MA American Studies and Film Studies

Course Code DNT2TW76201
Duration 2 Years
Attendance Part Time
Award Degree of Master of Arts

Overview
Why Choose Us
Requirements
Course Profile
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Overview

Why does the United States of America matter so much to us all?
Wealth, but world-wide credit crisis? Automobiles and highways? War on terror? First black president? International movie industry? The American dream? Patriotism and flag waving?

Whatever the reasons the United States matters to you, studying for one of our MA degrees [American History; American literature; American Studies; or American Studies and Film] will allow you to explore the events and forces that shaped the United States, and gain a deeper understanding of how this powerful nation moulds and influences the cultural, political, and economic lives of its own peoples and the world.

Why Study America at UEA?
The School of American Studies is rated one of the top research departments in the UK (Research Assessment Exercise 2008). It always receives the highest scores for quality of teaching and student satisfaction. Our vibrant research community ensures that faculty and graduate students meet regularly for research seminars and social events. The Arthur Miller Centre organises an annual Literary Festival, bringing major North American writers to the campus every year. All our MA programmes are interdisciplinary and are among the most established and prestigious in Britain.

Course Content and Structure:
This MA is offered on a two-year part-time taught basis. Students build on their undergraduate training to develop exceptionally high levels of theoretical understanding and knowledge of American thought, culture, literature, history, politics and film. Faculty members and students in the School of American Studies work within and across traditional disciplinary boundaries. All teaching is in small seminar groups, which provides students with the opportunity to engage fully with their own ideas and those of others.

MA in American Studies and Film Studies
The MA in American Studies and Film Studies enables students to study American films within their historical and cultural context. On this course, all students take “Theories of American Culture” [team-taught by 8 faculty members] then choose one other module taught within the School of American Studies and one taught in the School of Film and Television Studies. The fourth module may be chosen from American Studies or Film and Television Studies modules, or from complementary MA programmes.

Final Dissertation
A dissertation of 12-15,000 words is prepared over the summer for submission at the start of September. Students are encouraged to select topics which have stimulated or grabbed their interest during the course of the year. Each student is allocated a supervisor whose expertise and interests match their chosen dissertation project. All students receive intensive one-on-one supervision and mentoring.

Course Assessment
There is no written examination. Assessment is on the basis of coursework (essays and sometimes class presentations) and the dissertation. The dissertation counts for half the marks of the course.

Research Community
MA students are valued members of the School of American Studies’ research community and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and interact intellectually and socially with faculty members and Ph.D students. As part of your training you will attend weekly research seminars, where distinguished scholars from the UK, USA and elsewhere present their research for discussion with the UEA American Studies research community. Postgraduate students are encouraged to present their work in this supportive environment, where they can critically engage in scholarly debates.

Transferable Skills:
Many transferable skills are developed through the MA programmes in American Studies, including: research and writing skills; ITC skills; presentational skills; practice in public speaking and academic debate; team-work; time and project management.

Course Organiser

Dr Jonathan Mitchell

Course Brochure

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Year 1
Year 2

Year 1

Compulsory Study (20 credits)

Students will select 20 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Theories of American Culture This Core Autumn module introduces students to key theories in American Studies. As American Studies is an interdisciplinary field, we require all MA students in our School, whether focusing upon American History, American Literature, Film and American Studies, or American Studies, to familiarize themselves with foundational concepts in the field. The reading list will vary, but will generally have a week of introduction followed by three weeks on literary and textual theory, three weeks on historiography, and three weeks on visual culture and film theory. The aim of the module is to ensure that all students are comfortable with the basic theoretical tools necessary to advanced study in American cultural studies of all varieties. more...	AMSAM009	20	Semester 1

Option A Study (20 credits)

Students will select 20 credits from the following module(s).

Name

Code

Credits

Period

Body Spaces

Central to post-war American avant-garde aesthetics and poetics is an investigation of the constructedness of the space we inhabit and of the bodies we occupy. By close and detailed analysis of a range of experimental American texts - painting and especially, poetry - from 1950 to the present day, this module explores the ways in which ideas of the postmodern in America can be seen to 'work' through such politicised constructions of the body as gender, sexuality and subjectivity. Running alongside its reading of poetic and artistic texts, the module will also consider the ways in which theories and theorists of the postmodern reflect the concern of America's experimental arts with an aesthetics of 'process' rather than of 'product'. It thereby questions the extent to which a poetics of the postmodern challenges the cultural space that America has inhabited in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. more...

AMSAM043

Semester 1

Civil Rights and American Politics

This module offers an in-depth exploration of the history of the Civil Rights movement in the years after World War II. It delves into the rich and ever growing historiography of the subject to take in, among other things, the southern freedom movement and Martin Luther King, Jr; the life and times of Malcolm X; Black Power politics and culture; the political controversies surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's attempt to mobilize the federal government behind the cause of black equality; the 'long, hot summers' of urban riots, 1964-1968; and the still contested legacy of this most turbulent period of American history. more...

AMSAM029

Semester 1

Creativity and Development in Film and Television Production

This practice-based module is designed to introduce students to key skills in film and television development and business. It will provide an understanding of the processes of creative script and project development, including film and TV business, the activities of the market and dealing with bodies responsible for commissioning films and television programmes, managing creative people, and writing pitches. This module is compulsory for students following the MA in Film, Television and Creative Practice. Priority for further places will be given to students taking the MA in Film Studies and scriptwriters on the MA in Creative Writing. more...

FTVFM058

Semester 2

Effects, Audiences and the Media

The module is designed to explore the debates over media effects. In the process, it will challenge the effects tradition, which motivates many of the concerns with media censorship and regulation, and suggests alternative ways of understanding the ways in which audiences consume contemporary media. In the process, it will examine a range of approaches to the understanding of media consumption. more...

FTVFM046

Semester 2

Film and Television Production

The module is designed to introduce students to key skills in film and television and video production. It will provide an understanding of the production process and thereby focuses less on technical training than on encouraging students to think about using audio visual media to produce creative solutions to practical problems. The module also encourages students to consider how to deliver work within the normal constraints of media production, i.e., students will have to think about working to a brief rather than simply imagining themselves as independent artists. This module is compulsory for students following the MA in Film, Television and Creative Practice. Priority for further places will be given to students taking the MA in Film Studies. more...

FTVFM041

Semester 1

Film Studies: History, Theory, Criticism

This unit aims to provide key terms of reference and research skills in the study of film; to identify key objects, theories and methods in the analysis of film; and to provide a sense of historical development of film. Intended learning outcomes: a) Knowledge and Understanding. By the end of the unit should: have some of the key skills for the study of film at M level; have an awareness of the debates between different approaches to the study of film; be familiar with the key objects, theories and methods in the analysis of film; have some familiarity with the historical development of film. b) Intellectual Skills. By the end of the unit students should be able to: apply the key approaches to the analysis of film; assesses the debates between these different approaches; construct coherent and independent arguments. c) Professional Skills. The unit will develop students' ability to: select, sift and synthesize information from a variety of primary and secondary materials; write accurately and grammatically and present written material suing appropriate conventions. d) Transferable Skills. The unit will also develop students' ability to: manage a large and disparate body of information; use IT to word process assessed work; speak and write cogently about a chosen subject area. more...

FTVFM023

Semester 1

Good Good Girls and Good Bad Boys? American Fictions of Innocence

Oscar Wilde wrote that 'The youth of America is their oldest tradition; it has been going on now for three hundred years'. IIs this true? If so, why? This module will seek to account for the preoccupation with youth in America by focusing particularly on the concept of 'innocence', and by examining how various models of innocence are invoked and questioned in American literary texts. Drawing on a wide array of fictional and theoretical works, we will consider the following questions: What is at stake in America's investment in innocence? Major cultural events - such as the Vietnam War and 9/11, for example - are often described as representing a 'loss of innocence' in American culture. What power interests and ideologies are maintained by repeatedly describing America as 'innocent'? How is this investment in innocence revised in different historical moments? How is it challenged? With particular reference to fictions of growing up in America, how is innocence (and loss of innocence) depicted differently for male and female protagonists? more...

AMSAM022

Semester 2

Japanese Film: National Cinema and Beyond

This module explores the concept of Japanese cinema in relation to national, transnational and global discourses and seeks to reframe discussions of modern and past Japanese filmmaking. We will examine a variety of Japanese films and the ways in which they interact with the history, techniques and culture of Japan. We will also consider the social and commercial nature of Japanese filmmaking, including the ways in which Japanese films circulate the globe. more...

FTVFM032

Semester 2

Music, Media, Society

This module considers the changing role of music within social and cultural practices, its varied relationships with selfhood, media and technology, bodies, everyday lives and social power. In surveying the ways music is and has been bound up in social and cultural formations, the module engages with a range of theoretical issues about how music `works' as well as exploring some of the ways organised sound can be said to `mean' in differing contexts. The module also introduces students to an eclectic range of writings and questions about music in social life, considering questions about the materiality of sound, musical communities, performance, media and affect, positioning such issues in relation to music's production, circulation and consumption. more...

FTVFM062

Semester 2

Queering America

This is a module that engages with queer theory and its inherent complexities in order to read American Studies `across the grain,' to explore the silences and those silenced in accepted readings of America. The module will both scrutinize and utilize the polyphony of theoretical discourses that constitute queer theory's most often (deliberate) discordant approach so as to open-up the liminal spaces in America ' those cities of night to evoke John Rechy's novel on such liminality. The module is not simply an examination of homosexuality in America, but an examination of alterity in its many different forms, and how this alterity conceptualises America in ways that problematize our immediate understanding of the nation. more...

AMSAM033

Semester 1

Reading American Women's Lives: Her-Story in the Long Nineteenth Century

The module will be structured around eight biographies of different women spanning the Revolutionary and early National period through to the late nineteenth century. The biographies under discussion will include the revolutionary Jane Adams, midwife Martha Ballard, mill girl Eunice Connolly, true women turned plantation mistress Sarah Hicks Williams, women's right activist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, the two 'first ladies' of the Civil War era Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Davis reflecting on their experiences in the historical and cultural context in which they lived. The seminars will reflect on the historical conditions that shaped these women's lives and consider the ways in which they negotiated the dominant ideals of the era. The concepts of race, class, region, and age will be considered alongside gender as primary factors that structured these women's experiences, in addition to considering factors such as spousal relationships, the growing ideal of romantic love, the sentimentalisation of women's roles in domestic fiction and wider society, and the developing structures of familial relationships. Biographical materials will be supplemented by historical scholarship and visual media including portraits, pictures, and film. more...

AMSAM042

Semester 2

Slave Life in the Antebellum South

While popular representations of New World slavery range from the dehumanized slave body to the romanticisation of enslaved life, scholarly work over the last few decades has sharpened our understanding of what it meant to be an enslaved man, woman and child in the context of Atlantic slavery. This module concerns the lived experiences of the enslaved in the slaveholding south. It is structured around the cultural histories of the lives and will consider how concepts such as race, class, gender, and sexuality interacted and were articulated in this particular historical context. Concepts of power and resistance will also be central to the discussion, as both enslaver and enslaved negotiated the limits of control in their own lives and those of others. The module will employ a variety of source materials including slave narratives, folklore tales, work-songs, and fictional representations of slavery in order to try and fully reveal the complexities of enslaved life. more...

AMSAM011

Semester 1

Studying Media

This module is intended to provide an introduction to the key study skills in film, television and media studies for students unfamiliar with the British university system and its expectations of students. Focusing on the key issues and academic debates within media studies, it will provide students with a sense of the educational expectations that they will encounter during their other modules and help them to acclimatise themselves to the culture of British universities. This module is compulsory for students new to the British university system. more...

FTVFM029

Semester 1

The 20th Century Novel

This module emphasizes close reading, and exposure to some of the masterpieces of 20th century American prose fiction, over theoretical paradigms or a great deal of critical reading. Each week we will discuss a significant 20th century American novel (and author) in depth, coming to grips with their primary themes, structures, and techniques. However, many of our books have a solid body of scholarship associated with them with which you should also certainly expect to familiarize yourself, and each week's reading will include a required scholarly essay, which will be selected by your classmates for their presentation. more...

AMSAM017

Semester 1

The Big Picture: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema

What are Hollywood's biggest hits in recent decades, and what, if anything, do they have in common? What kinds of film does Hollywood invest in most heavily, and which target audiences are these films aimed at? What are the habits and expectations of cinema audiences, and what meanings and pleasures do hit movies offer to them? Who are the key decision makers in the industry, and which names have the biggest clout at the box office? How does the theatrical release of films in the US relate to their circulation in foreign markets and in other media (television, video, DVD)? These are some of the questions which this module addresses. more...

FTVFM015

Semester 1

The Black Atlantic

This module will consider the flow and proliferation of black culture into and within the Americas, through the medium of the middle passage and the `Black Atlantic'. This module offers a comparative perspective on American culture: the experiences of African slaves and their subsequent freedom, physical and ' for some ' also political, will be traced in the contemporary fiction and poetry of the Caribbean and the United States. Given the overwhelming importance of Africa to contemporary Caribbean and African American writing and culture, this unit will begin and end with a focus on West African perceptions of the slave trade. more...

AMSAM018

Semester 2

The Dirty South: Reading Southern Cultures

In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Shreve McCannon asks his Harvard roomate, Mississippian Quentin Compson, to "Tell about the South": "What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all." In this module, we will explore the contrasting ways that those questions have been answered - and, indeed, still continue to be answered - by Southerners and others. Reading widely in Southern literature, we will witness the emergence of a distinct Southern literary identity in the years before the Civil War; consider the effect of slavery on the development of Southern letters; encounter, through Reconstruction and beyond, the effects of defeat, liberation and memory; meet the flowering of the Southern Renaissance; and trace the development of Southern writing through the Civil Rights Era and beyond, up to the present day. But we will also consider a variety of other Southern cultures - music, particularly, from country to hip-hop, but also film and television - and think about the ongoing representations of the South by outsiders. And throughout, we will question the shifting meaning of "the South", and consider its persistent significance in the twenty-first century. more...

AMSAM038

Semester 2

The Imperial Origins of the US and Canada

The Imperial Origins of the United States and Canada begins with an examination of the condition of North America in 1492, and proceeds to discuss in the next three sessions to analyse the impact of trade, missionary work, European settlement, warfare, slavery and imperial rivalry in three broad geographic regions: 1) The Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of North America; 2) The St. Lawrence valley, New England and the Canadian Maritime regions; and 3) New Netherland, New Sweden and their successor colonies, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Having laid this foundation, the module continues chronologically, examining the Spanish, French, and British Empires in North America side-by-side, through the period of the American Revolution and on to the War of 1812. Over the long run, the British Empire spawned two huge polities in North America, and the module will close by examining its distinctive legacies on the two sides of the U.S. - Canadian border. more...

AMSAM044

Semester 2

Women and Film

This module intends to explore and critically reflect upon the relationship between women and film whilst focusing on issues such as women's cinema as counter cinema; women's cinema as minor cinema; women filmmakers; international women's film festivals; the representation of women in film; female spectatorship, (fe)male gaze; sexuality; feminism and post-feminism in film; female subjectivity; female desire, feminist filmmaking. The module will focus on analysing contemporary films from a variety of national and transnational cinemas. more...

FTVFM060

Semester 2

You may also pick any of the modules that begin with:

AMS

The Dirty South: Reading Southern Cultures In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Shreve McCannon asks his Harvard roomate, Mississippian Quentin Compson, to "Tell about the South": "What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all." In this module, we will explore the contrasting ways that those questions have been answered - and, indeed, still continue to be answered - by Southerners and others. Reading widely in Southern literature, we will witness the emergence of a distinct Southern literary identity in the years before the Civil War; consider the effect of slavery on the development of Southern letters; encounter, through Reconstruction and beyond, the effects of defeat, liberation and memory; meet the flowering of the Southern Renaissance; and trace the development of Southern writing through the Civil Rights Era and beyond, up to the present day. But we will also consider a variety of other Southern cultures - music, particularly, from country to hip-hop, but also film and television - and think about the ongoing representations of the South by outsiders. And throughout, we will question the shifting meaning of "the South", and consider its persistent significance in the twenty-first century. more...	AMSAM038	20	Semester 2
The 20th Century Novel This module emphasizes close reading, and exposure to some of the masterpieces of 20th century American prose fiction, over theoretical paradigms or a great deal of critical reading. Each week we will discuss a significant 20th century American novel (and author) in depth, coming to grips with their primary themes, structures, and techniques. However, many of our books have a solid body of scholarship associated with them with which you should also certainly expect to familiarize yourself, and each week's reading will include a required scholarly essay, which will be selected by your classmates for their presentation. more...	AMSAM017	20	Semester 1
Theories of American Culture This Core Autumn module introduces students to key theories in American Studies. As American Studies is an interdisciplinary field, we require all MA students in our School, whether focusing upon American History, American Literature, Film and American Studies, or American Studies, to familiarize themselves with foundational concepts in the field. The reading list will vary, but will generally have a week of introduction followed by three weeks on literary and textual theory, three weeks on historiography, and three weeks on visual culture and film theory. The aim of the module is to ensure that all students are comfortable with the basic theoretical tools necessary to advanced study in American cultural studies of all varieties. more...	AMSAM009	20	Semester 1
Research and Methodology Training Seminar This module is run over two semesters. The Autumn and Spring semester element of the training requires attendance and active engagement at the School research seminars which are run on a weekly basis. In addition, during the Spring semester students will take a half-module concerned with preparation for writing their dissertations over the Summer. Students will present their dissertation proposal at the last of the School's research seminars in the Spring Semester. Assessment will be based on a reflective report, written at the end of the autumn semester, concerning the research seminars students have attended. The spring semester will be assessed through presentation and submission of the dissertation proposal. more...	AMSAM02Y	10	Year Period
Reading American Women's Lives: Her-Story in the Long Nineteenth Century The module will be structured around eight biographies of different women spanning the Revolutionary and early National period through to the late nineteenth century. The biographies under discussion will include the revolutionary Jane Adams, midwife Martha Ballard, mill girl Eunice Connolly, true women turned plantation mistress Sarah Hicks Williams, women's right activist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, the two 'first ladies' of the Civil War era Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Davis reflecting on their experiences in the historical and cultural context in which they lived. The seminars will reflect on the historical conditions that shaped these women's lives and consider the ways in which they negotiated the dominant ideals of the era. The concepts of race, class, region, and age will be considered alongside gender as primary factors that structured these women's experiences, in addition to considering factors such as spousal relationships, the growing ideal of romantic love, the sentimentalisation of women's roles in domestic fiction and wider society, and the developing structures of familial relationships. Biographical materials will be supplemented by historical scholarship and visual media including portraits, pictures, and film. more...	AMSAM042	20	Semester 2
Queering America This is a module that engages with queer theory and its inherent complexities in order to read American Studies `across the grain,' to explore the silences and those silenced in accepted readings of America. The module will both scrutinize and utilize the polyphony of theoretical discourses that constitute queer theory's most often (deliberate) discordant approach so as to open-up the liminal spaces in America ' those cities of night to evoke John Rechy's novel on such liminality. The module is not simply an examination of homosexuality in America, but an examination of alterity in its many different forms, and how this alterity conceptualises America in ways that problematize our immediate understanding of the nation. more...	AMSAM033	20	Semester 1
Slave Life in the Antebellum South While popular representations of New World slavery range from the dehumanized slave body to the romanticisation of enslaved life, scholarly work over the last few decades has sharpened our understanding of what it meant to be an enslaved man, woman and child in the context of Atlantic slavery. This module concerns the lived experiences of the enslaved in the slaveholding south. It is structured around the cultural histories of the lives and will consider how concepts such as race, class, gender, and sexuality interacted and were articulated in this particular historical context. Concepts of power and resistance will also be central to the discussion, as both enslaver and enslaved negotiated the limits of control in their own lives and those of others. The module will employ a variety of source materials including slave narratives, folklore tales, work-songs, and fictional representations of slavery in order to try and fully reveal the complexities of enslaved life. more...	AMSAM011	20	Semester 1
Civil Rights and American Politics This module offers an in-depth exploration of the history of the Civil Rights movement in the years after World War II. It delves into the rich and ever growing historiography of the subject to take in, among other things, the southern freedom movement and Martin Luther King, Jr; the life and times of Malcolm X; Black Power politics and culture; the political controversies surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's attempt to mobilize the federal government behind the cause of black equality; the 'long, hot summers' of urban riots, 1964-1968; and the still contested legacy of this most turbulent period of American history. more...	AMSAM029	20	Semester 1
American Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM04X	90	Semester 2
American Studies Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM03X	90	Semester 2
The Imperial Origins of the US and Canada The Imperial Origins of the United States and Canada begins with an examination of the condition of North America in 1492, and proceeds to discuss in the next three sessions to analyse the impact of trade, missionary work, European settlement, warfare, slavery and imperial rivalry in three broad geographic regions: 1) The Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of North America; 2) The St. Lawrence valley, New England and the Canadian Maritime regions; and 3) New Netherland, New Sweden and their successor colonies, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Having laid this foundation, the module continues chronologically, examining the Spanish, French, and British Empires in North America side-by-side, through the period of the American Revolution and on to the War of 1812. Over the long run, the British Empire spawned two huge polities in North America, and the module will close by examining its distinctive legacies on the two sides of the U.S. - Canadian border. more...	AMSAM044	20	Semester 2
American History Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM06X	90	Semester 2
Body Spaces Central to post-war American avant-garde aesthetics and poetics is an investigation of the constructedness of the space we inhabit and of the bodies we occupy. By close and detailed analysis of a range of experimental American texts - painting and especially, poetry - from 1950 to the present day, this module explores the ways in which ideas of the postmodern in America can be seen to 'work' through such politicised constructions of the body as gender, sexuality and subjectivity. Running alongside its reading of poetic and artistic texts, the module will also consider the ways in which theories and theorists of the postmodern reflect the concern of America's experimental arts with an aesthetics of 'process' rather than of 'product'. It thereby questions the extent to which a poetics of the postmodern challenges the cultural space that America has inhabited in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. more...	AMSAM043	20	Semester 1
The Black Atlantic This module will consider the flow and proliferation of black culture into and within the Americas, through the medium of the middle passage and the `Black Atlantic'. This module offers a comparative perspective on American culture: the experiences of African slaves and their subsequent freedom, physical and ' for some ' also political, will be traced in the contemporary fiction and poetry of the Caribbean and the United States. Given the overwhelming importance of Africa to contemporary Caribbean and African American writing and culture, this unit will begin and end with a focus on West African perceptions of the slave trade. more...	AMSAM018	20	Semester 2
Good Good Girls and Good Bad Boys? American Fictions of Innocence Oscar Wilde wrote that 'The youth of America is their oldest tradition; it has been going on now for three hundred years'. IIs this true? If so, why? This module will seek to account for the preoccupation with youth in America by focusing particularly on the concept of 'innocence', and by examining how various models of innocence are invoked and questioned in American literary texts. Drawing on a wide array of fictional and theoretical works, we will consider the following questions: What is at stake in America's investment in innocence? Major cultural events - such as the Vietnam War and 9/11, for example - are often described as representing a 'loss of innocence' in American culture. What power interests and ideologies are maintained by repeatedly describing America as 'innocent'? How is this investment in innocence revised in different historical moments? How is it challenged? With particular reference to fictions of growing up in America, how is innocence (and loss of innocence) depicted differently for male and female protagonists? more...	AMSAM022	20	Semester 2

