This module introduces students to discussions and debates surrounding modern culture. It looks at why culture has always been such a contested sphere and has a decisive impact on society at large. Students will look at culture in the widest sense, ranging from 'the arts' to the banalities of everyday life in our consumer society; at how culture has expressed and organised the way people think and live from the days of 'protestantism' to those of post-punk. Books, magazines, radio, TV, movies, cartoons, fashion, graffiti, the cult of celebrity, youth subcultures and pop music will be used to understand class, history, sexuality, colonialism, revolution, conflict and globalisation.
Total contact hours: 22
Private study hours: 128
Total study hours: 150
As a compulsory module:-
BA Cultural Studies and Media
BA Film and Cultural Studies
BA Criminology and Cultural Studies
BA Cultural Studies and Social Anthropology
BA Cultural Studies and Comparative Literary Studies
BA Cultural Studies and Art History
BA Cultural Studies and Journalism
BA Cultural Studies with journalism
As an optional module or students on other degree programmes, including as a wild module.
Main assessment methods
Essay (1500 words) – 50%
Critical Reading of a Cultural Text (1000 words) – 30%
Class Participation – 20%
Reassessment methods
100% coursework.
Barker, C. (2000) Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. Sage.
Durham, M.G. & Kellner, D (2001) Media and Cultural Studies: Key Works. Blackwell.
Longhurst, B. et al (2008) Introducing Cultural Studies. Prentice-Hall.
McGuigan, J. (2010) Cultural Analysis. Sage.
Mikula, M. (2008) Key Concepts in Cultural Studies. Palgrave.
Pickering, M (ed.) (2008) Research Methods for Cultural Studies. Edinburgh University Press.
Turner, G. (1997) British Cultural Studies: An Introduction. Routledge.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
8.1 Evaluate the historical, political, and philosophical importance of how the idea of culture is positioned.
8.2 Implement key analytical approaches to the study of mediated modern culture.
8.3 Understand Cultural Studies as an inter-disciplinary body of work.
8.4 Understand culture is both product and process and gives rise to social and political 'forms of life'.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
9.1 Understand cultural studies as a cross-disciplinary critical practice applied to social and cultural phenomena.
9.2 Understand elements of cultural theory and its relation to cultural analysis.
9.3 Enhance their skills of presentation and debate.
9.4 Gain ability to assess critically, scholarly theory, hypotheses and theses and their implications.
9.5 Enhance library-based study skills, use of web-based resources and the discipline of close reading of key texts in cultural theory.
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