Unit name | Secrecy, The State and Me |
---|---|
Unit code | POLI30018 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Van Veeren |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
none |
Co-requisites |
none |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit considers the inter-relationships between secrecy, concealment and revelation, public and private, visibility and invisibility, security, surveillance, opacity and transparency, in connection with political rights and freedoms. Looking across cultures and historical periods this unit will critically engage with the concept of secrecy to explore its changing role in politics and society.
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
10 x 3 hour seminar
The assessments will evaluate all of the intended learning outcomes listed above
Barrett, D. V. (1999) Secret Societies: From The Ancient And Arcane To The Modern And Clandestine, Blandford Press.
Bok, S. (1989) Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation Secrets, Second Edition, London and New York, Vintage Books.
Goldman, J. & S. Maret, (2009) Government Secrecy: Classic and Contemporary Readings, Libraries Unlimited.
Dean, J. (2002) Publicity's Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Fenster, M. (2008) Conspiracy Theories: secrecy and power in American culture, Second Edition, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Finel, Bernard L. & Kristen M. Lord, Power and Conflict in the Age of Transparency (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).
Roberts, A. (2006) Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Simmel, G. (1906) "The Sociology of Secrecy and of the Secret Societies," American Journal of Sociology 11: 441-498.
Tefft, S. (1980) Secrecy: A Cross Cultural Perspective, Human Sciences Press.