LDC

Creative Writing Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	LDCCM03X	90	Semester 2
Adaptation and Interpretation Critical reading and creative writing meet in the activity of adapting a text in one medium for presentation in another. The module focuses on dramatic adaptation, establishing a foundation in basic theory and then focusing on readings or original works and screenings. Discussions probe the choices offered by original texts and explore the possibilities and limitations inherent in different dramatic forms. In the later sessions, students will have the opportunity to workshop an adaptation for a final project. more...	LDCCM012	20	Semester 2
Adaptation and Interpretation Critical reading and creative writing meet in the activity of adapting a text in one medium for presentation in another. The module focuses on dramatic adaptation, establishing a foundation in basic theory and then focusing on readings or original works and screenings. Discussions probe the choices offered by original texts and explore the possibilities and limitations inherent in different dramatic forms. In the later sessions, students will have the opportunity to workshop an adaptation for a final project. more...	LDCCM007	20	Semester 1
Drama Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	LDCDM03X	90	Semester 2
The Persistence of the Aesthetic This module addresses the relation between art and politics by examining the attempt to unmask the aesthetic as ideological. In order to do this, we will acquire a firm grasp of the meaning of 'the aesthetic' and of what it is often taken to conceal, 'ideology'. We will, therefore, begin by exploring what has been called the 'invention' of the aesthetic in modernity, paying particular attention to the emergence of the aesthetic as a category in the eighteenth century as part of debates concerning the public sphere, disinterestedness, and universality. Key figures here will include the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Schiller. We will then move on to consider the precise meaning of 'ideology' in its various forms in the work of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, and Theodor Adorno. Our focus in particular will be on the way in which the aesthetic has been thought to relate to 'ideology' by these, and numerous other, thinkers from fields such as sociology, anthropology, literary criticism, and art history. But far from simply deploying the tools of ideological analysis as a means to expose the covert politics of the aesthetic as such, we will ask whether the aesthetic is as vulnerable to so-called ideology - critique as has sometime been claimed. We will thus evaluate recent attempts to renovate the aesthetic by figures such as Jacques Ranciere, Isobel Armstrong, J.M. Berstein and others. This module, therefore, will address concerns central to those interested in the history and theory of literary and art criticism, and also in cultural and educational policy. more...	LDCEM062	20	Semester 2
Theory and Practice of Fiction This module is designed to complement the prose fiction workshop but is open to students on related programmes. It is intended to provide students with creative and critical knowledge in a single experiential burst, by exploring as they are relevant to writing fiction such topics as time, place, dramatic structure, character and concinnity. The unit also gives consideration to professional issues confronting novelists, from writer's block to editing, contracts and dealing with the media. The module presents the writer as both artist and supplier of intellectual property to a market, while examining that and other tensions critically. Reading, writing and analysis happen alongside each other. Fictional, critical and professional texts are examined, writing exercises illuminating the issue at hand are undertaken. Students are also expected to make presentations on topics of their choice. Assessment by creative writing coursework with a critical commentary. more...	LDCCM024	20	Semester 2
Stylistics for Translators This module will examine style in texts, and how the analysis of style affects translation. We will look at various different approaches to the definition and understanding of style, concentrating on the stylistic analysis of literary (and some non-literary) texts of all types. In the final weeks of the semester students will present and discuss the translation of style in texts and languages of their choice more...	LDCEM033	20	Semester 1
English Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	LDCEM03X	90	Semester 2
Research and Methodology Training Seminar	LDCEM020	10	Semester 2
Postmodernism in Performance This module interrogates the study of postmodernism in relation to theatre, performance and live art. Key theories relating to the emergence of the postmodern movement are studied alongside the work of practitioners. The module will examine some of the innovative work occurring in contemporary theatre and cultural practice, as well as study the influences upon contemporary artists from earlier modernist avant-garde work of Europe and the United States. These movements include Futurism, Dada, Constructivism and the 'neo-dada' Happenings and Fluxus movements in 1960s Europe and America and the study of contemporary postmodern performance groups and practitioners such as Forced Entertainment, The Wooster Group, Robert Wilson, SITI Company, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Need Company, and Le Page. more...	LDCDM012	20	Semester 2
Creative Writing: Scriptwriting: Process This module is compulsory for all Scriptwriting MA students and is reserved for students of the Scriptwriting programme. Dramaturgy and Workshop 1 are pre-requisites for this module. Students develop a short script for theatre/film/television/radio from initial idea through pitch/treatment/step outline/script drafts. In weekly workshop sessions, the stages of project development are tabled for tutorial and peer group critique. Assessment is by presentation of a portfolio of working documentation, script drafts and a short reflective essay. more...	LDCCM006	20	Semester 2
Text and Production: Scene Class The module is broken into two parts. One consists of a weekly three hour meeting in which we study various methods of directing via textual analysis. These include 'actioning', working with verse and language, Laban's effort analyses, status games and an introduction to Lecoq's physical methods. In these sessions we also discuss some of the major theories of what the theatre is or should be - those of Gordon Craig, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht and Peter Brooks, in relation to many texts, including Shakespeare. The other part of the module is a series of weekly 'scene-classes' in which the MA students present the results of their directing undergraduate students in rehearsing scenes. more...	LDCDM001	20	Semester 1
Culture and Its Discontents From trauma theory and Holocaust Studies to critical human rights and refugee studies, thinking about culture's profound discontents motivates much of the most innovative work in the theoretical humanities today. This module focuses on two key theorists of modern experience: Sigmund Freud, for whom the unconscious registered the trauma of modern living, and the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, for whom the horrors of totalitarianism opened up holes of oblivion in the way we think and judge. Reading them together, we will examine the way Freud and Arendt open up a new space to think about the relation between the psyche and the political. Core reading will include: The Portable Hannah Arendt, ed. Peter Baehr (Penguin) The Freud Reader, ed. Adam Phillips (Penguin) The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings (Edinburgh UP) more...	LDCEM049	20	Semester 1
The Art of Short Fiction Short fiction is too often defined in terms of what it is not ' namely, a novel. Whether stories, novellas or experimental short fiction, short fiction is an art form in its own right. While acknowledging that there are no `rules' as to what makes a good short story, we will look at the expectations and technical challenges created by the form, and in so doing to sharpen our analytical and critical faculties. This is predominantly a practical, workshop-based course oriented at writing short fiction, although students will also be asked to form critical opinions and perspectives on published short stories, the technical aspects of writing in the form, and on themes and trends in short fiction more...	LDCCM017	20	Semester 1
Crossing Boundaries: Women Writers in Modern Europe This module will explore some of the issues and obstacles encountered by women writing in a range of European traditions during the "long twentieth century" - continuing into the 21st with the award of Nobel Prizes for Literature to the controversial Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (2004 and the Romanian-German writer Herta M??ller (2009). Taking a broadly chronological approach, the focus will be primarily on the impact of the two "women's movements" of the twentieth century on perceptions of writing and subjectivity as they affect women writers in a range of European countries. Within this chronological context and under a number of themed headings, examples will be taken primarily from Western Europe, in particular the German-speaking, French and English literary traditions. Students are however encouraged to make connections with the work of other writers beyond those on the reading list and to make comparisons with the position and role of women's writing in other literatures with which they may be familiar. Seminar discussions will thus consider not merely geographical and physical boundaries but the wider social and textual frameworks within and against which, arguably, a distinctive women's voice (or voices) may be said to emerge. more...	LDCEM028	20	Semester 2
Process and Product in Translation This module is designed to allow students to produce translations in conditions that encourage and facilitate reflection on the process and product of translation. It encourages students to think experimentally, not only about the forms a finished translation might take, but also about the ways in which process might be incorporated into that translation. The module has a workshop format and culminates in a series of presentations by students of the projects on which they have chosen to work. A series of sessions, devoted to the discussion of problems, both theoretical and practical, connected with translation and the projects ahead, precede the presentations. more...	LDCEM034	20	Semester 2
The Actor in Space The extremely various theatres of late medieval and early modern England situate the figure of the actor in a great many different settings and configurations. The place of performance may be public, or owned by a patron or by the actors themselves; it may be candle-lit or open to the sky; it may be a communal space for action or the illusionistic location of the fiction; and that fictional world, in turn, may be unitary or else divisively assigned to angels and devils, kings and clowns, speakers and singers. It is possible to grasp this diversity as an historical narrative (from the medieval pageant to the professional stage, from the Elizabethan amphitheatre to the Restoration playhouse with movable scenery), but it was also, often, a synchronic range of possible spaces, each with its distinctive cultural affiliation, each corresponding to, and making visible, its distinctive conceptions of the human, the social and the sacred. The course will explore these spaces by looking not only or even mainly at the theatre history, but at the scripts that record and suggest their meanings. more...	LDCEM047	20	Semester 1
Research and Methodology Training Seminar The 10 credit module is compulsory. more...	LDCDM020	10	Semester 2
Critical Theories of the Western Self The course introduces students to the major shifts in philosophical thinking about the Western self from Descartes to the twentieth century. The course will provide students with a training in theoretical debate through the analysis and discussion of a selection of the important thinkers on this list: Descartes, Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bakhtin, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida, Irigaray, Deleuze and Butler. Through acquaintance with different theoretical traditions, students will have the opportunity to reflect critically on the processes and implications of cultural change; and to relate their understanding of the self and philosophy to other fields such as literature. more...	LDCEM011	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing and Research Seminars This 10-credit module, will consist of the writing of a synopsis or summary of the Dissertation script. It will be due for submission at the same time as the Dissertation itself. The word limit will be 500 to 1000 words. more...	LDCCM008	10	Semester 2
Translation Workshop A series of workshops by practising translators, shared by the MA in Literary Translation and the MA in Applied Translation Studies. These will be on different aspects of translation, and will involve various genres. There is generally no preparation required for workshops, but students are asked to find out as much as possible in advance about the workshop-holder's background and work. There will usually be translation exercises and discussion in class. Some workshops are on literary topics, but some also deal with non-literary translation or other issues such as approaching a publisher. The workshop programme will be distributed at the start of the academic year. more...	LDCEM04Y	0	Year Period
Contemporary World Theatre Contemporary World Theatre examines how twentieth century theatre around the world has been affected by postcolonialism, globalization, immigration and interculturalism. Through an examination of postcolonial performance from former British colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, and the West Indies, important theatrical movements in the Americas, new performance styles found in Russia and Eastern Europe, immigrant performance in the United States and Britain, as well as the new 'intercultural' performance styles of directors such as Lepage and Mnouchkine, this course will examine how gender, race and class become key issues in understanding the ramifications of these colliding cultures. more...	LDCDM002	20	Semester 2
Evaluating Nature This module aims to equip students with a historically informed understanding of the emergence of different theories and modes of evaluation, focusing in particular on the economic, aesthetic, and moral questions arising from the evaluation of nature in particular. Is it, for example, ethically defensible to value nature as a resource? Is a genuinely `ecological' or, indeed, `green' economics conceivable ' and, if so, what would that involve in practice? How sure are we that art in general and writing in particular are good ways to articulate the value of the natural? And is a genuinely `ecological' or `green' poetics conceivable? Addressing these questions will involve exploration both of the history of ideas and of contemporary understandings of natural capital, resource allocation, and moral evaluation. more...	LDCEM058	20	Semester 2
European Gothic: Fear and Horror As Trans-National Dialogue Scholars have since Mario Praz in the 1930s long conceived of the Gothic as a European phenomenon, exported and imported between Britain, France, and Germany, but there is surprisingly little attempt to unify this tradition or consider it as a whole beyond the empirical level. This course starts from the question: `What happens if you bring the Gothic Novel, the roman noir, and the Schauerroman together? The course will act as an introduction to the English canon of the Gothic; but we shall look at a range of texts, not as a tight, unified English genre, but as a set of cultural responses (and translations of responses) to the ages of Enlightenment and Revolution. The emphasis is not simply on linear development, but on cultural transmission and the dispersal of ideas between France, Germany and the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The texts have been chosen to reveal a set of conversations with each other and we shall re-read familiar (`central' or 'classic') texts in relation to such themes as the cultural geography of fear; superstition and scepticism and the role of the occult; sensibility and sexual taboo; the nature of the demonic; constructions of the other; the invention and splitting of the modern self; the Machine; the Uncanny; comedy and horror; and the use of self-conscious modes of narration. Note: this module is of interest to literary translators and creative writers. more...	LDCEM044	20	Semester 2
Creative Writing Workshop: Prose 2 This is the Prose Fiction workshop, the core of the Prose Fiction MA, and runs for 12 weeks in the autumn semester and 12 weeks in the spring semester. The sessions are three hours long and take place on Tuesday afternoons (2-5pm). Each week work (up to 5,000 words) from three students is discussed. This discussion is led by the tutor, however careful and informed contribution from the rest of the class is fundamental. Over the two semesters everyone will have around six opportunities to have their work discussed. Key and topical issues of theme and craft will be addressed and wider reading maybe discussed and suggested. Individual tutorials (of half an hour) are then held for those students who have been workshopped. more...	LDCCM002	20	Semester 2
Case Studies This seminar looks at ways in which specific authors/works/genres pass into other cultures through translation. We will look at three genres ' children's literature, drama, and crime fiction ' and for each one, we will analyse the genre, identify challenges in translating it, discuss strategies, and examine examples of relevant works, using close textual analysis to see how translators can tackle problems of linguistic, stylistic, and cultural difference. We will then practice translating texts from that genre. more...	LDCEM002	20	Semester 2
The Writing of Crime/thriller Fiction This module will provide students with critical and creative knowledge of modern crime/thriller fiction, and is designed to complement the Creative Writing MA programme, but is open to students across the MA. Crime/thriller fiction, the world's most popular literary genre, is particularly subject to ever evolving conventions, expectations, precedents and sub-genres. Understanding the presiding logistical and thematic issues is fundamental to both the creation of and critical response to crime/thriller fiction. The module will analyse the developments and characteristics of the modernisation of the genre, through a symptomatic approach to authors, from Dashiell Hammett to Jo Nesbo, from police procedurals to psychological thrillers. Issues of literary worth, escapism and social context particularly will be examined. Creative work will also concentrate on how to craft a convincing plot, creating believable characters, building suspense, generating voice and exploring new ways to tackle new crimes. Students will be required to make presentations on a particular author/style, and to produce original crime/thriller fiction. Assessment by creative writing - a short piece of fiction - with accompanying critical essay. more...	LDCCM013	20	Semester 1
Publishing - A Practical Approach This module aims to give students an introduction to the modern publishing industry and a practical survival guide to the different functions involved in the publication of a book. As well as learning about the structure and economics of the British book industry, the opportunities and challenges of digitalization, students will engage with the process whereby books are chosen for publication, review principles of text and jacket design, practise basic copyediting and proofreading skills and learn tips for running a marketing and publicity campaign, writing 'blurbs' and press releases. The course will also touch on copyright law, finance and distribution. Students from the module may join the core team producing the annual MA Creative Writing anthologies. more...	LDCCM016	20	Semester 2
Ludic Literature Play, or the ludic, is often listed as one of the main characteristics of postmodernist art, but what is meant by play is usually left no more clearly defined than what is meant by postmodernism. This course seeks to trace the evolution of leading postmodernist styles and themes, especially ludic ones, back to their origins in Borges and Nabokov. Using these enormously influential authors as a starting point, we will read a range of ludic authors, passing back and forth between languages, nations, and genres. Authors studied will include some though not all of: Calvino, Queneau, Perec, Barthes, Barthelme, Pynchon, Foster Wallace, Grass, Carter, Rushdie, Bolano, Muldoon, Simic, and Ashbery. We will examine these authors in relation to one another, to Borges and Nabokov, and to their major pre-postmodernist sources: Sterne, Mallarm??, Dostoevsky, Chesterton, Stevenson, Joyce, and Kafka. We will also be looking at visual art related to ludic literature, including Duchamp's readymades, Steinberg's cartoons, and Cornell's boxes. Themes we will explore will include aestheticism, doubt, vagueness, jokes, freedom and constraint, mixed styles, parody and pastiche. There will be an opportunity for students to play with the texts by re-writing them under the sorts of rules advanced by Queneau and Oulipo, Koch and Ashbery. more...	LDCEM016	20	Semester 2
Radical Dramaturgies This module will examine the rich field of writing within theatre which seeks to define new relationships with audiences and new notions of how texts might be written. Central to the module will be a consideration of how writing might respond to place, site, self, found text, the actor, music, film and multi-media approaches. Drawing on work and practises from a range of international contexts largely extant now in the field, students will explore a panoply of writing modes and encounter a range of study-texts. more...	LDCDM004	20	Semester 2
Living Modernism A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. The word modernism was applied only retrospectively to the texts written at the beginning of the twentieth century; and that retrospective naming has worked to define an ever-shifting field of cultural activity. This course aims to introduce students to `living modernism', a phrase that highlights the mutually informing relationship of contemporary writing and modernism. In the first 5 weeks, students will be asked to read James Joyce's Ulysses and Franz Kafka's The Trial. The course then considers the ways in which Joyce's and Kafka's writing continues to animate critical and creative knowledge. In weeks 6-12, critical and literary questions of law, justice, exile, and narrative voice will be posed out of modernism. The living legacy of modernism will be considered in different ways; as literary influence, (Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go as a Kafkaesque meditation on exile, for instance), as critical quotation and interpretation, (Jacques Derrida's claim, for example, that Kafka's `Before the Law' is a staging of justice and literary interpretation), and linguistic or thematic interaction (Lolita as Nabokov's Joycean writing of exile in America). There will be a particular focus on how Joyce and Kafka write law, justice and exile as global, rather than state-based, categories, and the importance of these transnational visions for their continuing influence. Authors explored will include James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro, Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, Mladen Dolar, Denise Riley and W. G. Sebald. more...	LDCEM017	20	Semester 1
The Life of the Book CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION (RESERVED FOR STUDENTS ON ROUTE T1Q325101 - LIFE WRITING). This module will follow the arc of the life of a book from inception to reception. How do you choose a subject, determine a book's structure, find a voice and build character? What about the often daunting question of research? Once the book is written, how do you set about writing a proposal and finding a publisher? We will also consider questions surrounding copyright, editing and reviewing. The emphasis will be practical, with a significant workshop element. more...	LDCEM007	20	Semester 1
Translation Theory This module discusses key theoretical and descriptive pronouncements on translation by theorists and practising translators working within the Western tradition. The focus is predominantly on contemporary work, with some older commentary providing historical context. Students are encouraged to explore their own theoretical interests and present their findings in class. more...	LDCEM043	20	Semester 1
Writing Lives CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module explores the many ways in which writers have grappled with getting `life' and `lives' down on paper. We will look at samples of writing from many different genres, including travel, nature, music and sports writing. We will also be looking at those returning figures ' the Hero, the Villain, the Madwoman. In the process we will discuss cultural myth, human empathy and identity and notions of celebrity. Students will be encouraged to find their own special subjects, to study comparative biography, and to look at the many new experimental approaches that make Biography such a flourishing phenomenon today. more...	LDCEM003	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry 1 Only students who are registered for the MA in Creading Writing: Poetry may enrol for this module. more...	LDCCM003	20	Semester 1
Novel History We are currently witnessing a renaissance in history writing. Sales of historical novels continue to rise steeply. Societies have formed, new prizes established. A number of eminent historians are turning from fact to fiction. What can the historical novel do in terms of reaching the past that more conventional historical accounts cannot do? Can it challenge long-told historical narratives, propose new ones or give us new vantage points? Novel History is a critical-creative MA module that crosses the boundaries between literature, art history, history and creative writing to explore the possibilities (and paradoxes) of historical fiction. Students will study the history of the historical novel and read critical and theoretical essays about the writing of history alongside examples of innovative or revisionist contemporary historical fiction. They will also explore ideas around 'object history' through a series of workshop sessions amongst the historical objects of UEA's extraordinary rich collection in the Sainsbury Centre. Students will present work in progress in the workshop format as they move towards a final piece of creative writing, a short story or radio script, screen or theatre script. Students will be given the option of structuring their final work around a single chosen object from the Sainsbury Centre collection. more...	LDCCM010	20	Semester 2
Describing Poetry CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY. Poetry often describes its own verbal processes ' of rhythm, image and word choice ' while thinking about the way that writing is intertwined with the world that it describes. Such thinking has also been importantly continued in prose. This module offers a historical survey of some of the major critical texts in Western poetics, from Plato to Ezra Pound and after, to be read closely alongside a wide range of poetic self-reflections in verse. Students will be encouraged to contribute texts from their own reading for discussion. Short writing exercises in a range of critical styles will also be set in class, in preparation for the final coursework essay. We will examine in particular the metaphors that have been used to describe the formal techniques of poetry, as well as to admire its powers, criticise its failings, and advocate its pleasures. more...	LDCCM011	20	Semester 1
East Anglian Literature CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. This module has as its focus ideas of place and regional cultures. It introduces key subjects relating to regional literature, religious geographies, visual and verbal relationships, attitudes to gender and family, landscape and alternative cultures. Approaches will involve genre study, interdisciplinary enquiry, and theoretical study. We are spoilt for choice in relation to texts and authors to select from the region, including: John Bale, Osbern Bokenham, Thomas Browne, Meir ben Eiljah, John Capgrave, Robert Greene, Gabriel Harvey, Margery Kempe, John Lydgate, John Metham, Julian of Norwich, the N-Town plays, the Pastons and John Skelton. There will be the opportunity to visit a number of archives, specialist libraries and material culture from the period, including a visit to Norwich Cathedral, which has an extensive 17th-century library with material from the 15th century onwards, Norfolk's heritage collection housed in The Forum's Millennium Library which holds documents from the 13th century onwards, and the Julian of Norwich Centre and Shrine. more...	LDCEM006	20	Semester 2
Literary Translation Research and Methodology Training Seminar All MALT students are enrolled on a Research Methods module. The assessment for this is a pass/fail viva in May or early June (date will be given in the course of the Autumn semester). This module is not taught separately, but consists of a number of generic sessions and also a number of specific MALT sessions within the seminars, such as 'Essay Writing', 'Reading as an Academic', 'Doing Glosses' and so on. more...	LDCEM06Y	10	Year Period
Reusing the Past: the Classical in the Medieval and Early Modern CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The complex and unstable movement from medieval to Early Modern culture is reflected in and effected through a fundamental revaluation of the classical legacy: in the development of new approaches to classical texts and of new uses to which their cultural authority might be put. This module explores this movement through the works of three late-fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century writers, Robert Henryson, Gavin Douglas, and John Bellenden, and their responses to the texts of Aesop, Virgil, Ovid and Livy. It tracks a movement from medieval adaptation to Early Modern translation, from moralising allegory to politically inflected intertextuality, exploring the rich variety of ways in which classical texts were made newly available and newly culturally meaningful. more...	LDCEM018	20	Semester 2
Dissertation - Literary Translation The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the 2nd teaching semester for full-time students, or earlier for part-time students. Dissertations may take the form of either (i) a critical essay about an aspect of translation or (ii) a translation with critical discussion. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor. Supervision normally functions on the basis of one contact hour with the supervisor every three weeks throughout the summer. more...	LDCEM04X	90	Semester 2
Writing in the First Person CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA BIOGRAPHY AND CREATIVE NON-FICTION. This module looks at autobiography in the broadest sense, taking in memoir, nature writing, travel writing, reportage and essay. We'll be talking about the history and variety of first-person narratives, the ways writers reveal themselves in their words, how autobiography keeps to and departs from the facts, the importance of form and structure, and about non-fiction's relationship to novels and poems. Seminars will feature practical writing exercises as well as readings and discussions. more...	LDCEM012	20	Semester 2
'World Literature' to the 'Global Text' This module will explore the movement from the idea of the `world' or the `international' as a defining category for writers and artists of the twentieth century toward, from the late twentieth century onward, the notion of the `global'. `World literature' was an essential, if often neglected, directive of the humanist mission, and the `international' engendered oppositions ' such as, for instance, the cosmopolitan and the provincial - that governed the works of writers such as Tagore, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, Elizabeth Bishop, the filmmaker Satyajit Ray, and V S Naipaul, examples of whose work will be studied for this MA. But do those oppositions, and the universalist basis of `world literature', hold any more in the age of globalisation? How do writers and artists travel, and respond to the old experiences of place and exile, in the globalised world? Does globalisation transcend the provincial, or produce variations of it? What does `world' itself signify as a concept today ' is, for instance, the `world' in `world music' the same as the one in `world literature'? I'd like to reflect on these questions in the company of artists like the Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the novelist J M Coetzee, the English writer Geoff Dyer, the Indian poet Arun Kolatkar, critics like David Harvey, present-day experimentation in music, while introducing to the frame of the seminar my own explorations as a writer and musician. more...	LDCEM001	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing Workshop: Scriptwriting This module is compulsory for all Scriptwriting MA students and is reserved for students of the Scriptwriting programme. It is co-requisite with Scriptwriting: Dramaturgy (full-time students). Part-time students must complete Dramaturgy as a pre-requisite, in year 1. Workshop 1 builds upon the parallel study of dramaturgical theory and practice in the four major dramatic performance media. The module requires scriptwriters to incorporate the theory into their own creative practice in weekly creative development workshops. Writers will all complete a series of script planning and writing exercises: each week, two writers will bring their exercise to the workshop table for group discussion. more...	LDCCM005	20	Semester 1
Politics and Public Culture: Milton, Republicanism, News, Polemic, Britain, Europe, the Imagination CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TEXTUAL CULTURES. The aim of this module will be to look at ways of reading literary works in their social, political and intellectual contexts, and to explore the role of the writer in early-modern culture. To do this we will focus on the works of John Milton ' the full range of his works, including poetry, prose and (in translation) Latin polemic. The contexts we will consider might include: aesthetics; the history and theory of republicanism; religious radicalism; the problem of `Britain'; news; the development of the printing trade and its relation to writing poetry and propaganda; Britain's place in Europe; the history of reading; the social spaces where literature operated; the rise of the `public sphere'. In addition to Milton's writings, we will look at the print and news culture of early-modern Britain, with some attention to the materiality of printed texts. We may also look at other writings and other modes of writing by Milton's contemporaries, including pamphleteering and journalism and works by Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham, Lucy Hutchinson and John Dryden. more...	LDCEM005	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing: Scriptwriting: Dramaturgy This module is compulsory for all scriptwriting MA students, and is a co-requisite with Scriptwriting: Workshop 1 for full time students (part-time students must take Dramaturgy in the autumn of year 1, Workshop 1 in autumn of year 2, Scriptwriting: Process in spring of year 2). It may be taken as an option by non-Scriptwriting students, subject to a maximum enrolment of 16 students. Students should note that this is an advanced level study of dramatic theory in the four major performance media (theatre, film, television, radio); non-Scriptwriting students must have some prior experience of dramatic writing. more...	LDCCM009	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry 2 Only students who are registered for Creative Writing: Poetry may enrol for this module. more...	LDCCM004	20	Semester 2
Creative-Critical Writing A CORE MODULE FOR STUDENTS ON THE MA WRITING THE MODERN WORLD. Too often, academic critical writing seems to bring pre-packaged language to bear on works whose whole essence and aim is to change the ways in which we see and describe our world. And too often such writing fails to acknowledge the ways in which it itself necessarily participates in the literary `creativity' it is also about. How, then, to write criticism? Criticism which responds inventively to the literature which it analyzes? Criticism which registers, in its own form, language, method and thinking the ways in which it has been transformed by the work(s) of art it encounters? Criticism which recognizes that it cannot rest on received concepts and categories? This module aims to explore those questions. Over the course of the semester will consider ' and experiment with ' a broad range of possible ways of practising creative-criticism, including the `essay' form, auto-commentary, aphorisms, ??criture f??minine, conceptual writing, criticism as performance, inventive `theoretical' writing, camp, and diaristic writing. The module covers creative-critics as different from one another as Anne Carson and Jacques Derrida, Geoff Dyer and H??l??ne Cixous, Maurice Blanchot and T. J. Clark, Theodor Adorno and Eve Sedgwick. more...	LDCEM008	20	Semester 2
Creative Writing Workshop: Prose 1 This is the Prose Fiction workshop, the core of the Prose Fiction MA, and runs for 12 weeks in the autumn semester and 12 weeks in the spring semester. The sessions are three hours long and take place on Tuesday afternoons (2-5pm). Each week work (up to 5,000 words) from three students is discussed. This discussion is led by the tutor, however careful and informed contribution from the rest of the class is fundamental. Over the two semesters everyone will have around six opportunities to have their work discussed. Key and topical issues of theme and craft will be addressed and wider reading maybe discussed and suggested. Individual tutorials (of half an hour) are then held for those students who have been workshopped. more...	LDCCM001	20	Semester 1
Fiction After Modernism `Fiction After Modernism' responds to the current reassessment of critical narratives about twentieth century fiction by restoring significance to a critically awkward phase of twentieth-century writing. Focusing roughly on the years between 1930 and 1980, we examine what it meant for mid-century writers to work in the wake of modernism. By thinking about mid-century fiction in terms of its own historical and aesthetic awkwardness, we will challenge the formalist distinction between experimental and realist fiction that has dominated the most influential work on the mid-century novel, and which has also stamped many post-war writers as irretrievably minor. In a similar spirit, we will explore how writers worked in the 'between' of modernism and postmodernism. Rather than produce a cohesive narrative about the period, we will examine how our writers engage with, and disturb, their own literary, historical and critical inheritances. This module is an opportunity to participate in an emerging critical conversation that is carving out new directions in literary study. Working through the period with special attention to previously marginalized (and in some cases forgotten) writers, alongside a selection of critical and theoretical texts, we will examine the ways our writers accede to, challenge, and disrupt our critical understanding of fiction after modernism. more...	LDCEM023	20	Semester 1

LCS-M

Dissertation Communication and Language Studies The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD1X	50	Semester 2
Translation and Theory This module explores ways in which concepts and notions develop into theoretical approaches and translatorial practices but also how practice establishes theoretical positions. Each weekly seminar will focus on key concepts and their use in the existing bibliography on translation, while the practical tasks will give to students the opportunity to apply these concepts to their own translation work. more...	LCS-MA03	20	Semester 1
Dissertation MAATS The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD2X	90	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication in Practice This module explores the issues fundamental to intercultural communication (IC) in practical contexts. The theoretical component of the module examines the different ways of thinking about effective communication in a variety of work-based environments. We will also relate theory to the practice of intercultural communication in contextualised workshops. During these workshops, invited practitioners will introduce students to how IC operates in specific organisations, e.g. in government agencies, in multilingual business management, etc. The module is relevant to those wishing to pursue careers in international management and relations, multilingual business and international development; it is also of interest to those who wish to become more effective communicators in other professions such as translation, interpreting, education and cultural mediation. more...	LCS-ML22	20	Semester 2
Linguistic Communication Among Cultures There is more to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak ' what to say, how to say it and when to say it. But language is also intimately involved in our notions of culture, our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, the very act of linguistic communication itself both creates and sustains our expectations, beliefs and moral values about our world and lives. This module explores a number of issues relating to this reciprocal relationship between language and culture. Linguistics, characterised as the scientific study of language, tends to focus on the formal features of language structure, treating it as an autonomous object. There is more, however, to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak - what to say and how to say it. These assumptions vary from culture to culture as often shows up in the various forms of miscommunication that occur when we talk with speakers from different linguistic backgrounds. From a broader perspective language is intimately involved in our notions of culture - imagine, for example, expressing, discussing or learning about religious or political beliefs without language - our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, for some, the notions of language and culture are so inseparable that they are referred to collectively as languaculture. more...	LCS-ML26	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication - Understanding Differences in A Global World This module is an introduction to some of the fundamental concepts associated with theories of intercultural communication. Since norms of behaviour are culturally defined and varied, the beliefs and values which underlie a culture's worldview will be examined from a variety of perspectives. Indicative topics are expected to include how culture is defined; models of explanation of cultural difference (such as the theories of Hofstede and Tropenaars); notions of identity (personal, group, national) and 'otherisation'; stereotypes and prejudice; verbal and non-verbal communication; miscommunication and intercultural conflict; acculturation and culture shock, etc. The module is relevant to students from a variety of backgrounds and with varied interests and will provide useful background for the module 'Intercultural Communication in Practice'. more...	LCS-ML25	20	Semester 1
Translation Work Experience This module is aimed at MA Translation students with no (or little) previous translation work experience, and students who have experience of professional translation but would like the opportunity to review their practices by reflecting on, and critically documenting, the processes involved. It is based on work on authentic translation assignments negotiated with commercial clients and is very practical: it will promote hands-on sensitisation to aspects of professional commercial translation, to problems involved in translating to specifications, producing and presenting a product of professional standard, to techniques of translation and to the use of reference materials and support resources. It will enable you to apply your analytical and linguistic skills, and to develop a range of key practical skills, including research skills, project and time management, reflective and review skills. more...	LCS-MA02	20	Semester 2
Research Methods The module is designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data). It is taught over two semesters: the first focuses on seminar-related activities, the second on dissertation-related work. It is assessed by an oral exam on a pass/ fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS full-time postgraduate students on taught MA programmes and open only to them. more...	LCS-MR1Y	10	Year Period
Research Methods Part II The module is the second part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on work for the dissertation. It is taught in the second semester of the first or second year of study and assessed by an oral examination on a pass/fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS part-time students on MA taught programmes and open only to them. Pre-requisite: LCS-MR01. more...	LCS-MR02	5	Semester 2
English, Communication, Culture The module is intended to refine linguistic and academic competences (oral and or written communication, control of academic registers), and to explore how English operates in a variety of cultural contexts (including the media, critical debate). Skills covered include seminar and presentation skills, note-taking, academic writing, self-directed study and research skills, with application to the theme of communication and language and materials specifically relevant to MA students. An important aim of the module is to familiarise students with the conventions of English academic life and the environment of the university. more...	LCS-MC01	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Language and Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD3X	90	Semester 2
Translation and Cultural Representation Across Arts and Media The module will focus on two distinct types of interlingual mediation ' screen translation and museum translation ' to explore issues of linguistic and cultural representation in cultural products, and their implications for public perceptions of media and cultural otherness. It will consider and compare features and constraints of language transfer across these two contexts, and assess their capacity to promote cross-cultural sensitization. The module will involve a hands-on practical component with either a subtitling practice workshop OR a museology in practice workshop (TBC). more...	LCS-MA10	20	Semester 2
Language Issues in A Global Multilingual Context This module focuses on language-related issues associated with the globalisation of communication and the media. It considers a range of materials - texts and their translation(s), multilingual sources of information (e.g. global news, consumer information, websites), products of audiovisual translation (e.g. subtitling, dubbing, voice over), IT mediated or processed texts, etc - to explore issues involved in the transposition and dissemination of (spoken and written) text into other media and other languages across different spheres of activity (e.g. media, politics, culture). Receptive knowledge of at least one language other than the mother tongue required. more...	LCS-MC02	20	Semester 2
The Power of Discourse: Representation and Interaction Language occurs in specific socio-cultural settings, among specific social actors and for a variety of purposes. In turn particular uses of language have the power to shape social encounters and relationships and to help construct and maintain specific ideologies and perspectives. Discourse analysis aims to uncover the ways in which language in use is tied to its socio-cultural context. This approach is thus at heart of the analysis of human interaction in society. This module provides the students with analytical tools that can be fruitfully applied to the study of a variety of communicative modes (written texts, spoken interaction, visual or other non verbal modes) as employed in a variety of fields (e.g. media, advertising, politics, education, business, institutional settings, creative writing) and for a variety of purposes (persuading, entertaining, informing). Students will be able to explore the significance and effectiveness of specific communicative strategies and how they may vary according to cultural context and expectations. The module is, therefore, not only suited to postgraduate students focusing on issues of linguistic communication but also to students interested in aspect of linguistic transferability (translation, adaptation, localization). There are plenty of hands-on practice and discussion. more...	LCS-ML13	20	Semester 1
Technological Tools for Translators The aim of this module is to provide an introduction for students of literary and non-literary translation to computer-based tools, technologies and methodologies used by translators, and to examine the strengths and weaknesses of such tools. more...	LCS-MT12	20	Semester 2
Translation in Context This module explores the issues fundamental to translation as process and product in practical contexts, examines theories of equivalence and textual structure in different language-cultures, and applies theory to specialised practice (e.g. commercial, legal, technical, political). more...	LCS-MA01	20	Semester 1
Forensic Linguistics and Translation This module is focused on theoretical and practical aspects of the interplay between language and other language-driven activities such as translation and memory in special circumstances of witnessing, experiencing or judging crime and providing expert linguistic testimony and language services such as translating and interpreting. It contextualises the consequences of this relationship within an interactive environment, namely forensic, psycholinguistic and cross-cultural contexts of language use. Another dimension of the course is an emphatic cross-linguistic approach, whereby we assume the latest linguistic typological perspective and discuss the effects of language differences on the kind of information habitually provided in or omitted from reports in one language and translation. more...	LCS-MA08	20	Semester 2
Conflict in Intercultural Communication The module introduces students to the study of intercultural conflict, through case studies of miscommunication at the levels of international political terminology, pragmatic strategies, the public representation of cross-cultural conflicts and of migration/multicultural conflicts. The module enables students to apply analytical methods to conflicts in intercultural communication on the basis of applied linguistics (contrastive semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics) and cultural studies. By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the linguistic dimensions of conflicts (and their mediation) in intercultural communication. Formative work includes oral and written presentations. more...	LCS-ML23	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Forensic Linguistics The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD4X	90	Semester 2
Dissertation Conflicts in Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD5X	90	Semester 2
Research Methods Part I This module is the first part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on seminar-related activities. It is taught in the first semester of the first year of study. The module is compulsory for all LCS part-time students on MA Taught programmes and open only to them. Co-Requisite: LCS-MR02. more...	LCS-MR01	5	Semester 1

