Cultural Representations: Class, Race and GenderModule Details

Rationale

The course examines the ways in which cultural representations, including texts, institutions and practices that are circulated via various forms of mediation (mainly through the written, the visual, and the auditory forms that circulate in culture) both formulate and animate our social and cultural worlds.  Identity constitutes the key subject throughout the course and the representation of class, race and gender will be the central themes of investigation.  The course provides an exploration of a number of key approaches to contemporary and historical representational forms and endeavours to place these approaches within wider political, cultural and social contexts.

The course aims to investigate and identify thematic representations of class, race, and gender in various cultural and social settings and enable students become more self-aware and gain a broader perspective of society.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:
(i)    Explain the ways in which the threshold concepts of representation, culture and identity are expressed, and their relationship to discourses of power. 
(ii)   Evaluate the ways in which literary texts and other media represent discourses of power in relation to class, race and gender.  
(iii)  Outline the factors which influence the development of cultural theory.
(iv)  Produce written work exhibiting a capacity for reflective and synthesising thought at postgraduate level.
(v)   Describe the nature of minority-majority relations.
(vi)  Make connections between political, social, and cultural developments and the formation of identities.