LEVEL 1 CORE MODULES:
Modernity and the City.
Introduction to Research Methods.
LEVEL 1 OPTION MODULES:
Art and Contexts: Art and Modernity.
Language: Language, Community and Identity.
Literature: Texts and Echoes.
Philosophy, Religion and Ethics: Religion and Culture.
Popular Culture: Leisure and Class Identity.
Politics: Foundations of Modernity.
Turbulent Texts II (Cultures of Desire): The Quest for the Sublime.
FULL MODULE DESCRIPTIONS:
CORE MODULE: MODERNITY & THE CITY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM01 CREDITS 12
This module introduces the ideas of modernity and post-modernity, examining the city as the crucible of cultural change. A visit to a major city provides an opportunity to explore visual and spatial aspects of the city, including possible gender differences in the experience of the cityscape. A brief history of western culture, modernity and the city is outlined, introducing and positioning the origin of major cultural and critical theories (Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Feminism and Structuralism/Post-Structuralism) which will be examined in more detail at Level Two.
CORE MODULE: INTRODUCTORY METHODS
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM07 CREDITS 12
The focus in the first half of this module will be on the examination and classification of a wide variety of texts, both literary and non-literary. Various analytical approaches to the texts will be explored, including a consideration of rhetorical effects, narrative mode and point of view. Alternative uses and ways of reading the texts will be explored as well as a consideration of the significance of the context in which the text was produced and consumed.
In the second half of the module students will be introduced to social scientific methodologies and a range of research methods. Qualitative and quantitative methods will be contrasted and their strengths and weaknesses identified, although more emphasis will be given to qualitative research.
OPTION MODULE: TEXTS & ECHOES
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM03 CREDITS 12
STRAND: LITERATURE
Students will be introduced to modern texts that have their thematic or narrative origins elsewhere in history. Examples include the Faust legend in 'Dr Faustus' and 'Frankenstein', and love and courtship in 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Bridget Jones' Diary'. The aim of this module is to make aware the cultural impact of the original text at the time of writing (if possible), and the reason for, and value of, its more modern counterpart.
OPTION MODULE: ART & MODERNITY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM04 CREDITS 24
STRAND: ART & CONTEXTS
Students will be introduced to foundations of modern art, examining the impact of industrialisation, urbanization and scientific progress in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first part of the module will trace the growth and development of modern art movements in a modernist context from Impressionism via Cubism, Futurism and Fauvism to post World War One movements and the political clamp down on Modernist art by Hitler and Stalin in the 1930s. The module will further introduce the main themes in American art in the 20th century whilst considering America's search for a cultural identity, evaluating the impact of European art influences and addressing American attitudes to breaking down conventional ideas in relation to 'high' art and applied or commercial art. The lectures and seminars will discuss the bifurcation of art culture around the 1950s consequent to the development of Pop art on the one hand and various forms of abstraction on the other. The theme of identity will be explored via the work of contemporary artists and analysis of contemporary art practice.
OPTION MODULE: FOUNDATIONS OF MODERNITY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM05 CREDITS 12
STRAND: POLITICS
This module will examine the contributions of selected Enlightenment thinkers and look at their contemporary and subsequent influence. Responses to Enlightenment discourse will also be explored. In particular, Romantic, Conservative and early Feminist criticisms will be outlined, and the foundations of modern thinking located in Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment preoccupations.
OPTION MODULE: LEISURE & CLASS IDENTITY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM06 CREDITS 12
STRAND: POPULAR CULTURE
This module will examine the development of leisure from the mid-18th century to the present day, evaluating issues concerning class and cultural identity. The social nature of leisure and its relationship to social and group identity will be evaluated along with explorations of what constitutes a leisure activity. Students will have the opportunity to explore issues such as developments of class identity in relationship to developments in sport, the ways that leisure activities were/are used to influence people and the ways that sporting loyalties have replaced those of loyalty to state and country. The module will deal with broad issues that will experience the development of leisure throughout the last 250 years and will also allow an evaluation of the manner in which society deals with issues of culture and class that surround sport and leisure.
OPTION MODULE: LANGUAGE, COMMUNITY & IDENTITY
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM08 CREDITS 12
STRAND: LANGUAGE
This module examines the meaning of identity and its relationship to community. The concept of speech community is explored and ways in which language varieties may be described and identified. A historical perspective on language variation will be outlined, focusing on the shift from a rural to an urban society and the effects of globalisation on the distribution of language varieties. The process of language standardization will be examined and its effect as a constraint on the process of language change. Contests over language standardization in contemporary English will be explored. The relationship of the Media to language variation and Standard English will be discussed. The relationship of gender to identity and community will be explored and various approaches to the existence of genderlect will be outlined.
OPTION MODULE: RELIGION & CULTURE
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM09 CREDITS 12
STRAND: PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION & ETHICS
In this module, students will be introduced to a variety of sociological perspectives and issues relating to religion, society and culture. Functionalist, Marxist, neo-Marxist and interactionist perspectives will be explained and analysed. A variety of issues will be addressed and scrutinised including: religion and scientific knowledge; religion and the rise of capitalism; secularisation and modernity; the rise of new religious movements; religions of ethnic protest; religion and post-modernity.
OPTION MODULE: THE QUEST FOR THE SUBLIME
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM10 CREDITS 12
STRAND: TURBULENT TEXTS II (CULTURES OF DESIRE)
This module examines 'Sublime' culture emerging from Romanticism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The cultural ferment of the 18th century is explored - including excitement over the discovery of electricity; Mesmerism; new mystical movements; fascination for the 'uncanny' (hauntings, vampires etc.); revolution and reaction; and literary responses, particularly those of the Shelleys and their circle. The development and literary expression of 19th century sublime counter-cultures are then considered, including Parisian Bohemia, Decadence, Aestheticism, Symbolism, Occultism, Spiritualism, Psychic Research, and the construction of alternative sexual identities and orientations.