PHI-M

Supervised Study Module Four This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study Unit 3. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA04	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Three This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study unit 1, and is available as the first such module to be taken in the Spring semester of the programme. more...	PHI-MA02	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Two This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study module 1. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA03	20	Semester 1
Supervised Study Module One The module is designed to train the student in research techniques in philosophy and to develop advanced knowledge and understanding in some clearly defined area of the discipline which may or may not have been studied before, eg. at BA level. The student is assigned to work with a tutor with research expertise in the chosen area. The topics covered, and the manner in which they are covered, will be tailored to the student's prior experience in the field. Typically, three essay questions, with bibliographical research, will be set for work during the semester. more...	PHI-MA01	20	Semester 1
Topics in Political Philosophy This module will be devoted to the interpretation and discussion of important, advanced texts in modern political philosophy, in particular texts by John Rawls, perhaps the most significant political philosopher of the late twentieth century. Rawlsian political philosophy of liberalism will be tested with regard to its soundness in relation to equality, community/society, and ecology. Consideration will be given to looking at what political philosophy might viably challenge or replace liberalism, which tends to be the 'dominant paradigm' in political theory and practice today. Students will also have an opportunity to apply abstract philosophical ideas to current political controversies. more...	PHI-M008	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (90 Credits) For students taking the MA in Social Philosophy. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PHI-M10X	90	Semester 2
Philosophy Postgraduate Workshop The weekly workshop enables students to present their own work in short presentations and to contribute to discussions on each other's work. Each student must produce a presentation and meaningfully contribute to the meetings in order to pass the module. Presentations can be designed to explore work in progress or to help polish work for final submission, inclusion in the thesis or publication. more...	PHI-M09Y	10	Year Period
Philosophy of Biology Recent decades have seen far-reaching and controversial advances in the biological sceinces. These developments raise important philosophical questions which are the subject of one of the liveliest and fastest growing philosophical sub-disciplines, the philosophy of biology. In this module, we will begin by examining some of the concepts and methods that distinguish the biological from the physical sciences. What is the nature of a gene, an organism, a species? What is the role of functional explanation in biology? We will then investigate some more general problems that biology raises within the philosophy of science. Can biology be reduced to physics? What is it for a biological theory, such as the theory of evolution, to be testable? Finally, we will turn to the implications of biology for broader philosphical questions about human nature and morality. Does evolutionary theory show that we are selfish beings? Does genetics prove that morality is an illusion? Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction in conjunction with PHI-2A74/3A74. more...	PHI-M026	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies This year-long module is designed to support students on the MA/MSc in Environmental Sciences and Humanities by providing the necessary context for reflecting on interdisciplinary approaches to environmental studies. It encompasses a number of key steps in the degree, covering pre-arrival preparation, an intensive induction week, reflection on interdisciplinary work throughout the year, and preparation for the dissertation. more...	PHI-M07Y	20	Year Period
Language and Mind The module will explore the philosophy of Noam Chomsky, the leading linguist of the last century. The module will be taught via a small tutorial group that will explore a central theme in the development of Chomsky's position each week. Topics will include: the refutation of behaviourism, the computational basis of language, the creativity of linguistic performance, internalism vs externalism, the concept of human nature. As well as the tutorial, students are encouraged to attend the lectures for the undergraduate module, Language in Mind, that will cover some of the same issues. more...	PHI-M023	20	Semester 1
Philosophy and Literature Seminar The main aim of this course is to explore philosophical themes which arise naturally in the reading of literature, and literary issues which arise naturally in the study of philosophy. Literary texts may well include a selection from: Shakespeare, Pope, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Arnold, Conrad and Beckett. Philosophical texts may well include a selection from: Plato, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Goethe, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Two important themes for discussion will be the rise of physical science and its impact on philosophy and literature; and how different conceptions of philosophy and literature affect the way in which they are written (or not written). Assessment will be by two coursework essays. more...	PHI-M028	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (80 Credits) This module is compulsory for all students taking the course MA/MSc Environmental Sciences and Humanities. Students will be required to produce a 10,000-15,000 word dissertation over the Summer period. The dissertation may deal with any topic covered by the remit of the course as a whole. The title and scope of the dissertation will be determined by the student together with his or her supervisor. A detailed research proposal will be submitted to the proposed supervisor in early April and must be approved by the Course Director. Each student will receive 6 hours of formal supervision during the course of the module. The supervisor will normally be one of the instructors on the course, unless a more suitable member of staff is identified and agrees to act as supervisor. The topic of the dissertation and faculty location of the supervisor will determine whether the student ultimately receives an MA or MSc degree. Normally a student who is supervised by a member of staff in ENV will receive an MSc, otherwise the student will receive an MA. Co-supervision between schools is encouraged. In such a case the type of degree will be determined by the primary supervisor. The dissertation will be marked by one member of the Science faculty and one member of the Arts and Humanities faculty. more...	PHI-M20X	80	Semester 2
Methodology and Epistemology of Philosophy The module provides commencing graduate students with the methodological foundations for independent philosophical research. Through practical exercises complementing theoretical discussion and philosophical case studies, the module examines nature, structure, and genesis of key problems and theories from different areas of philosophy; on this basis, it discusses the scope, strengths, and weaknesses of both well-established and innovative philosophical methodologies as well as key questions about the nature of philosophy. Methods covered include different forms of conceptual and linguistic analysis, ways of explaining and assessing philosophical intuitions, naturalist approaches, and competing hermeneutic approaches to the interpretation of philosophical texts from different periods and traditions. Meta-philosophical questions addressed include: What are the proper aims and purposes of philosophy (theoretical vs. elucidatory vs. therapeutic conceptions)? In what ways is philosophy similar to, and different from various sciences? In what ways can methods and insights from other disciplines (sciences, literature, and the arts) be put to use for philosophical purposes? The module is taught through a weekly lecture and seminar (total 3 hours/week). Topics of the two 3000-word essays are individually agreed. This module is intended primarily for students on the MRes in Philosophy and the MA in Philosophy and Literature. Students on other MA/MSc programmes can participate with the consent of the module organiser, who will expect substantive prior exposure to philosophy (ca. 6 undergraduate modules in philosophy). more...	PHI-M019	20	Semester 1
Certainty and Uncertainty in Environmental Science and Policy This module is concerned with questions about certainty and uncertainty in environmental science and about the role of environmental science for political decision-making. The module investigates epistemological questions about the possibility of gaining scientific insight into the sources and solutions of environmental problems; and it examines the relationship of such epistemic concerns to ethical and political questions about how to act in the face of environmental problems. more...	PHI-M015	20	Semester 1
Classical Philosophy Workshop The module takes the form of a research-led, workshop-style, seminar based on an area of Classical Philosophy in which the module convener has current research interests. It will include detailed attention to selected texts and issues. The topic will be chosen by the lecturer. Recent topics have included (a) Mind and Perception, with detailed attention to Aristotle's "De Anima"; and (b) God creation and design, with detailed attention to Plato's Timaeus and texts in Aristotle and Plotinus (c) Fate and freewill with texts from the Presocratics to Augustine. This module is linked to the advanced undergraduate module, Classical Philosophy Special Subject. more...	PHI-M018	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Science As any intellectual enterprise, natural science poses fascinating and deep problems. Think e.g. of mechanics: in order to describe observable motion it appeals to such unobservable entities as forces, and in order to talk about real bodies it refers to ideal entities like points endowed with a mass. These facts lead to challenging questions: what is the role of unobservable entities within a scientific theory? Why do we need to resort to ideal hypotheses in order to study the real world? Is there a fundamental divide between theoretical science and experimental science? We will explore these issues by looking at scientific practice from a philosophical standpoint. This module is self-contained and presupposes no previous knowledge of physics or other sciences. Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction with PHI-2A14/3A14. more...	PHI-M024	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Literature Seminar The topics of this module will be chosen from amongst the following: the definition and purpose of literature; the nature of literary language, fiction, fictional characters, narrative, genre, literary criticism and interpretation; the relevance of author's intention, the role of the reader, and the relationship between literature which is read and that which is heard and seen; aesthetic evaluation, taste, subjectivity and objectivity; whether literature can convey truth and knowledge, and the relationship between aesthetic judgement and ethics. Students submit two essays of 2,500 words each. more...	PHI-M021	20	Semester 1

PSI

Analysing Media Discourses This module examines the relationship between language, images and social meaning. Media products from film and advertising to newspaper articles and even music are examined as `texts' that shape and are shaped by the socio-political reality. After discussing some of the main theories of textual analysis like semiotics, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis, we will adopt a hands on approach in order to demonstrate how the visual and linguistic techniques can advance our understanding of the processes of representation and communication of meaning. more...	PSIPM015	20	Semester 1
Media, Culture and Society Dissertation For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM40X	60	Semester 2
Dissertation (Mres) For students taking the MRes degrees in Public Policy and Public Management and International Public Policy and Public Management. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M30X	60	Semester 2
Public Management: Theories and Change This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public management, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of developments in public management in a variety of settings. Students who successfully complete this module will be able to demonstrate: a critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public management and organisational behaviour; familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public management; substantive knowledge of the theory and practice of the new public management; a critical understanding of public management reform in the United Kingdom and elsewhere; and familiarity with debates concerning the operation and impact of international organisations, including the EU, on public management at the national level. more...	PSIPM021	20	Semester 1
International Organisations and Public Policy The module aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the role of international organisations and their impact on public policy and public management at the domestic and international levels. Students will discuss critically the theories, models and concepts used in the analysis of international cooperation, competing perspectives in international politics and demonstrate the role they play in public policy and public management. The UN, NATO, IMF, WTO, World Bank and EU will be examined and why sovereign states decide to establish these and other international organisations. Their role in security, trade, finance, gender and environmental policy will be considered and the factors which determine their design and evolution. The extent to which their operation reflects underlying power and interest will be evaluated and the extent to which they have democratic legitimacy. more...	PSIIM006	20	Semester 2
Public Policy: Theory and Analysis This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public policy, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of public policy in a variety of settings. Students successfully completing the module will be able to demonstrate: - critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public policy - familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public policy - advanced knowledge of public policy and policy processes in a variety of national settings - familiarity with the main theories and debates relating to the operation and impact of international organisations, including the European Union, on domestic policy and policy-making processes. more...	PSIPM023	20	Semester 1
The European Union in International Affairs The module focuses on European Political Cooperation now and into the future, particularly Europe's role as an international actor. Issues include the EU and international conflicts such as the Gulf War, the Middle East and former Yugoslavia, the EU's position as one of three major economic world powers, the EU and Third World development, new considerations in European security, global environmental and energy concerns. Convergence or divergence in European political consensus is examined through these issues in an attempt to draw useful insights for the future of European Integration. more...	PSIIM010	20	Semester 2
International History of the Asia-Pacific Region This module looks at the history of the region, including the involvement of the superpowers in the politics of the cold war in Asia. Conflict in the region as well as the rise and fall of the regional powers are reviewed. The development of multipolarity and the importance of the Asia-Pacific region in the post-cold war world is also covered. The aftermath of the Second World War, the onset of the Cold War, conflict in Korea and Vietnam, the changing relationship between the US, USSR and China are covered, as is the development of Southeast Asia in the modern world. We also assess the major issues contemporary to the region. more...	PSIIM007	20	Semester 1
The Foreign Relations of China and Japan in the Modern World The module looks at the history of China and Japan from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The attempts at modernisation, conflict between the two nations, their relationships with the Asian region and the United States are covered. Their contrasting attempts to develop in the postwar period are investigated. We also assess their current policies and the issues of importance to China and Japan in the twenty first century, and assess whether they can move beyond the legacy of this difficult history. more...	PSIIM026	20	Semester 2
Political Economy of the Environment In this module, students will critically engage with mainstream political and economic assessments of environmental degradation and climate change by adopting a political economy approach. In coming to terms with these environmental threats, the module tries to reawaken a broader type of ethical, natural and social theorisation that defined an earlier political economy. This is not a module on environmental or resource economics, nor are students expected to have an economics background. Rather, this module tries to problematise social production as something much more than a series of market relations. It tries to develop a broader socio-cultural understanding of production that `de-naturalises' the way we view and exploit the natural world. more...	PSIPM022	20	Semester 2
Politics and Mass Media Working from the assumption that the mass media are an integral part of modern political life, this module examines the way in which politics is represented in the mass media and reviews critically the argument about 'bias'. It also explores the arguments around the ownership and control of mass media, the increasing use of the mass media by political parties and the changing relationship between citizens and politics engendered by new communication technologies. more...	PSIPM012	20	Semester 2
Issues in Media and Cultural Politics This module explores key issues within media and cultural politics. The module is divided into separate blocks and spread over two semesters. Each block deals with different aspects of media and cultural politics, including identity and power, communication and culture. more...	PSIPM03Y	20	Year Period
Theories of Society and Politics This module introduces students to the fundamentals of modern social and political thought by means of in-depth study of key texts by leading thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. An emphasis is placed on classical social theory and liberal political theory as well as more recent departures from those traditions. Students will have an opportunity to read and discuss major works of social theory by Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu as well as works of political theory by J S Mill, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Iris Marion Young. During the module students will also have the chance to reflect on fundamental questions about the methodologies employed by social and political theorists and on problems associated with claims to knowledge and objective truth in these fields. more...	PSIPM003	20	Semester 1
History of Political Thought: Social Contract Theory This module examines in depth selected works of political thinkers who are seminal to the Western tradition of political thought, including Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Their work will also be compared thematically, with a focus on ideas such as the social contract, political obligation, property, individual rights and freedom. The approach is analytical rather than historical and contextualist. The module's focus on the study and interpretation of key texts enables students to develop skills of textual analysis and critique. more...	PSIPM005	20	Semester 1
Theory and Practice of Policy Making in Britain This module will look at theories of policy making and relate them to recent developments in the policy process in Britain, using a case studies approach. The unit will consider some theories of decision making, such as the rational actor model, disjointed incrementalism, policy networks, bureaucratic politics. It will also examine broader issues of the relationship of power and economic forces to the decision making process. Finally, it will examine such issues as agenda setting, the importance of policy discourse and the role of ideas and belief systems in the policy making process. more...	PSIPM018	20	Semester 2
Middle East Politics This module introduces students to the government and politics of one of the most interesting and frequently misunderstood regions in world politics ' the Middle East. The module examines the evolution of the modern Middle Eastern political system over the past century. Students will acquire the skills to analyse key issues in the politics of the region, including topical events such as the preponderance of ethno-sectarian violence and the rise of Islamist movements. Other key questions include the lack of democracy in the region and the creation of rentier economies in the Gulf. more...	PSIIM030	20	Semester 2
MA in International Relations Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations based around the core unit, International Relations Theory. more...	PSIIM200	20	Semester 2
Review Paper (Mres) A research review paper of 6,000-9,000 words on a subject of your choice. more...	PSIPM04Y	20	Year Period
Multiculturalism This module looks at the responses in political theory to the rise of multicultural societies in Europe and North America since the end of World War II. The aim is to introduce students to a range of contemporary theoretical perspectives on multiculturalism and to facilitate critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competing approaches. Theorists under examination will include: Parekh, Kymlicka, Taylor and Modood as well as major liberal alternative views; Barry, Rawls and Raz. The module will combine theoretical study with analysis of practical issues/case studies surrounding multiculturalism. Among the issues to be considered are the following: models of integration, group rights, institutional racism, Islamophobia, and the Rushdie affair. The module will also consider divergent policies adopted within European states (eg, France and Germany) and give attention to the attempts to operationalise multiculturalism in the UK in particular via the Parekh Report. more...	PSIPM026	20	Semester 2
Politics and Public Affairs This module enables students to develop an advanced understanding of the theory and practice of public affairs, interest intermediation, and the strategies used by interest, advocacy groups and others to influence the political process. As well as covering the main debates in the academic literature, it draws directly on the experience of practitioners and offers unique insights into this under-studied area of politics. more...	PSIPM034	20	Semester 2
Regulation This module provides a foundation in the theory and practice of economic regulation, incorporating economic, business, legal and political science perspectives. The module is a research-led programme based on the research undertaken in the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy and assumes no previous studies of economics. more...	PSIPM028	20	Semester 2
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM020	20	Semester 2
American Foreign Policy This module will use case studies of Southeast Asia, Central America and the Middle East to explore the reasons for American interventions and to assess their success or failure. It will offer an historical understanding of the assumptions and practices which lie behind contemporary US foreign policy-making. The module will introduce students to the institutions and processes involved in the making of American foreigh policy. more...	PSIIM032	20	Semester 2
Psi Dissertation By Practice Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. The dissertation by practice allows students to demonstrate their ability to carry out a work of broadcastable journalism. more...	PSI-M60X	40	Semester 2
New Media and Society For better or worse, new digital technologies are hyped at having revolutionised society. This module will provide students with an introduction to the ways in which the internet and other digital technologies are (and are not) affecting society from theoretical and empirical perspectives, and how society shapes technology. Topics covered include: the evolution of the internet; the "network society"; regulating new media; the radical internet and terrorism; social networking, blogs and interactivity; culture and identity in the digital age; and how the internet affects politics and the media. more...	PSIPM007	20	Semester 1
Better Worlds? Utopias and Dystopias Would an ideal society have no more crime? Who would be wealthy or powerful? Would politics be outlawed? Do utopians try to impose their views on the rest of humankind? Do the flaws in human nature justify the pessimism of dystopian writers? This unit compares selected utopian and dystopian texts produced during the last six centuries. Themes will include property, social control, gender, morality and politics. Another dimension of the course is to consider the purpose of utopian thinking and the historical role of utopian ideas in social theory and social reform. more...	PSIPM002	20	Semester 2
European Union: Power, Politics and Policy This module studies the integration process in Europe. It introduces the evolution of political and economic co-operation. The main political actors and their roles are identified and the workings of the European Union as a polity assessed in the light of relevant theoretical discourses and interpretations. more...	PSIIM003	20	Semester 1
Online Journalism This module provides students a grounding in core journalism skills, with a special application to new and emerging media. Topics covered include: new forms of journalism, news sources and rich content production. Students will write and produce content for an online news platform. more...	PSIPM027	20	Semester 1
War Games: Diplomacy and Strategy in International Relations This module introduces students to some of the major issues and ideas concerning diplomacy and military strategy in International Relations. The module comprises fortnightly lectures, two screening sessions, and weekly seminars involving lengthy scenario exercises. Students will learn about the theoretical and practical challenges concerning military relations between states, including concepts such as `the security dilemma', `future uncertainty', `self help', `balancing', `deterrence', `imperial overstretch', and `humanitarian intervention'. The successful completion of this module will lead to a more nuanced understanding of war and peace in international politics. more...	PSIIM034	20	Semester 2
Media and Society This module is intended to provide all students studying media related postgraduate degrees with a broad, current and inter-disciplinary understanding of the media today. The guiding philosophy informing this module is the belief that in order properly to understand the media, whether as a lawyer, economist, development studies professional, media studies specialist or political scientist, it is essential to have a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary understanding of the modern media. What we shall be doing over the year therefore is looking at the structure of the media industry today in the UK and globally. We will consider, from several different academic perspectives, how media content is constructed, what factors and influences go to shape content and how content may be controlled and even censored. We will also look at the media industry, examining how it is currently organised and managed, what factors influence its current organisation and consider how it might develop. We will also examine how media affects people and society and consider also the assumptions that are made about the impact of the media. Finally, we will seek to draw together key aspects of modern media. more...	PSIPM09Y	40	Year Period
Studying Media This module is intended to provide an introduction to the key study skills in media and cultural studies. It will be particularly useful for students unfamiliar with the British university system and its expectations. Students will apply theoretical and methodological approaches to contemporary media texts and discuss recent scholarship on changes in the global media and cultural landscape. In addition to introducing key study skills and debates in the discipline, the workshop sessions will provide a supportive environment for critical reflection and intercultural communication. MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY STUDENTS WITH A NON-UK FIRST DEGREE ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE THIS MODULE UNLESS A WAIVER IS OBTAINED FROM THE COURSE DIRECTOR. THIS MODULE IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO STUDENTS TAKING THE MA IN MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY AND THE MA IN MEDIA AND CULTURAL POLITICS. more...	PSIPM017	20	Semester 1
International Security This module examines the study of security in the international system, through its roots in Cold War strategic studies to the development of the more broadly focused field of security studies today. The module critically analyses contemporary security issues and provides a sound theoretical base for considering practical issues of security, including new wars, intervention and terrorism. Themes are explored from theoretical perspectives and include security and the nation state, war and peace, new wars, alliances, democratic peace, securitisation, human security, the arms industry, religion and security and terrorism. more...	PSIIM020	20	Semester 2
Methods of Social Enquiry The module offers a basic training in research methods; it is aimed at students of politics, international relations and media and cultural politics. It has a qualitative and quantitative component and students are expected to complete both parts of the module. Students will be encouraged to reflect not only on the methods they use, but their methodological assumptions, as well as what it means to be part of a research community. Students will learn to evaluate methods from a number of differing philosophical perspectives. Practically they will also be supported in the devising of a research proposal, oral presentations and the analysis of datasets. more...	PSIPM019	40	Semester 1
Broadcast Journalism This 40 credit module gives students a wide and detailed grounding in all aspects of television journalism and news production. Core topics include editing, camera work, sound and interviewing. Students produce a magazine-style TV show that is built around the video reports that they shoot and edit themselves. Students work both in the studio and on location. more...	PSIPM038	40	Semester 2
MA in International Relations & European Studies Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations and European Studies based around the compulsory modules, International Relations Theory and European Union: Power, Politics and Policy. more...	PSIIM202	20	Semester 2
International Relations Theory This module will give students an essential grounding in International Relations theory, that is, the different ways we understand and predict international politics. The module is structured around the positivist/post-positivist divide and starts with classical realism and neo-realism, and liberalism and neo-liberalism. It then explores constructivism before turning to more critical theories like post-colonialism, feminism and gender studies, and Marxism. By the end of the module you will design your own IR theory. The module will be taught predominantly using lectures and seminars but will make use, where appropriate, of film and documentaries in order to explore different theoretical schools, both thematically and empirically. more...	PSIIM011	20	Semester 1
Democratic Theory This module draws on normative political theory and contemporary political science to consider how the concept of democracy has changed since it originated in ancient Greece and looks at the critiques of democracy advanced by critics and opponents especially in the 20th century. The ideas and values underpinning democracy will be interrogated and some recent solutions for today's 'democratic deficit' including electronic democracy and cosmopolitan democracy will be evaluated. more...	PSIPM010	20	Semester 2
Public Choice Public choice theory applies economic models to explain political phenomena. This module, jointly taught by lecturers from philosophy, politics and economics, studies the concepts of market failure and political failure, problems of collective action, rational choice models of democracy and bureaucracy, social choice theory, the motivation of actors in the political process, and the evolution of conventions and norms. The political context is the move from a welfare state to a market society. The emphasis is on the critical appraisal of alternative approaches to public choice and policy issues. more...	PSIPM014	20	Semester 2
Psi Dissertation For all MA students registered in PSI except those on the MA, Media, Society and Culture. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M50X	40	Semester 2
"Media, Culture and Society Dissertation" For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM20X	80	Semester 2
Politics and Popular Culture This module explores the ways in which popular culture and politics are linked. It works from the assumption that popular culture 'matters', and the key question is how it matters. Hence it examines the different ways in which, and the different theories through which, popular culture is interpreted as expressing or constituting national or sexual identity, propaganda or political insight, means of resistance or of compliance. It also considers the political economy of popular culture (especially the role of the state) and the political uses of popular culture (especially in political communication). It ends by considering the debates about the political influence of popular culture and about the 'value' of popular culture. more...	PSIPM009	20	Semester 1
Journalism: Practice and Ethics The module will demystify the closed world of the professional journalist and enable students to understand what gets into the news (and what does not), and why. It will help students develop practical skills and techniques and the knowledge of how to apply them in a professional, ethical context. Weekly practical exercises will teach them to produce good, clean, readable copy. All of this will greatly enhance the students' employability within the media industry. more...	PSIPM031	20	Semester 1
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM029	20	Semester 1
Psi Dissertation For all MA students registered on the MA in Media, Society and Culture. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M70X	60	Semester 2
International Organisations: Conflict and Development This module introduces to students the basic concepts of integration/disintegration, globalisation, regionalism and the purpose of the existence of and inter-relationship between international regional Organisations. It then goes on to examine the structure and functions of several major international organisations such as the United Nations, NATO, the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, the AU, etc, and their role in international conflict and economic development with specific case studies. A brief coverage of International Financial Institutions such as IMF, World Bank, the WTO and the G8 will complement the main areas of study above. The style of the module consists of a series of lectures/seminars, class presentations, video showings and workshops. Although this is a mostly empirically based module, students will be expected to apply International Relations and Development theories which they will be studying alongside, in their other modules, as appropriate. more...	PSIIM009	20	Semester 1
Russian Foreign Policy The module considers how far Russian foreign policy has changed since the end of the Cold War. It studies the internal and external determinants of foreign policy, looks at key policy issues and examines relations between Russia and other states and regions. more...	PSIIM008	20	Semester 2
World Politics Since 1945 This module is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the cold war and the second the post-cold war period. The module uses a series of case studies, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the break-up of Yugoslavia and the war on terror to highlight broader issues regarding the changing international political system. Diplomatic political history is the predominant discipline used on this module, but theoretical approaches are also adopted to help students understand the nature of the cold war and post-cold war systems. more...	PSIIM015	20	Semester 1

