are: human exceptionalism; rights; reason and rationality; ethics (equal consideration of interests, ethics of care, ethics of the Other); speciesism (and its relation to racism and sexism); analogy, taxonomy and intersectionality; biopower and anthropogenesis; becoming; multispecies; voice and language; anthropomorphism; agency.
\nAssessment: either 4,000 word essay, or 2,500 word essay & 1,500 word observation
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"149889","attributes":{"title":"Trauma: Critical and Clinical Explorations","summary":"This module aims to introduce some key clinical and theoretical literature on psychic trauma as well as offering a critical look at what...","description":"This module aims to introduce some key clinical and theoretical literature on psychic trauma as well as offering a critical look at what existing literature and the new approaches of a variety of clinical and theoretical disciplines bring to the understanding of traumatic experience.
\nMore specifically, you will familiarise yourself with: psychoanalytic literature on trauma (Freud, Ferenczi, Lacan); recent theories on PTSD; theories of resilience and post-traumatic growth; literature on transgenerational and across cultures trauma; the politics of memory and cultural healing through story-telling and narratives.
\nBy drawing on specific examples of cultural and political trauma, as well as on individual clinical cases, the module will offer a context for an in-depth understanding of individual and collective experiences of trauma.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (80%), 800-1,000 word annotated bibliography (20%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Therapeutic Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159184","attributes":{"title":"Thinking Anthropologically","summary":"This module is concerned with key ways of thinking that have shaped and continue to shape the discipline of social anthropology. As such, the module...","description":"This module is concerned with key ways of thinking that have shaped and continue to shape the discipline of social anthropology. As such, the module is intended to augment what you have learned in the first year and to help consolidate your sense of how important concepts in social anthropology fit together. The focus of the module is how the discipline’s main, 20th century schools of thought have developed, how they relate to one another and what they have contributed to our understandings of the world. Our concern is with the different ways in which anthropologists have conceived of ‘culture’ and ‘society’ in their efforts to account for the myriad of ways in which humans live. We shall explore how these approaches to anthropology compete with, and sometimes contradict, one another and how these dynamics have driven the discipline through the political landscape of the twentieth century to where we are now so that we can, in the last, pause to envisage where we can and should go next.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"159455","attributes":{"title":"Topics in International Economics","summary":"This module introduces students to key topics in international economics. It is divided into two parts. In Part I, we will study trade theory and...","description":"This module introduces students to key topics in international economics. It is divided into two parts. In Part I, we will study trade theory and policy to understand the patterns, determinants, and consequences of international trade. Topics covered in this part include the basics and critique of classical and neoclassical trade theory, economies of scale, international factor mobility, and the effect of trade on wages and income distribution. Part II of the module will provide students with a set of tools to understand and systematically analyze the monetary side of the international economy. Key topics covered include the balance of payments, the determination of exchange rates, interest rates and prices in open economies, different exchange rate regimes (fixed versus floating), interdependence of economies, and the international financial markets. Further, we will employ this theory to better understand recent issues such as the persistence of the US current account deficit; the creation of the Euro and the future of the US Dollar as a reserve currency; the nature and consequences of financial crises. Students are expected to come out of this module with a deeper understanding of international trade and monetary theory and related economic policy issues.
\nPre-requisite: must have a background in economics
\n\n
Assessment: exam
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159507","attributes":{"title":"The Audience in Theory and Practice","summary":"This module focuses on audiences as a crucial focus of arts managers. The module offers a practical focus, with a theoretical introduction to the...","description":"This module focuses on audiences as a crucial focus of arts managers. The module offers a practical focus, with a theoretical introduction to the study of audiences. Topics include imagining audiences, marketing, branding, and public relations, audience development, audience engagement and outreach, visitor behaviour, and evaluation research, including interviews, focus groups and understanding quantitative data.
\nThe module starts with an introduction to understandings of audiences, and introduces methodologies used to understand art audiences. This section of the module is assessed by a short essay. The module moves on to explore different techniques and tools in audience development, and applies these to case studies. Students will work in groups to understand a problem-based case study and will need to make a presentation to pitch their solution. The module then covers more strategies for developing and understanding audiences, and students will work individually on a project on the topics covered.
\nAssessment autumn term only: 2,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 2,000 word essay (40%), 5 minute presentation (20%), 3,000 word project (40%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Full year","Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn","tags":"Full year, Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"162989","attributes":{"title":"The City and Public Culture","summary":"In this module you will be introduced to a series of sociological questions about the city and urban life from a perspective focusing on public...","description":"In this module you will be introduced to a series of sociological questions about the city and urban life from a perspective focusing on public culture, work, consumption and everyday life. There is an emphasis on lived space, patterns of housing, spaces of leisure and enjoyment, and the spaces for assembly and encounter that exist within an ever-shifting public/private divide. The aim will be to become familiar with the concepts and ideas developed by cultural geographers, social and cultural theorists, feminists, post-colonial and subaltern studies scholars, artists, writers and filmmakers in order to understand the development of urban space, the forms of sociability and exclusion this engenders and the sensations and subjective states of intensity which city life generates.
\nThe module initially adopts a historical approach, critically engaging canonical accounts of urbanisation and modernity in relation to technology, gender, imperialism and class. We then focus on contemporary urban life with a particular emphasis on the dialectics of segregation and assembly, separation and encounter. We explore the impact of infrastructures on urban sociality and citizenship, dynamics of gentrification and place-making and the smart city of data capture, platforms and ubiquitous surveillance. The module culminates in a discussion of the city as the ground zero for climate change. The theoretical models for this course are drawn from critical urban studies and geography (LeFebvre, Harvey, Massey), infrastructure and technology studies (Graham & Marvin, Anand, Easterling), and from sociological and philosophical accounts of public space, encounter and difference (Arendt, Young). If circumstances permit the module will include a field visit designed to introduce walking as a method of urban investigation. Throughout the module students are encouraged to draw on their own experience of urban culture, as well as the course material in order to develop a greater understanding of the cities and urban environments in which we live.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"162998","attributes":{"title":"The Structure of Contemporary Political Communications","summary":"This module examines the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. Its core concern is to explore notions...","description":"This module examines the actors and communication processes involved in contemporary political communication. Its core concern is to explore notions of ‘crisis’ in mature democracies as voter turnouts and ‘trust’ in formal political institutions steadily drop, national economies struggle, and news media decline. It combines theoretical insights and case examples from the fields of media studies, journalism, sociology and political science. It mainly focuses on democracies, particularly in the US and UK, but literature and examples are also drawn from other types of political system and country. Weekly topics combine political communication themes and contemporary examples, with discussions of related theory and concepts.
\nTopics covered include: The crisis of politics and media in established democracies; public sphere theory; comparative political and media systems; mass media, news production and the future of news; political parties, from ideologies to political marketing; elections and referendums; government media management, mediatisation and populist politics; historical and cultural political communication; forms of public participation and public opinion; media effects and audiences; policy-making, lobbying and power; economics, austerity and the financial crisis; digital media and online politics; interest group campaigning, lobbying and environmental/welfare policy. Much of the material for this module is highly contemporary, so students are encouraged to maintain an awareness of current developments in political communication in the UK and elsewhere.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"163265","attributes":{"title":"The Interpersonal Self","summary":"This module will examine self-processes in interpersonal settings, drawing primarily on recent research from social psychology and personality. The...","description":"This module will examine self-processes in interpersonal settings, drawing primarily on recent research from social psychology and personality. The module will introduce how interpersonal relationships affect self-concept, identity, self-regulation, and subjective well-being, as well as discuss how self-processes, including individual differences, in turn affect the dynamics of self-other interaction and relational processes.
\nThe module will seek to bridge the current literature in social psychology and personality between self and interpersonal processes among adults. The module will promote an understanding of how self-concept and identity continue to be shaped by our interpersonal interactions and how other people affect motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The module will also explore how self-processes and individual differences in turn affect interpersonal relationships, and promote our scientific understanding of the dynamic nature of this mutual influence.
\nAssessment autumn: 2,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Psychology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166081","attributes":{"title":"Teaching Languages in Multilingual Contexts","summary":"This module is based on an integrated and inclusive approach to language learning incorporating the areas of foreign and community language teaching...","description":"This module is based on an integrated and inclusive approach to language learning incorporating the areas of foreign and community language teaching as well as English as an Additional Language and English mother tongue. It aims to critically examine key research as well as current trends in the field, but also to make links between theoretical perspectives and classroom practice.
