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

This is the foundational course for the overall programme, which introduces students to key concepts and debates in critical and cultural studies, whilst exploring how they have developed over history and are transforming under the pressure of modern-day challenges. The basic premise is to critically examine the varying ways in which culture produces knowledge, how culture is called upon to negotiate power relations, and also the ways in which culture has, and continues to be, contested. In this way the course narrates culture as a “battleground” with different actors and institutional stakeholders, and uneven modes of access and representation. Making theory relevant to assess current areas of societal contestation is an important driver for this course, and it aims to help students tackle such discourses by understanding their historical genealogies.

Learning outcomes

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

1. demonstrate understanding of key concepts and themes in cultural studies
2. critically identify and review different theoretical perspectives
3. apply different theoretical perspectives and concepts to different cultural forms and productions
4. relate to, contextualise, and discuss theories in reading seminars with peers and teaching staff
5. develop written argumentation that responds to key theoretical concepts and their historical background, explored during the course

Learning activities

This course will be comprised of lecturer-led seminars, student workshops with teachers, and student reading groups.

Assessment

All learning outcomes (1-5) are examined in the 3 position papers.

Re-examinations will be given in accordance with Students’ Rights and Obligations, but adjustments to the assignment can be made if the circumstances for the original examination cannot be replicated.

Course literature

• Bennet, Tony, Lawrence Grossberg, Meaghan Morris (eds). New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Malden, Mass. Blackwell Pub. 2005
• Clark, Timothy. Ecocriticism on the Edge: the Anthropocene as a Threshold Concept. London: Bloomsbury, 2015
• Mignolo, Walter, and Catherine E. Walsh. On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.
• Szeman, Imre, and Timothy Kaposy (eds). Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
• 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.