Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree (180 credits) or equivalent in social sciences, humanities or arts. General eligibility + the equivalent of Swedish higher secondary school English 6.

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

The course is included in the main field of Cultural Studies and can be included in the degree requirements for a Master's degree in Cultural Studies.

Course contents

The aim of this course is for students to apply theoretical knowledge by focusing on the embodied experiences of “place”, “location”, and “positioning” as integral to cultural negotiations of history.

Territories, borders, and their transgressions are growing preoccupations, and have created frictions in the domain of cultural production. The “site” (a city, a community, a geo-political entity, the data cloud) has a determining role in shaping how questions are posed, when and which bodies interact, what and how things are done. This course uses theory to explore specific geographic situations and case studies where culture is the arena for ongoing negotiations of power. Students are encouraged to investigate and experience cultural phenomena in public spaces, as well as to engage with storytellers, guides, and keepers of memory.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course the student will be able to:

1. demonstrate an in-depth understanding of how different voices contribute to culture and memory in public space
2. demonstrate the ability to analyse cultural phenomena
3. demonstrate the ability to orally present research findings
4. consider and/or apply ethical perspectives to cultural encounters in public space
5. demonstrate the ability to critically reflect over one’s own role and position as a researcher

Learning activities

Lectures, seminars with invited guests, workshops, city walks/excursions.

Assessment

One presentation where all learning outcomes will be assessed.

Course literature

• Atkinson, David, Peter Jackson, David Sibley, and Neil Washbourne. Cultural Geography: A Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts. London: I.B. Tauris & Co, 2010.
• Szeman, Imre, and Timothy Kaposy (eds). Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.
• Verdecchia, Guillermo. Fronteras Americanas: (American Borders).Burnaby, BC: Talon Books, 1997.
• Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, 2018.

Supplementary articles, literature and other media will be provided.

Course evaluation

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students. (HF 1:14)

Interim rules

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

Additional information

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.