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58119 Text and Context

UTS: Communication: Cultural Studies
Credit points: 8 cp
Result Type: Grade, no marks

Handbook description

Students engage with a critical study of key modern concepts of writing, reading and contemporary culture. Issues central to the subject include the concept of representation, the nature of cultural texts, the theorisation of text and textuality within the post-modern and post-structuralist formation and the emergence of interactive forms of writing and their influence on writing. Critical study in the subject engages with theories of thinking and writing and recent and historical debate to do with what constitutes form, style and structure in both traditional and experimental formats. Students work creatively with a wide range of contemporary texts and explore different ways of writing. They write and read critically within the context of contemporary cultures and come to understand a wide range of traditional and non-traditional forms of writing.

Subject objectives/outcomes

At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

  1. read diverse cultural texts
  2. create innovative and critical responses to texts
  3. discuss diverse cultural texts with their tutorial peers
  4. identify the characteristics of different intellectual contexts through particular texts
  5. write in a sophisticated style commensurate with the material of this subject

Contribution to graduate profile

  • critical and independent thinking
  • spoken and written communication
  • manage own work
  • capacity for innovation and initiative
  • capacity for intellectual engagement with peers

Teaching and learning strategies

  • Guided participation in tutorials
  • Tested responses to lectures
  • Practice in the reading of a range of materials in different modes
  • Guided writing exercises

Content

There are two parts to this subject. The first section introduces students to the key concepts of cultural theory and the multiple meanings of reading and writing. The second section further develops the introduced theories through case studies and themes from diverse cultural sites

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Personal Essay Outline

Objective(s): b, c
Weighting: 20%
Task: Workshop a 500 wd personal essay outline on a topic related to the first four weeks with peers and incorporate suggested changes by fellow students into their own work. The student then prepares a short reflective statement outlining why and how they have (or have not) incorporated those changes.
Assessment criteria:
  • Integration of and engagement with, critical, peer, feedback
  • Level of idea exchange
  • Critical thinking

Assessment item 2: Personal essay 1

Objective(s): a, b, d
Weighting: 30%
Task: Write a 500-800 word personal essay on a topic related to the content of the first four weeks
Assessment criteria:
  • Style of essay
  • Organisation of material including well developed relationship between topic and style and quality of presentation
  • Coherence of argument
  • Conformity to referencing style
  • Conformity to chosen essay structure
  • Knowledge of key intellectual concepts

Assessment item 3: Personal Essay 2

Objective(s): a, b, d, e
Weighting: 50%
Task: Write, compose or create a 1500-2000 wd (or equivalent) essay. If composing in a form such as the sonic or photographic the essay should be accompanied by a 500wd exegesis
Assessment criteria:
  • Analyse source information
  • Integration of diverse source information
  • Sophistication of response in chosen mode
  • Relevance of references

Minimum requirements

Attendance is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach which involves workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students are required to attend a minimum of ten classes.

Recommended text(s)

Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice (2008) (Eds) Anderson and Schlunke, Oxford University Press:Melbourne

The Art of the Personal Essay: An anthology from the classical era to the present. (1995) (Ed) Lopate, P, Anchor Books:New York

Indicative references

Alphonso Lingis i(2000) Dangerous Emotions Berkeley: Uni. of California Press,

Ivan Brunetti (ed.) (2006) An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories New Haven, Conn: London: Yale University Press

Miche Foucault. (1970) The order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences Translated from the French. Imprint London: Tavistock Publications

Raymond Williams (1976) Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society, London: Fontana,

Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg, Meaghan Morris (Eds) (2005). New Keywords: a revised vocabulary of culture and society, Malden, MA: Blackwell

Tony Thwaites, Lloyd Davis, Warwick Mules (1994) (eds)Tools For Cultural Studies: An Introduction bySouth Melbourne: Macmillan Education,

Lorraine Daston(2004) Thing That Talk edited by, New York: Zone Books

Maja Mikula(2008) Key Concepts in Cultural Studies by, London: Palgrave Macmillan

Roland Barthes (c1972) Mythologies, London: Vintage

Roland Barthes (c1977) Image, Music, Text, London: Fonatana

Terry Eagleton(1997) Literary Theory: An Introduction (2nd ed.) Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell

Gloria Anzaldua (1999) Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (2nd ed.) San Francisco: Aunt Louke Books

Erica Rand (1995) Barbie's queer accessories Durham: Duke University Press

Morag Shiach (ed) Feminism and Cultural Studies Oxford University Press: Oxford

David Howes (2005) Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader, Berg: New York

Constance Classen(2005) The Book of Touch Oxford; New York: Berg

Delia Falconer (2008) The Penguin Book of the Road, Camberwell, Vic.: Viking

Paul Lauter and Ann Fitzgerald (2001) (eds) Literature Class and Culture, Addison Wesley Longman: NY

Martin Harrison (2008) Wild Bees: New and Selected Poems, Perth, UWA Press

Stuart Hall (2000) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, London: Sage