\nThrough the module you will gain a deeper understanding of both policy and pedagogy adapted to different learners and settings. This will help you analyse current practices including your own. We recognise that students come with a wide range of experience in language teaching and there will be opportunities for this to be shared and discussed in sessions.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166196","attributes":{"title":"Taste and Distaste","summary":"Approaching the everyday experience of ‘taste’ and ‘distaste’ as simultaneously social, physical, cultural and psychological phenomena, the module...","description":"Approaching the everyday experience of ‘taste’ and ‘distaste’ as simultaneously social, physical, cultural and psychological phenomena, the module builds student’s understanding of the visceral processes through which society is both reproduced and changed. Drawing on a range of case studies, the students will explore socio-economic reproduction, gastro-nationalism, cultural ‘appropriation’, multicultural, conviviality and ‘the small ethics’ of culinary etiquette. The module will endow students with variously delectable and disgusting examples through which they might better understand the social, geographic and political aspects of contemporary society. From the social significance of omnivorousness, through the increasing potency of national dishes, into the sensory reproduction of race and, the module animates core issues within sociological research with accessible and relatable empirical topics. The module’s theoretical content builds on the anthropological canon of Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas, Levi-Strauss, alongside the culinary social histories of European society Stephen Mennell and Pierro Camporiesi. Ultimately, however, the module aims to build up a more thoroughly global understanding of alimentary regimes, building on the postcolonial reflections on the senses, food and taste developed by Sidney Mintz, Gary Okihiro, Constance Classen and Mark M Smith.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166677","attributes":{"title":"The Spanish Civil War: Politics, the Military, and Culture\n","summary":"The Spanish Civil War was the dominant international event of the late 1930s, as a proxy war for political struggles which were being played out...","description":"The Spanish Civil War was the dominant international event of the late 1930s, as a proxy war for political struggles which were being played out across Europe and beyond. It was a vehicle for both idealism and brutality, with its memory still controversial in Spain today. It also speaks to contemporary issues of why and how people enlist in fights for causes with roots outside their own country.
\nThis module is in two parts. Part I examines the politics which led to the war, how governments and people far from Spain came to be involved and the military aspects of the war itself. Cultural representations will be considered throughout the module - in Part I through memoirs, for example. According to Eric Hobsbawm, '[I]n creating the world's memory of the Spanish Civil War, the pen, the brush and the camera wielded on behalf of the defeated have proved mightier than the sword and the power of those who won.'
\nPart II examines the visual and literary representations of, and responses to, the war at the time and soon after. The final week considers why the war continues to be such a potent source of inspiration for the creative imagination.
\nAssessment: tbc
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"168750","attributes":{"title":"The Family and Child Mental Health","summary":"This module will provide an introduction to the role of family functioning, relationships and dynamics for children’s psychosocial development,...","description":"This module will provide an introduction to the role of family functioning, relationships and dynamics for children’s psychosocial development, mental health and wellbeing. The module will consider theoretical approaches to psychosocial relationship research within the family, as well as associated mechanisms underpinning their importance for children’s psychological adjustment. The active role of the child in their own experiences will be a core focus. In addition, we will consider the importance for child outcomes of factors that differ between families as well as those that differ within families for children growing up in the same home. This module will introduce students to cutting-edge developmental research in family social processes and children’s psychosocial development, demonstrating the role of both the child and all members of the family. Consideration will also be given to developmentally informed interventions to promote child wellbeing and mental health.
\nAssessment: exam (70%), 1,500 word essay (30%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"173193","attributes":{"title":"The Arts of Surveillance","summary":"Since U.S. National Security Agency surveillance revelations and the popular rise of whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the reach and...","description":"Since U.S. National Security Agency surveillance revelations and the popular rise of whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the reach and implications of global surveillance have become some of the most urgent and pressing issues that we face today. In this module, we will examine digital technologies’ historical impact on surveillance and its effects on society, through a consideration of technologies like GPS, biometrics, cryptography, and drones. We will give particular attention to how surveillance devices have become domesticated in the 21st century, with social media and smartphones, turning us into agents of our own surveillance. We will also explore how artistic practices operate at the vanguard of anti-surveillance, by looking at the artwork of Laura Poitras, Hito Steyerl, Trevor Paglen, Surveillance Camera Players, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Adam Harvey, Harun Farocki, among others. We will also discuss activist groups like Anonymous, Wikileaks, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and TOR, focusing on how they mobilize the cypherpunk and masked protester. In addition, we will read a wide- ranging set of texts that span media theory, philosophy, artists’ writings, journalism, and art historical documents.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175144","attributes":{"title":"The Entrepreneurial Project","summary":"This module provides students with an in-depth understanding of the new venture creation process from design and planning, to launch and development,...","description":"This module provides students with an in-depth understanding of the new venture creation process from design and planning, to launch and development, and a deep appreciation for the kinds of decisions that entrepreneurs are required to make at each stage. The purpose of the module is to familiarise students with key aspects of the venture creation process in order to prepare them for starting up their own businesses. This is achieved by combining aspects of business planning with some of the realities of starting up a business. Through readings, case studies, guest speakers, videos, and weekly in-class practical exercises, students will apply their learning by developing a business plan and participating in a business simulation.
\nThis module is organised across two terms and in to two parts. In the first half of the module the emphasis is on the business planning process and understanding the purpose, scope, effectiveness, structure and presentation of the business plan. In this part of the module, students will learn how to clarify the business concept and opportunity, articulate business goals, and set realistic timescales. Focusing on a specific business idea, students will be required to research and write up a business plan which covers aspects of the business concept relating to the management team and personnel (areas/positions to cover, expertise required, recruitment/training plans and costs), market and competition, marketing and sales (segmentation, position, sales methods and forecasting), financial planning and forecasting, the capacity and efficiency of operations, and business exit. They will learn how to craft an executive summary and formulate a business plan that serves both as a road map for staff, and a key tool for attracting finance to the business. They will learn about important legal issues surrounding the new business venture, from the choice of legal entity, to legal agreements (employment contracts, intellectual property), and taxation. They will also discuss the value of, and criticisms around, business planning and how these can be addressed. In the second half of the module, students will participate in a business simulation whereby they will set up and run a business for a simulated number of years. Applying their learning in the first part of the module and developing further their critical thinking and problem solving skills, students will be required to answer questions around sales and marketing, finance, operations and the organisation, and evaluate the consequences of those decisions. Decision-making will be reinforced by research and analysis, using different forms of data and evidence.
\nAssessment: 5,000 word report (50%), 1,500 word report (25%), 1,500 word report (25%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1442678","attributes":{"title":"Teaching Creative Writing","summary":"This module offers students the opportunity to explore a range of educational and cultural approaches towards creative writing and develop both their...","description":"This module offers students the opportunity to explore a range of educational and cultural approaches towards creative writing and develop both their own creative writing practices and those of young people. On this module, students will engage collaboratively with professionals working in local cultural institutions: British Library, Poetry Society, English and Media Centre, Apples and Snakes, Ministry of Stories, The Complete Works. They will explore a growing interest in linking cultural sector practices to those of Education and reflect upon the changing nature of the relationship between creative writing and pedagogy. The module combines contemporary writing practice, theory and pedagogy. The module relates to the Workshop in Creative and Life Writing, but explores writing practices in a range of cultural contexts.
\nThe three-hour sessions in this core module are attended by all full-time and all part-time students in their first year. The module runs throughout the spring term. Students develop critical understanding of their identity as writers and educators in informal and formal learning contexts. Students are exposed to the work of experienced practitioners from local cultural institutions (British Library, Poetry Society, English and Media Centre, Apples and Snakes, Ministry of Stories, The Complete Works). This will enable students to extend their own practice as both writers and educators and bring these practices into a productive relationship. Issues relating to creative writing practices and pedagogy are raised and debated during sessions and will build on earlier discussions in the Workshop in Creative and Life Writing.
\nThis module is available online
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Educational Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"328434","attributes":{"title":"The English Decadence","summary":"This comparative and interdisciplinary module explores the relationship between literature and the visual arts in England in the 1880s and 1890s....","description":"This comparative and interdisciplinary module explores the relationship between literature and the visual arts in England in the 1880s and 1890s. Beginning with cultural-historical contexts and definitions of terms, we will study the closely related movements of Aestheticism, Decadence, and Modernism, and the Decadent preoccupation with artifice, desire, intense sensation, sensuality, perverse sexuality, crime, and parody. The English tradition will be our principal focus, and we will consider its reflection in a range of fin de siècle productions, including the Yellow Book and The Savoy, Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Arthur Symons’s London Nights (1895), and Ernest Dowson’s Verses (1896) and Decorations (1899). We will also study the relationship between Decadence and New Women’s writing, focusing on the work of ‘Michael Field’ and George Egerton.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"153990","attributes":{"title":"The Ensemble","summary":"This practical module addresses various approaches to group work and collaboration, drawing on a number...","description":"This practical module addresses various approaches to group work and collaboration, drawing on a number of practices, exercises and techniques from a range of performance companies, artists and practitioners. You will be introduced to a selection of approaches to ensemble work that will include some key skills and principles needed for this practice. At the same time, you will develop ways to reflect critically on your work and the work of your peers.
\nEach practical session is framed thematically in relation to ensemble practice and will provoke you to explore different ways of working as a group. This includes sessions on rhythm and tempo, call and response, storytelling and composition, among others. In addition, each session is supported by critical reading and performance case studies. The latter will introduce you to a range of different ways in which the ensemble principles are explored and offer you springboards from which to develop your own creative responses to the themes.
