Course syllabus autumn 2023
Course syllabus autumn 2023
Title
Representation and Power
Swedish title
Representation och makt
Course code
KK682A
Credits
7.5 credits
Grading scale
UA / Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U)
Language of instruction
English
Decision-making body
Faculty of Culture and Society
Syllabus approval date
2020-06-10
Syllabus valid from
2020-08-31
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 course B.
Level
Advanced level
Main field
Cultural Studies
Progression level
A1N
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 objectives
The aim of this course is to enable students to conduct in-depth analysis and interpretations of cultural productions. The methodological approach is to encourage students to explore intersectional readings of artworks, films, performances, and texts, with a particular emphasis on shifting thought positions.
Course contents
Politics of representation has been a central mode of inquiry for the discipline of cultural studies. Over time this necessary critique of normative values and perspectives, has evolved to encourage students to think about the powerplay, symbolism, and tensions infused within cultural productions. In this sense the word representation concerns identity and identification, issues of presence and absence, and also ways of articulation. Thus, this course gets into the details, focusing on specific “artefacts”, and exploring how “politics” infuses aesthetics as well as maker/subject positions, and ultimately influences how and why things are made. On this course students are also encouraged to sensitively consider the affective dimensions of representations and encounters with them, by navigating the discomfort that may come from recognising when cultural artefacts/productions are used and produced as weapons against citizens, communities, travellers, and social actors.
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course the student will be able to:
- demonstrate an in-depth understanding of varying theoretical and artistic approaches to politics of representation
- analyse literary texts, artworks, films and/or other cultural productions
- apply relevant theories explored during the course to analysis of representations
- consider the ethical dimensions involved in the making, circulation, and reuse of cultural productions
Learning activities
Seminars, workshops, and reading groups.
Assessment
One media presentation (a podcast, or video) where all learning outcomes will be assessed.
Course literature and other study material
- Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. Any edition.
- Blaser, Mario. ”Ontological Conflicts and the Stories of Peoples in Spite of Europe: Toward a Conversation on Political Ontology.” Current Anthropology, Vol. 54, No. 5 (October 2013), pp. 547-568.
- Braidotti, Rosi. ”Introduction: Posthuman, All-Too-Human” + ”The Posthuman Condition” + ”The Posthuman Subject” + ”Posthuman Knowledge Production.” In Posthuman Knowledge. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2019.
- Butler, Judith. ”Introduction: Precarious Life, Grievable Life.” + ”Survivability, Vulnerability, Affect.”In Frames of War. Verso, 2009.
- Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Any edition.
- Mol, Annemarie. ”Ontological politics. A wordand some questions.” Sociological Review , May 1999. Supplement, Vol. 47 Issue 1, p74-89.
- Savransky, Martin. ”Worlds in the making: social sciences and the ontopolitics of knowledge.” Postcolonial Studies, Sep 2012, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p351-368.
- Szeman, Imre, and Timothy Kaposy (eds). Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.
- Winkel Holm,Isak. ”Zombies and Citizens. The Ontopolitics of Disaster in Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend” In Capeloa Gil, Isabel, Wulf, Christoph. Hazardous Future: Disaster, Representation and the Assessment of Risk. Berlin/Munich/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2015.
Supplementary articles, literature and other mediawill be provided.
Course evaluation
The University provides all students who are participating in, or have completed, a course to express their experiences and views on the course through a course evaluation which is organized at the end of the course. The university will collate the course evaluations and provide information about their results and any actions prompted by them. The results shall be made available to the students. (HF 1:14).
Interim rules
When a course is no longer given, or the contents have been radically changed, the student has the right to re-take the examination, which will be given twice during a one year period, according to the syllabus which was valid at the time of registration.
Additional information
The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.