| Unit name | Representations: (Re)-making the World |
|---|---|
| Unit code | AFAC10009 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
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 variety of theoretical perspectives on representation in the arts and humanities. The theoretical issues under consideration may include metaphor, allegory and figurative perspectives; 'objective' representation and questions of interpretation; realism and discourse; signification and absence; ideology; the creation of stereotypes; the creation of meaning; and the use of critical perspectives to name and/or re-make the world.
Normally, these issues will be considered within the unit under one thematic heading, which might vary from year-to-year, e.g. race, slavery, gender, the Islamic world, old age or childhood. The issues will usually be considered through 5 'case studies' of representation, which might include (as examples) a novel or memoir, a painting, a philosophical or theological essay, a film and a television programme.
In addition to the theoretical questions that are introduced, students will have an opportunity to consider practical questions arising from the unit, and particularly issues about representation within arts/culture in society and about the perspectives that are normally heard or which may go unrepresented in the academy. These perspectives will be considered in part through contributions to the teaching on the unit by external experts such as members of local community organisations and professionals from related disciplines, e.g. a novelist, a television producer, an activist or a lawyer specialising in issues related to culture.
The assessment for the unit will allow students to specialise in either the academic or practical questions raised, and will provide an opportunity to undertake group work.
The unit will normally include an introduction to relevant issues – such as managing difficult situations and health and safety – for those undertaking working in/with the community.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to demonstrate:
(i) An understanding of theoretical issues underpinning how representation has been debated and articulated in different arts/humanities disciplines;
(ii) an awareness of how non-Western perspectives have challenged and re-framed questions about representation in arts/humanities disciplines in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries especially;
(iii) an ability to relate these theoretical groundings to practical questions about representation as they are debated and understood in non-academic settings and communities, and to questions about voices, communities or perspectives that may often go unheard in the academy;
(iv) the skills to apply what they are learning in the classroom to a range of settings, including in workplaces and through engagement with non-academic perspectives.
Students may also (v) have acquired skills necessary for effective team working and for working collaboratively with external organisations and complex non-academic communities.
The unit will normally be taught principally through one two-hour seminar per week, as a whole group of 30 students, but with an emphasis on group work. There will normally be contributions to teaching in the seminars from external participants, e.g. from representatives of local community organisations and professionals from related fields, alongside input from academic tutors. Within the seminars, and where practical, there might (for example) normally be 3 lectures, 1 delivered by an academic involved with the programme, 1 by a representative of a community organisation and 1 given by an arts/humanities graduate now working in a related field. The lectures may be recorded using digital lecture capture, thus building an archive of external contributions that can be referred back to in subsequent years. There will be an emphasis in the unit on potential for group work, including with external community partners.
For this unit, students will complete one written assignment of 2,500 words (100% of the unit mark). This assignment will either be:
1. An academic essay engaging with the theoretical issues prompted by the unit and emphasising ILOs (i)-(ii), but drawing also on knowledge and skills acquired through tasks in the unit designed to facilitate ILOs (iii)-(iv) and (v) where applicable.
2. A reflective assignment that maps the cultural contexts of an individual or organisation outside the academy. Students may work in teams to map the cultural contexts of an organisation, but each student should submit a separate assignment, and the teams should assign separate aspects of the task to each individual student. This assignment will emphasise learning outcomes (iii)-(iv) and (v) where applicable, but the student should also draw on knowledge and understanding acquired through tasks related to ILOs (i)-(ii).
John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin Classics, 2008)
Homi Bhaba, The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, 2004)
Stuart Hall, Cultural Studies 1983 (London and Durham: Duke University Press, 2016)
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress (London: Routledge, 1994)
Bouaventura De Sousa Santos (ed.), Another Knowledge is Possible: Beyond Northern Epistemologies (London: Verso, 2007)