ART-M

Introduction to Cultural Heritage This module defines the concept, scope and history of 'cultural heritage'. It identifies trends in cultural heritage studies, and addresses the key ideas of heritage interpretation as well as the cultural aspects of globalisation. It encourages critical engagement with the ideas of community, national and world heritage by drawing attention to the tensions between the cultual political, legal and touristic aspects of heritage. Throughout, the module will refer closely to the interface between heritage and development studies and incorporate a range of pertinent academic disciplines and methods, which define the activities of the School of World Art Studies, and more generally, 'cultural heritage studies'. The unit is designed to provide analytical reference and departure points from the other Cultural Heritage modules and core development perspectives. This module has two major aims. The first is to provide the conceptual and research skills necessary for advanced academic study in the Humanities. The second is to develop the academic creativity, mental agility, questioning attitude and methodological rigour necessary for pursuing a career in academia or in the arts and heritage sectors. This entails considering the political, social, and ethical issues, problems and responsibilities involved in cultural interpretation. more...	ART-MC13	20	Semester 1
Unwrapping Ancient Egypt: Mummies, Museums, and Mysteries in the European Imagination Ancient Egypt is irrevocably connected with the trajectory of 'western' culture - from Renaissance Italy to revolutionary France and beyond. Focussing on the history of collecting and displaying Egyptian antiquities, including the unwrapping of mummies, this module interrogates the construction of different 'ancient Egypts' in European and North American contexts. Topics include museum displays from the 19th century to the present day; 19th century world fairs and international exhibitions; mummy unwrappings and other stagings of the Egyptian body and related artefacts; 'Egyptomania'; ancient Egypt, race, and Afrocentrism; and archaeological and artistic representations of Egypt. more...	ART-MA67	20	Semester 1
SRU Research Tutorial This semester-long module, delivered through regular tutorials, is available to those wishing to focus on a regional or theoretical interest covered by the specialisations of SRU faculty. Semester long, available either Autumn or Spring (this is an option to replace one of ART-MS01, ART-MS03 or ART-MS05). more...	ART-MS1Y	30	Year Period
Oceania Section This section of the SRU MA course provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of Pacific/Oceania, contemporary and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS03	30	Semester 1
SRU Museology Timed Essay	ART-MS06	10	Semester 2
SRU Dissertation 10000-15000 word dissertation on a topic on the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas chosen with advice from the area supervisor. more...	ART-MS0X	80	Semester 2
Africa Section This section of the SRU MA course provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of Africa, contemporary and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS01	30	Semester 1
Reforming Experience: Pictures and Perception in Sixteenth-Century Germany Protestantism postulated a truly personal relationship to the Divine. But why did this emerge in Germany, in the writings of Martin Luther? And what role was played by altarpieces, secular history paintings, portraits and prints? Are there any marked changes in how individuals were represented? Can we trace any broader impacts on how imagery was made, consumed and understood? To answer these questions, we shall draw on work by artists such as Durer and Cranach and on writings by academics such as Scribner, Baxandall, Moxey and Koerner. The broad aim is to explore what it meant to make and look at pictures in Reformation Germany, in a period of disenchantment with the image. more...	ART-MA66	20	Semester 2
City, Church and Empire: Christian Rome in the First Millennium Rome, the old capital of a world empire, lost its position as seat of imperial governance already in the 3rd century AD but by the end of antiquity had become the centre of an ecclesiastical empire. The city was transformed into a new entity now dominated by the church. In this changing urban matrix a distinctive Christian architectural practice developed. We shall analyse the principal architectural and artistic outcomes of this process from the material reorganization of the church in the time of Constantine until the age of ecclesiastical reform. We will also be considering the lived fabric of the city, on which much new light has been thrown in recent years. more...	ART-MA70	20	Semester 2
Uses of Cultural Heritage in Japan This module focuses on the question of how and why people need, create and use cultural heritage. Various factors will be examined including social, political and economic ones, with reference to examples of cultural heritage in Japan. Two characteristics of cultural heritage are stressed in particular: heritage unites and divides people. Stressing the close link between cultural heritage, memory and identity, the module aims to reveal how cultural heritage has been and is used for the making of community, nation and empire, both in global and Japanese contexts. more...	ART-MC20	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Cultural Heritage in Japan This module comprises two strands. First, it discusses the concept, scope and history of what is generally defined as 'cultural heritage' and addresses recent trends in cultural heritage studies. In this process, particular emphasis is placed on the ideas of local, national and world heritage, as well as the relations and tensions between the social, political, economic and legal aspects of heritage. Second, these theoretical perspectives will be critically evaluated through the examination of various types of cultural heritage in Japan, which include artistic, archaeological, architectural and folk heritage, as well as traditional performance, landscape and pop cultures. Incorporating a range of pertinent academic disciplines and methods, this module is designed to provide departure points for the other Cultural Heritage modules. more...	ART-MC19	20	Semester 1
Cultural Heritage and International Development: Dissertation This consists solely of a dissertation of not more than 12,000 words on a topic relevant to cultural heritage management. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the two Course Directors. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MC2X	60	Semester 2
Americas Section This section of the SRU MA provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of the Americas, ancient and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS05	30	Semester 1
Climate Change in Prehistory This module attempts to link climatic and cultural change date back at least as far as the oasis theory of V. Gordon Childe in the early twentieth century. In recent years, the identification of episodes of 'rapid climate change' that coincide with cultural changes, have led to considerable interest in the likelihood of possible links. Other studies have identified potential correlations between climate change and the growth of social complexity. While such links remain contested, a growing body of evidence indicates that key periods of cultural transition have often coincided with periods of climatic and environmental change, particularly periods associated with climatic deterioration associated with increases in resource scarcity or environmental uncertainty. A period of particular interest in this regard is the Middle Holocene, which a large body of evidence suggests was a period of widespread climatic disruption and reorganisation. This MA module will go beyond simple narratives that attempt to link climate change with cultural discontinuities or increasing complexity, and instead, will examine the evidence (or lack thereof) for relationships between climatic, environmental and cultural change in a number of study areas in the wider Mediterranean region, including North Africa and the Sahara, the northern and southern Levant, and southeastern Europe (including Cyprus). more...	ART-MA42	20	Semester 2
Exhibition Project This module introduces the methods and professional skills of exhibition planning, delivered through a combination of seminars, workshops and practical project-work. Areas covered include concept development, negotiation of contracts and loans, budgeting, layout design, installation management and related programming. Students collectively develop an exhibition project at a museum or cultural site in Norwich, from idea through to production. In addition to this, they work on an individual proposal aligned with their own research interests for on-line publication. more...	ART-MU9Y	20	Year Period
Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies: Dissertation This consists of a dissertation of no more than 12,000 words on a topic relevant to the practice and theory of cultural heritage and/or museums. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the Course Director. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MC3X	60	Semester 2
Cultural Heritage Placement This module provides students with practical heritage management experience, consisting of a two to three week work placement with an appropriate heritage organisation (organised and funded by the student). Assessment consists of a substantial management plan (or project report, subject in consultation with the Course Director), which gives students the experience of analyzing their host institution and producing a professional-standard report. Students will be required to complete their placement successfully to gain credit for this module. more...	ART-MC22	40	Semester 2
Museum Studies (Placement) Students on the MA in Museum Studies undertake a work placement for two days each week from October until May, with the exception of university vacation periods. Students will work on a voluntary basis in a regional museum within daily travelling distance of the University. They are allocated to museums on the basis of their emerging professional interests and aspirations, academic background and, from a practical point of view, their mobility. Each student undertakes a project agreed with their hosts. Assessment consists of a substantial management plan (or Project Report, Subject to consultation with the Course Director), which gives students the experience of analyzing their host institution and producing a professional-standard report. more...	ART-MM1Y	40	Year Period
Museum Studies: Dissertation This consists of a dissertation of no more than 8,000 words on a topic relevant to the practice and theory of museums. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the Course Director. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MM1X	60	Semester 2
Art and Patronage in East Anglia 1090-1540 Norfolk and Suffolk were two of the richest counties in England in the Middle Ages. They have remained relatively unaffected by subsequent industrialisation and retain very rich resources for the study of art and architecture from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. The region thus offers an exemplary focus for learning about medieval art and architecture and ample opportunities for developing research projects. more...	ART-MA64	20	Semester 2
The Archive Conventionally seen as a technology for the storage of documents, contemporary artists and authors have recently redefined the archive to encompass the entire range of institutions in which the traces of our past are stored. The archive denotes a conceptual space of past utterances collected, curated and stored for future use and as the repository of our knowledge it constitutes the site from which we speak. In this seminar, we will address the archive from a range of texts, media and disciplines in order to examine how the archive authorizes, as Derrida claims. The concept of the archive invites us to raise questions about documents and monuments, authority and truth, memory and forgetting. We will look at the work of contemporary artists Andy Warhol, Susan Hiller, Christian Boltanski, Gerhard Richter, Doris Salcedo and the Atlas Group and we will view movies such as The Specialist (1999) and Incendies (2011) and ask how they conceptualise archival memory. more...	ART-MA48	20	Semester 2
Museums and Heritage: Interpretation, Access, Engagement Museums and cultural heritage institutions share a common set of practices in relation to their public presentation. This module focuses on the role of interpretation in cultural institutions, and vice versa. We will consider how museums and heritage sites engage with their audiences, and who these audiences are. Access, understood in its broadest sense, involves all facets of work in the cultural sector, but presents unique issues as well, which we examine in relation to vocational skills as well as topical research and debates more...	ART-MC24	20	Semester 2
Art, Space and Place: 1960-1980 In the 1960s new trends of art practice emerged which reconsidered the status of the work of art. As Dennis Oppenheim observed, artists began to explore 'new ways to work within old bounds' by challenging the role of the gallery. Oppenheim saw this as a move 'from object to place'. Yet this did not mean that artists simply abandoned the gallery; instead, they sought to test its limits. This testing of the gallery space and the values it perpetuated is now identified as 'institutional critique'. A second trend was a movement beyond the gallery to explore the 'site specific'. This module examines these trends, and the reasons why they are fundamental to an understanding of contemporary art practice. more...	ART-MA52	20	Semester 2
Museum Studies (Fellowship) Each year, up to four bursary-funded year-long Training Fellowships at the SCVA are available, on a competetive basis, to people who have already confirmed their acceptance of a place on the MA in Museum Studies. For students on the MA in Museum Studies who are in reciept of a Museum Training Fellowship, which provides a year-long work placement at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA), this module is the equivalent of ART-MM1Y more...	ART-MM2Y	40	Year Period
Museums and Heritage: Management, Governance, Strategies Museums and cultural heritage institutions share a common framework of management and organisational structures. This module explores institutional issues such as governance, legal responsibilities, policy frameworks, project management and funding, and ethics. Teaching includes a number of guest speakers drawn from the professional sector, plus site visits or excursions. The module places the development of job-specific skills in the context of current academic research and the political and economic climate. more...	ART-MC23	20	Semester 1
Researching Art History This module has two major aims. Firstly, it provides you with the conceptual and research skills necessary for the advanced academic study of art from historical, cultural and environmental perspectives. Secondly it helps you develop the academic creativity, mental agility, questioning attitude and methodological rigour needed for pursuing innovative research. Amongst other things, this involves the critical examination and evaluation of how artefacts and buidlings are interpreted. The module is designed to help you to analyse and work constructively with a range of approaches to art history and is taken by all students reading for the MA in History of Art. It provides an opportunity to explore European art as part of a world wide phenomenon and to theorise how art in particular places developed in distinctive ways. This includes exploring the relationship between history, art, culture and the environment (resources, climate and topography). Both written assignments for the module giving you the opportunity to pursue your own interests as well as discussing and reading around issues raised inthe module as a whole. Key themes include: the nature of intellectual creativity; the conceptual and practical skills necessary to formulate viable research projects; various styles of academic writing; academic team-work; the different perspectives involved in the study of artefacts; the interpretative process and its implications. Key themes include: the nature of intellectual creativity; the conceptual and practical skills necessary to formulate viable resarch projects; various styles of academic writing; academic team-work; the different perspectives involved in the study of artefacts; the interpretative process and its implications. more...	ART-MA71	40	Semester 1
Critical Perspectives in Museum Studies This module provides an introduction to the history and theory of museums, from the origins and inception of the nineteenth century public museum to postmodern and contemporary paradigms. It also explores the vast array of perspectives that have been recently integrated in the study of museums, resulting in a new interdisciplinary area of scholarship known as museum studies, in plural. Using targeted readings and specific case studies, students will engage with contemporary debates about collecting and display, memory and commemoration, institutional ethics and social advocacy, the agency of the audience and the changes brought about by digital culture. While learning to analyze key sources, students will also be encouraged to think critically about the larger implications of these ideas in museum practice and challenge current assumptions about the role of museums, their social responsibilities and their possible futures. more...	ART-MU01	20	Semester 1
Uses of Cultural Heritage While we are currently experiencing a 'heritage fever', resulting in frantic attempts to identify, classify, preserve, and interpret our cultural heritage, the question as to why we are so obsessed with heritage requires examination. While the preservation of cultural heritage perhaps seems primarily of an aesthetic nature, critical studies have revealed heritage conservation to be part of the making of nations and empires, hence intrinsic to processes of nationalism and colonialism. This module deconstructs some of these roles and functions of cultural heritage Yet, in the current heritage revival we can discern other engagements with cultural heritage that may be understood as part of a politics of self-realisation. Heritage can thus contribute to overcome the legacies of slavery, colonialism and civic conflict, thus restoring dignity and providing recognition. Moreover, heritage can provide migrants with 'roots' and create a sense of place in a globalising world. This seminar examines how heritage is used in an attempt to use 'cultural as cure' and therefore looks at what can be called, for want of a better term, 'heritage healing. more...	ART-MC12	20	Semester 2
Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	ART-MA2X	80	Semester 2
Exhibiting Empire This module aims to address those aspects of imperialism and cultural representation that have become the focus of studies in critical museology, anthropology and art history in the past decades. Drawing on and assessing analytical approaches fashioned in post-colonial studies, the module will enable you to debate the visual and material cultures of empire. You will be encouraged to approach historical material within a comparative framework. Through the use of wide ranging historiical, cultural and theoretical case-studies we will develop a committed approach to investigations of the entangled and contested nature of imperial representations. Whilst some of these studies will relate to the British East India Company and the Raj in India, others will draw attention to the processes of empire-building, colonisation and de-colonisation in other global contexts. Issues and debates in studies of visual culture and material culture will be linked directly to histories of collection and display in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, encompassing the Great Exhibition, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Indian Museum, and various other national and international institutions. While intended for art history students, the module may also be of interest to students of cultural geography and history, as it will bring in related themes, such as 'centre/periphery' relations, the global south, knowledge networks and subaltern studies, and this may also allow students of art-related fields to operate and interact in wider disciplinary contexts. more...	ART-MA60	20	Semester 2
Rethinking Romanticism: Art in Britain, 1760-1830 This module traces the visual construction of the 'sensible' and sentimental human subject, that man, woman or child of feeling who emerged (through novels, plays, social practice and art itself) within late eighteenth-century British culture. Out of the ashes of an earlier model of socialised 'politeness', and in the wake of Britain's commercialisation and its radical revision of class and gender identities, new forms of subjectivity were formulated in which interiority, imagination, innate responsiveness and originality were given unprecedented attention. Furthermore, Britain's increasing involvement with cultures outside Europe and with the business of imperialism meant that the possibility of cross-cultural and pan-human subjectivities were evaluated alongside that of 'Britishness' itself. Tears, embraces, passions and groans became - along with visions and nightmares - the signs of inner capacity of raw responsiveness with which the properly human subject was evaluated within British culture. In turn, cruelty, violence and horror entered the British cultural imaginary with spectacular vigour during this period. Through the representation of such types as the doting mother, the desperate slave, the heartless bandit and the artistic genius, the relationship between 'nature' and 'refinement', between the raw and the cultivated, was complicated and reconfigured by late eighteenth-century subjects. The visual arts played a crucial role in shaping these subjectivities and were themselves substantially shaped by that process in turn, not least through the expectations of sensibility, sentimental narrative and aesthetic innovation that contemporary viewers (including the new professional type, the critic) often brought to art. Analysing paintings, drawings and sculpture by artists such as Joseph Wright of Derby, Benjamin West, Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, JMW Turner and Willaim Blake, we will look at portraiture, history and landscape painting, the 'fancy' picture and sentimental genre imagery as well as funerary monuments and graphic satire. In so doing, we will draw on a range of recent art-historical and theoretical texts in order to think again about the meanings of 'the Gothic' and 'romanticism' and to remap the relationship between art and subjectivities on the threshold of modernity. more...	ART-MA59	20	Semester 1

Year 2

Compulsory Study (100 credits)

Students will select 100 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
American Studies Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM03X	90	Semester 2
Research and Methodology Training Seminar This module is run over two semesters. The Autumn and Spring semester element of the training requires attendance and active engagement at the School research seminars which are run on a weekly basis. In addition, during the Spring semester students will take a half-module concerned with preparation for writing their dissertations over the Summer. Students will present their dissertation proposal at the last of the School's research seminars in the Spring Semester. Assessment will be based on a reflective report, written at the end of the autumn semester, concerning the research seminars students have attended. The spring semester will be assessed through presentation and submission of the dissertation proposal. more...	AMSAM02Y	10	Year Period

Option A Study (40 credits)

Students will select 40 credits from the following module(s).

Name

Code

Credits

Period

Body Spaces

AMSAM043

Semester 1

Civil Rights and American Politics

AMSAM029

Semester 1

Creativity and Development in Film and Television Production

FTVFM058

Semester 2

Effects, Audiences and the Media

FTVFM046

Semester 2

Film and Television Production

FTVFM041

Semester 1

Film Studies: History, Theory, Criticism

FTVFM023

Semester 1

Good Good Girls and Good Bad Boys? American Fictions of Innocence

AMSAM022

Semester 2

Japanese Film: National Cinema and Beyond

FTVFM032

Semester 2

Music, Media, Society

FTVFM062

Semester 2

Queering America

AMSAM033

Semester 1

Reading American Women's Lives: Her-Story in the Long Nineteenth Century

AMSAM042

Semester 2

Slave Life in the Antebellum South

AMSAM011

Semester 1

Studying Media

FTVFM029

Semester 1

The 20th Century Novel

AMSAM017

Semester 1

The Big Picture: Contemporary Hollywood Cinema

FTVFM015

Semester 1

The Black Atlantic

AMSAM018

Semester 2

The Dirty South: Reading Southern Cultures

AMSAM038

Semester 2

The Imperial Origins of the US and Canada

AMSAM044

Semester 2

Women and Film

FTVFM060

Semester 2

You may also pick any of the modules that begin with:

