Unit information: Introduction to the Study of Cultures in 2018/19

Unit name	Introduction to the Study of Cultures
Unit code	MODL10011
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Paul Earlie
Open unit status	Open
Pre-requisites	N/A
Co-requisites	N/A
School/department	School of Modern Languages
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will introduce students to the basic skills of cultural analysis, by study a range of different textual forms (literary, visual, historical) from a variety of cultural contexts and will learn how to engage analytically with different types of source material. Primary material will be in English but students will be encouraged to think comparatively across national boundaries. The aim is to develop skills of formal analysis and an understanding of approaches to different forms of cultural production in an intercultural framework.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the unit, students will:

1. have achieved a sound basic understanding of how to approach different forms of cultural production through an appropriate critical framework,
2. have an appreciation of the diverse properties of each form studied,
3. be able to engage in its close textual analysis,
4. gain a reflective understanding of intercultural analysis,
5. be able to deploy this understanding in their extended analysis of specific texts and/or issues in contemporary cultural criticism.

Teaching Information

The unit will be comprised of a 2 hour weekly lecture and a 1 hour weekly seminar, supported by additional material and formative assessment exercises on Blackboard.

Assessment Information

2 x 2000 word writing assignments (each worth 50% unit mark) Testing ILO's 1-5

Reading and References

1. Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies (London: Sage, 2007)
2. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden (eds), Transnational Cinema: the film reader (2006)
3. Joseph Pugliese, Transmediterranean :diasporas, histories, geopolitical spaces (New York: Peter Lang 2010)
4. Andrew Bennet and Nicholas Royle, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory ((London: Pearson, 2009)
5. Adam Budd (ed) The Modern Historiography Reader (London: Routledge, 2008)