\nThrough this combination of practical and theoretical work, you focus on how meaning is generated in performance, and begin to ask basic questions about Theatre Making, to explore further in your own work and your analysis of material created by other artists.
\nOverall, you are invited to consider how groups function, are sustained and work collectively both within the field of theatre, but also in wider society.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Theatre and Performance","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"361351","attributes":{"title":"The Making of Global Capitalism","summary":"This module introduces students to the key political economic transformations that made the modern world. We start by exploring the emergence of...","description":"This module introduces students to the key political economic transformations that made the modern world. We start by exploring the emergence of capitalism, market society and the divergence between East and West. We then examine Imperialism, and the place of slavery in American capitalist development. We examine how ‘the household’ was siphoned off and separated from ‘the economy’ and what that meant for the understandings of gender in political economy. After this we turn our attention to the present day. When and why did the Great Acceleration of environmental decay begin? What is the US military-industrial complex? We then examine the emergence of Platform Capitalism today before finally exploring what possibilities exist for a different future. Our goal is to use history to understand the power relations behind the workings of the global economy.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word essay (70%), 500 word report (30%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1474084","attributes":{"title":"The Politics of Memory","summary":"This course focuses on how societies emerging from different types of conflict (such as war, genocide, ethnic violence and grave human rights abuses)...","description":"This course focuses on how societies emerging from different types of conflict (such as war, genocide, ethnic violence and grave human rights abuses) engage in the process of coming to terms with their past. It examines official mechanisms of ‘transitional justice’ such as trials and truth commissions, as well as cultural forms of remembrance and local community practices. By exploring the complex relationship between conflict, memory and justice in various cross-cultural settings, it seeks to provide an understanding of the ways in which such processes can promote or hinder reconciliation and the rebuilding of social and inter-communal ties. The course will also assess the role of external factors (notably the creation of international war crimes tribunals) and how they have affected such internal processes of facing the past.
\nVarious case studies, including post-Second World War Germany and Japan, post-conflict former Yugoslavia, post-Apartheid South Africa, and post-genocide Rwanda, will inform the theoretical discussions and provide a comparative perspective.
\nAssessment: 600 word essay proposal (formative), 500 word blog post (30%), 3,000 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"176076","attributes":{"title":"The Postcolonial City: Migration, Society, and Culture in London","summary":"This module examines the social, cultural and political history of postcolonial London, focusing in particular on the period 1945 to 2011. It...","description":"This module examines the social, cultural and political history of postcolonial London, focusing in particular on the period 1945 to 2011. It explores the progress of black political movements from the first generation of ‘Windrush’ migration, through to the struggles and challenges faced by subsequent generations. It examines political contestation and unrest as well as government policy and the progressive withdrawal of the commonwealth invitation. In parallel with the social and political, the module engages very much with the cultural and looks at how migration in London has been shaped and perceived in the past through literature, poetry, film, music, religion, food and fashion.
\nInterdisciplinarity is a key feature and the various intersections between history and sociology, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, anthropology, politics, visual cultures, literary studies and music will be explored in depth. London, as a whole, is the focus but the module will look to situate a multiracial and postcolonial London in the wider historical and historiographical contexts of post-war Britain as well as looking closer to home and considering issues particularly local to ӣƵ including the Battle of Lewisham, the New Cross Fire and the Black People’s Day of Action. Students are encouraged to utilize existing oral history sources and/or to undertake oral histories themselves (in line with the department’s Research Ethics policy). The module will also explore shifting ideas of multiculturalism, community, and identity in London.
","level":"","subject":"History","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"377195","attributes":{"title":"The USA in the Era of the Vietnam War, 1954-75","summary":"Covering the period 1954-1975 this module analyses the history of the USA, at home and abroad. A central theme is the impact of the Vietnam War...","description":"Covering the period 1954-1975 this module analyses the history of the USA, at home and abroad. A central theme is the impact of the Vietnam War on the USA, but it also examines American politics and society throughout the period. It begins with the Geneva Conference of 1954 which marked a shift in the nature of the US involvement in Vietnam after French withdrawal. It considers the escalation to full military involvement and eventual ‘Vietnamisation’ of the conflict, prior to the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. Such issues are placed within the context of American foreign policy in the era of the Cold War more widely, with attention paid to both the Cuban Missile Crisis and détente.
\nIn politics, the course covers five presidencies (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford) with a further central issue throughout being that of civil rights. Within the politics strand, it will also consider the legacy of McCarthyism, the role of the American labour movement, feminism, environmentalism, and the nature/consequences of the Watergate scandal.
\nLinked to consideration of mainstream politics will be attention to the counter-culture. Part of that will address the anti-war movement covered within material on the Vietnam War, but it will also address beatniks, hippies and drugs. Popular culture, including film, television, advertising and sport, linked to other issues will also be examined. Popular music will be used throughout the twenty lectures as emblematic of the times.
\n\n
Assessment autumn: 3,000 word essay (100%), written coursework (formative)
\nAssessment spring: 3,000 word essay (100%), written coursework (formative)
\nAssessment full year: 3,000 word essay (50%), exam (50%), 2,500 word essay (formative)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89842","attributes":{"title":"Theorising the Visual","summary":"This module explores the role of visual representation in anthropology in terms of both the history of its use within the discipline, and also the...","description":"This module explores the role of visual representation in anthropology in terms of both the history of its use within the discipline, and also the potential it holds for new ways of working. It looks at work in a wide range of media – photography, film/video, performance – and the ways in which they might be used in an anthropological context, and this will involve looking at work from outside anthropology such as photojournalism and contemporary art, as well as the work of visual anthropologists.
\nThe intention of the module is to give students a challenging and creative view of the potentials for using audio-visual material within anthropology.
\nAssessment: 1,500 word essay (formative), 3,000 word report (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1158720","attributes":{"title":"Thinking Sociologically","summary":"Contemporary sociological thinking emerges from a rich and complex history of attempts to understand the patterns and dynamics of social life. This...","description":"Contemporary sociological thinking emerges from a rich and complex history of attempts to understand the patterns and dynamics of social life. This module will invite students to consider particular moments and relations within this history as an introduction to the sociological imagination today. We will consider key trajectories to show how current debates both continue and challenge lines of thought that have engaged sociologists. We will see how core theoretical questions of social reproduction, inequalities, subjectivity, truth, knowledge and belief systems and more have remained within the scope of sociology’s explorations while new developments have created the richness of themes and approaches that now live under the umbrella of the discipline. Thinking Sociologically will enable students to study core themes of sociology in-depth at an advanced level and encourage them to develop their faculties for thinking critically and sociologically. They will learn through close reading and discussion of key writings, and written assessment involving close textual analysis. The module will be team taught, with lecturers taking two weeks each to discuss particular sociological themes as represented in a classical and a related contemporary text. The texts will be treated in-depth in seminar discussion and assessed by detailed comparison in written work.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175299","attributes":{"title":"Thinking Through Race","summary":"Thinking through race foregrounds several contemporary debates that bring to the fore why race – a concept which purports essential, biologized...","description":"Thinking through race foregrounds several contemporary debates that bring to the fore why race – a concept which purports essential, biologized difference between humans – continues to get reproduced in policy, media representations, expert knowledge, and everyday encounter across the globe even though it was debunked in the previous century. The module also engages with ethnographic accounts that think through how race, gender, and class are experienced and inhabited in relationship to one another in the contemporary moment.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Anthropology","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"857871","attributes":{"title":"Training, Coaching and Counselling","summary":"This module aims to provide an introduction to the ways in which individuals learn and develop within organisations. The module begins with a...","description":"This module aims to provide an introduction to the ways in which individuals learn and develop within organisations. The module begins with a discussion of how people learn, training design and delivery and the organisational context in which all of this occurs. Following this, a specific application of training, namely Stress Management Training (SMT), is explored in detail. Next, training is contrasted with a contemporary form of development activity known as coaching. Finally, these different forms of development are discussed within the context people’s careers, and the ways in which career counselling can be used to help people navigate their professional lives are examined.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"175629","attributes":{"title":"Transcultural Memory","summary":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March\nThis course engages with questions of memory, placing particular emphasis on the encounter of...","description":"Please note this module runs from mid-November to March
\nThis course engages with questions of memory, placing particular emphasis on the encounter of different histories and recollections between and across cultures. Drawing on a variety of art works, exhibitions, films, literary texts and theoretical models, the course explores spaces in which memories neither compete with nor erase each other, but interact in productive and unforeseen ways.