AMS

Modern Times: America Between the Wars, 1918-1941 "Modern Times" explores the turbulent years of boom and bust between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. The work includes consideration of the growth of modern urban mass culture, the impact of the Russian Revolution upon US politics, life during the Great Depression, the significance of the New Deal and American perspectives on the rise of Fascism in Europe. The political and social ideas of the era are a key focus of the work and students will investigate the reactionary politics of the Ku Klux Klan, the radical "Popular Front" of the Communist Party, the populist challenge of "Kingfish" Huey P. Long and, of course, the Democratic Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. more...	AMSA2H38	20	Semester 2
The Dirty South: Reading Southern Cultures In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Shreve McCannon asks his Harvard roomate, Mississippian Quentin Compson, to "Tell about the South": "What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all." In this module, we will explore the contrasting ways that those questions have been answered - and, indeed, still continue to be answered - by Southerners and others. Reading widely in Southern literature, we will witness the emergence of a distinct Southern literary identity in the years before the Civil War; consider the effect of slavery on the development of Southern letters; encounter, through Reconstruction and beyond, the effects of defeat, liberation and memory; meet the flowering of the Southern Renaissance; and trace the development of Southern writing through the Civil Rights Era and beyond, up to the present day. But we will also consider a variety of other Southern cultures - music, particularly, from country to hip-hop, but also film and television - and think about the ongoing representations of the South by outsiders. And throughout, we will question the shifting meaning of "the South", and consider its persistent significance in the twenty-first century. more...	AMSAM038	20	Semester 2
American Gothic This module is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L62 AMERICAN GOTHIC and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3L68	20	Semester 2
Mark Twain and the Gilded Age This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L20 MARK TWAIN AND THE GILDED AGE and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3L22	20	Semester 2
The Literary 1960s This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L23 THE LITERARY 1960s and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3L25	20	Semester 1
The Great Society: America From Jfk & Lbj to Nixon, 1960-74 This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3H01 THE GREAT SOCIETY: AMERICA FROM JFK and LBJ TO NIXON, 1960-1974 and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3H03	20	Semester 1
Reading Cultures Ii: Ideas and Ideologies The module develops and expands the research methods, writing skills, and oral skills acquired in Reading Cultures I: American Icons. By continuing the exploration of contemporary American culture and introducing cultural and critical theory as a means to engage with current ideas and ideologies circulating around American cultural icons, the module will encourage exploration of America's changing position in the world. The module is intended to further facilitate skills in reading, writing, analysis, synthesis, independent thinking, and confidence as self-supporting learners in order to provide a strong foundation for work at levels 2 and 3. more...	AMSA1F18	20	Semester 2
The American Body This module reads the changing values, presentations and representations of the body that move through and construct American culture. This module will involve pairing theoretical perspectives with current and historical ideas of the body to allow us to interrogate intellectual and popular meanings assigned to and played out through the body, reading particular moments in American writing, art, photography and popular forms for the things they might tell us about corporality and self presentation, but also about the wider structures of the social and cultural environment. We will engage with canonical debates about race, gender, sexuality and ideas of `representation', but also with categories that cut across and through these modes of reading ' with the normal and the ideal, ideas of illness and wellness, ability and disability, of the organic and the machine, of the body under servitude, or under punishment, and with the whole idea of embodiment in itself. This module ' like all other modules at this level - requires a substantial, regular, reading commitment. more...	AMSA3S30	30	Semester 2
Tales of the Jazz Age This module examines American prose of the 1920s in the context of the Jazz Age. American literature of the 20s is often conflated with modernism, or the expatriate experience, or the Harlem Renaissance; this module will consider 1920s writing in the context of the market and the rise of professional authorship, anxieties about imitation and the middlebrow and conformism, and the pressures of commercial success on fiction. It will draw on reception studies and the influence of publication formats (mass-market magazines, serial publication, the burgeoning market for film adaptations). Texts will be drawn from a mix of 'high' and 'low.' After considering the pressures of commercialism on the publication of The Waste Land, texts could include the short stories of Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby, Babbitt, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Winesburg, Ohio, Glimpses of the Moon, and Manhattan Transfer. Students will also be expected to research journalism of the day, such as The New Yorker and the New York Times, which have accessible online archives. more...	AMSA3L31	30	Semester 1
Living On the Hyphen: Cuban America Since the mid nineteenth century Cuban nationals have been exiled in the United States and created a body of literature alerting the reader to the specifically transnational nature of Cuban identity. Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the concomitant political, economic and cultural isolation of the island, the case of Cuba and Cuban exiles in the USA has been seen to be an exceptional and singular phenomenon with few commonalities with other ethnic groups in the United States. Moving beyond a nation-based model and utilising a transnational theoretical framework this course looks at contemporary Cuban and Cuban-American literature and film from both on and off the island in order to reconceptualise the relationship between the island and its exiles, analysing the evolution of the Cuban exile life and the ways in which questions of exile, return, family, belonging, identity, language and memory are explored and how they differ from previous generations for a variety of political, historical, sociological and ideological reasons (to be explored). more...	AMSA2L15	20	Semester 1
Contemporary US Foreign Policy and International Affairs The aim of this module is to introduce students to issues in recent American foreign policy for the most part since the end of the Cold War, though with some reference where appropriate to earlier periods and events. We also examine institutional and political processes in policy-making. The module draws on the disciplines of history, political science and international relations to develop historical awareness along with an understanding of the workings of American political institutions in their international context. more...	AMSA2H41	20	Semester 1
The Great Society: America From Jfk & Lbj to Nixon, 1960-74 This module follows the American story from 1960-1974, from the promise and tragedy of JFK's Camelot, through the achievements and frustrations of LBJ's Great Society, to the period of adjustment ' and disillusionment ' during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and the era of Watergate. The work covers the key political events of a period that saw a defining struggle between liberalism and conservatism ' one which continues to resonate to this day. In part it focuses upon the politicians who helped define the era ' such as Bobby Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, and George Wallace as well as the Presidents. But consideration is not confined to Washington politics: we will look at popular protest, from the Civil Rights movement and Black Power to the New Left, the peace movement, women's liberation, and Stonewall. We consider the war on poverty, the politics of race, the emergence of a new environmental awareness, the questioning of gender, and the sexual revolution. In addition, the unit includes discussion of the continuing significance of the Cold War, not least in respect of Vietnam and the Space Race. Students are also invited to consider the ways in which the dramatic changes and conflicts of the era shaped American culture, especially movies, music, art, and literature more...	AMSA3H01	30	Semester 1
American Women Writers of the Twentieth Century This module surveys the prose of some of the twentieth century's most important American women writers, writers who (or whose 'other' works) tend to disappear from reading lists that include books by women only out of duty. Along the way we will seek to interrogate the terms with which we begin: American, women and prose. Assuming that biology does not define literature, we will instead seek to understand the social pressures on these women writers, and their responses to them, in an effort to maintain the specificity, diversity and range of these women's literary pursuits. more...	AMSA2L63	20	Semester 1
American Drama 1970-Present This module will be concerned with exploring the work of American dramatists in the context of the social, political and cultural life of the country. In particular, it will give attention to the work of new women and African-American writers as well as to that of established dramatists. more...	AMSA3L19	30	Semester 1
First Peoples, Colonizers and the USA This is a two-semester, 60 credit module that aims to provide students with specialised knowledge of American Indian history up to the present day. The first semester will follow a chronological sequence and the second semester will be organised around topics. We will be combining the methodologies of History (with a focus on analysing change over time), Anthropology (with its concern with social structures and values) and American Studies (with its focus on deconstructing cultural representations and identities). By evaluating the developing historiography of American Indian history, students will learn about changing issues and concepts in the historical debate. Primary sources will be used throughout both semesters. A range of different types of texts will be analysed and students will learn techniques appropriate for interrogating them. On their own and in groups, students in this module will work with an increasing level of independence. In the second semester, they will work in groups to introduce different weekly topics and everyone will be given the opportunity to write a research project on a topic of his/her own choosing. more...	AMSA3H7Y	60	Year Period
Contemporary American Fiction The purpose of this module is to expose students to a range of prose works by important contemporary American writers. In particular, we will be concerned with some of the key concepts associated with contemporary American fiction, including the definition of the contemporary: postmodernism; metafiction; historiography; postcolonialism; and memory. more...	AMSA2L78	20	Semester 2
American Gothic American fiction began in the period of the European Gothic novel, which thus marked the American tradition from the first. In this seminar module we will establish the meaning of gothic conventions and consider their persisting effects in American fiction. more...	AMSA3L62	30	Semester 2
Creative Writing-Fiction In this course you will write original works of fiction and present them to your peers for feedback in a workshop environment. The instructor will guide you in critiquing your peers' writing, and advise you as you work your way through the drafting process. This module is only available to students on U1T7W8401 American Literature with Creative Writing and U1T7WV301 American Literature with Creative Writing (3 year). more...	AMSA3L66	30	Semester 2
Multi-Ethnic American Writing America has long been interpreted as the location of social possibility founded upon a desire to assimilate and negate ethnic 'others'. This module traces the literary responses of four distinct 'American' cultures: Native American; African American; Asian American; and Mexican American. Each group of texts engage with the specific historical, cultural and political relationships between the US and each author's country of origin or national/cultural history, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include race and racism, colonisation, imperialism, slavery, segregation, immigration, and illegality/invisibility, with an emphasis upon contemporary experiences. more...	AMSA3L12	30	Semester 2
American Studies Year Abroad A year spent at an American university taking an approved course of study. Restricted to students on 4 year American Studies programmes. For students on programmes:U1T700401, U1TQ73401, U1TW76401, U1T7W8401, U1V238401, U1V2L2401, U1TW76401. more...	AMSA2Y1Y	120	Year Period
American Studies Semester Abroad: America A semester spent at an American university taking an approved course of study. Restricted to students on American Studies 4 year programmes. more...	AMSA2Y03	60	Semester 1
American Autobiography This module examines the fascination of American literature with questions of selfhood, identity and autobiography. Opening sessions of the module will look at ways in which the very idea of America and its literature emerges from early-national attempts to 'write the self' and discuss changing theories of selfhood, identity and individuality as they are played out in America's historical development from colony, to nation, to postmodern superpower. Subsequent sessions will focus on specific texts of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries which engage questions of selfhood in order to define, maintain and develop an idea of what being an American might mean. more...	AMSA3L07	30	Semester 1
Creative Writing and Identity: Tutorial Unit This Autumn semester module is dedicated to incoming members of the American Literature with Creative Writing programme. They will meet with a tutor to explore the relationship between writing and identity. This may raise issues of race, class, or gender: of sexuality: of place (local, regional, national, global): of ethnicity or religion: and of memory or history, among others. Students should expect writing workshops, and that they may variously encounter the writing of either fiction or non-fiction, or of both. Genre will be determined by the tutor. This module is only available to students on U1T7W8401 and is not available to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA1F13	20	Semester 1
America and Vietnam This module examines the involvement of the United States in Vietnam, from the Second World War to the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. Focusing on the main period of US entanglement, 1963-1973, it uses documents, historical studies, film, and literary texts to illuminate the American experience in Vietnam and its domestic repercussions. more...	AMSA2H01	20	Semester 1
American Music The first book published in the New World was a hymn book. Music, sacred and profane, has been at the centre of American lives ever since. Accordingly, this module will explore the history of American music - but it will also examine the way that its development tells a larger story. Focusing largely on the vernacular musical traditions we will encounter a wide range of musical styles and musicians, each of which has something vital to tell us about the shaping of America. After all, as Plato knew, "When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake." more...	AMSA2S45	20	Semester 1
American Studies Semester Abroad: Australia A semester spent at an Australian university taking an approved course of study. Restricted to students on 4 year programmes. more...	AMSA2Y02	60	Semester 2
Gender and Sexuality in the New Republic This module examines the social construction of gender and sexuality within the United States during the period 1789-1861. It will trace the emerging gendered discourses of the post-revolutionary period, and address their significance to the formation of an American identity during this period. It will also focus upon the ways in which discourses of gender and sexuality interacted with those of race, class and ethnicity. A particular focus will be placed on the competing and contradictory identities that emerged in the northern and southern states, and the course will explore the possible reasons for, and consequences of these differences. more...	AMSA2H06	20	Semester 2
American Autobiography This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L07 AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3L13	20	Semester 1
American Drama 1970-Present This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L19 AMERICAN DRAMA 1970-PRESENT and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3L21	20	Semester 1
American Masculinities This interdisciplinary module will examine how national identity and white masculinity are entwined in a conflicting discourse of hegemonic and challenging narratives in the US. It will focus on a specific construction of white masculinity as it has become embedded and legitimized as the normative national identity against which all others are subordinated. The module will examine gender discourses that radically challenge this accepted link between masculinity, whiteness and national identity. more...	AMSA2S02	20	Semester 2
The 20th Century Novel This module emphasizes close reading, and exposure to some of the masterpieces of 20th century American prose fiction, over theoretical paradigms or a great deal of critical reading. Each week we will discuss a significant 20th century American novel (and author) in depth, coming to grips with their primary themes, structures, and techniques. However, many of our books have a solid body of scholarship associated with them with which you should also certainly expect to familiarize yourself, and each week's reading will include a required scholarly essay, which will be selected by your classmates for their presentation. more...	AMSAM017	20	Semester 1
Multi-Ethnic American Writing This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3L12 MULTI-ETHNIC AMERICAN WRITING and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3L16	20	Semester 2
American Studies Year Abroad Dissertation Final year dissertation involving research into a specific issue or topic in American culture, society, history or literature. Restricted to students on the 4 year American Studies degree programmes. Topics will already have been approved on the basis of dissertation proposals submitted during the year abroad. more...	AMSA3Y05	30	Semester 1
Native American Writing and Film This module considers Native American writing and film as sites of cultural and political resistance, analysing the ways in which a diverse range of Native authors, screenwriters and directors within the United States respond to contemporary tribal socio-economic and political conditions. Taking popular ideas of 'the Indian', this module considers the ways in which stereotypes and audience expectations are subverted and challenged. Topics include race and racism, indigeneity, identity, culture, gender, genre, land and notions of 'home', community, dialogue, postcolonial theory in its application to those who remain colonised, and political issues such as human rights and environmental racism. more...	AMSA3S02	30	Semester 2
The Literary 1960s When thinking of the sixties, literature, in general, is not what immediately springs to mind - pushed, as it is, to the background of music and the counterculture. Yet the decade brought about many profound changes in the paradigms of literature. Amongst such changes was the proliferation of metafiction as a narrative response to both the 'exhaustion' of literature in the light of the period's dramatic events, and to the new literary and philosophical developments in critical theory (poststructuralism). There was also the emergence of two 'new' genres: new journalism, and the non-fiction novel. This module is an examination of literary responses to the many changes and challenges brought about in this decade. It will discuss whether literature simply recoiled into solipsistic abstraction or whether it was a motivating force in the general struggle to conceptualize a `new' or countercultural American consciousness. more...	AMSA3L23	30	Semester 1
The American Body This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S30 THE AMERICAN BODY and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3S32	20	Semester 2
Mark Twain and the Gilded Age According to William Faulkner, Mark Twain was 'the first truly American writer ['] the father of American literature.' This module will test such paternity claims and examine their wider ramifications. We will explore Twain's writing, his relationship to the Gilded Age, his contemporaries, and his influence on later American writers. As both author and man, Twain contained multitudes. Few writers have straddled so many genres and styles, and few Americans have embodied so many of the nation's animating forces and tensions. He was, as his friend William Dean Howells felt, 'incomparable', and this module is an opportunity for significant reading and research into his life, work and beyond. more...	AMSA3L20	30	Semester 2
Tales of the Jazz Age This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L31 TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3L33	20	Semester 1
Theories of American Culture This Core Autumn module introduces students to key theories in American Studies. As American Studies is an interdisciplinary field, we require all MA students in our School, whether focusing upon American History, American Literature, Film and American Studies, or American Studies, to familiarize themselves with foundational concepts in the field. The reading list will vary, but will generally have a week of introduction followed by three weeks on literary and textual theory, three weeks on historiography, and three weeks on visual culture and film theory. The aim of the module is to ensure that all students are comfortable with the basic theoretical tools necessary to advanced study in American cultural studies of all varieties. more...	AMSAM009	20	Semester 1
Native Americans This seminar will study Native Americans within the broad context of American history, although the cultures of individual tribes will also be examined. Brief attention will be paid to pre-colonial times, but the main emphasis will be on the period after the white man's arrival. more...	AMSA2H15	20	Semester 1
Research and Methodology Training Seminar This module is run over two semesters. The Autumn and Spring semester element of the training requires attendance and active engagement at the School research seminars which are run on a weekly basis. In addition, during the Spring semester students will take a half-module concerned with preparation for writing their dissertations over the Summer. Students will present their dissertation proposal at the last of the School's research seminars in the Spring Semester. Assessment will be based on a reflective report, written at the end of the autumn semester, concerning the research seminars students have attended. The spring semester will be assessed through presentation and submission of the dissertation proposal. more...	AMSAM02Y	10	Year Period
Writing and New Media in Early America This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L28 WRITING AND NEW MEDIA IN EARLY AMERICA and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3L30	20	Semester 2
New York City: History and Culture in the 20th Century This module will explore the history and culture of New York City in the 20th century. The readings, lectures, and discussions will concentrate on ethnic identity, the civil rights movement, public art, political and social conflict, urban development, film, architecture, and literature. The course will also examine why New Yorkers pay inordinate attention to their neighbourhoods and how this emphasis on place has racial and ethnic implications. more...	AMSA2H10	20	Semester 2
Reading American Women's Lives: Her-Story in the Long Nineteenth Century The module will be structured around eight biographies of different women spanning the Revolutionary and early National period through to the late nineteenth century. The biographies under discussion will include the revolutionary Jane Adams, midwife Martha Ballard, mill girl Eunice Connolly, true women turned plantation mistress Sarah Hicks Williams, women's right activist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, the two 'first ladies' of the Civil War era Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Davis reflecting on their experiences in the historical and cultural context in which they lived. The seminars will reflect on the historical conditions that shaped these women's lives and consider the ways in which they negotiated the dominant ideals of the era. The concepts of race, class, region, and age will be considered alongside gender as primary factors that structured these women's experiences, in addition to considering factors such as spousal relationships, the growing ideal of romantic love, the sentimentalisation of women's roles in domestic fiction and wider society, and the developing structures of familial relationships. Biographical materials will be supplemented by historical scholarship and visual media including portraits, pictures, and film. more...	AMSAM042	20	Semester 2
Queering America This is a module that engages with queer theory and its inherent complexities in order to read American Studies `across the grain,' to explore the silences and those silenced in accepted readings of America. The module will both scrutinize and utilize the polyphony of theoretical discourses that constitute queer theory's most often (deliberate) discordant approach so as to open-up the liminal spaces in America ' those cities of night to evoke John Rechy's novel on such liminality. The module is not simply an examination of homosexuality in America, but an examination of alterity in its many different forms, and how this alterity conceptualises America in ways that problematize our immediate understanding of the nation. more...	AMSAM033	20	Semester 1
Adolescence in American Culture Post-1950 This module will suggest that there is a preoccupation with adolescence in postwar and contemporary American culture, and will explore why this is the case. It will do so by introducing students to representations of adolescence in various disciplines, focusing particularly on literature, film, psychoanalysis and cultural studies. Questions to be explored will include: What is 'American' about adolescence? How do representations of adolescence vary according to factors such as gender, race and region? Is there a particular discipline or artistic form which is especially suited to depictions of adolescence? more...	AMSA2S53	20	Semester 1
Place, Race and Space: American Migration and Citizenship This module will examine the contradictions of place-making, spatial mobility, and citizenship in the Americas by looking at the movement and settlement of immigrants and migrants since the 1870s. Although the concepts of place-making and spatial mobility appear to be contradictory, immigrants and migrants in their quest to find a home, move across regions, borders, and continents. Their ability to settle in certain places, depends on the economic and cultural conditions that prevail in the host locality and on the political-economic structure of the host society. Citizenship becomes an important variable in this process, because non-citizens are more vulnerable to social, political, and economic changes. more...	AMSA3S11	30	Semester 1
The Rising Tide of the Transpacific This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L35 THE RISING TIDE OF THE TRANSPACIFIC and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3L37	20	Semester 1
US Interventionism, the Cia and Covert Action The covert activities of the CIA represent arguably the most notorious face of US foreign relations. Yet to what extent is clandestine American interventionism consistent with official overt policies? And how do we come to understand covert action campaigns? This module will introduce the main conceptual and historic debates relevant to the analysis of covert action as a tool of US foreign relations. In so doing it will consider the institutions and processes behind covert action, especially the role of the CIA. It also considers the mediums that narrate and explain American covert action. This will provide a fuller and richer understanding of the United States' place in the international system since World War II, its relationship to other states and non-state actors, and discussions about American identity and the nation's role in the world. more...	AMSA3H26	30	Semester 2
Slave Life in the Antebellum South While popular representations of New World slavery range from the dehumanized slave body to the romanticisation of enslaved life, scholarly work over the last few decades has sharpened our understanding of what it meant to be an enslaved man, woman and child in the context of Atlantic slavery. This module concerns the lived experiences of the enslaved in the slaveholding south. It is structured around the cultural histories of the lives and will consider how concepts such as race, class, gender, and sexuality interacted and were articulated in this particular historical context. Concepts of power and resistance will also be central to the discussion, as both enslaver and enslaved negotiated the limits of control in their own lives and those of others. The module will employ a variety of source materials including slave narratives, folklore tales, work-songs, and fictional representations of slavery in order to try and fully reveal the complexities of enslaved life. more...	AMSAM011	20	Semester 1
19th Century American Writing This module aims to build on and develop your knowledge of the range of American literature in the nineteenth century. We will consider the rise of a distinctly American literary tradition in modes like realism, the gothic, romanticism, naturalism and the detective story, looking to make new connections both among writers and between literature and such larger issues as slavery, economics and feminism. more...	AMSA2L59	20	Semester 1
Civil Rights and American Politics This module offers an in-depth exploration of the history of the Civil Rights movement in the years after World War II. It delves into the rich and ever growing historiography of the subject to take in, among other things, the southern freedom movement and Martin Luther King, Jr; the life and times of Malcolm X; Black Power politics and culture; the political controversies surrounding Lyndon B. Johnson's attempt to mobilize the federal government behind the cause of black equality; the 'long, hot summers' of urban riots, 1964-1968; and the still contested legacy of this most turbulent period of American history. more...	AMSAM029	20	Semester 1
The Cold War and American Culture This module explores the way in which American society and culture was shaped during the years of the Cold War, the tense standoff between the two 'superpowers' between the end of World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work includes consideration of the key events, issues, and concepts in the history of the Cold War, from the division of Europe and the Marshall Plan, the emergence of the Truman Doctrine, the impact of the Chinese Revolution, through the Cuban missile crisis, the period of detente in the 1970s and the chilling of US-Soviet relations during the 'second Cold War' of the early 1980s. Particular attention is given to the impact of those events in the USA, upon the ways in which Cold War anxieties were represented ' and, also, the ways in which anxieties about American society became meshed in the Cold War. Discussion will range across issues from the bomb and the space race to the family, gender, and race. Throughout, particular use will be made of visual sources and film. more...	AMSA2H44	20	Semester 2
Writing and New Media in Early America Contemporary life is dominated by emergent media forms and new means of apprehending reality. But how unprecedented is this? American culture from the Colonial period through the nineteenth-century also witnessed the escalating influence of various forms of `media': an explosion of magazines and newspapers; newly instantaneous telegraph communication; daguerreotypes and photography; mass circuits for public speaking; early sound recording. This was not only a technological and social process but also a literary phenomenon. Just as with today's 'new media,' these changes transformed American writing and are responsible for much of what is striking about classic American literature. This module focuses on the relationship of literary art to this media landscape during 1750-1900, from the age of Franklin to that of Brady, Edison and Pulitzer. Throughout the semester, we will be defining what we mean by `media', considering the interaction between genre and medium, channels of information, data storage and transmission. Subjects the module will cover include: the emergence of literary journalism; the rise of the foreign correspondent; the symbolic figure of the photographer and journalist in American fiction; the effect of early sound recording on literary aesthetics. Questions it poses include: what effect did fresh modes of writing, listening and seeing have on fiction or poetry?; have `journalism' and `literature' always been mutually-exclusive? How have ethnic groups used such media as distinct modes of expression? These issues will be approached thematically by media type, with two sessions each on: 1) Colonial newsprint; 2) literary magazines; 3) the mass penny press and telegraph; 4) the lyceum; 5) the phonograph. Authors to be considered along the way include Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Horace Greeley, Margaret Fuller, Henry James, Nellie Bly and Upton Sinclair. more...	AMSA3L28	30	Semester 2
American Literature Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM04X	90	Semester 2
American Studies Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM03X	90	Semester 2
The Imperial Origins of the US and Canada The Imperial Origins of the United States and Canada begins with an examination of the condition of North America in 1492, and proceeds to discuss in the next three sessions to analyse the impact of trade, missionary work, European settlement, warfare, slavery and imperial rivalry in three broad geographic regions: 1) The Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of North America; 2) The St. Lawrence valley, New England and the Canadian Maritime regions; and 3) New Netherland, New Sweden and their successor colonies, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Having laid this foundation, the module continues chronologically, examining the Spanish, French, and British Empires in North America side-by-side, through the period of the American Revolution and on to the War of 1812. Over the long run, the British Empire spawned two huge polities in North America, and the module will close by examining its distinctive legacies on the two sides of the U.S. - Canadian border. more...	AMSAM044	20	Semester 2
Radical Cousins Or Rival Siblings? U.s. and Australian Literatures. This module takes as its point of departure critic Joseph Jones' representation of America and Australia as 'radical cousins' and extends this formulation to ask whether they might equally be thought of as rival siblings. From its establishment as a penal colony in 1788'in large part as a result of the newly independent United States' refusal to harbour Britain's convicts any longer'Australia remained loyal to the Empire, even as it looked increasingly to the United States for guidance in matters of politics and popular culture. The module compares American and Australian literature from the past century or so in order to examine how both countries have engaged and explored shared questions about settler and post/ colonial identity; the staging of cultural independence from Great Britain; the size and scope of the natural environment; and gender performance, among others. more...	AMSA2L18	20	Semester 2
American History Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	AMSAM06X	90	Semester 2
The Poetics of Place: Post 1945 American Poetry and Environment This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3L26 THE POETICS OF PLACE: POST 1945 AMERICAN POETRY AND ENVIRONMENT and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3L26	20	Semester 2
Place, Race and Space: American Migration and Citizenship This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S11 PLACE, RACE AND SPACE: AMERICAN MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3S13	20	Semester 1
US Interventionism, the Cia and Covert Action This is the 20 credit version of AMSA3H26 US INTERVENTIONISM, THE CIA AND COVERT ACTION and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3H28	20	Semester 2
Gender in American Culture This is a 20 credit version of AMSA3S22 GENDER IN AMERICAN CULTURE and is available only to Visiting students. more...	AMSA3S24	20	Semester 2
Race and Racism in the USA This seminar will explore the origins and continued role in American culture of the idea of race. Where did the concept of race come from? And to what uses has it been put by various groups within America's pluralistic society? Restricted to students on programmes in American History or Literature, or who have previously done modules on race. Not available to first year students. more...	AMSA2H32	20	Semester 2
The Holocaust in American Literature This module aims to explore representations of the Holocaust in American literature. Students will explore how the Holocaust is represented by American Jewish and non-Jewish authors. Students will consider whether, and how, the Holocaust is `Americanised' by American writers; they will consider some of the ethical and philosophical debates concerning representation of the Holocaust in art; they will examine how American Jewish writers engage with the Holocaust to negotiate questions of Jewish identity; and they will consider the problematic uses and definitions of the term `holocaust' in American culture. more...	AMSA2L82	20	Semester 2
The Poetics of Place: Post 1945 American Poetry and Environment The American poet Charles Olson famously declared: `I take SPACE to be the central fact to man born in America, from Folsom cave to now. I spell it large because it comes large here. Large, and without mercy.' This module explores how a range of linguistically innovative American poets, from 1945 to the present, have engaged this question of space and environment in their writings. There will be a particular focus on how scientific literature, natural history writing, field guides, and eco-criticism have contributed to poets' theories of poetry and poetics as well as an emphasis on the role environmental notions of place and space play in forming and critiquing ideas of American identity. more...	AMSA3L24	30	Semester 2
American Voices: Oratory and Speech in American Culture As annual readings of the `Declaration of Independence' remind us, the United States was born through voice. Public speech has profoundly shaped American life and various types of oral expression ' such as sermons, lectures, conversation and song ' have had a seminal influence on cultural development. Thinking about voice in America raises fascinating questions. Why has oratory been so important and how has its symbolism changed? In what ways has voice unified, divided or transformed society? Whose voices have been heard, and whose silenced? What happens when the voice is written down? In this module, we will examine verbal expression in American culture from the oratory of the Iroquois to that of Barack Obama. We'll embark on a chronological survey of public speech, thinking about place of the `oral' in American writings, and the representation of voice in literary history. Each week will involve the active class exploration of passages from speeches, novels, videos and other texts, demonstrating how attention to oral contexts and rhetoric can enrich an appreciation of cultural history. more...	AMSA2S10	20	Semester 2
Body Spaces Central to post-war American avant-garde aesthetics and poetics is an investigation of the constructedness of the space we inhabit and of the bodies we occupy. By close and detailed analysis of a range of experimental American texts - painting and especially, poetry - from 1950 to the present day, this module explores the ways in which ideas of the postmodern in America can be seen to 'work' through such politicised constructions of the body as gender, sexuality and subjectivity. Running alongside its reading of poetic and artistic texts, the module will also consider the ways in which theories and theorists of the postmodern reflect the concern of America's experimental arts with an aesthetics of 'process' rather than of 'product'. It thereby questions the extent to which a poetics of the postmodern challenges the cultural space that America has inhabited in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. more...	AMSAM043	20	Semester 1
Films That Made US American: the 1980s Through the Movies The module will examine America in the1980s. It will look at youth culture, post-Vietnam revisionism and the `remasculinization of America', yuppie culture, and the impact of both AIDS and drug addiction. Core factors of study in this module are the effects of both New Right morality upon the American socio-cultural landscape, and Ronald Reagan as postmodern president administrating to a `celluloid America' of his own fantastic imagining. Overall, the module will offer the chance to analyse the tensions and contradictions of the decade as they were played out in both the content and structure of contemporary American film. more...	AMSA2S03	20	Semester 1
New American Century: Culture and Crisis A two semester special subject American Studies module that reads contemporary American culture through the lens of crisis. On the eve of the twenty-first century it appeared that the United States of America was indeed entering into a new American Century with its role as global leader as strongly defined as it was a century earlier. However, the last decade has been witness to a nation in turmoil and crisis, from the conflict between a universalising (Americanising) globalisation and an introspective nationalism; the war on terror and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq; environmental crisis and disaster; the conflict surrounding immigration and national identity, to the present financial crisis. The renewed and vigorous return to rhetoric of national `unity' that characterised the campaign and election of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008 highlighted the historical divisions and crises of American society and underscored that contemporary America is in crisis geopolitically, economically, democratically, environmentally, and culturally. Indeed, Obama's presidency has witnessed further polarisation of American politics and culture with the birth of the Tea Party Movement and the very recent Occupy Wall Street (now global) movement. Through a variety of cultural texts, from literature, film and documentary, political speeches and letters, to historical texts and pop culture, this course examines the ways in which these crises have been culturally and politically constructed and given particular sets of meaning and the ways in which these `meanings' have been utilised and mobilised to further create `Fortress America' and its particular brand of nationalism at the expense of all `others', whether outside or inside the United States. The way culture has engaged with, coproduced, and resisted these sets of meanings will be the main focus of this module. more...	AMSA3S1Y	60	Year Period
Looking At Pictures: Photography and Visual Culture in the USA Photographic portraits, family albums, anthropological illustrations, lynching postcards, advertisements, food packaging and fashion photos are just some of the pictures that will be "read" and analysed in this module. Students will explore how visual texts can contribute to an understanding of nationhood, class, race, sexuality and identity in the USA. Opening sessions will focus on ways of "reading" visual texts. [No previous experience of working with images is necessary]. Most of the semester will be devoted to analysing how photographic images both reflect and contribute to constructions of American culture. more...	AMSA2S48	20	Semester 2
Animals in American History This two-semester, 60 credit module familiarizes students with the wide range of approaches that have been taken toward the study of animals in American history. We will begin with early modern understandings of the place of animals in the natural order, and proceed through the introduction of domestic livestock into North America, controversies between colonists and Native Americans over hunting, cattle and fencing, wolf-eradication campaigns, wilderness preservation, the role of horses in the development of modern cities, the invention of the zoo, pet-keeping, factory hog-raising, and ideological battles over animal rights. By evaluating the developing historiography, students will learn about changing issues and concepts under debate. Primary sources will be used throughout both semesters. A range of different types of texts will be analysed and students will learn techniques appropriate for interrogating them. On their own and in groups, students in this module will work with an increasing level of independence. In the second semester, they will work in groups to introduce different weekly topics and everyone will be given the opportunity to write a research project on a topic of his/her own choosing. more...	AMSA3H3Y	60	Year Period
The Beats and the Limits of Writing This module covers the writers known as `The Beats' in terms of their antecedents, the literary and cultural traditions in which they worked, and the social and critical debates that raged during their heyday. Students will be asked to read widely, to compare and contrast different writers' styles, and to make informed judgements about the writers' relationships to the times in which they wrote. The module aims to foster an understanding of the Beat literary phenomenon in literary, political and social contexts. It will also examine the debts Beat writers owed to `American Renaissance' writers including Emerson and Whitman, to wider ideas of the `avant-garde' in the Twentieth Century generally, and to European Romantic traditions. It will investigate how a Beat poetics developed as a response to Cold War `consensus culture', and sought to establish a countercultural (though distinctly American) `tradition'. more...	AMSA2L84	20	Semester 2
Gender in American Culture The aim of this module is to think about democracy in the United States through a gendered lens. The Declaration of Independence declared that "all men were created free and equal", but throughout the history of the United States certain social groups have been denied their rights to citizenship and democracy. Therefore this module will be focusing upon the ways in which gender has been central to the construction of citizenship and democracy in the US. These concepts are critical elements in the formation of a modern American identity, and this module will provide a broader understanding of this distinctive feature of American history and society. more...	AMSA3S22	30	Semester 2
Doing It Yourself: Punk and America Although the exact provenance of `punk' remains a contested issue, since its emergence in the mid-1970s this transnational musical and cultural phenomenon has become very much a part of the American grain. Indeed, punk's capacity to adopt, appropriate, assimilate, and re-invent a vast and eclectic range of cultural styles, forms, and ideas, as well as its `do-it-yourself,' places it in a longstanding American intellectual tradition of self-reliance and innovation. In this interdisciplinary module, we will attempt to define punk, and consider what it means to be punk, by examining its influence in music, film, poetry, and fiction. The unit will also explore the socio-political implications of punk in terms of gender, sexuality, and community, and question the possibility of punk in an increasingly globalised and commoditised world. more...	AMSA2S05	20	Semester 1
The Black Atlantic This module will consider the flow and proliferation of black culture into and within the Americas, through the medium of the middle passage and the `Black Atlantic'. This module offers a comparative perspective on American culture: the experiences of African slaves and their subsequent freedom, physical and ' for some ' also political, will be traced in the contemporary fiction and poetry of the Caribbean and the United States. Given the overwhelming importance of Africa to contemporary Caribbean and African American writing and culture, this unit will begin and end with a focus on West African perceptions of the slave trade. more...	AMSAM018	20	Semester 2
Protesting the American Century: Dissent and US Foreign Policy The module considers dissent and protest vis-??-vis US foreign relations during what was famously termed the `American Century'. It looks at how dissenting voices ' from government officials, military officers, intellectuals, spies, citizen groups, and whistleblowers ' have challenged the status quo from 1898 to the present. Analysing the connections with other protest movements at home, it explores how opposition to unjust US policies abroad is considered a quintessential American characteristic. It looks at the writings and activities of a wide range of political figures, activists, and writers, including George Kennan, Walter Lippmann, Seymour Hersh, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Philip Agee, as well as the emergence of classified material into the public domain such as the Pentagon Papers and WikiLeaks State Department cables. Finally, it considers the effort to oppose and, in some cases, silence critical voices. more...	AMSA2H13	20	Semester 1
The Rising Tide of the Transpacific This module considers the ways in which American literature has engaged with the opening up of Pacific space from the early nineteenth century to the present. From Melville's adventures on whaling vessels throughout the Pacific, to Pearl Harbour and anxieties about Japanese presence in and beyond the borders of the United States, to writing by contemporary Asian-American authors whose work evinces influences from China, Korea and India, the texts on this course chart the ways in which the Pacific Ocean and its peoples have contributed to, created, and contested American national narratives. The module will develop students' insights into issues of U.S. national history and cultural geography, and deepen their engagement with current theories of nationalism and transnationalism either in preparation for, or as a frame for reflection on, their studies abroad. more...	AMSA3L35		Semester 1
Good Good Girls and Good Bad Boys? American Fictions of Innocence Oscar Wilde wrote that 'The youth of America is their oldest tradition; it has been going on now for three hundred years'. IIs this true? If so, why? This module will seek to account for the preoccupation with youth in America by focusing particularly on the concept of 'innocence', and by examining how various models of innocence are invoked and questioned in American literary texts. Drawing on a wide array of fictional and theoretical works, we will consider the following questions: What is at stake in America's investment in innocence? Major cultural events - such as the Vietnam War and 9/11, for example - are often described as representing a 'loss of innocence' in American culture. What power interests and ideologies are maintained by repeatedly describing America as 'innocent'? How is this investment in innocence revised in different historical moments? How is it challenged? With particular reference to fictions of growing up in America, how is innocence (and loss of innocence) depicted differently for male and female protagonists? more...	AMSAM022	20	Semester 2
Reading Cultures I: American Icons This module provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary research methods and writing skills that are essential for students undertaking a degree programme in the School of American Studies. Students will be encouraged to look at reading American culture across disciplines and media, and to develop their own strategies for learning, from note taking and planning, through locating and engaging with critical opinions, to producing and evaluating academic writing. This module is intended as an introduction to interdisciplinary scholarship and its transferable skills. more...	AMSA1F17	20	Semester 1
Containing Multitudes: American History I This module offers a survey of American history from the colonial period through the nineteenth century, taking such key events as, eg, the conquest of the continent, the development of American democracy and the traumatic years of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students in American Studies four-year programmes also take the complementary module Containing Multitudes: American History II, which is taught in the Spring Semester. Students attend a weekly seminar and an associated lecture series. more...	AMSA1F09	20	Semester 1
Imagining America: Literature II Imagining America: Literature II is a level one module designed to expand upon an introduction to the major writers and themes of literature from the United States. For this module there will be a weekly lecture and seminar. Further information on the timing of the seminar can be found in the published timetable. more...	AMSA1F02	20	Semester 2
American Paris Between the Wars This module introduces some of the styles, ideas and ideologies of trans-Atlantic modernism as elements in the creation of a myth. It centres on the American expatriate colony in Paris and, from this, works to contextualise and re-imagine some of the century's most notorious literary and artistic moments. Initial studies of the little magazines, manifestos, publishers, painters and photographers provide a sense of the driving political and aesthetic energies of the period, while the module's middle weeks uses this context to re-read a group of expatriate novels. The final three weeks of the course shifts the emphasis to considerations of memory, memoir and the construction of myth. more...	AMSA2L65	20	Semester 1
Containing Multitudes: American History II This module continues where Containing Multitudes I leaves off and tracks the historical narrative through from the end of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century, covering industrialisation and America's emergence as a world power, the Progressive era, the New Deal, the Cold War and its legacy, and the impact of the dramatic changes of the 1960s. Students attend a weekly seminar and an associated lecture series. more...	AMSA1F04	20	Semester 2
Imagining America: Literature I Imagining America: Literature I is a level one module designed to introduce the major writers and themes of literature in the United States. For this module there will be a weekly lecture and a two-hour seminar. Lecture Slot: Monday, 1200-12.50. Further information on the timing of the seminar can be found in the published timetable. more...	AMSA1F07	20	Semester 1
Native American Writing and Film This is a 20-credit version of AMSA3S02: NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING AND FILM and is available only to Visiting Students. more...	AMSA3S04	20	Semester 2
20th Century American Poetry This module provides a broadly chronological view of American poetry from the start of the twentieth century to the present day. It wonders about what the consequences might be if we consider seriously Emerson's claim (made in 1844), that America might be seen as a poem. Through detailed examination each week of groups of three related poets, the module aims both to question what constitutes an American poetics, and to examine how this conception has changed over the course of the twentieth century. As well as tracing a trajectory in American poetry from modernist to postmodernist modes, one of its primary concerns is also to start exploring how ideas of what an American poetry might be are inflected differently in `mainstream' and in more avant-garde (or `experimental') poetries. Indeed, by explicitly thinking about these differences the module will pay particular attention to the ways in which ideas of nationhood, of political dissent and protest, of poetic `groupings' and canon-formation, are instrumental in determining what we choose to see as America's representative poetry. By the end of the module students should have a wide knowledge of a range of different twentieth-century American poetries, as well as a strong sense of how the political, cultural and literary `tastes' of America across the century have delivered it the sorts of poetry it deserves. more...	AMSA2L24	20	Semester 2

