VIC7073 - Victorian Culture: Images, Objects and Senses

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate advanced knowledge of a particular aspect of Victorian visual, sensory or material culture;
Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the relevant artistic, social and cultural contexts for the selected artefacts, activities or performances;
Select and apply appropriate theoretical approaches in the critical evaluation and contextualisation of the selected Victorian artefacts, activities or performances;
Make productive use of appropriate collections, museums, electronic archives or physical archives to conduct research;
Present research findings clearly, using appropriate evidence and illustration, and with accurate use of the required style guide.

Content:

This module will help you to gain a deeper understanding of Victorian culture by exploring a particular aspect of visual, material or sensory culture. You will develop skills in critical analysis through exploration and analysis of particular artefacts, such as: paintings, photographs, buildings, musical works, performance history, posters and advertisements. A particular aspect of visual, material or sensory culture will be chosen as the focus each year, drawing on staff expertise: possible subjects include art and architecture; women and art; music; imperialist artefacts; the theatre; and the representation of the Victorians in heritage, film, literature, hypertext, etc. You will develop your own interests devising your own question relevant to the topic and researching and writing an extended essay on this.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The seminars will make use of a range of learning and teaching methods including, e.g. short presentations by the tutor, illustrated by slides; examination of artefacts; group discussions of e.g. selected images, architectural plans, texts and pieces of music; group discussions of texts in art cultural, or literary criticism; informal presentations by the students; plenary discussions; use of internet resources.

Students will also be encouraged to undertake independent fieldwork in local archives and museum, as appropriate to the topic: e.g. Leeds City Art Gallery, the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate, Abbey House Museum. The digital humanities will be engaged through the use of relevant digitised collections.

The 20-minute individual tutorial may take different forms as appropriate to the individual student (e.g. face-to-face discussion, e-mail consultations). These tutorials are intended to give students some guidance on their choice of essay question and on researching the topic.

Seminars/Workshops
Hours: 12
Intended Group size: 12

Tutorials
Hours: 2
Intended Group size: 1

Guided independent study
Hours: 286

Further details relating to assessment
Students will produce an essay of 6,000 words on a question that they have devised themselves with guidance from the module tutor.

Assessment:

001 Essay; 6,000 words; end of semester 2 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Richard Storer
Level - 7
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - CANNOT BE TAKEN WITH VIC7035
Semester(s) Offered - 7PGS2

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