\nWe shall read some of the historical texts that are crucial to the emergence of the field of memory studies: texts that have taught us to think of memory as being shaped by the social milieu in which the subject lives (Maurice Halbwachs), to regard memory as a performative process that might be concerned with the past, but is enacted in the present (Pierre Nora) and to comprehend the long-term effects of trauma (Sigmund Freud). By studying these works together with writings by the contemporary generation of memory scholars (Michael Rothberg, Astrid Erll, Cathy Caruth, Marianne Hirsch and others), we shall also probe their limitations, thereby considering the shift from ‘cultural’ to ‘transcultural’ memory studies.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Visual Cultures, Art History, and Curating","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"176077","attributes":{"title":"Trumpeters, Divers and Blackamoors: The Black Tudors","summary":"This module explores the lives, experiences and perceptions of black people in Britain in the period 1500-1650. The black presence in Britain during...","description":"This module explores the lives, experiences and perceptions of black people in Britain in the period 1500-1650. The black presence in Britain during this period has often been presumed or perceived to be one of enslavement and discrimination, but recent research is radically revising these notions. Key questions about this period are how and why people of African origin and descent came to be in Britain, what brought them here, how did they live and what sorts of experiences did they have. Far from being linked to slavery, the lives of Africans in Britain during this period were diverse and varied and they were more likely to be judged on their religion or their social class than they were on the colour of their skin. The lives of Africans such as John Blanke, trumpeter for the King, Dederi Jaquiah, son of an African king, and Mary Fillis, a Moroccan weaver who converted to Christianity, provide much evidence in a time when African’s represent a tiny minority in Britain.
\nLocating and examining Africans in Britain during this period is not without its challenges. However, literary texts provide a rich source, as do artworks and other forms of visual and material culture, and a range of church and municipal documents such as household accounts, diaries, wills and legal records all help with reconstructing the everyday lives of these early black Britons. Contrary to being expelled by Elizabeth I, ‘blackamoors’ remained present in England in not insignificant numbers and their presence is key to understanding the longer history of the black presence in Britain and the mindsets and assumptions that influenced and informed that presence. The ‘Black Tudors’ present challenges to assumptions of powerlessness in the ‘age of discovery’ and are pivotal for understanding the changes and developments in black Britain in the centuries that followed.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89828","attributes":{"title":"Urban Anthropology","summary":"Term(s) taught: Autumn\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per weekThis module considers the theoretical,...","description":"Term(s) taught: Autumn
\nContact hours: 1x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour seminar per week
This module considers the theoretical, methodological and empirical contribution of anthropological analyses of cities, and assesses their significance within the broader field of urban studies. An emphasis will be placed in urban ethnography and its relation to the theorisation of cities. Despite anthropology’s historical reluctance to engage with the complex dynamics of cities, there is now a plethora of anthropologists working with the social, political, economic and cultural aspects of urban life.
Throughout the course, we will approach the city as a socio-material entity, regulated but also contested, and made up of networks of power, physical infrastructures, and a myriad of small and almost invisible everyday actions. The module considers a series of sub-themes in urban anthropology such as urban social movements, poverty and marginalisation, city planning/design, suburbanisation and urban renewal.
Assessment: 1x 3000 word report
This module examines the history of the Soviet Union through the lens of the visual arts, literature, film, and music. An attempt to catapult a largely peasant society into socialism, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 ushered in some of the wildest artistic experimentation of the 20th century. Goncharova and Malevich in the visual arts, Eisenstein and Vertov in film, Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov in literature, Shostakovich and Prokofiev in music (Goldsmiths’ own Centre for Russian Music houses Prokofiev’s archive) have become stock names in the canon of global avant-garde art. We will look at major examples of this artistic production and will acquaint ourselves with selected techniques for analysing them, techniques developed in such neighbouring disciplines of history as literary criticism and art history/visual studies. We will also place this artistic production in its political, social, and other contexts. And we will critically revisit the answers scholars have given to the big questions of the Soviet arts—was the turn to neoclassical socialist realism under Stalin in the 1930s a break with the avant-garde past of the 1920s or were there more continuities than first meet the eye? How much room for political and stylistic manoeuvre did cultural producers have in Stalin’s times, and how productive is the affirmation vs. resistance paradigm in approaching this question? Where do we situate the Soviet artistic output in the contemporaneous international scene, including the Western and non-Western avant-garde, cubist, futurist, and (magic) realist movements? While the chronological emphasis is on the 1920s and the Stalin era (1929-1953), we will also spend time on the post-Stalin and post-Soviet (since 1991) periods.
\n\n
Assessment: 2,000 word essay (formative), presentation (formative), group work (formative), 6,000 word essay (100%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91597","attributes":{"title":"UK and European Comparative Governance and Politics","summary":"Students will be introduced to the comparative approach to politics and government, in addition to building a foundation understanding of the...","description":"Students will be introduced to the comparative approach to politics and government, in addition to building a foundation understanding of the politics and governance of key members of the European Union.
\nStudents will not only build an essential foundation for studying the politics of the UK/EU, but will also develop their skills in comparative methods.
\nAssessment: 2 x 2,000-2,500 word essay.
\n\n
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91848","attributes":{"title":"Understanding Entrepreneurship","summary":"The objective of this module is to introduce students to key concepts and theories in the field of entrepreneurship, and to different kinds of...","description":"
The objective of this module is to introduce students to key concepts and theories in the field of entrepreneurship, and to different kinds of entrepreneurial processes, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial businesses. It also examines how context and culture shape entrepreneurial activity.
\nAssessment: 1x essay, 1x reflexive diary.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Management, Economics, and Marketing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94412","attributes":{"title":"Urban Field Encounters","summary":"Contemporary readings of urbanity stress the manifold unfolding’s of city environments. Pushing beyond geographical territories, urbanity requires us...","description":"Contemporary readings of urbanity stress the manifold unfolding’s of city environments. Pushing beyond geographical territories, urbanity requires us to work across different ideas of time and space and apprehend these from the perspective of ongoing process and change. Urbanities give rise to differential forms of practice – we engage cities and their infrastructures, institutions, governances, capitals and cultures in diverse and irreducible ways. Given the dynamic relations that make up the urban and the people that inhabit and move through it, how do we begin to explore and comprehend questions of city life and our interventions in it?
\n
This course investigates and experiments with a series of methods that can be employed to think about the urban. To engage the complex questions of the urban we require creative sociological methods through which we can observe, make sense of and analyse what we experience without fixing it in place. This course takes as its foundation artistic and sensorial innovations in the social sciences. It groups these over five weeks through themes of Observing, Listening, Assembling, Writing and Intervening. Such methodological innovations allow us to think about the urban in ways that engage multiplicitous publics, voices and forms of participation and practice. Drawing from interdisciplinary developments in visual, sonic and sensory sociologies, this course brings together theoretical literature with practical application and critical reflection.
Upper Intermediate Mandarin is taught in two parts: Upper Intermediate Mandarin A and Upper Intermediate Mandarin B.
\nIn order to join Upper Intermediate Mandarin A you must have studied the module Intermediate Mandarin B or have a good command of around 1150 Chinese characters and 1600 words and expressions. In order to join Upper Intermediate Mandarin B you must have completed Upper Intermediate Mandarin A or have a command of around 1800 Chinese words and expressions.
\nContact hours: 4 hours per week
\nAssessment: 45% written exam, 20% oral exam, 20% listening exam, 15% coursework
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Chinese Studies","when":["Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Autumn, Spring","tags":"Autumn, Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129550","attributes":{"title":"Urban London","summary":"Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.\nThis is a visual...","description":"
Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nThis is a visual urban sociology course conducted on the streets of London rather than in a classroom. You should only consider taking it if you are happy exploring with the lecturer as a guide, in small groups with fellow students and maybe sometimes on your own, with a camera. You can use your phone camera and no special equipment is needed. As this course extends through late February and March you will need warm and waterproof clothing and footwear you are able to walk in for several hours at a time. Think of it as ambulatory sociology with a camera. You will be learning sociological theory, particularly in relation to cities, but on the streets and through five walks around London.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word essay
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"140615","attributes":{"title":"US Politics and Foreign Policy","summary":"This module explores the interaction between US domestic and foreign politics. It seeks to understand the way that domestic political dynamics...","description":"This module explores the interaction between US domestic and foreign politics. It seeks to understand the way that domestic political dynamics influence foreign policy and the role of the US in the broader international arena. It introduces you to the structure of US government and the main interest groups involved in the foreign policy-making process, examining the broader ideological and political trends that have shaped the way the US acts on the global stage as the world’s only remaining superpower.
\nPart of the module will take a historical overview, looking at how US foreign policy has developed post-Second War, throughout the Cold War, and into today’s War on Terror, showing how different administrations have responded to perceived international threats, opportunities and challenges, as well as domestic political pressures and concerns. The module will also examine a number of contemporary issues currently faced by the US, which are likely to shape US foreign policy and security strategy for the foreseeable future: conflict in the Middle East; the threat of Islamist terrorism; the economic rise of China; global nuclear proliferation; the challenges posed by Russia; and the broader issue of global climate change. It will look at how the US responds to these dilemmas, and how these issues figure in domestic political debates and the US’ perception of itself.
