Course Details
Course Information Package
Course Unit Title | CULTURAL STUDIES: THE POST MODERN CONDITION | ||||||||
Course Unit Code | AJER300 | ||||||||
Course Unit Details | |||||||||
Number of ECTS credits allocated | 4 | ||||||||
Learning Outcomes of the course unit | By the end of the course, the students should be able to:
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Mode of Delivery | Face-to-face | ||||||||
Prerequisites | NONE | Co-requisites | NONE | ||||||
Recommended optional program components | NONE | ||||||||
Course Contents | · The social-historical construction of the terms “modernity” and “tradition”. The decoding of terms as an [introductory] analytic strategy. Introduction to the requirements of the course: reading/discussing texts, weekly commentary on cultural “events”/”texts”. Contrast of terms associated with modernity-post modernity [reason-relativism, equality-difference, progress-mixing] · The “birth” of Modernity: Enlightenment and the French Revolution [Discussion of literary texts]. From Romanticism to Realism – social and aesthetic transformations [Discussion of theatre and/or painting]. The age of the machine: its impact on society, knowledge, politics, everyday life. The blending of rationality and progress · Modernist movements: painting, writing, cinema, theatre. Discussion of film and film criticism. Modernism and politics: social revolution and art in the first half of the 20th century. Discussion of film and texts · Towards Postmodernity: From the crisis of meaning of the 50’s to the “underground” and the “revolution of everyday life” in the 60’s and 70’s. The politics of difference. The changing conception/definition of art. · Decentering the subject, the crisis of master-narratives, and the rise of relativism. Examples from politics and mass culture/ cinema Theory: from Barthes to Derrida · The theoretical debate since the early 1980’s: Jameson, Lyotard, Habermas – Foucault. The implications of the post modernity debates on: art, politics, analysis [deconstruction], eroticism, the relation of technology and everyday life. Use this discussion to select area for final essay. | ||||||||
Recommended and/or required reading: | |||||||||
Textbooks |
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References |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods | This course is delivered to the students by means of lectures and class discussions. Lectures are supplemented assignments on specific issues [including visits to galleries and theatres] in order for the students to familiarize themselves with the concepts and their application. The lectures are also supplemented with film screenings which aim to familiarize students with the history of cinema but also acquaint them with film codes which may be used in their own film project. | ||||||||
Assessment methods and criteria |
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Language of instruction | English | ||||||||
Work placement(s) | NO |