Unit name | Narrating the Self |
---|---|
Unit code | SOCIM2127 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Charsley |
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 introduces students to key theoretical issues in the understanding of ethnographic experience, social science research and their textual transformation. It exemplifies the advantages of drawing upon conceptual approaches from several disciplines, namely, sociology, anthropology and philosophy and from narrative theory in order to construct a distinctively self-reflexive social approach to field- work methods. Students will be introduced to a range of literatures on epistemology and research methods, narrative theory, the role of memory and narrative in history, the debate on writing culture, the contribution of landscape to the construction of self and other and the contribution of autobiographical experience to the construction of social facts. It addresses issues arising from the challenge of cross-cultural translation and understanding.
Aims:
The unit will enable students to:
The main method of teaching will be weekly face-to-face seminar sessions which will involve a combination of lecturing, group discussion and student presentations.
The assessment will relate directly to one of more of the learning outcomes specified above in 15 and will be an extended essay of 4000 words (or equivalent) showing an in-depth understanding and integration of key aspects of the unit.