\nAssessment: 2,000 word essay (30%), exam (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"156528","attributes":{"title":"Understanding the UK Media Industries - Fiction Production","summary":"Giving you an overview of the UK Media Industry including cinema, television and online platforms, this modules covers the following topics:1....","description":"Giving you an overview of the UK Media Industry including cinema, television and online platforms, this modules covers the following topics:
1. Overview of UK cinema, television and independent sectors
2. The UK cinema production landscape – aesthetic, cultural and economic factors. The main UK players
3. Television drama and its values and challenges
4. New markets and companies – Vice, Netflix, Youtube, Kindle. Web drama and interactive. New distribution initiatives
5. Funds, Film London, Creative England, National & Regional Screen Agencies, Tax Credits, Crowd Funding
6. Brainstorming ideas for fiction for a specific audience. The treatment, the pitch
Assessment:
One 3,000 word essay researching an aspect of UK fiction production
OR an outline for a small-scale film/TV drama project, realistically aimed at one of the funds discussed in 4 above, with reflection on locations, style, tone and why it might appeal to the funder proposed
Please Note: English Language Development modules are only available for students whose first language is not English.
\nThe intention of this introductory module is to provide students with some of the basic tools available in interpreting the kinds of images that surround us in our everyday life. As such, it is relevant and adaptable to many of the disciplines students will go on to study in both the humanities and social sciences.
\nThe module will have both a practical and a theoretical approach. For example, students will be asked to examine advertisements such as those advertising women’s perfume and to consider what ‘myths’ they represent in terms of power relations in western culture.
\nStudents will also be actively encouraged to bring in and discuss advertisements and images from their own culture to consider the connotations of such images. The concept of ‘myths’ relates to the theoretical work of Roland Barthes, a key and influential thinker on the science of signs and systems of representation. Further texts will be drawn from the work of the well-known cultural theorist, Stuart Hall.
","level":"","subject":"Centre for Academic Language and Literacies","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"166695","attributes":{"title":"Understanding Advertising","summary":"This module explores the changing world of advertising and examines its growing prominence in the media and in wider society. It begins by...","description":"This module explores the changing world of advertising and examines its growing prominence in the media and in wider society. It begins by investigating the origins of advertising in consumer capitalism and by developing an understanding of the main theoretical approaches to: advertising as a persuasive industry; as a set of socio-economic practices; and as media texts and cultural objects. The module looks at the fundamental role that advertising plays in financing media and in shaping media and cultural production. We also examine the centrality of celebrity in the growth of advertising and promotional content and the way that celebrity-centred business models, which anchor aesthetic values to marketing concerns, are now widespread throughout media and society. The second half of the module examines new developments in advertising with the rise of the internet and the growth of digital media, including: new models of online advertising based on algorithms and big data; the growth of celebrity and micro-celebrity as a promotional tools, as a way of engaging consumers emotions in our age of ad blocking; the challenges of advertising regulation online; and the blurring of lines between creative content and promotional content, news/factual content and sponsored content, and the rise of native advertising. The module also examines the recent and ongoing convergence in the advertising and promotional industries, the growth of huge multinationals that now dominate and asks you to consider the consequences of the concentration of economic power in an increasingly monopolistic industry, and its growing control over content creation. This module asks you to critically examine the impact of the growth and power of advertising for our media, culture and society.
\nAssessment: poster presentation (20%), 2,500 word essay (80%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1134369","attributes":{"title":"Understanding Language in Use","summary":"This module will introduce you to the study of language in its different contexts of use. We will cover some of the main areas of linguistic...","description":"This module will introduce you to the study of language in its different contexts of use. We will cover some of the main areas of linguistic knowledge, for example meaning, varieties of language and multilingualism, language change, history of English, and the characteristics of language across different genres and text types. We will explore, for instance, how spoken language is used to communicate in a number of different situations: everyday conversational contexts with your family and friends, or more formal interactions in various institutional contexts like schools or doctor’s surgeries. Our discussions will cover also how language is deployed in written texts, including literary and media texts. We will look at how language varies in these different contexts, but also in different locations, and at different points in time. We will consider whether and how speech varies between people of different gender, age, or ethnicity. We will think about how languages are learnt, both by children and adults, and how they are taught. We will explore how multilingual speakers use language, and how multilingualism is reflected in city landscapes or literary works. This module will equip you with the tools you need to discuss how language is structured and how it encodes meaning, at the level of individual sounds, words, sentences and in interaction. You will think about how people experience languages as users, but also as learners, and will acquire skills in hands-on analysis of linguistic data. This module aims to provide you with new perspectives on language in any context of use, as well as new vocabulary to discuss it.
\nAssessment: 1,500-2,000 word essay (50%), 1,500-2,000 word essay (50%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"91828","attributes":{"title":"Understanding Creativity: From Creative Thought to Action and Impact","summary":"What is creativity, how can we develop and harness it? What is the role of creativity in industry, in society, and in careers of the future? This...","description":"What is creativity, how can we develop and harness it? What is the role of creativity in industry, in society, and in careers of the future? This course addresses such questions through an interdisciplinary approach. The module leverages concepts from art, philosophy, management, creative industries and science and technology studies. Students will be introduced to a range of methods and frameworks that support creative thinking and problem solving. Students will engage current theories of creativity, examining how they can be employed and adapted to support their own inspired and entrepreneurial ideas in a project, practice or business in future. Lecture material is supplemented by work-shopping key creative concepts in respect of different creative, cultural and social contexts that provide supportive scaffolding to students’ own creative ambition and interests. The module bridges understanding from experimental approaches to vital practical issues of access and sustainability in a digital and increasingly automated environment.
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000-1,500 word report (40%), 2,000 word essay (60%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90583","attributes":{"title":"Varieties of English","summary":"Emphasis will be placed throughout this module on how and why language is used differently in a range of contexts. We will examine the variation of...","description":"Emphasis will be placed throughout this module on how and why language is used differently in a range of contexts. We will examine the variation of spoken language in relation to region, gender, ethnicity, age and social class; we will see that individuals are able to shift their style of speaking from one situation to the next and we will explore the attitudes that people have towards different varieties of English.
\nWe will also examine a range of tools and methodological frameworks that linguists use to analyse both spontaneous spoken interaction and written media, advertisement and literary texts/discourses. The questions that will be addressed may include the following: Do women and men speak differently? What is slang? How and why do adolescents speak differently from adults? What are the public stereotypes about speakers with “non-standard” accents? How are varieties of English represented in literature? What is Standard English? How do language choices influence the representation of social groups (e.g. women, asylum seekers) in the media? What are the language strategies employed by politicians? How is spoken language organised and how can it be transcribed and analysed?
\nContact hours: 2 hour seminar per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90788","attributes":{"title":"Visual and Material Culture in Early Modern Europe","summary":"You will examine the visual and material culture of Europe between 1450 and 1700. It investigates the role of images and artifacts in art and in...","description":"You will examine the visual and material culture of Europe between 1450 and 1700. It investigates the role of images and artifacts in art and in daily life, focusing on the complex ways in which they acquired various meanings from their producers and consumers.
\nConsidering paintings and architecture along with tapestries, prints, everyday furnishings, clothing and food, the module explores visual and material objects in the context in which they were created and looks at the social relationships between their makers, sponsors and users.
\nThe module offers an introduction to the theories and methods of visual and material culture and addresses a wide range of issues including: the marketplace and the birth of consumer culture; religion, politics and visual culture; the development of print and the rise of the printed image; global connections, colonialism and exotic goods; scientific imagery; fashion, gender and representations of the body.
\nThroughout the module, students will be encouraged to think about the centrality of images and artifacts to the making of history and develop critical approaches to past and present visual and material worlds.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"92833","attributes":{"title":"Violence & the Body Politic","summary":"Terms taught: Autumn\nThis module draws upon current anthropological literature on violence and suffering to explore the different scales through...","description":"Terms taught: Autumn
\nThis module draws upon current anthropological literature on violence and suffering to explore the different scales through which we can understand acts of violence ranging across intimate violence, collective violence and war.
\nBeginning at the smallest scale we draw upon literature on embodiment and biological anthropology to inquire into the experience of violence at the bodily level. How is suffering experienced at a bodily level? What roles do genes and hormones play in our propensity to violence? How is the body used symbolically by torturers?
\nThroughout the module we move across scales of understanding from interpersonal narratives of violence and social suffering, to motivations for collective and communal violence, before ending the module by looking at how national and international factors shape the manifestation of violence. At this macro scale we will consider how the body emerges in the way societies memorialise social suffering; how the everyday practices of state bio-power enacts violence on the body of its citizens; and whether theories of structural violence assist our understanding.
\nAssessment: 1x 2,000 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"93684","attributes":{"title":"Visual Culture and Empire in Early Modern Venice","summary":"Investigates the connections between empire building and visual culture in Venice from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century through this module....","description":"Investigates the connections between empire building and visual culture in Venice from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century through this module. It examines both the ways in which trade and colonisation influenced Venetian artistic and cultural production and how images, texts and objects made empire visible at home ant motivated new imperial projects abroad.
