Culture and politics are often taken for granted; we tend to assume we know what they are. However, when it comes to defining either culture or politics, much uncertainty arises. Does culture mean a collection of artefacts or a ‘web of meaning' as anthropologists would put it? Is culture part of a superstructure or part and parcel of hegemony? Is it part of structure which constrains human behaviour? What is politics? If the personal is political as feminists have claimed, is everything and anything politics? Is the distinction between the public and private no longer tenable? What is the relationship between culture and politics? Is there any? Is culture driving politics or the other way round? And where is identity situated in this relationship? The module explores these fundamental questions using identity politics as an overall framework.
Identity politics is an umbrella term that refers to a type of politics which does not appear to be class based, such as environmental politics or the LGBT movement. While the traditional political parties are generally losing their members, these often single-issue based movements attract more participants, thus facilitating political participation of a different form. The central contention in the idea of identity politics is that the focus of politics has shifted from industrial values to post-industrial values (Inglehart), and that we are witnessing the rise and development of new types of politics in which identity and culture play as major a role as class position, if not a more important one. This is a contestable claim which deserves careful examination. For instance, is the idea of identity politics a form of ideology in the Marxist sense?
The module use the idea of identity politics as a starting point to investigate culture and identity in today's politics through thematic studies and case studies.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
A total of two hours of timetabled, class room teaching is envisaged. Teaching will take the form of one-hour lecture and one-hour seminar. The one hour lecture will take an interactive approach to introducing concepts, issues, themes and debates and to setting the background for seminar discussions. The seminars are designed to provide students with the platform to engage in formative exercise that include class debates and discussions, mini-presentations and the use of the VLA to record (in the form of a blog) the development of the practical summative assessment.
Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning and teaching | Lectures (22 hours) and seminars (22 hours) | 44 |
Guided independent study | Guided reading, preparation for presentations and course work | 256 |
Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 |
Summatively:
Formatively:
The assessment strategy is designed to allow for the scaffolding of knowledge throughout the module. Formative exercises such as blogging about the developing stages of the practical project as well as seminar discussions allow for feedback and feedforward that enable students to prepare for the practical project. The work on the theoretical and empirical themes in the practical project acts as a preparatory stage for more in-depth critical engagement with the content of the module, which is then assessed summative through the essay and the report. Formative exercises such as seminar debates and short presentations, support students in the preparation of different aspects of the essay and of the report.
In addition, the focus on practice-based summative exercises (practical piece and report) supports the development and honing of employability related skills, as the assessments aim at replicating industry-based work.
Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
---|---|
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the complex relationship between culture, identity and politics | Formatively: Seminar discussion, mini-presentation, blog; Summatively: A 1,500-word report; Practical piece (1000 words) |
Articulate and engage at an advanced level and engage with the politicisation of culture and identity | Formatively: Seminar discussion, mini-presentation; Summatively: A 1,500-word essay; A 1,500-word report |
Demonstrate the ability to differentiate and review critically alternative theoretical perspectives on the politicisation of culture and identity | Formatively: Seminar discussion, mini-presentation; blog Summatively: A 1,500-word essay; A 1,500-word report |
Demonstrate the ability to relate at a sophisticated level cultural and identity practices to wider social and political transformations | Formatively: Seminar discussion, mini presentation, blog; Summatively: A 1,500-word essay; Practical piece (1000 words); |
Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Coursework | Practical piece 1000 words | 30 |
Coursework | Essay 1500 words | 35 |
Coursework | Case study 1500 words | 35 |
Total (to equal 100%) | 100% |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module
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Calhoun, C. (1994) Social Theory and the Politics of Identit., Oxford: Blackwell.
Archer M. S. (1988) Culture and Agency. Cambridge: CUP.
Bauman, Z. (2000) Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: SAGE.
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brubaker, R. and Cooper, F. (2000) ‘Beyond ‘‘identity''', Theory and Society, 29(1): 1–47.
Gellner, E. (1987) Culture, Identity and Politics. Cambridge: CUP.
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Williams, R.H. (2013) ‘Civil religion and the cultural politics of national identity in Obama's America', Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 52 (2): pp. 239-257.
Woodward, K. (2004) Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.