| Unit name | What Does it Mean to be Human? I: The Modern World |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ARTF00004 |
| Credit points | 40 |
| Level of study | QCA-3 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Tom Sperlinger |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Arts Faculty Office |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit aims to introduce students to a broad range of topics from, and some of the intellectual questions raised by, disciplines across the Faculty of Arts. These topics will be grouped together in themes to ensure the unit is coherent in itself and that it allows students to understand the intellectual connections between different disciplines.
It further aims to help students develop a range of skills required for study in the Arts and Humanities and to gain an understanding of how particular disciplines may be studied in more depth at undergraduate level. The unit will use the academic content it provides as the vehicle for this development of these skills.
In more detail, the unit has the following aims:
• To introduce students to significant events, movements, ideas, and works of arts, literature, philosophy, and music from the nineteenth century to the present day, with a particular emphasis on understanding how these historical episodes and works contributed to our present day society and its culture.
• To introduce students to primary and secondary source material; to introduce them to the skills required to analyze and evaluate the primary material, to understand the secondary material and critically evaluate it, and to formulate their own ideas in response to this.
• To introduce students to the various disciplines in the Faculty of Arts from which they may wish to choose an undergraduate course as a result of progression from the Foundation Year in the Arts and Humanities.
• To introduce students to seminar-style discussion lead by a member of academic staff, and to help them develop the skills required to contribute productively and to articulate their own ideas in these discussions.
• To help students develop skills required for study in the Arts and Humanities, such as writing an essay, critical thinking, or responding to feedback.
The unit will be divided into three themes (e.g. Individual and Society, Human Rights, Faith and Doubt). The thematic question will be explored from diverse perspectives, e.g. by examining how our understanding of what it is to be human has been influenced by movements such as those for women’s rights, civil rights, the Labour movement, universal suffrage, Apartheid in South Africa and/or the Holocaust.
There will normally be an introductory week, in which the students will consider an overview of the historical period. The remaining nine weeks will be divided equally between the three themes.
By the end of the unit, students should have acquired:
(1) a good knowledge and understanding of some of the major episodes in the history of ideas from the nineteenth century to the present day;
(2) an ability to relate these episodes to our current society and its culture;
(3) a preliminary understanding of skills, such as, essay writing, critical thinking, responding to feedback, contributing to seminar-style discussions, and critical appraisal of philosophical arguments, works of music, art, and literature, theological texts, and historical documents.
(4) an understanding of the aims and academic content of a range of disciplines in the arts and humanities.
There will be two 2-hour sessions each week:
• A seminar session, which will consist of a series of mini-lectures interspersed with discussion of the content of the mini-lectures and the reading or other set material for that week. This will be taught by a member of staff with research interests in the topic of study. They will teach to the entire cohort of no more than 30 students.
• A tutorial session, in which the material from the lecture session and the set material will provide a vehicle for discussion of a particular skill required for study in the Arts and Humanities, e.g. critical thinking, developing an argument, planning an essay etc. These sessions will normally be taught by research postgraduates and/or tutors with research interests relevant to the topic of study. There will be three seminar groups, each of no more than 10 students.
This unit will be assessed through the submission of three pieces of writing. The essays will assess ILOs (1) and (2) and they will also assess many components of ILO (3), especially essay writing, critical thinking and critical appraisal skills.
Each piece of work should be equivalent to 2,000 words in total.
The first assignment will be formative. The summative mark for the unit will be an average of the second and third assignment marks. An attempt will be required for each assignment.
Gombrich, E. H. (1995) The Story of Art (Phaidon)
Auerbach, E. (2003) Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature (Princeton)
Barzun, J. (2001) From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years to Western Cultural Life: 1500 to the Present (HarperCollins)
Gilroy, P. (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (Verso)
Hobsbawn, E. (1988-1995) The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848; Age of Capital: 1848-1875; Age of Empire: 1875-1914; Age of Extremes: 1914-1991 (Abacus)