ART

Introduction to Cultural Heritage This module defines the concept, scope and history of 'cultural heritage'. It identifies trends in cultural heritage studies, and addresses the key ideas of heritage interpretation as well as the cultural aspects of globalisation. It encourages critical engagement with the ideas of community, national and world heritage by drawing attention to the tensions between the cultual political, legal and touristic aspects of heritage. Throughout, the module will refer closely to the interface between heritage and development studies and incorporate a range of pertinent academic disciplines and methods, which define the activities of the School of World Art Studies, and more generally, 'cultural heritage studies'. The unit is designed to provide analytical reference and departure points from the other Cultural Heritage modules and core development perspectives. This module has two major aims. The first is to provide the conceptual and research skills necessary for advanced academic study in the Humanities. The second is to develop the academic creativity, mental agility, questioning attitude and methodological rigour necessary for pursuing a career in academia or in the arts and heritage sectors. This entails considering the political, social, and ethical issues, problems and responsibilities involved in cultural interpretation. more...	ART-MC13	20	Semester 1
Unwrapping Ancient Egypt: Mummies, Museums, and Mysteries in the European Imagination Ancient Egypt is irrevocably connected with the trajectory of 'western' culture - from Renaissance Italy to revolutionary France and beyond. Focussing on the history of collecting and displaying Egyptian antiquities, including the unwrapping of mummies, this module interrogates the construction of different 'ancient Egypts' in European and North American contexts. Topics include museum displays from the 19th century to the present day; 19th century world fairs and international exhibitions; mummy unwrappings and other stagings of the Egyptian body and related artefacts; 'Egyptomania'; ancient Egypt, race, and Afrocentrism; and archaeological and artistic representations of Egypt. more...	ART-MA67	20	Semester 1
SRU Research Tutorial This semester-long module, delivered through regular tutorials, is available to those wishing to focus on a regional or theoretical interest covered by the specialisations of SRU faculty. Semester long, available either Autumn or Spring (this is an option to replace one of ART-MS01, ART-MS03 or ART-MS05). more...	ART-MS1Y	30	Year Period
Oceania Section This section of the SRU MA course provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of Pacific/Oceania, contemporary and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS03	30	Semester 1
SRU Museology Timed Essay	ART-MS06	10	Semester 2
SRU Dissertation 10000-15000 word dissertation on a topic on the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas chosen with advice from the area supervisor. more...	ART-MS0X	80	Semester 2
Africa Section This section of the SRU MA course provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of Africa, contemporary and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS01	30	Semester 1
Reforming Experience: Pictures and Perception in Sixteenth-Century Germany Protestantism postulated a truly personal relationship to the Divine. But why did this emerge in Germany, in the writings of Martin Luther? And what role was played by altarpieces, secular history paintings, portraits and prints? Are there any marked changes in how individuals were represented? Can we trace any broader impacts on how imagery was made, consumed and understood? To answer these questions, we shall draw on work by artists such as Durer and Cranach and on writings by academics such as Scribner, Baxandall, Moxey and Koerner. The broad aim is to explore what it meant to make and look at pictures in Reformation Germany, in a period of disenchantment with the image. more...	ART-MA66	20	Semester 2
City, Church and Empire: Christian Rome in the First Millennium Rome, the old capital of a world empire, lost its position as seat of imperial governance already in the 3rd century AD but by the end of antiquity had become the centre of an ecclesiastical empire. The city was transformed into a new entity now dominated by the church. In this changing urban matrix a distinctive Christian architectural practice developed. We shall analyse the principal architectural and artistic outcomes of this process from the material reorganization of the church in the time of Constantine until the age of ecclesiastical reform. We will also be considering the lived fabric of the city, on which much new light has been thrown in recent years. more...	ART-MA70	20	Semester 2
Uses of Cultural Heritage in Japan This module focuses on the question of how and why people need, create and use cultural heritage. Various factors will be examined including social, political and economic ones, with reference to examples of cultural heritage in Japan. Two characteristics of cultural heritage are stressed in particular: heritage unites and divides people. Stressing the close link between cultural heritage, memory and identity, the module aims to reveal how cultural heritage has been and is used for the making of community, nation and empire, both in global and Japanese contexts. more...	ART-MC20	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Cultural Heritage in Japan This module comprises two strands. First, it discusses the concept, scope and history of what is generally defined as 'cultural heritage' and addresses recent trends in cultural heritage studies. In this process, particular emphasis is placed on the ideas of local, national and world heritage, as well as the relations and tensions between the social, political, economic and legal aspects of heritage. Second, these theoretical perspectives will be critically evaluated through the examination of various types of cultural heritage in Japan, which include artistic, archaeological, architectural and folk heritage, as well as traditional performance, landscape and pop cultures. Incorporating a range of pertinent academic disciplines and methods, this module is designed to provide departure points for the other Cultural Heritage modules. more...	ART-MC19	20	Semester 1
Cultural Heritage and International Development: Dissertation This consists solely of a dissertation of not more than 12,000 words on a topic relevant to cultural heritage management. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the two Course Directors. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MC2X	60	Semester 2
Americas Section This section of the SRU MA provides candidates with detailed knowledge of the visual arts of the Americas, ancient and historical, while also focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues involved in their analysis and display, both in their original contexts and in the contexts of museums and exhibitions. more...	ART-MS05	30	Semester 1
Climate Change in Prehistory This module attempts to link climatic and cultural change date back at least as far as the oasis theory of V. Gordon Childe in the early twentieth century. In recent years, the identification of episodes of 'rapid climate change' that coincide with cultural changes, have led to considerable interest in the likelihood of possible links. Other studies have identified potential correlations between climate change and the growth of social complexity. While such links remain contested, a growing body of evidence indicates that key periods of cultural transition have often coincided with periods of climatic and environmental change, particularly periods associated with climatic deterioration associated with increases in resource scarcity or environmental uncertainty. A period of particular interest in this regard is the Middle Holocene, which a large body of evidence suggests was a period of widespread climatic disruption and reorganisation. This MA module will go beyond simple narratives that attempt to link climate change with cultural discontinuities or increasing complexity, and instead, will examine the evidence (or lack thereof) for relationships between climatic, environmental and cultural change in a number of study areas in the wider Mediterranean region, including North Africa and the Sahara, the northern and southern Levant, and southeastern Europe (including Cyprus). more...	ART-MA42	20	Semester 2
Exhibition Project This module introduces the methods and professional skills of exhibition planning, delivered through a combination of seminars, workshops and practical project-work. Areas covered include concept development, negotiation of contracts and loans, budgeting, layout design, installation management and related programming. Students collectively develop an exhibition project at a museum or cultural site in Norwich, from idea through to production. In addition to this, they work on an individual proposal aligned with their own research interests for on-line publication. more...	ART-MU9Y	20	Year Period
Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies: Dissertation This consists of a dissertation of no more than 12,000 words on a topic relevant to the practice and theory of cultural heritage and/or museums. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the Course Director. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MC3X	60	Semester 2
Cultural Heritage Placement This module provides students with practical heritage management experience, consisting of a two to three week work placement with an appropriate heritage organisation (organised and funded by the student). Assessment consists of a substantial management plan (or project report, subject in consultation with the Course Director), which gives students the experience of analyzing their host institution and producing a professional-standard report. Students will be required to complete their placement successfully to gain credit for this module. more...	ART-MC22	40	Semester 2
Museum Studies (Placement) Students on the MA in Museum Studies undertake a work placement for two days each week from October until May, with the exception of university vacation periods. Students will work on a voluntary basis in a regional museum within daily travelling distance of the University. They are allocated to museums on the basis of their emerging professional interests and aspirations, academic background and, from a practical point of view, their mobility. Each student undertakes a project agreed with their hosts. Assessment consists of a substantial management plan (or Project Report, Subject to consultation with the Course Director), which gives students the experience of analyzing their host institution and producing a professional-standard report. more...	ART-MM1Y	40	Year Period
Museum Studies: Dissertation This consists of a dissertation of no more than 8,000 words on a topic relevant to the practice and theory of museums. Students choose their own topics, subject to the approval of the Course Director. The dissertation is to be researched and written independently by each student, though with the support of an appointed supervisor. more...	ART-MM1X	60	Semester 2
Art and Patronage in East Anglia 1090-1540 Norfolk and Suffolk were two of the richest counties in England in the Middle Ages. They have remained relatively unaffected by subsequent industrialisation and retain very rich resources for the study of art and architecture from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. The region thus offers an exemplary focus for learning about medieval art and architecture and ample opportunities for developing research projects. more...	ART-MA64	20	Semester 2
The Archive Conventionally seen as a technology for the storage of documents, contemporary artists and authors have recently redefined the archive to encompass the entire range of institutions in which the traces of our past are stored. The archive denotes a conceptual space of past utterances collected, curated and stored for future use and as the repository of our knowledge it constitutes the site from which we speak. In this seminar, we will address the archive from a range of texts, media and disciplines in order to examine how the archive authorizes, as Derrida claims. The concept of the archive invites us to raise questions about documents and monuments, authority and truth, memory and forgetting. We will look at the work of contemporary artists Andy Warhol, Susan Hiller, Christian Boltanski, Gerhard Richter, Doris Salcedo and the Atlas Group and we will view movies such as The Specialist (1999) and Incendies (2011) and ask how they conceptualise archival memory. more...	ART-MA48	20	Semester 2
Museums and Heritage: Interpretation, Access, Engagement Museums and cultural heritage institutions share a common set of practices in relation to their public presentation. This module focuses on the role of interpretation in cultural institutions, and vice versa. We will consider how museums and heritage sites engage with their audiences, and who these audiences are. Access, understood in its broadest sense, involves all facets of work in the cultural sector, but presents unique issues as well, which we examine in relation to vocational skills as well as topical research and debates more...	ART-MC24	20	Semester 2
Art, Space and Place: 1960-1980 In the 1960s new trends of art practice emerged which reconsidered the status of the work of art. As Dennis Oppenheim observed, artists began to explore 'new ways to work within old bounds' by challenging the role of the gallery. Oppenheim saw this as a move 'from object to place'. Yet this did not mean that artists simply abandoned the gallery; instead, they sought to test its limits. This testing of the gallery space and the values it perpetuated is now identified as 'institutional critique'. A second trend was a movement beyond the gallery to explore the 'site specific'. This module examines these trends, and the reasons why they are fundamental to an understanding of contemporary art practice. more...	ART-MA52	20	Semester 2
Museum Studies (Fellowship) Each year, up to four bursary-funded year-long Training Fellowships at the SCVA are available, on a competetive basis, to people who have already confirmed their acceptance of a place on the MA in Museum Studies. For students on the MA in Museum Studies who are in reciept of a Museum Training Fellowship, which provides a year-long work placement at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA), this module is the equivalent of ART-MM1Y more...	ART-MM2Y	40	Year Period
Museums and Heritage: Management, Governance, Strategies Museums and cultural heritage institutions share a common framework of management and organisational structures. This module explores institutional issues such as governance, legal responsibilities, policy frameworks, project management and funding, and ethics. Teaching includes a number of guest speakers drawn from the professional sector, plus site visits or excursions. The module places the development of job-specific skills in the context of current academic research and the political and economic climate. more...	ART-MC23	20	Semester 1
Researching Art History This module has two major aims. Firstly, it provides you with the conceptual and research skills necessary for the advanced academic study of art from historical, cultural and environmental perspectives. Secondly it helps you develop the academic creativity, mental agility, questioning attitude and methodological rigour needed for pursuing innovative research. Amongst other things, this involves the critical examination and evaluation of how artefacts and buidlings are interpreted. The module is designed to help you to analyse and work constructively with a range of approaches to art history and is taken by all students reading for the MA in History of Art. It provides an opportunity to explore European art as part of a world wide phenomenon and to theorise how art in particular places developed in distinctive ways. This includes exploring the relationship between history, art, culture and the environment (resources, climate and topography). Both written assignments for the module giving you the opportunity to pursue your own interests as well as discussing and reading around issues raised inthe module as a whole. Key themes include: the nature of intellectual creativity; the conceptual and practical skills necessary to formulate viable research projects; various styles of academic writing; academic team-work; the different perspectives involved in the study of artefacts; the interpretative process and its implications. Key themes include: the nature of intellectual creativity; the conceptual and practical skills necessary to formulate viable resarch projects; various styles of academic writing; academic team-work; the different perspectives involved in the study of artefacts; the interpretative process and its implications. more...	ART-MA71	40	Semester 1
Critical Perspectives in Museum Studies This module provides an introduction to the history and theory of museums, from the origins and inception of the nineteenth century public museum to postmodern and contemporary paradigms. It also explores the vast array of perspectives that have been recently integrated in the study of museums, resulting in a new interdisciplinary area of scholarship known as museum studies, in plural. Using targeted readings and specific case studies, students will engage with contemporary debates about collecting and display, memory and commemoration, institutional ethics and social advocacy, the agency of the audience and the changes brought about by digital culture. While learning to analyze key sources, students will also be encouraged to think critically about the larger implications of these ideas in museum practice and challenge current assumptions about the role of museums, their social responsibilities and their possible futures. more...	ART-MU01	20	Semester 1
Uses of Cultural Heritage While we are currently experiencing a 'heritage fever', resulting in frantic attempts to identify, classify, preserve, and interpret our cultural heritage, the question as to why we are so obsessed with heritage requires examination. While the preservation of cultural heritage perhaps seems primarily of an aesthetic nature, critical studies have revealed heritage conservation to be part of the making of nations and empires, hence intrinsic to processes of nationalism and colonialism. This module deconstructs some of these roles and functions of cultural heritage Yet, in the current heritage revival we can discern other engagements with cultural heritage that may be understood as part of a politics of self-realisation. Heritage can thus contribute to overcome the legacies of slavery, colonialism and civic conflict, thus restoring dignity and providing recognition. Moreover, heritage can provide migrants with 'roots' and create a sense of place in a globalising world. This seminar examines how heritage is used in an attempt to use 'cultural as cure' and therefore looks at what can be called, for want of a better term, 'heritage healing. more...	ART-MC12	20	Semester 2
Dissertation Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	ART-MA2X	80	Semester 2
Exhibiting Empire This module aims to address those aspects of imperialism and cultural representation that have become the focus of studies in critical museology, anthropology and art history in the past decades. Drawing on and assessing analytical approaches fashioned in post-colonial studies, the module will enable you to debate the visual and material cultures of empire. You will be encouraged to approach historical material within a comparative framework. Through the use of wide ranging historiical, cultural and theoretical case-studies we will develop a committed approach to investigations of the entangled and contested nature of imperial representations. Whilst some of these studies will relate to the British East India Company and the Raj in India, others will draw attention to the processes of empire-building, colonisation and de-colonisation in other global contexts. Issues and debates in studies of visual culture and material culture will be linked directly to histories of collection and display in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, encompassing the Great Exhibition, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Indian Museum, and various other national and international institutions. While intended for art history students, the module may also be of interest to students of cultural geography and history, as it will bring in related themes, such as 'centre/periphery' relations, the global south, knowledge networks and subaltern studies, and this may also allow students of art-related fields to operate and interact in wider disciplinary contexts. more...	ART-MA60	20	Semester 2
Rethinking Romanticism: Art in Britain, 1760-1830 This module traces the visual construction of the 'sensible' and sentimental human subject, that man, woman or child of feeling who emerged (through novels, plays, social practice and art itself) within late eighteenth-century British culture. Out of the ashes of an earlier model of socialised 'politeness', and in the wake of Britain's commercialisation and its radical revision of class and gender identities, new forms of subjectivity were formulated in which interiority, imagination, innate responsiveness and originality were given unprecedented attention. Furthermore, Britain's increasing involvement with cultures outside Europe and with the business of imperialism meant that the possibility of cross-cultural and pan-human subjectivities were evaluated alongside that of 'Britishness' itself. Tears, embraces, passions and groans became - along with visions and nightmares - the signs of inner capacity of raw responsiveness with which the properly human subject was evaluated within British culture. In turn, cruelty, violence and horror entered the British cultural imaginary with spectacular vigour during this period. Through the representation of such types as the doting mother, the desperate slave, the heartless bandit and the artistic genius, the relationship between 'nature' and 'refinement', between the raw and the cultivated, was complicated and reconfigured by late eighteenth-century subjects. The visual arts played a crucial role in shaping these subjectivities and were themselves substantially shaped by that process in turn, not least through the expectations of sensibility, sentimental narrative and aesthetic innovation that contemporary viewers (including the new professional type, the critic) often brought to art. Analysing paintings, drawings and sculpture by artists such as Joseph Wright of Derby, Benjamin West, Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, JMW Turner and Willaim Blake, we will look at portraiture, history and landscape painting, the 'fancy' picture and sentimental genre imagery as well as funerary monuments and graphic satire. In so doing, we will draw on a range of recent art-historical and theoretical texts in order to think again about the meanings of 'the Gothic' and 'romanticism' and to remap the relationship between art and subjectivities on the threshold of modernity. more...	ART-MA59	20	Semester 1