\nThrough an interdisciplinary approach that combines cultural history, visual studies and postcolonial criticism, the module covers the following themes: representations of the Venetian 'State of the sea'; art and print culture in the Venetian-Ottoman wars; imperial ceremonies and rituals; colonial cartography; antiquarian collections; the Byzantine heritage; cross-cultural contacts with the Islamic world; early modern Orientalism.
\nIn discussing these themes, the module places metropolitan visual media and communication in the context of Venetian empire formation and treats the production and consumption of images as an integral part of Venice's commercial and political presence in the Mediterranean. There is no foreign language requirement for this module.
\nAssessment: 1x 5,000 word essay.
\nContact hours: 2 hour lecture per week.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129619","attributes":{"title":"Visual Explorations of the Social World","summary":"This module is intended as an advanced introduction to the exploration of sociological issues and themes with visual methods. You will be introduced...","description":"This module is intended as an advanced introduction to the exploration of sociological issues and themes with visual methods. You will be introduced to a variety of visual media and methods. These methods will be discussed with regard to their suitability for sociological research. In the seminars you will explore various visual methods yourself.
\nYou will also work throughout on your own project, relating to the theme of visualizing connections, and you will present your own project in the last two sessions. The module focuses on an introduction of a wide variety of media and methods and does not provide in-depth training of particular methods. It focuses on experimentation and exploration, hoping that students will use their skills for later more in-depth projects.
\nThe main emphasis of this module is not to teach the technicalities of photography and other visual methods but rather to help you develop a visually informed sociological imagination and as such we would welcome the use of low-tech visual technologies such as drawings and shooting with digital cameras and mobile phones.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay + up to 10 photographs (100%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"138733","attributes":{"title":"Visual and Applied Anthropology Workshop\n","summary":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year or Autumn or Spring(module can be taken for one term only for 15 credits)Weekly Visual and Applied...","description":"Term(s) Taught: Full Year or Autumn or Spring
(module can be taken for one term only for 15 credits)
Weekly Visual and Applied Anthropology Workshops are run during the Autumn and Spring terms. Attendance is compulsory as these sessions enable you to further contextualise the complex issues anthropologists grapple with in relation to the use and presentation of visual data, and the application of anthropological theory/methods in a rapidly changing, globalised world. The workshop presents (as the basis for debates, group discussions and other in-class exercises) visual sources (films, documentaries, photography) complementary to the Contemporary Issues course. Visiting lecturers (from both within and without the department) will also introduce you to some of the innovative research being produced within the discipline, exploring the contemporary application of anthropological approaches to issues such as state violence, human rights and genocide, road safety, anthropology and the military, and anthropology in public spaces. These workshops will form the basis from which students will formulate their own audio-visual anthropological analysis of a contemporary issue of their choice, which they will then present to the rest of the class.
Assessment:
Assessed as part of the Ways of Seeing Portfolio (one in-class presentation)
Combine theoretical perspectives on the voice, drawn from contemporary sociological studies of speaking, listening and sound technologies, with an introduction to field sound recording through this module. It gives the students the opportunity to do sociology in sound, in other words to address critical thinking about the voice through an experimental approach to generating and evaluating sounds and their mediations.
\nStudents will be expected to encounter and respond to a sociological ‘problem’ about the voice through a practice research approach. In order to do this, the module offers a set of theoretical and empirical starting points in relation to voice, speech and media which students are required to address through practice work. These include the history of speaking in public (including political speeches, protest chants, collective singing) as well as the sociology of listening (including urban soundscapes, sensory ethnographic approaches) and the contemporary issues of voice recognition and artificial intelligence in relation to speaking (Siri, agents, bots). In these examples the module will stress critical perspectives in relation to identity, power and diversity – for example, desires for or resistances to normative voices and the associated literature in feminist queer and critical race theories.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"159209","attributes":{"title":"Visual Culture","summary":"The aim of this module is to introduce an understanding of visual culture and demonstrate the importance of visual culture in today’s society. ...","description":"
The aim of this module is to introduce an understanding of visual culture and demonstrate the importance of visual culture in today’s society. Visual culture includes such visual forms as painting, sculpture, photography, television, cinema, cartoons and manga, virtual reality and games, illustration and the internet. These forms have been studied using various approaches: hermeneutic, formal, Marxist, feminist, semiotic, psychoanalytic and anthropological amongst others. Settings, bodies and the built environment can also be studied with visual techniques. The module requires you to analyse visual images from contemporary and historical periods, and to apply a variety of visual techniques and methods in order to strengthen your understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches to a topic, in this case visual culture, and to develop a richer appreciation of visual cultures and visual materials.
\nIndicative content includes:
\n\n
Assessment: 1,000 word essay (30%), 2,000 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"351377","attributes":{"title":"Visual and Inventive Practice A","summary":"This is a core 30CAT course of the MA Visual Sociology programme and incorporates practical workshops which will enable to you carry out visual and...","description":"This is a core 30CAT course of the MA Visual Sociology programme and incorporates practical workshops which will enable to you carry out visual and inventive projects. The practical sessions are geared towards understanding media and materials in terms of sociological research problems. In line with the inventive approach of the MA, the course will challenge you to think about the appropriateness of different kinds of visual and sensory materials when addressing sociological questions, conducting research projects, and presenting their outcomes. The resulting skills will enable you to carry out your own projects.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"1160257","attributes":{"title":"The Vietnam War and US Presidential Politics, 1954-75","summary":"Covering the period 1954-1975 this module places US involvement in the Vietnam War in relation to wider presidential politics and foreign policy. A...","description":"Covering the period 1954-1975 this module places US involvement in the Vietnam War in relation to wider presidential politics and foreign policy. A central theme is the impact of the Vietnam War on the USA. It begins with the Geneva Conference of 1954 which marked a shift in the nature of the US involvement in Vietnam after French withdrawal. It considers the escalation to full military involvement and eventual ‘Vietnamisation’ of the conflict, prior to the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. Such issues are placed within the context of American foreign policy in the era of the Cold War more widely, with attention paid to both the Cuban Missile Crisis and détente.
\nFor presential politics, the module covers five presidencies (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford), with civil rights running as a strand throughout this part of the module. Linked to consideration of mainstream politics will be attention to the counter-culture. Part of that will address the anti-war movement covered within material on the Vietnam War, but it will also address beatniks, hippies and drugs. Popular music will be used throughout the lectures as emblematic of the times and the module concludes with consideration of the enduring legacy of the Vietnam War through film.
\nWeekly content:
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay (100%), 2,500 word essay (formative), class discussion (formative)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"History","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094792","attributes":{"title":"Virtual and immersive media experience","summary":"Summary: More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed,...","description":"Summary: More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed, digitally-simulated virtual environments that we move through interactively and immersively, whether it be in games, multiscreen installations, or in VR/AR. This module asks what kinds of interesting and emergent experiences these new technological interfaces and spaces yield, and what kind of social, cultural, ethical, ecological, and economic purposes they can be turned to. The first part of the module is dedicated to the concepts and discourses of virtual and immersive media incorporating genealogical, philosophical and critical approaches, whilst the second half of the module turns towards production and form, in terms of gaming, creative expression, and the shared cultural and economic imaginaries that determine what kind of virtual content is currently produced (including porn, dance, spiritual and psychedelic experiences, and ethical experience). We will include an optional, extracurricular public gallery/installation visit to experience an immersive media/art experience (contingent on an appropriate event being available and affordable). This visit will influence a group presentation (formative) on a similar immersive or virtual experience, or a text, artwork, or image that reflects on these themes.
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094793","attributes":{"title":"Virtual and immersive media experience","summary":"More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed,...","description":"More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed, digitally-simulated virtual environments that we move through interactively and immersively, whether it be in games, multiscreen installations, or in VR/AR. This module asks what kinds of interesting and emergent experiences these new technological interfaces and spaces yield, and what kind of social, cultural, ethical, ecological, and economic purposes they can be turned to. The first part of the module is dedicated to the concepts and discourses of virtual and immersive including genealogical, philosophical and critical approaches, and the second half of the module turns towards production and form, in terms of gaming, creative expression, and the shared cultural and economic imaginaries that determine what kind of virtual content is currently produced (including porn, dance, spiritual and psychedelic experiences, and ethical experience). We will include an optional, extracurricular public gallery/installation visit to experience an immersive media/art experience (contingent on an appropriate event being available and affordable). This visit will influence a group presentation (formative) on a similar immersive or virtual experience, or a text, artwork, or image that reflects on these themes.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"2094794","attributes":{"title":"Virtual and immersive media experience","summary":"More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed,...","description":"More and more we are interacting with media which is not fixed and linear – as film and television are – but rather rule-governed, digitally-simulated virtual environments that we move through interactively and immersively, whether it be in games, multiscreen installations, or in VR/AR. This module asks what kinds of interesting and emergent experiences these new technological interfaces and spaces yield, and what kind of social, cultural, ethical, ecological, and economic purposes they can be turned to. This module is dedicated to the concepts and discourses that surround virtual and immersive media, incorporating genealogical, philosophical and critical approaches, and with relevance to gaming and play, creative expression, and the many cultural imaginaries that determine what forms of virtual content are currently being produced. We will include an optional, extracurricular public gallery/installation visit to experience an immersive media/art experience (contingent on an appropriate event being available and affordable).
