VIC7035 - Victorian Senses: Visual, Material and Sensory Culture

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;
critically evaluate and contextualize selected Victorian artefacts (e.g. work of art; building; piece of music; photograph), or example of Victorian culture (e.g. performance history), engaging appropriate vocabulary and applying relevant modern critical approaches (e.g. historicist, feminist, psychological) where appropriate;
demonstrate an advanced understanding of the artistic, social and cultural contexts in which selected Victorian artefacts were produced;
make productive use of appropriate collections, museums, electronic archives or physical archives to conduct research;
demonstrate self-direction and critical independence in a sophisticated argument that includes close reading and analysis of a well-selected range of artefacts (e.g. paintings, photographs, buildings, musical works, texts, posters and advertisements), uses appropriate evidence and illustrations, and engages with contextual and critical literature.

Content:

This module will engage students in gaining a deeper understanding of Victorian culture by exploring a particular aspect of visual, material or sensory culture. Students will gain 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 (including classical music and popular forms such as the music-hall); imperialist artefacts; the theatre (such as Shakespeare on the Victorian stage); and the representation of the Victorians in heritage, film, literature, hypertext, etc. The choice will depend on staff availablity and also take student opinion into consideration wherever possible. Students will then develop their own interests by researching a topic of their own choice for the assignment for this module.

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 digitized 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
Contact Hours: 6 x 2 hours
Intended Group size: 12

Tutorials
Contact hours: 20 minutes per student
Intended Group size: 1

Guided independent study (Balancing figure)
Hours: 137.66

Assessment: