LEVEL 2 CORE MODULES (Double Module):
Cultural Theory (Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Feminism, Structuralism and Post-Modernism).
LEVEL 2 OPTION MODULES:
Art and Contexts: High Modernity - Things Fall Apart
Literature: Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature;
Consciousness, Narrative and the Novel;.
Media: Communications and Media.
Philosophy, Religion and Ethics: Mind, Body and Self;
Evolution, Religion & Human Nature.
Politics: 21st Century Britain.
Society: Drugs, Culture and Social Policy.
Turbulent Texts I (Abject Voices): Shakespeare: Inventing the Human.
Turbulant Texta II (Cultures of Desire): The Craving Vacancy.
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FULL MODULE DESCRIPTIONS:
CORE MODULE: CULTURAL THEORY
SEMESTER 1 & 2: SHCCMM11 CREDITS 24
This two semester module introduces and examines four major theoretical approaches to cultural criticism - Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and approaches deriving from French linguistic theory (semiology, structuralism, post-structuralism and post-modernism). These theories provide the bedrock on which the critical and cultural analyses used in the option modules are based.
OPTION MODULE: DRUGS, CULTURE & SOCIAL POLICY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM12 CREDITS 12
STRAND: SOCIETY
This module will allow students to examine how culture has been influenced by drugs; how various literary, cinematic and musical themes and influences can be understood as a direct response to changing social policy and the shifts in attitudes towards drugs. Drug policy, political /media campaigns and moral crusades will also be considered.
OPTION MODULE: COLONIAL & POST-COLONIAL LITERATURE
SEMESTER 1: SCHCCMM13 CREDITS 12
STRAND: LITERATURE
In this module, students will be required to explore a range of texts that offer different subject positions in colonial and post-colonial experience. Authors from India, Africa and the American south will be examined as well as British authors writing about colonial experiences.
OPTION MODULE: HIGH MODERNITY - THINGS FALL APART
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM14 CREDITS 12
STRAND: ART & CONTEXTS
Students will be introduced to literature from 1918 to the 1950s and will be asked to examine the fragmentation of poetry, drama and prose in relation to other art forms of the period such as film, art and music.
OPTION MODULE: MIND, BODY & SELF
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM15 CREDITS 12
STRAND: PHILOSOPHY RELIGION & ETHICS
In this module, students will be introduced to theories and issues within the philosophy of mind. Dualistic theories will be analysed and contrasted with monistic theories. The problem of other minds will be investigated as will be the possibility of artificial intelligence and unconscious mental states. Issues related to personal identity will be raised and explored. Philosophical arguments concerning the possibility of immortality and disembodied consciousness will be investigated, evaluated and contrasted with materialistic conceptions of the mind/body relationship.
OPTION MODULE: THE CRAVING VACANCY
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM16 CREDITS 12
STRAND: TURBULENT TEXTS II (CULTURES OF DESIRE)
This module looks at how the expression of female desire became a contested area in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. The theory that women were cornered into the domestic role of 'angel in the house', with a resulting loss of independence and sexual freedom is examined, as are attempts by women to challenge some effects of 'domestication'. Feminist (and anti-feminist) writing in the context of the French Revolution is considered, as is the expression of female desire in the novel, particular attention being paid to the possibilities presented by Gothic literature.
OPTION MODULE: COMMUNICATION & MEDIA
SEMESTER 1: SHCCMM17 CREDITS 12
STRAND: MEDIA
In this level-two unit students will be familiarised with a variety of theories and issues relating to communications media and culture. Theories and research relating to media influence will be examined as will issues concerning: moral panics; ownership and control; diversity and choice; the construction of news; representation of class, gender and ethnicity; media globalisation.
OPTION MODULE: CONSCIOUSNESS, NARRATIVE & THE NOVEL
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM18 CREDITS 12
STRAND: LITERATURE
This module is concerned with the nature of consciousness and the way in which literature, especially the novel, may be seen as a particularly rich source of representations of consciousness. The evolution of narrative forms, and especially the development of the novel, allow us an insight into changing attitudes towards the nature of consciousness. The module looks at some of the analytical tools which enable a detailed examination of representations of consciousness in a variety of texts.
OPTION MODULE:SHAKESPEARE - INVENTING THE HUMAN
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM19 CREDITS 12
STRAND: TURBULENT TEXTS I
Students will be introduced to modern readings of Shakespeare and will be asked why there is a desire to replicate his work and themes. The module will explore the notion of interiority and the creation of the inner self from the composition of Hamlet to the present day.
OPTION MODULE: EVOLUTION, RELIGION & HUMAN NATURE
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM20 CREDITS 12
STRAND: PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION & ETHICS
This module examines the impact of theories of evolution on modern culture. Various issues, arising from the mid 19 th century to the present, are explored - including debates between Darwin's theory and alternative views of evolution; debates between evolutionary theory and religious views; and the political manipulation of evolutionary ideas, as for example in Nazism. The recent emergence of Evolutionary Biology (aka Evolutionary Psychology) as a powerful and dynamic challenge to existing psychological and sociological views of human nature and society is critically discussed, and new theories opposing Evolutionary Biology are evaluated.
OPTION MODULE: 21 ST CENTURY BRITAIN
SEMESTER 2: SHCCMM21 CREDITS 12
STRAND: POLITICS
21 st Century Britain will offer a broad survey of the contemporary state of politics in Britain and will invite students to undertake a critical analysis of popular representations of politics in the mass media. Students will also examine the socio-political make-up of contemporary Britain from a variety of perspectives covering, amongst other things: post-colonialism, multiculturalism and racism; ideology, "post-ideology" and politics; and new political movements and new forms of political behaviour.