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Media, Communications and Cultural Studies","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90022","attributes":{"title":"Web Programming","summary":"In a series of lectures and lab sessions you’ll be introduced to the fundamentals of the programming languages HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.\nYou'll...","description":"In a series of lectures and lab sessions you’ll be introduced to the fundamentals of the programming languages HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.
\nYou'll learn to:
\nAssessment: portfolio of 3 short assignments and 1 long assignment
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"91614","attributes":{"title":"World Politics","summary":"Students will be introduced to the study of world politics, emphasising that there are different and competing perspectives on how to approach...","description":"
Students will be introduced to the study of world politics, emphasising that there are different and competing perspectives on how to approach the subject.
\nThe module aims to:
\nAssessment: 1 x 2,000-2,500 word essay, 1 x 2 hour exam.
\n","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Politics and International Relations","when":["Full year"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 1, Term(s) Taught: Full year","tags":"Full year"}},{"type":"modules","id":"94468","attributes":{"title":"What is Culture - Key Theoretical Interventions","summary":"Gain a detailed, intensive introduction to some of the key thinkers who have been influential on the development of cultural theory and...","description":"
Gain a detailed, intensive introduction to some of the key thinkers who have been influential on the development of cultural theory and analysis. It is necessarily selective, with an emphasis on 20th century European thought, but has its focus on the different cultural critiques and critical cultures that have emerged through different perspectives. Through lectures and group discussions, we will explore the interventions of Simmel, Benjamin, Foucault, Deleuze, Bourdieu, Alexander, Stengers, Haraway and Serres, among others. The course will appeal to students who wish to spend time deepening their appreciation of theoretical interventions, and who enjoy discussing the implications of theoretical analysis for both sociological research and political critique.
","level":"Postgraduate","subject":"Sociology and Criminology","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Postgraduate, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"129529","attributes":{"title":"Word Power: How Words are Born, Live, and Die","summary":"There are many kinds of words: words for formal occasions and for informal conversations, words for naming things, words for the actions we take,...","description":"There are many kinds of words: words for formal occasions and for informal conversations, words for naming things, words for the actions we take, words helping other words, words with attitude and words we should treat with the utmost care. Some words become our lifelong companions, we wear them as names, and they are part of our identity. Words have the power to woo, or to offend and cause hurt – some are so potent, we treat them as taboo. But even the more innocuous, more ordinary, everyday words, can convey feelings and attitudes. Words are central to our experience of language. In this module we will delve into the richness and variety of the lexicon. We will explore what the study of language can tell us about how words mean, how they function, how they change over time and how language speakers make new ones. We will discuss the history of words and link it to the history of the people who use them. We will explore the link between words and culture. The study of words will give us a window into the working of language more generally, and provide a link between language and the worlds its users inhabit.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word blog post (30%), 2,000-2,500 word essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"135286","attributes":{"title":"Walking Through London's History","summary":"This module will examine the history of urban walking in London as a means of understanding and interpreting the city, and also use London...","description":"This module will examine the history of urban walking in London as a means of understanding and interpreting the city, and also use London as a primary source for studying, exploring and understanding the past.
\nWe will engage with themes including urban pedestrianism, social investigation, the uses of public space, the idea of the ‘flaneur’ and ‘Flaneuse’, situationist ideas about everyday life and psychogeography, creative responses to cartography, and what it means to connect with a city on a personal level.
\nThe timeframe for the module stretches from early modern London through to the present day and it will stimulate a high degree of interdisciplinarity and interactivity.
\nAssessment: 1x 3,000 word essay, 1x 1,500 word blog
\nContact hours: 1 x 1 hour lecture per week, 1 x 1 hour seminar per week, plus additional independent study per week
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"141518","attributes":{"title":"Writing the European City","summary":"Students explore representations of the European city in a range of European narrative and autobiographical writings from the early 20th century...","description":"Students explore representations of the European city in a range of European narrative and autobiographical writings from the early 20th century to the present. The module investigates the relationship between urban theme and urban form; between the depiction of the particular city, in which a given text is set, and the formal patterns and developments of urban representation across texts.
\nA further element of the module design is to combine thematic and formal readings with an element of theoretical reflection. The module proceeds chronologically, as we move from the urban texts of classic Modernism to a number of post-modern re-writings that draw attention to the cultural histories and memories associated with urban space. Our itinerary takes us across Europe’s cultural geography to establish a dialogue between the well-known cultural capitals of modernity (Paris, London and Berlin) and other, perhaps less well-known locations on the margins of Europe, such as Venice and Istanbul.
\nAssessment: 3,000-4,000 word essay.
\n","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147796","attributes":{"title":"What is Jazz?","summary":"The 1956 Columbia album What is Jazz?, on which Leonard Bernstein – by that time one of America’s most famous musicians and public educators –...","description":"
The 1956 Columbia album What is Jazz?, on which Leonard Bernstein – by that time one of America’s most famous musicians and public educators – delivers a lecture on that music’s technical and stylistic features, is where this module takes its cue. Blue notes, vocalised instrumental tones, the transformation of song material through improvisation, all these things are illustrated by Bernstein’s guests across a variety of styles, and the programme ends with Miles Davis and John Coltrane pitching an old pop tune into a supermodern vortex of altered chords and right-angle phrasing.
\nThis, then, was jazz, or at least that part of it that Bernstein called ‘the music itself’. But what would become of jazz later, when many of its musicians discarded those supposedly fundamental techniques, indeed refused the J-word altogether? And what is jazz when considered as a set of both musical and social practices? After all, the music has been taken by its players and listeners as sounding certain worldviews, whether hedonistic or abstruse; it has been imagined as a mode of political action, whether that meant opting out or acting up; it has provided ways of thinking about the individual and the collective, whether in critical metaphor or musical practice.
\nSo in asking Bernstein’s question anew, this module uses musical analysis and readings to examine jazz’s developing cultural situation, from its beginnings to the present day. Central considerations are the music’s changing learning, performance and institutional contexts and prestige; its understanding as both an American and a global phenomenon; its functioning as a lens through which to envisage (and distort) ideas of race, gender and sexuality; its visual, verbal and sonic representations of attitude and style.
\nThis thematic approach will be complemented by listening and reading tasks which, focusing on specific moments or practices and progressing chronologically, will enrich our understanding of jazz’s historical development.
\nThis part of the module pays homage to jazz’s hallowed names and recordings, but it also encourages you to think critically about the music’s canons. That means extending them stylistically, geographically and longitudinally: arriving at the present, we will think about how some enduring jazz impulse has been seen to animate the music of artists as different as Amy Winehouse and Kendrick Lamar, Esperanza Spalding and Jamie Cullum.
\nAssessment: 3,000 word essay
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Music","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"147984","attributes":{"title":"Web Development","summary":"Gain an understanding of the basic concepts of client-side web-based applications, including current best practice for applications like HTML5, CSS3...","description":"Gain an understanding of the basic concepts of client-side web-based applications, including current best practice for applications like HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"166184","attributes":{"title":"Writing, Culture and Society","summary":"This module examines a range of literary texts that all, in very different ways, address some of the cultural, political and social contexts of the...","description":"This module examines a range of literary texts that all, in very different ways, address some of the cultural, political and social contexts of the later twentieth century and early twentieth-first century. Proceeding by decades, we begin in the 1950’s/60’s with The Bell Jar and end in 2015 with The Vegetarian. Paying close attention to the historical contexts of novels from Britain, France, South Africa, Austria, Czechoslovakia, south Korea and the US, the module teaches you how to read and think comparatively and to write in critically informed and articulate ways about this literature. We will consider changing and competing definitions and concepts of the following: gender and sexuality; race and racism; neoliberalism, precarious labour and ideas of ‘home’. Writers studied might include Sylvia Plath, Marguerite Duras, Elfriede Jelinek, J.G. Ballard, Alan Hollinghurst, Zadie Smith, Angela Carter, David Pearce, Han Kang, MarilynneRobinson, Milan Kundera, J. M. Coetzee, Don De Lilo, Elena Ferrante and Michel Houellebecq. Students will read selected theory and critical essays in conjunction with the novels in order to learn about the importance of narrative form and the changing intellectual contexts of the period covered. We will also consider three films, The Last of England (dir. Derek Jarman), This is England (dir. Shane Meadows) and Dreams of a Life (dir. Carol Morley). The films may be referred to in assessed work but would not form the basis of the essay.