LCS

Intermediate Greek I An intermediate course in Greek for those students who have taken Beginners' Greek I and II or who have a GCSE in the language. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. more...	LCSU2OG1	20	Semester 1
Japanese Ab-Initio Honours I This is a module for students taking their Japanese Honours language degree from an ab initio starting point. The need for significant progress in reading, writing, listening and speaking is met with the intensive teaching that this module provides. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real-life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. Particular emphasis is also placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module caters for beginners' level entrants and is only available to students in LCS. more...	LCS-1J5Y	60	Year Period
Dissertation Communication and Language Studies The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD1X	50	Semester 2
Intermediate Russian II A continuation of the intermediate course in Russian (LCSU2OR1). This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU2OR2	20	Semester 2
Advanced Translation (French to English) This module is designed for final-year French Honours students. It is an advanced course based on the Institute of Linguists' Diploma in Translation. The subject areas will be general translation with annotation, advertising, science or technology, and literature. At this level it will also include presentations on a range of relevant topics. Assessment commensurate with credit value. more...	LCS-3T47	20	Semester 1
Translation and Theory This module explores ways in which concepts and notions develop into theoretical approaches and translatorial practices but also how practice establishes theoretical positions. Each weekly seminar will focus on key concepts and their use in the existing bibliography on translation, while the practical tasks will give to students the opportunity to apply these concepts to their own translation work. more...	LCS-MA03	20	Semester 1
Dissertation MAATS The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD2X	90	Semester 2
French Language in Action (Level 2) This module is designed to increase your confidence in speaking French in public via the transferable skill of oral performance while enabling you to further your knowledge of French culture and society. You will study and practise delivery of an oral text in a number of forms such as news reports, documentary voice-overs, speeches, interviews, songs, stage and film performance texts. The coursework element will involve the devising of your own oral text while the project element will involve the transcription and delivery of an agreed oral text and an essay on the content and context of this text. Assessment commensurate with level. more...	LCS-2F36	20	Semester 2
Discourse and Power This module focuses on the role of discourse in the structuring of social relations. Its aim is to show that the linguistic features that make up our texts and verbal exchanges reflect the purpose language is put to in a specific context. Particular consideration is given to the discourse of the media, advertising and politics and how it affects and is affected by ideology and socio-cultural assumptions and by the relationship between individuals and social groups. Students are introduced to the main concepts and essential analytical tools and are encouraged to select their own material for analysis (class practice and assessed exercises) on the basis of relevance to their studies and interests. This module equips students with the necessary skills to undertake their own critical analysis of any texts encountered in the course of their studies and beyond and is, therefore, suited to students majoring in political and social sciences, media and cultural studies, literature, philosophy and languages. more...	LCS-1L20	20	Semester 2
French Post GCSE I This is a module for students taking their French Honours language degree from a post-GCSE starting point. The need for significant progress in reading, writing, listening and speaking is met with intensive teaching that this module provides. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real-life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. Particular emphasis is also placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. It is only available to students taking a degree in French from post-GCSE level. more...	LCS-1F9Y	40	Year Period
An Introduction to Popular Culture in Latin America From salsa to samba, football to fiesta, telenovelas to tex mex: Latin American popular cultures combine indigenous, African and European elements to produce vibrant experiences. In this module we will explore theories and forms of popular culture in order to gain a deeper understanding of the peoples, history and politics of Latin America. more...	LCS-1H34	20	Semester 2
Spanish Post GCSE I This is a module for students taking their Spanish Honours language degree from a post-GCSE starting point. The need for significant progress in reading, writing, listening and speaking is met with the intensive teaching that this module provides. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real-life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. Particular emphasis is also placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. It is only available to students taking a degree in Spanish from post-GCSE level. more...	LCS-1H7Y	40	Year Period
Spanish Ab-Initio Honours I This is a module for students taking their Spanish Honours language degree from an ab initio starting point. The need for significant progress in reading, writing, listening and speaking is met with the intensive teaching that this module provides. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real-life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Spanish is spoken. Particular emphasis is also placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module caters for beginners' level entrants and is only available to students in LCS. Lectures/seminars will be taught in the slot E3,B3D5D6 in the Autumn semester and in the slot E3,B3C3D4 in the Spring semester. more...	LCS-1H5Y	60	Year Period
An Introduction to Latin American Film Recent Latin American films like the Mexican 'Love's A Bitch' and the Brazilian 'City of God' have received critical acclaim at home and abroad and have been great commercial successes. This module takes these films as its starting point and moves on to offer a survey of Latin American cinema up to the present day, including golden age, 'pulp' cinema and horror genres, political cinema, recent co-productions, the cinema of 'smaller' countries, and grassroots video work. more...	LCS-2H57	20	Semester 1
Post A-Level French Language 2 (Cp) This French Honours Language module is compulsory for all students taking an Honours French programme in three years. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the period of residence abroad in the Spring semester. Activities focus on promoting self-direction in language learning, and draw on a variety of resources, including electronic resources, for in-class, self-access and group project work (oral, aural, written). Seminars are taught in French. The assessment project will be undertaken during the Semester Abroad. more...	LCS-2F03	20	Semester 1
French Language in Action (Level 1) This module is for students who have A-Level French or equivalent. It is designed to increase your confidence in speaking French in public via the transferable skill of oral performance while enabling you to further your knowledge of French culture and society. You will study and practise delivery of an oral text in a number of forms such as news reports, documentary voice-overs, speeches, interviews, songs, stage and film performance texts. The coursework element will involve the transcription and delivering of an oral text while the project element will involve the preparation and delivery of an agreed oral text and an essay on the content and context of this text. Assessment commensurate with level. more...	LCS-1F36	20	Semester 2
Language: Looking Into the Human Mind Language is not only central to our lives but is also acquired and used with effortless ease. Since no other species is even remotely capable of doing anything similar, this aspect of our minds truly distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Investigating the linguistic mind, therefore, offers insights into the very heart of what it is to be human. This is interesting enough in itself but research over the last few decades has shown that this mental capacity is, in fact, far more complex, surprising and intriguing than might at first appear. This module is a non-technical introduction to some of the themes and findings of current work into the nature of the linguistic mind. more...	LCS-1L15	20	Semester 1
French Post-Gcse II This year-long module is for Year 2 post-GCSE entry students and is the continuation of French post-GCSE I. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. more...	LCS-2F7Y	40	Year Period
Aspects of the French Language This module provides an introduction to selected aspects of the French language, from the structure of words and sentences to types of variation. Topics include: varieties of French, phonetics/phonology, morphology and etymology, gender, collocations, contrastive French/English syntax, tense and aspect, modality, spoken and written French, non-standard French and other registers. There is a two-hour seminar for this module and a lecture which is shared with LCSU2F01/LCS-2F03. A-Level French or equivalent is essential. more...	LCS-2F51	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Chinese I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Chinese. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Chinese is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OC1	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Chinese II A continuation of the beginners' course in Chinese (LCSU1OC1). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1OC2	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Italian II A continuation of the beginners' course in Italian (LCSU1OI1). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1OI2	20	Semester 2
Year Abroad A compulsory year abroad for students taking one or more honours language(s). Satisfactory completion of the year abroad, as defined by the School Board, is necessary for registration in the following year. more...	LCS-2X0Y	120	Year Period
Beginners' Spanish I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Spanish. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Spanish is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1H11	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Greek II A continuation of the beginners' course in Greek (LCSU1OG1). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1OG2	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Greek I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Greek. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Greek is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OG1	20	Semester 1
Beginners' French I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of French. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where French is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1F11	20	Semester 1
Post A-Level German Language 1/i A basic module in post A-Level German (also open for students with AS-Level grade A) consisting of revision and extension of selected areas of advanced grammar and reading and discussion of newspaper articles. Its aim is to develop competence in all areas of spoken and written German. (The module may contain a component of 'Business German': "International trade fairs in Germany", depending on student interest and enrolment.) This module is not available to native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1G21	20	Semester 1
Post A Level Spanish Language 2/I This semester-long Spanish language module is compulsory for all second-year Single Honours Spanish students as well as being an option for any student who has done Post-A-Level Spanish Language I. Its aim is to build up language proficiency and cultural awareness of Spain and Latin America. (Alternative groups may be available depending on student numbers.) more...	LCSU2H21	20	Semester 1
Post A-Level German Language 1/II A continuation of post A-Level German I consisting of revision and extension of selected areas of advanced grammar and reading of texts and discussion of relevant topics. Its aim is to develop competence in all areas of spoken and written German. (The module may contain a component of 'Business German', depending on student interest and enrolment.) Not available to native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1G22	20	Semester 2
Beginners' German I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of German. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where German is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1G11	20	Semester 1
Intermediate Spanish I An intermediate course in Spanish for those students who have taken Beginners' Spanish I and II or who have a GCSE in the language. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. Students will attend a seminar and a one hour oral. more...	LCSU2H11	20	Semester 1
Japanese Post-Gcse I This is a module for students taking their Japanese Honours language degree from a post-GCSE starting point. The need for significant progress in reading, writing, listening and speaking is met with the intensive teaching that this module provides. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real-life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. Particular emphasis is also placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. It is only available to students taking a degree in Japanese from post-GCSE level. more...	LCS-1J7Y	40	Year Period
Beginners' Italian I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Italian. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Italian is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OI1	20	Semester 1
Intermediate Spanish II A continuation of the intermediate course in Spanish (LCSU2H11). Students will attend a seminar and a one hour oral. more...	LCSU2H12	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Spanish I (Spring Start) This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Spanish. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Spanish is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This is a repeat of module LCSU1H11 for those who wish to start their course in the Spring. This module is not available to LCS students. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1H14	20	Semester 2
Post A-Level French Language 1/i A Post A-Level module designed to develop overall competence, with emphasis on grammatical accuracy and on the promotion of autonomous learning and transferable skills. Consisting of a lecture, one hour oral, and two hours of 'travaux diriges' in small groups for which extra slots are available. Not available to French native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1F21	20	Semester 1
Erasmus Semester Abroad A compulsory semester abroad for students taking an Honours language programme in three years. Assessment will be in the foreign institution. This module is also available to other students on a 3-year programme who wish to pursue a period of study in a foreign university. more...	LCS-2X30	60	Semester 2
Post A-Level French Language 1/II A continuation of module LCSU1F21. more...	LCSU1F22	20	Semester 2
Post A-Level Spanish 1/II A continuation of module LCSU1H21. This module is not available to native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1H22	20	Semester 2
Intermediate French I This is an intermediate course in French and is intended for students who have enough pre-A-Level experience of French and wish to develop their knowledge to a standard comparable to A-Level. The module is made up of three elements, each taught for one hour per week: Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, and Grammar. While the emphasis is on comprehension, the speaking and writing of French are also included. The module is not available to students with AS or A-Level French. This module can be taken in any year. (Alternative slots may be available depending on student numbers.) more...	LCSU2F95	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Japanese I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Japanese. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Japanese is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OJ1	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Russian II A continuation of the beginners' course in Russian (LCSU1OR1). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1OR2	20	Semester 2
Intermediate French II A continuation of LCSU2F95. (Alternative slots may be available depending on student numbers.) more...	LCSU2F96	20	Semester 2
Post A-Level French Language 2/I This French Honours language module is compulsory for all second-year Single Honours French students. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the Year Abroad. Activities focus on promoting self-direction in language learning, and draw on a variety of resources, including electronic resources, for in-class, self-access and group project work (oral, aural, written). Seminars are taught in French. (Alternative groups will be available for seminars.) more...	LCSU2F01	20	Semester 1
Intermediate Greek II A continuation of the intermediate course in Greek (LCSU2OG1). This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU2OG2	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Russian I This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Russian. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Russian is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OR1	20	Semester 1
Post A Level Spanish Language 2/ii This semester-long module is compulsory for all second-year Spanish Honours students as well as being an option for any student who has done Post A-Level Spanish language 2/I (or equivalent). Its aim is to build up language proficiency and cultural awareness of Spain and Latin America. For one of the three weekly contact hours, students will be able to choose either Translation or Business as an option. (Alternative groups may be available depending on student numbers.) more...	LCSU2H22	20	Semester 2
Intermediate Russian I An intermediate course in Russian for those students who have taken Beginners' Russian I and II or who have a GCSE in the language. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU2OR1	20	Semester 1
Post A-Level Japanese Language 1/II A continuation of module LCSU1J21. This module is not available to native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1J22	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication in Practice This module explores the issues fundamental to intercultural communication (IC) in practical contexts. The theoretical component of the module examines the different ways of thinking about effective communication in a variety of work-based environments. We will also relate theory to the practice of intercultural communication in contextualised workshops. During these workshops, invited practitioners will introduce students to how IC operates in specific organisations, e.g. in government agencies, in multilingual business management, etc. The module is relevant to those wishing to pursue careers in international management and relations, multilingual business and international development; it is also of interest to those who wish to become more effective communicators in other professions such as translation, interpreting, education and cultural mediation. more...	LCS-ML22	20	Semester 2
Linguistic Communication Among Cultures There is more to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak ' what to say, how to say it and when to say it. But language is also intimately involved in our notions of culture, our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, the very act of linguistic communication itself both creates and sustains our expectations, beliefs and moral values about our world and lives. This module explores a number of issues relating to this reciprocal relationship between language and culture. Linguistics, characterised as the scientific study of language, tends to focus on the formal features of language structure, treating it as an autonomous object. There is more, however, to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language; speakers need to know the different ways of using the language they speak - what to say and how to say it. These assumptions vary from culture to culture as often shows up in the various forms of miscommunication that occur when we talk with speakers from different linguistic backgrounds. From a broader perspective language is intimately involved in our notions of culture - imagine, for example, expressing, discussing or learning about religious or political beliefs without language - our thought processes and, perhaps, even in our sense of reality. Indeed, for some, the notions of language and culture are so inseparable that they are referred to collectively as languaculture. more...	LCS-ML26	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication - Understanding Differences in A Global World This module is an introduction to some of the fundamental concepts associated with theories of intercultural communication. Since norms of behaviour are culturally defined and varied, the beliefs and values which underlie a culture's worldview will be examined from a variety of perspectives. Indicative topics are expected to include how culture is defined; models of explanation of cultural difference (such as the theories of Hofstede and Tropenaars); notions of identity (personal, group, national) and 'otherisation'; stereotypes and prejudice; verbal and non-verbal communication; miscommunication and intercultural conflict; acculturation and culture shock, etc. The module is relevant to students from a variety of backgrounds and with varied interests and will provide useful background for the module 'Intercultural Communication in Practice'. more...	LCS-ML25	20	Semester 1
Language, Culture and Interpersonal Communication There is far more to linguistic communication than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar of a language since interpersonal communication is inseparable from culture. That is, because language is used not only to represent but also create and sustain a speaker's expectations, beliefs, attitudes, practices and moral values about the world, verbal communication always involves a high degree of "cultural business". This becomes especially apparent when communicating with native speakers of a foreign language where different sets of cultural assumptions may lead to misunderstanding. This module aims to equip you with ways of thinking about cultural and intercultural issues which will aid you in becoming more communicatively competent in your foreign languages(s). Initially the content will be aimed at exploring the knowledge and assumptions we have about the socially constructed world exhibited in our own communicative practices before extending these notions to other language cultures. The intention is that this module will enable you to become more effective learners in the particular language culture you will encounter on your Year Abroad. more...	LCS-1L22	20	Semester 2
Spanish AB Initio Honours II This year-long module is for Year 2 Ab Initio students and is the continuation of Ab Initio Honours I. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. Students join Post A-Level Spanish I/II for some lectures and seminars. more...	LCS-2H6Y	40	Year Period
Translation Work Experience This module is aimed at MA Translation students with no (or little) previous translation work experience, and students who have experience of professional translation but would like the opportunity to review their practices by reflecting on, and critically documenting, the processes involved. It is based on work on authentic translation assignments negotiated with commercial clients and is very practical: it will promote hands-on sensitisation to aspects of professional commercial translation, to problems involved in translating to specifications, producing and presenting a product of professional standard, to techniques of translation and to the use of reference materials and support resources. It will enable you to apply your analytical and linguistic skills, and to develop a range of key practical skills, including research skills, project and time management, reflective and review skills. more...	LCS-MA02	20	Semester 2
Research Methods The module is designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data). It is taught over two semesters: the first focuses on seminar-related activities, the second on dissertation-related work. It is assessed by an oral exam on a pass/ fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS full-time postgraduate students on taught MA programmes and open only to them. more...	LCS-MR1Y	10	Year Period
Research Methods Part II The module is the second part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on work for the dissertation. It is taught in the second semester of the first or second year of study and assessed by an oral examination on a pass/fail basis after the end of the second semester. The module is obligatory for all LCS part-time students on MA taught programmes and open only to them. Pre-requisite: LCS-MR01. more...	LCS-MR02	5	Semester 2
Intermediate German I An intermediate course in German for those students who have taken Beginners' German I and II or who have a GCSE or an AS level grade D (or below) in the language. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. This module consists of three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU2G97	20	Semester 1
English, Communication, Culture The module is intended to refine linguistic and academic competences (oral and or written communication, control of academic registers), and to explore how English operates in a variety of cultural contexts (including the media, critical debate). Skills covered include seminar and presentation skills, note-taking, academic writing, self-directed study and research skills, with application to the theme of communication and language and materials specifically relevant to MA students. An important aim of the module is to familiarise students with the conventions of English academic life and the environment of the university. more...	LCS-MC01	20	Semester 1
Dissertation in Language and Culture (Autumn) This module gives students the opportunity to undertake research on a project of their own choosing under the supervision of a member of faculty. The goal is to produce an extended essay (written in English) of 5,000 - 6,000 words which relates in-depth research on a specialist topic relating to wider issues in language and communication studies. The dissertation topic must be agreed by the module organiser by the end of the previous semester. There is no specific timetable slot for the module, arrangements for tutorial meetings being made between the individual tutor and student. This module will be useful preparation for those interested in pursuing post-graduate studies. more...	LCS-3C05	20	Semester 1
Language in Action (Level 3) This module addresses some of the questions you may have wondered about if you are curious about the way language works in practice. It is concerned, for example, with the way in which simply speaking certain words ('I do') actually changes the state of social play. Questions addressed include: what are people doing when they engage in 'conversation'? Why is communication still problematic even when I am fluent in a foreign language? How does a word like 'this' refer to different things? How do we create implied meanings without actually saying what we mean? The main theoretical concepts are introduced and illustrated and ample opportunity is then given to the students to contribute and discuss their own examples to show how the concepts apply in different situations and in different cultural/linguistic environments. This module is relevant not only to language students but also to those students who are generally interested in communication. Assessment commensurate with level. In addition to the timetabled seminar, a further contact hour will be arranged for level 3 students. more...	LCS-3L45	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Language and Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD3X	90	Semester 2
Introduction to Conference Interpreting This module is offered to final year undergraduates with no prior formal interpreting training. Its aim is to equip students with conference interpreting skills as well as to enhance linguistic and cultural knowledge in order to improve their ability to reflect on the process of interpreting in a multicultural world. The course is taught in a Sanako digital language laboratory and consists of 4 hours of contact time per week. The module covers on-sight, consecutive and simultaneous interpreting skills as well as the non-verbal elements of importance to communication such as pitch, intonation, body language etc. The content of the module is EU oriented and includes topics such as human rights, peace processes and racism and xenophobia. The skills based approach of this course provides effective academic learning and has high employability credentials as it develops transferable skills in demand in the professional world such as good concentration, active listening, flexibility, confidence and self-presentation. Although students will practice interpreting from Spanish or French into English and from English into Spanish or French, they will be assessed on interpreting into their mother tongue. more...	LCS-3T51	20	Semester 1
Translation and Cultural Representation Across Arts and Media The module will focus on two distinct types of interlingual mediation ' screen translation and museum translation ' to explore issues of linguistic and cultural representation in cultural products, and their implications for public perceptions of media and cultural otherness. It will consider and compare features and constraints of language transfer across these two contexts, and assess their capacity to promote cross-cultural sensitization. The module will involve a hands-on practical component with either a subtitling practice workshop OR a museology in practice workshop (TBC). more...	LCS-MA10	20	Semester 2
Translation Issues in the Media (Level 2) This module is particularly relevant to language and translation students, but will appeal to students from across the University with an interest in language issues associated with the globalisation of communication and the media. It considers a range of materials (texts and their translations, multilingual publications and packaging, film subtitles, dubbed soundtracks, IT-mediated text) to explore issues involved in the transposition and translation of (spoken and written) text into other media and other languages across different genres, literary and non-literary. Taught in English. Receptive knowledge of one other main European language required. (Taught with LCS-3T26). Assessment commensurate with level. more...	LCS-2T06	20	Semester 2
The Construction of News (Level 2) The module seeks to provide an understanding of how the special cultural product we call 'news' is created. It examines the changing economic, political, legal and cultural contexts of newspaper production in a variety of media (print, web, broadcast). It presents and assesses different theories about how these contexts (or 'structures') impact on the day to day practice of journalism and the nature of the news message. An important part of the module involves tracing the reflections and refractions of these wider processes in actual news media discourse. We will use frequent practical analysis exercises to test and challenge the theories of new production and the practices of new production in today's fast-changing news environment. The module encourages students to develop, practice and test a range of skills, including: being able to consider, analyse and challenge critically the ideas and practices of themselves and others; taking part in teamwork; presenting ideas and analytical outcomes. By the end of the module, you should be able to 'read' news media in a very different way to before. more...	LCS-2L30	20	Semester 2
Discourse and Society (Level 3) Language occurs in specific social situations, among specific social actors and for a variety of purposes. Meaning is, at least partially, socially constructed through the mediation of language and is constantly being (re) negotiated between language users. Discourse analysis is concerned with the ways in which language in use is tied to its socio-cultural context. This approach is thus at the heart of the analysis of human interaction in society. This module provides the students with the analytical tools that can be fruitfully applied to the study of a variety of texts and verbal exchanges (e.g. media, advertising, politics, education, business, literature) and for a variety of purposes (e.g. developing critical understanding, uncovering ideological bias, reproducing texts successfully in translation and achieving the desired impact through one's own writing). The role of non verbal expressive means (images, sound) is also taken into account. Presentations of the main concepts and examples are followed by practice sessions in which students have the opportunity to analyse a variety of texts both for class discussion and for their final project. Teaching is by a two hour lecture/seminar. Assessment commensurate with level. In addition to the timetabled seminar, a further contact hour will be arranged for level 3 students. more...	LCS-3L47	20	Semester 1
Translation Work Experience (Level 2) The module builds on partnership with public services locally and abroad to give home and visiting/exchange students the opportunity to work jointly on professional translation briefs (e.g. translation from, and into English, of information for local museums or museums in France or Spain). Work involves translating to specifications, background research and product delivery/presentation. Assessment is by a variety of means including diary notes and critical report. Module open subject to availability of briefs - a back-up module choice is essential. One hour per week timetabled, other commitments to be arranged. Taught with LCS-3T15. This module is only available to Post A-level language students. more...	LCS-2T13	20	Semester 1
Subtitling and Dubbing (Level 2) This module is an introduction to aspects of subtitling and dubbing in different media and multimedia contexts (television, radio, cinema, world wide web), and to issues associated with these activities in the age of globalisation. A range of materials and processes will be considered (e.g. film subtitling, subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, subtitling and dubbing in news reports or documentaries, subtitling and dubbing in the context of multimedia localisation) to investigate key features and concerns involved in transposing text across communication channels, media, forms and codes. Assessment commensurate with level. Taught with LCS-3T17. more...	LCS-2T11	20	Semester 1
Language and Politics (Level 3) This module seeks to provide an understanding of, and an opportunity to investigate, a particular aspect of language - the use and control of language in relation to power, within formal political institutions, in the broader public sphere and indeed in the private sphere. The module looks at the linkage between language and nation, at propaganda and the (mis)representation of the world. It places particular emphasis on the acquisition of linguistic tools that will enhance your ability to analyse varieties of political discourse in action, including speeches and the numerous forms of media involvement in political processes. Presentations of the main concepts and examples are linked with practice sessions in which students have the opportunity to analyse a variety of texts. We will use frequent practical analysis exercises to test and challenge the theories of language use and the practices of politics focusing on both historical and contemporary situations and data. The module encourages students to develop, practice and test a range of skills, including: being able to consider, analyse and challenge critically the ideas and practices of themselves and others; taking part in teamwork; presenting ideas and analytical outcomes. By the end of the module, you should be able to understand and engage with politics (and language itself) in a new way. Assessment commensurate with level. In addition to the timetabled seminar, some further contact hours will be arranged for level 3 students. more...	LCS-3L48	20	Semester 2
Japanese AB Initio Honours II This year-long module is for year two Ab Initio students and is the continuation of LCS-1J5Y Ab Initio Honours I. This module aims to enable students to build on and further enhance existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful context, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. more...	LCS-2J6Y	40	Year Period
Language Issues in A Global Multilingual Context This module focuses on language-related issues associated with the globalisation of communication and the media. It considers a range of materials - texts and their translation(s), multilingual sources of information (e.g. global news, consumer information, websites), products of audiovisual translation (e.g. subtitling, dubbing, voice over), IT mediated or processed texts, etc - to explore issues involved in the transposition and dissemination of (spoken and written) text into other media and other languages across different spheres of activity (e.g. media, politics, culture). Receptive knowledge of at least one language other than the mother tongue required. more...	LCS-MC02	20	Semester 2
Post A-Level Japanese Language 1/i A course in Japanese for students with Japanese A-level, having passed Japanese Language Proficiency Test N4, or holding any other equivalent qualification. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and language learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop understanding of the diversity in Japanese society. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar and vocabulary in meaningful contexts, whilst also developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. This module can be taken in any year. This module is not available to native speaker or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1J21	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Arabic Ii/improvers This is the second part of a beginners' course in Arabic following on from Beginners' Arabic I (LCSU1OA1). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. Alternative slots may be available, depending on student numbers. more...	LCSU1OA2	20	Semester 2
The Power of Discourse: Representation and Interaction Language occurs in specific socio-cultural settings, among specific social actors and for a variety of purposes. In turn particular uses of language have the power to shape social encounters and relationships and to help construct and maintain specific ideologies and perspectives. Discourse analysis aims to uncover the ways in which language in use is tied to its socio-cultural context. This approach is thus at heart of the analysis of human interaction in society. This module provides the students with analytical tools that can be fruitfully applied to the study of a variety of communicative modes (written texts, spoken interaction, visual or other non verbal modes) as employed in a variety of fields (e.g. media, advertising, politics, education, business, institutional settings, creative writing) and for a variety of purposes (persuading, entertaining, informing). Students will be able to explore the significance and effectiveness of specific communicative strategies and how they may vary according to cultural context and expectations. The module is, therefore, not only suited to postgraduate students focusing on issues of linguistic communication but also to students interested in aspect of linguistic transferability (translation, adaptation, localization). There are plenty of hands-on practice and discussion. more...	LCS-ML13	20	Semester 1
Beginners' German II A continuation of the beginners' course in German (LCSU1G11). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. This module has two or three contact hours per week (dependent on enrolments) more...	LCSU1G12	20	Semester 2
Technological Tools for Translators The aim of this module is to provide an introduction for students of literary and non-literary translation to computer-based tools, technologies and methodologies used by translators, and to examine the strengths and weaknesses of such tools. more...	LCS-MT12	20	Semester 2
Translation and Adaptation (Level 3) This module will consider translation and adaptation (understood as the transferral of a cultural product from one medium to another) in a range of media (for example, film, television, theatre, literature, and computer games) and the issues associated with these processes in these media. The module is taught in English and inter and intra-lingual work will be examined. This module is open to students who do not have a foreign language. An additional workshop hour is scheduled at this level. Assessment commensurate with level. Taught with LCS-2T20. more...	LCS-3T22	20	Semester 2
Introduction to British Sign Language II A continuation of 'Introduction to British Sign Language I' (LCSU1OB1 or LCSU1OB4). Teaching and learning strategies continue with the use of signed conversation, role play, games and exercises to embed vocabulary and principles unique to a visual language. It is designed to provide students a follow-on in their understanding awareness of life, culture and use of equipment in the Deaf World. Assessment is based on a Sign Language conversation and two in-class assessments. The module can be taken in any year. Alternative groups may be available depending on student numbers. Students will have to attend one of the groups which will be taught on Mondays, 5.00 pm - 7.30 pm ( A910EY) . more...	LCSU1OB2	20	Semester 2
Japanese Post GCSE II This year long module is for Year 2 post-GCSE entry students and is the continuation of LCS-1J7Y Post-GCSE I. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. more...	LCS-2J7Y	40	Year Period
Technological Tools for Subtitling and Dubbing (Level 3) This module provides first-hand experience of subtitling and dubbing. There will be an opportunity to become familiar with software used for interlingual and intralingual subtitling and dubbing at professional level while undertaking practical exercises involving cueing, text compression and segmentation, respecting time and space constraints and conforming to conventions of good practice. The different types of technological tools used for audiovisual translation at professional and amateur levels will be explored, analysed and assessed. Selected film/TV series/documentary extracts in several languages will be used. Practical activities will present participants with the challenges posed by the interplay of audio, image and text. more...	LCS-3T56	20	Semester 2
Subtitling and Dubbing (Level 3) This module is an introduction to aspects of subtitling and dubbing in different media and multimedia contexts (television, radio, cinema, world wide web), and to issues associated with these activities in the age of globalisation. A range of materials and processes will be considered (e.g. film subtitling, subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, subtitling and dubbing in news reports or documentaries, subtitling and dubbing in the context of multimedia localisation) to investigate key features and concerns involved in transposing text across communication channels, media, forms and codes. Assessment commensurate with level. Taught with LCS-2T11. more...	LCS-3T17	20	Semester 1
Modern Japanese Language Honours 2/ii This semester-long module is compulsory for all second-year Japanese Honours students. Its aim is to build up language proficiency and cultural awareness of Japan. more...	LCSU2J02	20	Semester 2
Dissertation in Language and Culture (Spring) This module gives students the opportunity to undertake research on a project of their own choosing under the supervision of a member of faculty. The goal is to produce an extended essay (written in English) of 5,000 - 6,000 words which relates in-depth research on a specialist topic relating to wider issues in language and communication studies. The dissertation topic must be agreed by the module organiser by the end of the previous semester. There is no specific timetable slot for the module, arrangements for tutorial meetings being made between the individual tutor and student. This module will be useful preparation for those interested in pursuing post-graduate studies. more...	LCS-3C06	20	Semester 2
French Oral and Written Composition This is an academic module designed to systematise and expand linguistic capacities through critical use of existing competence. Main activities: textual analysis, written composition, formal oral presentations. The module is compulsory for all final-year French Honours students and for second-year LCS students identified as students with (near) native competence in French and is also open to visiting/exchange students. Taught in French. more...	LCS-3F13	20	Semester 1
Beginners' Japanese II A continuation of the beginners' course in Japanese (LCSU1OJ1 or LCSU1OJ4). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1OJ2	20	Semester 2
Translation in Context This module explores the issues fundamental to translation as process and product in practical contexts, examines theories of equivalence and textual structure in different language-cultures, and applies theory to specialised practice (e.g. commercial, legal, technical, political). more...	LCS-MA01	20	Semester 1
Forensic Linguistics and Translation This module is focused on theoretical and practical aspects of the interplay between language and other language-driven activities such as translation and memory in special circumstances of witnessing, experiencing or judging crime and providing expert linguistic testimony and language services such as translating and interpreting. It contextualises the consequences of this relationship within an interactive environment, namely forensic, psycholinguistic and cross-cultural contexts of language use. Another dimension of the course is an emphatic cross-linguistic approach, whereby we assume the latest linguistic typological perspective and discuss the effects of language differences on the kind of information habitually provided in or omitted from reports in one language and translation. more...	LCS-MA08	20	Semester 2
Language and Gender (Level 3) This module explores a variety of matters relating to language and its relationship to questions of gender and sexuality. Do men and women use language differently? Are the genders represented differentially in language and what might this show about socio-cultural ideologies and power structures? Is linguistic behaviour used to create and construct gender and sexual identities? Consideration will include such issues as stereotypical ideas of gendered language, sexist language, how same-sex conversations differ from mixed-sex conversations, how children are linguistically socialised into their gender categories, whether men are from Mars and women from Venus, and so on. Discussion and reading will be informed by a wide variety of ideas from fields such as anthropology, psychology, biology, sociology, and politics (especially feminism). Assessment commensurate with level. In addition to the timetabled seminar, some further contact hours will be arranged for level 3 students. more...	LCS-3L52	20	Semester 2
Beginners' French I (Spring Start) This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of French. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where French is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1F14	20	Semester 2
Language and Society (Level 2) Different social groups and different speech situations give rise to a remarkable range of linguistic variety. In this module we will explore the kind of factors that govern such variety, the social meanings and ideologies with which it is associated, and some techniques of research. Issues covered include: language and social class, language and gender, language and education, code-switching, pidgins and creoles. Examples given are drawn from socio-linguistic practices in Britain and a variety of other cultural contexts. You are introduced to the main concepts and studies and given opportunities for class discussion. You are expected to make your own contribution by researching a particular area of interest. This module will be taught by a two hour lecture/seminar. more...	LCS-2L44	20	Semester 2
Spain Through the Eye of A Lens This module covers and explores the use of various visual resources which show elements of the contemporary history and culture of Spain and the evolution of the Spanish society during many decades of political upheaval. You will become familiar with important Spanish issues such as national stereotypes, violence, race, immigration, sexual identities and social transformation through the use of visual resources such as: films, TV commercials, programmes, documentaries and series, photography etc. more...	LCS-2H39	20	Semester 1
France Through the Eye of A Lens This module examines French society from a socio-cultural perspective through film and television. It will enable you to further your knowledge of French culture and society while exposing you to a wide range of audiovisual French language cultural products. The approach will be thematic with a focus on identity and cover issues relating to immigration, education, class, sport, and sexuality, for example. Each theme will be supported by relevant written texts. more...	LCS-2F42	20	Semester 2
Translation Work Experience (Level 3) The module builds on partnership with public services locally and abroad to give home and visiting/exchange students the opportunity to work jointly on professional translation briefs (e.g. translation from, and into English, of information for local museums or museums in France or Spain). Work involves translating to specifications, background research and product delivery/presentation. Assessment is by a variety of means including diary notes and critical report. Module open subject to availability of briefs - a back-up module choice is essential. One hour per week timetabled. Other commitments including Level 3 tutorials to be arranged. Taught with LCS-2T13. more...	LCS-3T15	20	Semester 1
Beginners' French II A continuation of the beginners' course in French (LCSU1F11 or LCSU1F14). Can be taken in any year, but not by final-year LCS students. Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. (Alternative slots may be available depending on student numbers). This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1F12	20	Semester 2
Conflict in Intercultural Communication The module introduces students to the study of intercultural conflict, through case studies of miscommunication at the levels of international political terminology, pragmatic strategies, the public representation of cross-cultural conflicts and of migration/multicultural conflicts. The module enables students to apply analytical methods to conflicts in intercultural communication on the basis of applied linguistics (contrastive semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics) and cultural studies. By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the linguistic dimensions of conflicts (and their mediation) in intercultural communication. Formative work includes oral and written presentations. more...	LCS-ML23	20	Semester 1
Spanish Post GCSE II This year-long module is for Year 2 post-GCSE students and is the continuation of Spanish post-GCSE I. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. Students join Post A-Level Spanish I/II for some lectures and seminars. more...	LCS-2H7Y	40	Year Period
Introduction to Language and Communication Studies This module provides an environment for LCS students to develop the core academic skills, attributes and knowledge necessary to make the most of their study at university. Key themes in the study of language, culture and intercultural communication will be visited, allowing exploration of learning, study and academic writing strategies and skills with the aim of developing effective, self-supporting learning and communication. Presentation will be via a variety of lectures, workshops and seminars. AVAILABLE ONLY TO LCS FIRST YEAR STUDENTS. more...	LCS-1E05	20	Semester 1
The Construction of News (Level 3) The module seeks to provide an understanding of how the special cultural product we call 'news' is created. It examines the changing economic, political, legal and cultural contexts of newspaper production in a variety of media (print, web, broadcast). It presents and assesses different theories about how these contexts (or 'structures') impact on the day to day practice of journalism and the nature of the news message. An important part of the module involves tracing the reflections and refractions of these wider processes in actual news media discourse. We will use frequent practical analysis exercises to test and challenge the theories of new production and the practices of new production in today's fast-changing news environment. The module encourages students to develop, practice and test a range of skills, including: being able to consider, analyse and challenge critically the ideas and practices of themselves and others; taking part in teamwork; presenting ideas and analytical outcomes. By the end of the module, you should be able to 'read' news media in a very different way to before. Assessment commensurate with level. In addition to the timetabled seminar, some further contact hours will be arranged for level 3 students. more...	LCS-3L50	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Arabic I This is the first part of a beginners' course in Arabic assuming no prior knowledge of the language. The module aims to develop the ability to use Arabic effectively in everyday practical situations with speakers of Arabic both in the UK and overseas. Cannot be taken by final-year LLT students. Alternative and additional slots may be available, depending on enrolment. more...	LCSU1OA1	20	Semester 1
Dissertation Forensic Linguistics The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD4X	90	Semester 2
Introduction to Japanese Popular Culture Japanese popular culture is becoming increasingly influential around the world. Important current manifestations are J-Pop (Japanese popular music), manga, anime, cospre (costume-play), computer games, and ketai-shosetsu (short novels for mobile phones). For understanding young Japanese and their relation to society, knowledge of Japanese popular culture is key. The aim of this module is to make students familiar with contemporary Japanese mass culture through consumption experiences, case studies and their analysis from socio-anthropological and historical perspectives. more...	LCS-1J02	20	Semester 2
Introduction to British Sign Language I A beginners' course in British Sign Language assuming no prior or minimal knowledge of the language. It is designed to provide students with basic training in communication with deaf people and an awareness of life and culture in the deaf world. Teaching and learning strategies include the use of signed conversation, role play, games and exercises to embed vocabulary and principles unique to a visual language. Assessment is based on a Sign Language conversation and three in-class assessments. The module can be taken in any year. Alternative groups may be available depending on student numbers. Students will have to attend one of the groups which will be taught on Mondays, 10.00 am - 12.30 pm (B2B3E4), 1.30 pm - 4.00 pm (C5C6C7) and/or 5.00 pm - 7.30 pm ( A910EY/) or Wednesdays, 14.20 pm - 16.50 pm (E6E7E8), subject to student enrolment/timetables. more...	LCSU1OB1	20	Semester 1
Translation (English to French) This module, which is compulsory for all final year French Honours students, aims to enhance translation skills and involves English into French translation. It is also open to second-year LCS students with (near) native competence in French and/or visiting/exchange students. Assessment commensurate with credit value. more...	LCS-3F14	20	Semester 2
Post A-Level French Language 2/ii This module is the continuation of the Post A-Level French Language 2/I module (LCSU2F01) and is compulsory for all second year French Honours students. There is a core element to this module which takes up the objectives of LCSU2F01 in a translation hour (D2 or E3) and a year abroad preparation oral class. There are three additional strands. Each student will take one of these strands: i) Introduction to Interpreting (obligatory for Q9R8 students) (A3B4), ii) French Law and Society (C3D4) or, iii) French for Business (obligatory for R9N2 students) (A7*A8). Non-Q9R8 and non-R9N2 students will be asked to state a preference in the Autumn semester. more...	LCSU2F02	20	Semester 2
Specialised Translation (Spanish) A module in the translation of specialised texts of various types such as economic, journalistic, scientific, literary, and technical. This module is designed for all final-year Spanish Honours students except for students on Q9R8. This module is also open to second-year LCS students with (near) native competence in Spanish and/or visiting/exchange students. more...	LCS-3T52	20	Semester 2
Intermediate German II A continuation of the intermediate course in German (LCSU2G97). Open to students with an AS Level grade B or below. more...	LCSU2G98	20	Semester 2
Translation Issues in the Media (Level 3) This module is particularly relevant to language and translation students, but will appeal to students from across the University with an interest in language issues associated with the globalisation of communication and the media. It considers a range of materials (texts and their translations, multilingual publications and packaging, film subtitles, dubbed soundtracks, IT-mediated text) to explore issues involved in the transposition and translation of (spoken and written) text into other media and other languages across different genres, literary and non-literary. Taught in English. Receptive knowledge of one other main European language required. Taught with LCS-2T06. Assessment commensurate with level. more...	LCS-3T26	20	Semester 2
Dissertation Conflicts in Intercultural Communication The dissertation is a compulsory requirement for all taught MA programmes. Work on the dissertation is begun at the end of the second teaching semester. The choice of research topic for the dissertation is made by the students in consultation with their course convenor and/or supervisor (students normally receive up to four hours of supervision in all over the period of supervision). more...	LCS-MD5X	90	Semester 2
Beginners' Spanish II A continuation of the beginners' course in Spanish (LCSU1H11 or LCSU1H14). Students with a GCSE grade C or below (or equivalent experience) may join this module. This module has three contact hours per week. It cannot be taken by final-year LCS students. more...	LCSU1H12	20	Semester 2
Translation Theory and Practice The primary aim of this module is to develop the skills and critical thinking required for the production, by the individual student, of an extended annotated translation and commentary. The commentary consists of a theoretical discussion of the translation process and product, together with specific annotations illustrating the translation strategy adopted. This module is open to second-year LCS students with (near) native competence in French or Spanish and/or visiting/exchange students. Assessment commensurate with credit value. more...	LCS-3T07	20	Semester 1
Modern Japanese Language Honours 2/I This semester-long Japanese language module is compulsory for all second-year Single Honours Japanese students. Its aim is to build up language proficiency and cultural awareness of Japan. more...	LCSU2J01	20	Semester 1
Introduction to British Sign Language I (Spring Start) A beginners' course in British Sign Language assuming no prior or minimal knowledge of the language. It is designed to provide students with basic training in communication with deaf people and an awareness of life and culture in the deaf world. Teaching and learning strategies include the use of signed conversation, role play, games and exercises to embed vocabulary and principles unique to a visual language. Assessment is based on a Sign Language conversation and three in-class assessments. The module can be taken in any year. Alternative groups may be available depending on student numbers. Students will have to attend one of the groups which will be taught on Mondays, 10.00 am - 12.30 pm (B2B3E4), 1.30 pm - 4.00 pm (C5C6C7) and/or 5.00 pm - 7.30 pm ( A910EY/Wed 14.20 - 16.50), subject to student enrolment/timetables. more...	LCSU1OB4	20	Semester 2
Research Methods Part I This module is the first part of a course designed to familiarise postgraduate students with research resources and basic aspects of research methodology (e.g. access to, and use of, sources and resources, collection, analysis and presentation of materials and data) and focuses on seminar-related activities. It is taught in the first semester of the first year of study. The module is compulsory for all LCS part-time students on MA Taught programmes and open only to them. Co-Requisite: LCS-MR02. more...	LCS-MR01	5	Semester 1
Japanese Honours Language 3/11 This module, which is compulsory for all final year Japanese Honours students, aims to enhance translation skills and will involve both Japanese to English and English into Japanese translation, including sight-translation based on a variety of text types. more...	LCS-3J12	20	Year Period
Post A-Level Spanish 1/i A course in Spanish for students with Spanish A-Level, Intermediate Spanish (LCSU2H11 and 12), or any other equivalent qualification. This module aims to enable students to build on, and further enhance, existing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It is designed to build up linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge and learning skills in preparation for the year abroad. A key component is the exploration of themes that develop interculturality. Specific aspects of language are revisited and consolidated at a higher level. The emphasis lies on enhancing essential grammar notions and vocabulary areas in meaningful contexts, whilst developing knowledge of contemporary life and society that focuses on culture and current affairs. This module can be taken in any year. (Alternative slots may be available depending on student numbers.) Orals are arranged separately. This module is not available to native speakers or those with equivalent competence. more...	LCSU1H21	20	Semester 1
Language and Society (Level 3) Different social groups and different speech situations give rise to a remarkable range of linguistic variety. In this module we will explore the kind of factors that govern such variety, the social meanings and ideologies with which it is associated, and some approaches to research. Issues covered include: language and social class, language and gender, language and education, code-switching, multilingualism and politeness. Examples given are drawn from socio-linguistic practices in Britain and a variety of other cultural contexts. You are introduced to the main concepts and studies and given opportunities for class discussion. You are expected to make your own contribution by researching a particular area of interest for a class presentation and the project. The module does not assume knowledge of a second language and is relevant to students majoring in political, socio-cultural and media studies as well as to language students. In addition to the two hour lecture/seminar a further hour will be timetabled and dedicated particularly to the exploration of language and identity, leading to the development of the project. more...	LCS-3L46	20	Semester 2
Technological Tools for Subtitling and Dubbing (Level 2) This module provides first-hand experience of subtitling and dubbing. There will be an opportunity to become familiar with software used for interlingual and intralingual subtitling and dubbing at professional level while undertaking practical exercises involving cueing, text compression and segmentation, respecting time and space constraints and conforming to conventions of good practice. The different types of technological tools used for audiovisual translation at professional and amateur levels will be explored, analysed and assessed. Selected film/TV series/documentary extracts in several languages will be used. Practical activities will present participants with the challenges posed by the interplay of audio, image and text. more...	LCS-2T24	20	Semester 2
Translation and Adaptation (Level 2) This module will consider translation and adaptation (understood as the transferral of a cultural product from one medium to another) in a range of media (for example, film, television, theatre, literature, and computer games) and the issues associated with these processes in these media. The module is taught in English and inter and intra-lingual work will be examined. The module is open to students who do not have a foreign language. Assessment commensurate with level. Taught with LCS-3T22. more...	LCS-2T20	20	Semester 2
Beginners' Japanese I (Spring Start) This module is for students at beginners' level who have little or no prior experience of Japanese. The module will develop students' reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The aim is to equip students with the linguistic understanding of a number of real life situations, as well as the ability to communicate effectively in those situations. There will also be opportunities to explore aspects of the cultures where Japanese is spoken. Particular emphasis is placed on acquiring a sound knowledge of grammar. This module has three contact hours per week. more...	LCSU1OJ4	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Public Service Interpreting This module is offered to final year undergraduates with no prior formal interpreting training. Its aim is to equip students with public service interpreting skills as well as to enhance linguistic and cultural knowledge in order to improve their ability to reflect on the process of interpreting as a multicultural world. For students also enrolled on the Autumn semester Introduction to Conference Interpreting module, it will provide the opportunity to hone their skills whilst introducing new topics in different settings, such as liaison interpreting during a police interview. This course in a Sanko digital language laboratory and consists of 4 hours of contact time per week. The module covers on-sight, consecutive and simultaneous interpreting skills as well as the non-verbal elements of importance to communication such as pitch, intonation, body language, etc. The content of the module focuses on medical and legal settings. The skills based approach of this course provides effective academic training and has high employability credentials as it develops transferable skills in demand in the professional world such as good concentration, active listening, flexibility, confidence and self-presentation. Students will be assessed on interpreting both into and out of their mother tongue. It is essential that students are at native speaker level in at least one of the following languages: English; Spanish or French. more...	LCS-3T58	20	Semester 2
Spanish Honours 3: World Spanishes This module offers the opportunity to develop your Spanish speaking, listening, reading and writing skills at an advanced level. The main objective is to further develop higher level language skills and raise awareness of linguistic and intercultural issues to aid inclusion and immersion in Spanish-speaking countries. It covers the exploration of the varieties of the Spanish language from a linguistic point of view and the variations of the Spanish language through the analysis and identification of extracts of spoken texts. The oral element of the module focuses on raising sensitivity to implicit messages transmitted through visual media and improving speaking and listening skills, whilst widening vocabulary. This module is conducted entirely in Spanish. Assessment commensurate with credit value. (NB: Alternative groups available depending on student numbers). It is also open to second year LCS students with near native competence in Spanish and some visiting/exchange students. However, it is not suitable for native Spanish speaking visiting/exchange students. more...	LCS-3H10	20	Semester 2
Spanish Honours 3: Advanced Hispanic Studies This module develops the students' Spanish language skills at an advanced level. It fosters an understanding of various Spanish language features and develops critical cultural awareness. Specific components of grammar at a higher level are revisited, problematic areas identified for improvement and academic writing skills are further developed. The module offers the opportunity of exploring the components that control the use of language when communicating in Spanish and of investigating and reflecting contrastively on the pragmatic components of the Spanish language and of the students' native language. The oral component of the module focuses on improving intercultural communication with Hispanics, whilst improving speaking and listening and widening vocabulary at a higher level. This module is conducted entirely in Spanish. Assessment commensurate with credit value. (NB: Alternative groups available depending on student numbers). It is also open to second year LCS students with near native competence in Spanish and some visiting/exchange students. However, it is not suitable for native Spanish speaking visiting/exchange students. more...	LCS-3H11	20	Semester 1
Spanish Honours 3: Advanced Hispanic Studies This module develops the students' Spanish language skills at an advanced level. It fosters an understanding of various Spanish language features and develops critical cultural awareness. Specific components of grammar are revisited at a higher level and problematic areas identified for improvement. Topics include a wide range of cultural, social and human interest issues as represented in the media in the Hispanic world. This module is conducted entirely in Spanish. Assessment commensurate with credit value. (NB: Alternative groups available depending on student numbers). It is also open to second year LCS students with near native competence in Spanish and some visiting/exchange students. However, it is not suitable for native Spanish speaking visiting/exchange students. more...	LCS-3H08	20	Semester 2
Spanish Honours 3: World Spanishes This module fosters an understanding of various Spanish language features and develops critical cultural awareness. Specific components of grammar are revisited at a higher level and problematic areas identified for improvement. Topics include a wide range of cultural, social and human interest issues. This module is conducted entirely in Spanish. Assessment commensurate with credit value. It is also open to second year LCS students with near native competence in Spanish and some visiting/exchange students. However, it is not suitable for native Spanish speaking visiting/exchange students. more...	LCS-3H09	20	Semester 1
Discourse and Society (Level 2) Discourse analysis is concerned with how sequences of sentences can be understood as both coherent and meaningful. Language occurs in specific social situations, among specific social actors and for a variety of purposes. Discourse analysis is concerned with the ways in which language in use is tied to its context. This approach is thus at the heart of the analysis of human interaction in society. This module provides the students with analytical tools that can be fruitfully applied to the study of a variety of texts (e.g. media, advertising, politics, education, business, creative writing) and for a variety of purposes (e.g. developing critical understanding, uncovering ideological bias, reproducing texts successfully in translation and achieving the desired impact through one's own writing). Presentations of the main concepts and examples are followed by practice sessions in which students have the opportunity to analyze a variety of texts both for class discussion and for their final project. This module will be taught by a two hour lecture/seminar. more...	LCS-2L91	20	Semester 1
Language in Action (Level 2) This module deals with the ways in which people use language to communicate in real life and it addresses some of the questions you may have wondered about if you are curious about the way language works in practice. It is concerned, for example, with the way in which simply speaking certain words ('I do') actually changes the state of social play. Questions addressed include: what are people doing when they engage in 'conversation'? Why is communication still problematic even when I am fluent in a foreign language? How does a word like 'this' refer to different things? How do we create implied meanings without actually saying what we mean? The main theoretical concepts are introduced and illustrated and ample opportunity is then given to the students to contribute and discuss their own examples to show how the concepts apply in different situations and in different cultural/linguistic environments. This module is relevant not only to language students but also to those students who are generally interested in communication. This module will be taught by a two hour lecture/seminar. more...	LCS-2L71	20	Semester 1
Language and Gender (Level 2) This module explores a variety of matters relating to language and its relationship to questions of gender and sexuality. Do men and women use language differently? Are the genders represented differentially in language and what might this show about socio-cultural ideologies and power structures? Is linguistic behaviour used to create and construct gender and sexual identities? Consideration will include such issues as stereotypical ideas of gendered language, sexist language, how same-sex conversations differ from mixed-sex conversations, how children are linguistically socialised into their gender categories, whether men are from Mars and women from Venus, and so on. Discussion and reading will be informed by a wide variety of ideas from fields such as anthropology, psychology, biology, sociology, and politics (especially feminism). more...	LCS-2L64	20	Semester 2
Language and Politics (Level 2) This module provides an opportunity for students to investigate a particular aspect of language - the use and control of a language in relation to power, both within formal political institutions and in the broader public sphere. The module looks at the linkage between language and nation, at censorship, propaganda, patriotism and xenophobia. It places particular emphasis on the acquisition of linguistic tools that will enhance students' ability to analyse varieties of political discourse in action, including parliamentary discourse, political speeches and the numerous forms of media involvement in political processes. more...	LCS-2L28	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication in Practice (Level 3) This 20 credit level 3 module explores how students can become more effective communicators in international or multicultural settings by developing their intercultural competence. It introduces them to theoretical approaches to intercultural communication and provides them with opportunities to analyse and understand the basics of effective communication across cultures. Students will be also encouraged to make links between module content and their own experiences and responses by keeping an intercultural journal. Classroom sessions will include small group work, practical activities to explore how theories can be applied in real-life contexts, analysis of case studies, and workshops. During the workshops, invited practitioners will introduce students to how intercultural communication operates in specific organisations, e.g. in government agencies and in multilingual business management. Assessment which includes a critical report on an authentic intercultural interaction and a class presentation is commensurate with a 20 credit level 3 module. more...	LCS-3C04	20	Semester 2
Intercultural Communication in Practice (Level 2) This 20 credit level 2 module explores how students can become more effective communicators in international or multicultural settings by developing their intercultural competence. It introduces them to theoretical approaches to intercultural communication and provides them with opportunities to analyse and understand the basics of effective communication across cultures. Students will be also encouraged to make links between module content and their own experiences and responses by keeping an intercultural journal. Classroom sessions will include small group work, practical activities to explore how theories can be applied in real-life contexts, analysis of case studies, and workshops. During the workshops, invited practitioners will introduce students to how intercultural communication operates in specific organisations, e.g. in government agencies and in multilingual business management. Assessment, which includes a critical report on an authentic intercultural interaction and a class presentation, is commensurate with a 20 credit level 2 module. more...	LCS-2C02	20	Semester 2

