MFC6092 - Contemporary Cultural Issues

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Critically evaluate the political and ethical implications of contemporary cultural issues.
Demonstrate systematic understanding of and ability to apply and critically evaluate a range of contemporary cultural theories;
Undertake cultural analysis drawing on contemporary cultural theory and appropriate research methods;
Research and present an academic essay, or photo-essay, or podcast making critical use of a range of appropriate sources.

Content:

The module explores contemporary cultural issues and the ways in which they can be understood and engaged with. This involves an examination of: social norms and values; cultural change; media representations; and the politics of culture. Central to the module will be questions regarding power, truth and knowledge.

Whilst being responsive to events, the module is likely to address several of the following: the politics of representation, multiculturalism, difference and diversity, nation, nationalism and globalisation, the politics of memory, surveillance, discourse, reality, knowledge, identity, postcolonialism, racism and sexuality. Examples of cultural texts and practices suitable for analysis include social media communications, film, television news, newspaper articles, political speeches, leisure activities and public ritual.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module employs a seminar context within which discussion is at the heart of the learning experience. The module uses contemporary cultural issues identified by both the students and tutor to drive an exploration, application and evaluation of relevant cultural concepts, theories and approaches. These are engaged with in the course of analyses of these issues.

Each semester contains 7 x 2 hour long seminars. Students then make use of individual supervision tutorials to guide them in the research and production of their assignments. Students choose whether to produce an academic essay, a photo-essay, or a podcast. Both the mode of assessment and topic is negotiated with the tutor who will take into account the individual student's previous experience in working in the chosen medium.

The module is delivered across the whole year as this enables the students to continue, throughout their final year, to develop their understanding of and ability to apply and evaluate theory. Most students will only do one 'theoretical' option module alongside their independent 40 credit research module at L6 and experience has shown that their option module is usually the main vehicle for the ongoing gaining of knowledge, understanding and skills useful to the successful completion of the research module.

Seminars
Contact hours: 28
Intended Group size: 20

Tutorials
Contact hours: 2
Intended group size: 1

Guided independent study
Hours: 170

Further details relating to assessment
Students choosing to present a photo-essay or podcast for assessment must accompany it with a 500 word summary of the theoretical perspectives and academic sources utilised in its production.

Students permitted to take a half-module for the award of 10 credits (ECTS: 5) will be assessed on the basis of the assignment relevant to the semester of study.

Assessment:

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Kostas Maronitis
Level - 6
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered -

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