\nAssessment: 1,000-1,500 word book or article review (30%), 2,000-2,500 word research essay (70%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Autumn"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Autumn","tags":"Autumn"}},{"type":"modules","id":"905255","attributes":{"title":"Women and Gender in the Middle East","summary":"This module is a critical social history of women and gender in the Middle East. The module will utilise a wide range of primary and secondary...","description":"This module is a critical social history of women and gender in the Middle East. The module will utilise a wide range of primary and secondary sources across interdisciplinary boundaries in order to explore the changing historical roles of women at specific historical junctures and locations, in addition to the transformation of gender roles (masculinities, femininities, third and fourth gender roles) as well as the changing historical, social and political understandings of sexed bodies in the region. It will cover methodological questions such as gender and orientalism, debates on gender as a category of analysis, sources, biases, patriarchy and class and ‘is there a history of women’? It will span the early modern/medieval and modern periods and address themes such as the roles of women in the Middle East before Islam, women in the sacred Muslim texts, and the Islamic Empires. It will then cover gender in the colonial period, the gendering of post-independence states, masculinities, feminism(s) including Islamic feminism(s), sexual and gender identities in the modern era and the roles of sexed bodies in protests.
\nTerm 1 will focus on the early modern/medieval period and term 2 will cover the modern period. Both convenors will welcome the students and introduce the historiographical debates in the introductory lecture.
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Assessment: presentation (formative), gobbet (formative), 1,600 word essay (formative), 2,000 word essay (40%), 2 hour exam (60%)
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"89822","attributes":{"title":"Working with Images","summary":"This module introduces you to different anthropological approaches to visual and material culture and gives you the opportunity to conduct a piece of...","description":"This module introduces you to different anthropological approaches to visual and material culture and gives you the opportunity to conduct a piece of visually oriented anthropological research.
\nThe module provides a critical introduction to the many ways anthropologists engage with the visual from their use of visual methodologies and analysis of representations to their ethnographic study of everyday visual forms. Focusing on a wide range of visual media from photography, museum exhibitions and popular representations on TV to dress, body art, architecture and other everyday visual and material forms, the module raises issues about the significance of visibility, the politics of representation, the social life of visual and material forms and the relationship between seeing and other senses.
\nAssessment: 2,500 word report
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90784","attributes":{"title":"Yugoslavia: History and Disintegration","summary":"The main aim of this course is to examine the history of Yugoslavia and former Yugoslav peoples and place the recent wars in a historical context....","description":"The main aim of this course is to examine the history of Yugoslavia and former Yugoslav peoples and place the recent wars in a historical context. The course begins by providing a background to the medieval history of the region, when Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia established powerful regional kingdoms before they were subjugated to Habsburg and Ottoman imperial rule. The legacy of the medieval states and of the imperial rule is analysed throughout the course.
\nOther main topics studied include: emergence of South Slav nationalisms in the nineteenth century, including the Yugoslav Idea; the First World War and creation of Yugoslavia; political and cultural history of the interwar Yugoslav kingdom; occupation, resistance and collaboration in the Second World War; communist takeover; Tito-Stalin conflict of 1948; Yugoslav road to socialism; dissent and opposition; cultural developments during socialism; political and economic crisis of the 1980s; disintegration and wars of the 1990s; international intervention.
\nContact hours: 1 x 1 hour lecture per week, 1 x 1 hour seminar per week, plus additional independent study per week
\nAssessment: tbc
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"129611","attributes":{"title":"Youth, Critical Practice and Hope","summary":"Students gain an introduction into some of the dominant narratives employed when studying youth cultures when studying this module. The perspectives...","description":"Students gain an introduction into some of the dominant narratives employed when studying youth cultures when studying this module. The perspectives advanced in the course aim to challenge behavioural, psychologically derived discourses, which tend to construct socially marginalised youth as a ‘problem’ or as exhibiting ‘problem behaviour’.
\nThe module then opens out to consider various youth cultures, practices, and ways of thinking about schooling and culture that draw on a cultural studies approach. You have an assessment on either subculture or moral panics (you choose) and on risk. Then for your final essay, you choose one of the topics we examine in the second block of the course.
Contact hours: 2 hours per week.
\nAssessment: case study (50%), essay (50%)
\nAdditional Information: This course examines issues that might be sensitive for some students, such as underage sex, self-harm, explicit drug use, homelessness, HIV/Aids, crime, sexual assault, prostitution, queer lifestyles and religion. The course involves watching and critically discussing ‘18’ rated films depicting the above issues. Students who are likely to find certain issues difficult are invited to speak to the tutor and take time out during the classes which examine sensitive subject matter.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"147985","attributes":{"title":"Year One Creative Projects","summary":"You’ll be introduced to creative practice, and work to develop practical software projects in creative computing using your creative and coding...","description":"You’ll be introduced to creative practice, and work to develop practical software projects in creative computing using your creative and coding skills.
\nAssessment: coursework
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 1","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"865310","attributes":{"title":"You as Your Future: Developing Creative Careers","summary":"This module addresses core skills and debates in the creative management of an entrepreneurial career. From capitalizing upon creativity through...","description":"This module addresses core skills and debates in the creative management of an entrepreneurial career. From capitalizing upon creativity through reflexive auditing and personal brand strategy development, to developing mental wellness and reliance toolkits, the module prepares third year students for creative futures in a high growth, high uncertainty environment.
\nBlending rigorous study of academic theory with highly detailed practical knowledge derived from empirical research, the module engages concepts from disciplines of management, art, philosophy, sociology and business, to develop knowledge of holistic approaches to an intensely competitive sector. Material is delivered in lectures involving worked case examples which are complemented with seminar sessions to unpack theories and ensure students can apply them to individual thinking approaches.
\nTopics of co-creation and collaboration, portfolio careers, and valuation are examined with close attention to the manner and impact of digital mediation on such endeavours. Bridging the social study of technology and philosophy of creativity, alongside practice-based heuristics for entrepreneurship, the module furnishes students with a well-rounded knowledge for a future in the creative industries or creativity in any industry.
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Assessment: 3,000 word case study report
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship","when":["Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 3, Term(s) Taught: Spring","tags":"Spring"}},{"type":"modules","id":"90762","attributes":{"title":"1851: The Great Exhibition","summary":"In 1851 over 6 million people, from all classes and many countries, visited The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations housed in...","description":"In 1851 over 6 million people, from all classes and many countries, visited The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations housed in the Crystal Palace, purpose-built at lighting speed, in Hyde Park. There they found some 14,000 exhibits – furniture, textiles, minerals, ceramics, industrial and agricultural machinery, glass, food, flowers, sculptures, writing and sewing materials, jewels, metalwork, architectural models, vehicles, clocks, globes, scientific, medical and musical instruments, trinkets, toys, stuffed animals, weapons, carriages, boats, medicines, dyes and clothing. Ostensibly celebrating world manufactures, the majority of the goods were produced in Britain and its colonies and were a proclamation of British industrial, technological and Imperial supremacy. When the Exhibition closed the Crystal Palace was relocated to Sydenham in south London. Here, in expanded form, it housed displays of the arts and sciences, intended to provide the masses with elevating, instructive entertainment, and formed the glittering summit of a capacious landscaped park which, according to one historian, traced the history of evolution from the primeval swamp to the peak of civilisation. The Palace housed a series of national and imperial celebrations until its dramatic destruction by fire in 1936, and inspired a host of exhibitions, fairs and expositions elsewhere.
\nIn this module we will explore the context in which the 1851 Great Exhibition was conceived and realised, its aims and purpose. We will focus on the material culture of the building, exhibits and landscape, as well as the people who made and visited them. We will also look beyond the 1850s, at the subsequent events held at the Crystal Palace, those it inspired elsewhere and its legacy which is still evident, not only in the crumbling ruins and Grade I-listed concrete dinosaurs, which we will visit, but also in such manifestations as the (much less successful) Millennium Dome (O2). Our aim will be to understand the role of material culture and community celebration in the construction and expression of national and imperial identity.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 2","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"155068","attributes":{"title":"3D Virtual Environments and Animation","summary":"This module is designed to offer advanced material for students who want to specialise in the area of applications in 3D environments and animation....","description":"This module is designed to offer advanced material for students who want to specialise in the area of applications in 3D environments and animation. It is geared towards research-led teaching, which would expose students to the most state-of-the-art 3D VR applications.
","level":"","subject":"","when":[],"meta":"Year 3","tags":""}},{"type":"modules","id":"90506","attributes":{"title":"18th-Century Literature","summary":"Covering the prose, poetry and drama of the Restoration and eighteenth century, this module is able to engage with particular emphasis on the...","description":"Covering the prose, poetry and drama of the Restoration and eighteenth century, this module is able to engage with particular emphasis on the following: English satire in prose and verse, 1660-1760; the rise of the novel; selected aspects of Restoration and eighteenth-century poetry and drama.
\nAssessment autumn: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment spring: 3,000-4,000 word essay
\nAssessment full year: 1,500-2,000 word essay (0%, pass/fail), 1,500 word essay (33%), exam (67%)
","level":"Undergraduate","subject":"English and Creative Writing","when":["Full year","Autumn","Spring"],"meta":"Undergraduate, Year 2, Term(s) Taught: Full year, Autumn, Spring","tags":"Full year, Autumn, Spring"}}]