PHI-M

Supervised Study Module Four This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study Unit 3. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA04	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Three This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study unit 1, and is available as the first such module to be taken in the Spring semester of the programme. more...	PHI-MA02	20	Semester 2
Supervised Study Module Two This module provides for supervised study on the same model as Philosophy Supervised Study 1, for students taking two such modules in the Spring semester. Except in the case of Part-Time students, this module can only be taken concurrently with Philosophy Supervised Study module 1. This module may also be taken in the form of language skills for original research (e.g. Ancient Greek, German) in which case language exercises and/or translation tasks may replace some or all of the essay work. Training in logic may also take this form. more...	PHI-MA03	20	Semester 1
Supervised Study Module One The module is designed to train the student in research techniques in philosophy and to develop advanced knowledge and understanding in some clearly defined area of the discipline which may or may not have been studied before, eg. at BA level. The student is assigned to work with a tutor with research expertise in the chosen area. The topics covered, and the manner in which they are covered, will be tailored to the student's prior experience in the field. Typically, three essay questions, with bibliographical research, will be set for work during the semester. more...	PHI-MA01	20	Semester 1
Topics in Political Philosophy This module will be devoted to the interpretation and discussion of important, advanced texts in modern political philosophy, in particular texts by John Rawls, perhaps the most significant political philosopher of the late twentieth century. Rawlsian political philosophy of liberalism will be tested with regard to its soundness in relation to equality, community/society, and ecology. Consideration will be given to looking at what political philosophy might viably challenge or replace liberalism, which tends to be the 'dominant paradigm' in political theory and practice today. Students will also have an opportunity to apply abstract philosophical ideas to current political controversies. more...	PHI-M008	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (90 Credits) For students taking the MA in Social Philosophy. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PHI-M10X	90	Semester 2
Philosophy Postgraduate Workshop The weekly workshop enables students to present their own work in short presentations and to contribute to discussions on each other's work. Each student must produce a presentation and meaningfully contribute to the meetings in order to pass the module. Presentations can be designed to explore work in progress or to help polish work for final submission, inclusion in the thesis or publication. more...	PHI-M09Y	10	Year Period
Philosophy of Biology Recent decades have seen far-reaching and controversial advances in the biological sceinces. These developments raise important philosophical questions which are the subject of one of the liveliest and fastest growing philosophical sub-disciplines, the philosophy of biology. In this module, we will begin by examining some of the concepts and methods that distinguish the biological from the physical sciences. What is the nature of a gene, an organism, a species? What is the role of functional explanation in biology? We will then investigate some more general problems that biology raises within the philosophy of science. Can biology be reduced to physics? What is it for a biological theory, such as the theory of evolution, to be testable? Finally, we will turn to the implications of biology for broader philosphical questions about human nature and morality. Does evolutionary theory show that we are selfish beings? Does genetics prove that morality is an illusion? Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction in conjunction with PHI-2A74/3A74. more...	PHI-M026	20	Semester 2
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies This year-long module is designed to support students on the MA/MSc in Environmental Sciences and Humanities by providing the necessary context for reflecting on interdisciplinary approaches to environmental studies. It encompasses a number of key steps in the degree, covering pre-arrival preparation, an intensive induction week, reflection on interdisciplinary work throughout the year, and preparation for the dissertation. more...	PHI-M07Y	20	Year Period
Language and Mind The module will explore the philosophy of Noam Chomsky, the leading linguist of the last century. The module will be taught via a small tutorial group that will explore a central theme in the development of Chomsky's position each week. Topics will include: the refutation of behaviourism, the computational basis of language, the creativity of linguistic performance, internalism vs externalism, the concept of human nature. As well as the tutorial, students are encouraged to attend the lectures for the undergraduate module, Language in Mind, that will cover some of the same issues. more...	PHI-M023	20	Semester 1
Philosophy and Literature Seminar The main aim of this course is to explore philosophical themes which arise naturally in the reading of literature, and literary issues which arise naturally in the study of philosophy. Literary texts may well include a selection from: Shakespeare, Pope, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Arnold, Conrad and Beckett. Philosophical texts may well include a selection from: Plato, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Goethe, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. Two important themes for discussion will be the rise of physical science and its impact on philosophy and literature; and how different conceptions of philosophy and literature affect the way in which they are written (or not written). Assessment will be by two coursework essays. more...	PHI-M028	20	Semester 2
Philosophy Dissertation (80 Credits) This module is compulsory for all students taking the course MA/MSc Environmental Sciences and Humanities. Students will be required to produce a 10,000-15,000 word dissertation over the Summer period. The dissertation may deal with any topic covered by the remit of the course as a whole. The title and scope of the dissertation will be determined by the student together with his or her supervisor. A detailed research proposal will be submitted to the proposed supervisor in early April and must be approved by the Course Director. Each student will receive 6 hours of formal supervision during the course of the module. The supervisor will normally be one of the instructors on the course, unless a more suitable member of staff is identified and agrees to act as supervisor. The topic of the dissertation and faculty location of the supervisor will determine whether the student ultimately receives an MA or MSc degree. Normally a student who is supervised by a member of staff in ENV will receive an MSc, otherwise the student will receive an MA. Co-supervision between schools is encouraged. In such a case the type of degree will be determined by the primary supervisor. The dissertation will be marked by one member of the Science faculty and one member of the Arts and Humanities faculty. more...	PHI-M20X	80	Semester 2
Methodology and Epistemology of Philosophy The module provides commencing graduate students with the methodological foundations for independent philosophical research. Through practical exercises complementing theoretical discussion and philosophical case studies, the module examines nature, structure, and genesis of key problems and theories from different areas of philosophy; on this basis, it discusses the scope, strengths, and weaknesses of both well-established and innovative philosophical methodologies as well as key questions about the nature of philosophy. Methods covered include different forms of conceptual and linguistic analysis, ways of explaining and assessing philosophical intuitions, naturalist approaches, and competing hermeneutic approaches to the interpretation of philosophical texts from different periods and traditions. Meta-philosophical questions addressed include: What are the proper aims and purposes of philosophy (theoretical vs. elucidatory vs. therapeutic conceptions)? In what ways is philosophy similar to, and different from various sciences? In what ways can methods and insights from other disciplines (sciences, literature, and the arts) be put to use for philosophical purposes? The module is taught through a weekly lecture and seminar (total 3 hours/week). Topics of the two 3000-word essays are individually agreed. This module is intended primarily for students on the MRes in Philosophy and the MA in Philosophy and Literature. Students on other MA/MSc programmes can participate with the consent of the module organiser, who will expect substantive prior exposure to philosophy (ca. 6 undergraduate modules in philosophy). more...	PHI-M019	20	Semester 1
Certainty and Uncertainty in Environmental Science and Policy This module is concerned with questions about certainty and uncertainty in environmental science and about the role of environmental science for political decision-making. The module investigates epistemological questions about the possibility of gaining scientific insight into the sources and solutions of environmental problems; and it examines the relationship of such epistemic concerns to ethical and political questions about how to act in the face of environmental problems. more...	PHI-M015	20	Semester 1
Classical Philosophy Workshop The module takes the form of a research-led, workshop-style, seminar based on an area of Classical Philosophy in which the module convener has current research interests. It will include detailed attention to selected texts and issues. The topic will be chosen by the lecturer. Recent topics have included (a) Mind and Perception, with detailed attention to Aristotle's "De Anima"; and (b) God creation and design, with detailed attention to Plato's Timaeus and texts in Aristotle and Plotinus (c) Fate and freewill with texts from the Presocratics to Augustine. This module is linked to the advanced undergraduate module, Classical Philosophy Special Subject. more...	PHI-M018	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Science As any intellectual enterprise, natural science poses fascinating and deep problems. Think e.g. of mechanics: in order to describe observable motion it appeals to such unobservable entities as forces, and in order to talk about real bodies it refers to ideal entities like points endowed with a mass. These facts lead to challenging questions: what is the role of unobservable entities within a scientific theory? Why do we need to resort to ideal hypotheses in order to study the real world? Is there a fundamental divide between theoretical science and experimental science? We will explore these issues by looking at scientific practice from a philosophical standpoint. This module is self-contained and presupposes no previous knowledge of physics or other sciences. Students on the M Level version will attend advanced level seminars and their coursework will be marked to a higher standard. The module is offered biennially in conjunction with PHI-2A14/3A14. more...	PHI-M024	20	Semester 2
Philosophy of Literature Seminar The topics of this module will be chosen from amongst the following: the definition and purpose of literature; the nature of literary language, fiction, fictional characters, narrative, genre, literary criticism and interpretation; the relevance of author's intention, the role of the reader, and the relationship between literature which is read and that which is heard and seen; aesthetic evaluation, taste, subjectivity and objectivity; whether literature can convey truth and knowledge, and the relationship between aesthetic judgement and ethics. Students submit two essays of 2,500 words each. more...	PHI-M021	20	Semester 1

PSI

Analysing Media Discourses This module examines the relationship between language, images and social meaning. Media products from film and advertising to newspaper articles and even music are examined as `texts' that shape and are shaped by the socio-political reality. After discussing some of the main theories of textual analysis like semiotics, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis, we will adopt a hands on approach in order to demonstrate how the visual and linguistic techniques can advance our understanding of the processes of representation and communication of meaning. more...	PSIPM015	20	Semester 1
Media, Culture and Society Dissertation For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM40X	60	Semester 2
Dissertation (Mres) For students taking the MRes degrees in Public Policy and Public Management and International Public Policy and Public Management. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M30X	60	Semester 2
Public Management: Theories and Change This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public management, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of developments in public management in a variety of settings. Students who successfully complete this module will be able to demonstrate: a critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public management and organisational behaviour; familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public management; substantive knowledge of the theory and practice of the new public management; a critical understanding of public management reform in the United Kingdom and elsewhere; and familiarity with debates concerning the operation and impact of international organisations, including the EU, on public management at the national level. more...	PSIPM021	20	Semester 1
International Organisations and Public Policy The module aims to enable students to develop an understanding of the role of international organisations and their impact on public policy and public management at the domestic and international levels. Students will discuss critically the theories, models and concepts used in the analysis of international cooperation, competing perspectives in international politics and demonstrate the role they play in public policy and public management. The UN, NATO, IMF, WTO, World Bank and EU will be examined and why sovereign states decide to establish these and other international organisations. Their role in security, trade, finance, gender and environmental policy will be considered and the factors which determine their design and evolution. The extent to which their operation reflects underlying power and interest will be evaluated and the extent to which they have democratic legitimacy. more...	PSIIM006	20	Semester 2
Public Policy: Theory and Analysis This module enables students to develop advanced understanding of the main theories, models and concepts used in the study of public policy, the main debates in the field, and substantive knowledge of public policy in a variety of settings. Students successfully completing the module will be able to demonstrate: - critical understanding of the main theoretical approaches used in the study of public policy - familiarity with the main debates in the scholarly literature on public policy - advanced knowledge of public policy and policy processes in a variety of national settings - familiarity with the main theories and debates relating to the operation and impact of international organisations, including the European Union, on domestic policy and policy-making processes. more...	PSIPM023	20	Semester 1
The European Union in International Affairs The module focuses on European Political Cooperation now and into the future, particularly Europe's role as an international actor. Issues include the EU and international conflicts such as the Gulf War, the Middle East and former Yugoslavia, the EU's position as one of three major economic world powers, the EU and Third World development, new considerations in European security, global environmental and energy concerns. Convergence or divergence in European political consensus is examined through these issues in an attempt to draw useful insights for the future of European Integration. more...	PSIIM010	20	Semester 2
International History of the Asia-Pacific Region This module looks at the history of the region, including the involvement of the superpowers in the politics of the cold war in Asia. Conflict in the region as well as the rise and fall of the regional powers are reviewed. The development of multipolarity and the importance of the Asia-Pacific region in the post-cold war world is also covered. The aftermath of the Second World War, the onset of the Cold War, conflict in Korea and Vietnam, the changing relationship between the US, USSR and China are covered, as is the development of Southeast Asia in the modern world. We also assess the major issues contemporary to the region. more...	PSIIM007	20	Semester 1
The Foreign Relations of China and Japan in the Modern World The module looks at the history of China and Japan from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The attempts at modernisation, conflict between the two nations, their relationships with the Asian region and the United States are covered. Their contrasting attempts to develop in the postwar period are investigated. We also assess their current policies and the issues of importance to China and Japan in the twenty first century, and assess whether they can move beyond the legacy of this difficult history. more...	PSIIM026	20	Semester 2
Political Economy of the Environment In this module, students will critically engage with mainstream political and economic assessments of environmental degradation and climate change by adopting a political economy approach. In coming to terms with these environmental threats, the module tries to reawaken a broader type of ethical, natural and social theorisation that defined an earlier political economy. This is not a module on environmental or resource economics, nor are students expected to have an economics background. Rather, this module tries to problematise social production as something much more than a series of market relations. It tries to develop a broader socio-cultural understanding of production that `de-naturalises' the way we view and exploit the natural world. more...	PSIPM022	20	Semester 2
Politics and Mass Media Working from the assumption that the mass media are an integral part of modern political life, this module examines the way in which politics is represented in the mass media and reviews critically the argument about 'bias'. It also explores the arguments around the ownership and control of mass media, the increasing use of the mass media by political parties and the changing relationship between citizens and politics engendered by new communication technologies. more...	PSIPM012	20	Semester 2
Issues in Media and Cultural Politics This module explores key issues within media and cultural politics. The module is divided into separate blocks and spread over two semesters. Each block deals with different aspects of media and cultural politics, including identity and power, communication and culture. more...	PSIPM03Y	20	Year Period
Theories of Society and Politics This module introduces students to the fundamentals of modern social and political thought by means of in-depth study of key texts by leading thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. An emphasis is placed on classical social theory and liberal political theory as well as more recent departures from those traditions. Students will have an opportunity to read and discuss major works of social theory by Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu as well as works of political theory by J S Mill, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Iris Marion Young. During the module students will also have the chance to reflect on fundamental questions about the methodologies employed by social and political theorists and on problems associated with claims to knowledge and objective truth in these fields. more...	PSIPM003	20	Semester 1
History of Political Thought: Social Contract Theory This module examines in depth selected works of political thinkers who are seminal to the Western tradition of political thought, including Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. Their work will also be compared thematically, with a focus on ideas such as the social contract, political obligation, property, individual rights and freedom. The approach is analytical rather than historical and contextualist. The module's focus on the study and interpretation of key texts enables students to develop skills of textual analysis and critique. more...	PSIPM005	20	Semester 1
Theory and Practice of Policy Making in Britain This module will look at theories of policy making and relate them to recent developments in the policy process in Britain, using a case studies approach. The unit will consider some theories of decision making, such as the rational actor model, disjointed incrementalism, policy networks, bureaucratic politics. It will also examine broader issues of the relationship of power and economic forces to the decision making process. Finally, it will examine such issues as agenda setting, the importance of policy discourse and the role of ideas and belief systems in the policy making process. more...	PSIPM018	20	Semester 2
Middle East Politics This module introduces students to the government and politics of one of the most interesting and frequently misunderstood regions in world politics ' the Middle East. The module examines the evolution of the modern Middle Eastern political system over the past century. Students will acquire the skills to analyse key issues in the politics of the region, including topical events such as the preponderance of ethno-sectarian violence and the rise of Islamist movements. Other key questions include the lack of democracy in the region and the creation of rentier economies in the Gulf. more...	PSIIM030	20	Semester 2
MA in International Relations Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations based around the core unit, International Relations Theory. more...	PSIIM200	20	Semester 2
Review Paper (Mres) A research review paper of 6,000-9,000 words on a subject of your choice. more...	PSIPM04Y	20	Year Period
Multiculturalism This module looks at the responses in political theory to the rise of multicultural societies in Europe and North America since the end of World War II. The aim is to introduce students to a range of contemporary theoretical perspectives on multiculturalism and to facilitate critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competing approaches. Theorists under examination will include: Parekh, Kymlicka, Taylor and Modood as well as major liberal alternative views; Barry, Rawls and Raz. The module will combine theoretical study with analysis of practical issues/case studies surrounding multiculturalism. Among the issues to be considered are the following: models of integration, group rights, institutional racism, Islamophobia, and the Rushdie affair. The module will also consider divergent policies adopted within European states (eg, France and Germany) and give attention to the attempts to operationalise multiculturalism in the UK in particular via the Parekh Report. more...	PSIPM026	20	Semester 2
Politics and Public Affairs This module enables students to develop an advanced understanding of the theory and practice of public affairs, interest intermediation, and the strategies used by interest, advocacy groups and others to influence the political process. As well as covering the main debates in the academic literature, it draws directly on the experience of practitioners and offers unique insights into this under-studied area of politics. more...	PSIPM034	20	Semester 2
Regulation This module provides a foundation in the theory and practice of economic regulation, incorporating economic, business, legal and political science perspectives. The module is a research-led programme based on the research undertaken in the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy and assumes no previous studies of economics. more...	PSIPM028	20	Semester 2
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM020	20	Semester 2
American Foreign Policy This module will use case studies of Southeast Asia, Central America and the Middle East to explore the reasons for American interventions and to assess their success or failure. It will offer an historical understanding of the assumptions and practices which lie behind contemporary US foreign policy-making. The module will introduce students to the institutions and processes involved in the making of American foreigh policy. more...	PSIIM032	20	Semester 2
Psi Dissertation By Practice Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. The dissertation by practice allows students to demonstrate their ability to carry out a work of broadcastable journalism. more...	PSI-M60X	40	Semester 2
New Media and Society For better or worse, new digital technologies are hyped at having revolutionised society. This module will provide students with an introduction to the ways in which the internet and other digital technologies are (and are not) affecting society from theoretical and empirical perspectives, and how society shapes technology. Topics covered include: the evolution of the internet; the "network society"; regulating new media; the radical internet and terrorism; social networking, blogs and interactivity; culture and identity in the digital age; and how the internet affects politics and the media. more...	PSIPM007	20	Semester 1
Better Worlds? Utopias and Dystopias Would an ideal society have no more crime? Who would be wealthy or powerful? Would politics be outlawed? Do utopians try to impose their views on the rest of humankind? Do the flaws in human nature justify the pessimism of dystopian writers? This unit compares selected utopian and dystopian texts produced during the last six centuries. Themes will include property, social control, gender, morality and politics. Another dimension of the course is to consider the purpose of utopian thinking and the historical role of utopian ideas in social theory and social reform. more...	PSIPM002	20	Semester 2
European Union: Power, Politics and Policy This module studies the integration process in Europe. It introduces the evolution of political and economic co-operation. The main political actors and their roles are identified and the workings of the European Union as a polity assessed in the light of relevant theoretical discourses and interpretations. more...	PSIIM003	20	Semester 1
Online Journalism This module provides students a grounding in core journalism skills, with a special application to new and emerging media. Topics covered include: new forms of journalism, news sources and rich content production. Students will write and produce content for an online news platform. more...	PSIPM027	20	Semester 1
War Games: Diplomacy and Strategy in International Relations This module introduces students to some of the major issues and ideas concerning diplomacy and military strategy in International Relations. The module comprises fortnightly lectures, two screening sessions, and weekly seminars involving lengthy scenario exercises. Students will learn about the theoretical and practical challenges concerning military relations between states, including concepts such as `the security dilemma', `future uncertainty', `self help', `balancing', `deterrence', `imperial overstretch', and `humanitarian intervention'. The successful completion of this module will lead to a more nuanced understanding of war and peace in international politics. more...	PSIIM034	20	Semester 2
Media and Society This module is intended to provide all students studying media related postgraduate degrees with a broad, current and inter-disciplinary understanding of the media today. The guiding philosophy informing this module is the belief that in order properly to understand the media, whether as a lawyer, economist, development studies professional, media studies specialist or political scientist, it is essential to have a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary understanding of the modern media. What we shall be doing over the year therefore is looking at the structure of the media industry today in the UK and globally. We will consider, from several different academic perspectives, how media content is constructed, what factors and influences go to shape content and how content may be controlled and even censored. We will also look at the media industry, examining how it is currently organised and managed, what factors influence its current organisation and consider how it might develop. We will also examine how media affects people and society and consider also the assumptions that are made about the impact of the media. Finally, we will seek to draw together key aspects of modern media. more...	PSIPM09Y	40	Year Period
Studying Media This module is intended to provide an introduction to the key study skills in media and cultural studies. It will be particularly useful for students unfamiliar with the British university system and its expectations. Students will apply theoretical and methodological approaches to contemporary media texts and discuss recent scholarship on changes in the global media and cultural landscape. In addition to introducing key study skills and debates in the discipline, the workshop sessions will provide a supportive environment for critical reflection and intercultural communication. MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY STUDENTS WITH A NON-UK FIRST DEGREE ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE THIS MODULE UNLESS A WAIVER IS OBTAINED FROM THE COURSE DIRECTOR. THIS MODULE IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO STUDENTS TAKING THE MA IN MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY AND THE MA IN MEDIA AND CULTURAL POLITICS. more...	PSIPM017	20	Semester 1
International Security This module examines the study of security in the international system, through its roots in Cold War strategic studies to the development of the more broadly focused field of security studies today. The module critically analyses contemporary security issues and provides a sound theoretical base for considering practical issues of security, including new wars, intervention and terrorism. Themes are explored from theoretical perspectives and include security and the nation state, war and peace, new wars, alliances, democratic peace, securitisation, human security, the arms industry, religion and security and terrorism. more...	PSIIM020	20	Semester 2
Methods of Social Enquiry The module offers a basic training in research methods; it is aimed at students of politics, international relations and media and cultural politics. It has a qualitative and quantitative component and students are expected to complete both parts of the module. Students will be encouraged to reflect not only on the methods they use, but their methodological assumptions, as well as what it means to be part of a research community. Students will learn to evaluate methods from a number of differing philosophical perspectives. Practically they will also be supported in the devising of a research proposal, oral presentations and the analysis of datasets. more...	PSIPM019	40	Semester 1
Broadcast Journalism This 40 credit module gives students a wide and detailed grounding in all aspects of television journalism and news production. Core topics include editing, camera work, sound and interviewing. Students produce a magazine-style TV show that is built around the video reports that they shoot and edit themselves. Students work both in the studio and on location. more...	PSIPM038	40	Semester 2
MA in International Relations & European Studies Examination This is a generic exam for students registered on the MA in International Relations and European Studies based around the compulsory modules, International Relations Theory and European Union: Power, Politics and Policy. more...	PSIIM202	20	Semester 2
International Relations Theory This module will give students an essential grounding in International Relations theory, that is, the different ways we understand and predict international politics. The module is structured around the positivist/post-positivist divide and starts with classical realism and neo-realism, and liberalism and neo-liberalism. It then explores constructivism before turning to more critical theories like post-colonialism, feminism and gender studies, and Marxism. By the end of the module you will design your own IR theory. The module will be taught predominantly using lectures and seminars but will make use, where appropriate, of film and documentaries in order to explore different theoretical schools, both thematically and empirically. more...	PSIIM011	20	Semester 1
Democratic Theory This module draws on normative political theory and contemporary political science to consider how the concept of democracy has changed since it originated in ancient Greece and looks at the critiques of democracy advanced by critics and opponents especially in the 20th century. The ideas and values underpinning democracy will be interrogated and some recent solutions for today's 'democratic deficit' including electronic democracy and cosmopolitan democracy will be evaluated. more...	PSIPM010	20	Semester 2
Public Choice Public choice theory applies economic models to explain political phenomena. This module, jointly taught by lecturers from philosophy, politics and economics, studies the concepts of market failure and political failure, problems of collective action, rational choice models of democracy and bureaucracy, social choice theory, the motivation of actors in the political process, and the evolution of conventions and norms. The political context is the move from a welfare state to a market society. The emphasis is on the critical appraisal of alternative approaches to public choice and policy issues. more...	PSIPM014	20	Semester 2
Psi Dissertation For all MA students registered in PSI except those on the MA, Media, Society and Culture. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M50X	40	Semester 2
"Media, Culture and Society Dissertation" For students taking the MA in Media, Culture and Society. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSIPM20X	80	Semester 2
Politics and Popular Culture This module explores the ways in which popular culture and politics are linked. It works from the assumption that popular culture 'matters', and the key question is how it matters. Hence it examines the different ways in which, and the different theories through which, popular culture is interpreted as expressing or constituting national or sexual identity, propaganda or political insight, means of resistance or of compliance. It also considers the political economy of popular culture (especially the role of the state) and the political uses of popular culture (especially in political communication). It ends by considering the debates about the political influence of popular culture and about the 'value' of popular culture. more...	PSIPM009	20	Semester 1
Journalism: Practice and Ethics The module will demystify the closed world of the professional journalist and enable students to understand what gets into the news (and what does not), and why. It will help students develop practical skills and techniques and the knowledge of how to apply them in a professional, ethical context. Weekly practical exercises will teach them to produce good, clean, readable copy. All of this will greatly enhance the students' employability within the media industry. more...	PSIPM031	20	Semester 1
Practical Media The Practical Media module is taught at the EPIC (former Anglia) TV studios in Norwich. This is a state-of-the-art working TV studio (e.g making shows for BBC1). Students are given an introduction to all aspects of broadcast journalism, including camera and studio work, scripting, editing (using Apple's Final Cut Pro) and sound. Students produce short videos in small teams before creating this into a TV show (magazine format) in the main studio. The course is taught by leading experts in their field. Ian Masters presented BBC Look East for many years before moving into management including Director of BBC South. He was also Director of Broadcasting at the Thompson Foundation and has travelled all around the world training journalists. Mark Wells was a BBC journalist and producer for many years, before becoming a Director at Televirtual (making TV shows such as Knightmare). He is currently Director of the EPIC TV studios. Further information is available: www.ueamedia.wordpress.com, www.epic-tv.org. more...	PSIPM029	20	Semester 1
Psi Dissertation For all MA students registered on the MA in Media, Society and Culture. Students are required to write a dissertation of a length as specified in their MA Course Guide on a topic approved by the Course Director or other authorised person. more...	PSI-M70X	60	Semester 2
International Organisations: Conflict and Development This module introduces to students the basic concepts of integration/disintegration, globalisation, regionalism and the purpose of the existence of and inter-relationship between international regional Organisations. It then goes on to examine the structure and functions of several major international organisations such as the United Nations, NATO, the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, the AU, etc, and their role in international conflict and economic development with specific case studies. A brief coverage of International Financial Institutions such as IMF, World Bank, the WTO and the G8 will complement the main areas of study above. The style of the module consists of a series of lectures/seminars, class presentations, video showings and workshops. Although this is a mostly empirically based module, students will be expected to apply International Relations and Development theories which they will be studying alongside, in their other modules, as appropriate. more...	PSIIM009	20	Semester 1
Russian Foreign Policy The module considers how far Russian foreign policy has changed since the end of the Cold War. It studies the internal and external determinants of foreign policy, looks at key policy issues and examines relations between Russia and other states and regions. more...	PSIIM008	20	Semester 2
World Politics Since 1945 This module is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the cold war and the second the post-cold war period. The module uses a series of case studies, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the break-up of Yugoslavia and the war on terror to highlight broader issues regarding the changing international political system. Diplomatic political history is the predominant discipline used on this module, but theoretical approaches are also adopted to help students understand the nature of the cold war and post-cold war systems. more...	PSIIM015	20	Semester 1

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Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules and regular (five-yearly) review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff or sabbatical leave. Where this is the case, the University will endeavour to inform students.

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