Entry requirements

22,5 credits of courses from the first semester of the programme:

• Critical Humanities - Ideas on the Move (KK680A)
• Locations of Culture - History and Place (KK681A)
• Representation and Power (KK682A)

Progression level in relation to degree requirements

The course is mandatory within the programme Culture and Change - Critical Studies in the Humanities, Master's Programme (Two-Year) (HAKIF).

Course contents

The aim of this course is to introduce students to action research as a new humanistic methodology. Students will develop and answer research questions based on real world issues and challenges in culture. Students are encouraged to communicate and listen to the practical concerns of stakeholders outside the university, and to use theoretical perspectives to help explore alternative solutions.

This course uses action research to provide students with the opportunity to learn, share, and collaborate with cultural stakeholders in society. Action research often involves activism, participatory initiatives, a nuanced stance on ethics, and an embodied approach to political issues such as feminism and decolonisation. Students will work together with stakeholders to develop and discuss a research question based on challenges they have identified, and the student will answer this in the form of a report or a mini-publication (booklet) written for a non-specialist audience.

Learning outcomes

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

1. demonstrate the ability to communicate with diverse individuals, organisations and institutions, in order to build research questions
2. demonstrate the ability to develop research questions in response to a wide range of cultural issues
3. demonstrate the ability to synthesise and communicate theoretical concepts for a non-specialist audience
4. consider and apply research ethics to encounters with cultural stakeholders and institutions?
5. demonstrate the ability to initiate, plan, and reflect upon collaborative processes and projects

Learning activities

Teaching seminars/workshops, supervision, meetings with stakeholders, independent research.

Assessment

• A collaborative written report (8 credits) alongside an oral presentation (5 credits) of the project. Both of these are done in groups. (LO 1-5)
• Individual written documentation/reflection (2 credits). (LO 4, 5)

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

• Action Research: Principles and Practice. Ed. Jean McNiff. London: Routledge, 2001, or later edition?

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.