EAS2090 - Humanities after the Human: Further Adventures in Critical Theory
2017/8 Module description
| Staff | Dr Paul Williams - Convenor |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 30 |
| ECTS Value | |
| NQF Level | |
| Pre-requisites | |
| Co-requisites | |
| Duration of Module | Term 2: 11 weeks; |
Module description
Humanities After the Human considers how critical theory – a constellation of writing that includes philosophy, sociology, political manifesto, and cultural commentary - has decentred the (white, heterosexual, male) human subject as the site of meaning, knowledge, and creativity. This course imagines those yet-to-be-enumerated possibilities that the 'Tyrannosaurus Subjectivity’ of late consumer capitalism cannot see (feel, taste, smell, write, or read). Students will build on concepts introduced in Approaches to Criticism and reflect on the challenges that critical theory poses for the study of literature, the limits of the self, and the organization of social life. It is advantageous for students to be familiar with the material in Approaches, although it is not a prerequisite.
Module aims
Francis Fukuyama once suggested that the spread of Western 'liberal democracy' (the set of beliefs that structure most of what we can say and think) signaled the historical arrival of mankind [sic]. This was supposed to be the final stop or 'London Paddington' of human development. On this module we will take a theoretical journey beyond this point and we might even leave the limits of the city altogether. Interiority, individualism, private property, naturalized partitions -- all these norms render only a tiny fraction of filtered light legible. What happens when the received coordinates of self and world, public and private, mind and body, man and woman, human and non-human are fundamentally deterritorialized and then reassembled akimbo? What happens when familiar myths of being are left behind in favour of new utopian communalities, queer futures, bodies and disfigurement, rhizomatic connections, synth-organic creation-disasters, alt-relationalities, digital humans, and perpetual ecological/non-human becomings of man (Deleuze and Guattari)?
These eleven weeks will explore the challenges that twentieth- and twenty-first-century critical theory present to the notion of the sovereign neoliberal self as a parameter of knowledge. Humanities After the Human will provide you with a multiverse of things to think and say about the texts you read and write about.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. demonstrate an informed appreciation of contemporary theoretical turns and approaches
- 2. demonstrate an informed critical understanding of similarities across and differences between theoretical texts and approaches.
- 3. demonstrate a developed ability to apply skills of close reading, editorial judgement, and of comparative analysis
- 4. demonstrate an informed critical understanding of relevant scholarly work in the field of theory
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 5. demonstrate an ability to analyse recent theoretical trends and to relate their concerns and its modes of expression to current debates surrounding the development of the humanities
- 6. demonstrate an ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
- 7. demonstrate an ability to apply these theoretical approaches to literary texts
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 8. through seminar work and group presentations, demonstrate communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 9. through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 10. through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate proficiency in information retrieval and analysis;
- 11. through research and writing, demonstrate a capacity to make critical use of secondary material, to question assumptions, and to reflect on their own learning process
- 12. through sitting their final examination, demonstrate proficiency in the use of memory and in the development, organization, and expression of ideas under pressure of time
Syllabus plan
1. Introduction: ‘The Construction of Interior Man’
2. Cinema, Shock, Consciousness and Modernity
3. New Bodies
4. Intersectional Feminism/Intersectional Gender
5. Queer Futures/ No Futures/ Alt-Futures
6. Planetary Turns
7. World Ecology
8. Alt-Agency: Of Things and Animals
9. The Joy of Political Life
10. Digital Humans
11. The Big Data
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 38.5 | 261.5 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 11 | Lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 27.5 | Seminars: 11 x 2.5 hour seminars |
| Guided independent study | 22 | Study group preparation and meetings |
| Guided independent study | 75.5 | Seminar Preparation (Individual) |
| Guided independent study | 164 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Edited Extract | 500 word introduction/ 500 word edited extract of selected theoretical writing | 1-7, 9-11 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | 45 | 10 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 45 | 2000 words | 1-7, 9-11 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. |
| Exam | 45 | 2 hours | 1-7, 9-11 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Seminar Participation | 10 | Continuous | 1-8, 10-11 | Oral feedback from tutor with opportunity for office hours follow-up. |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay | 1-7, 9-11 | Referral/deferral period |
| Exam | Exam | 1-7, 9-11 | Referral/deferral period |
| Seminar Participation | Repeat Study or mitigation | 1-8,10-11 | Referral/deferral period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
There are no books to buy for Humanities After the Human. All reading will be available as PDFs on the module ELE. Students will be expected to bring a copy of the required reading to the relevant seminars, which could mean:
-
Printing out a copy from the ELE
-
Having a copy of the reading on a tablet or laptop
-
Borrowing the source texts from the Library
-
Buying a module Reading Pack from the Print Unit
Secondary Sources:
Adorno, Theodor W. Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life. London: Verso, 1978.
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. London: Pimlico, 1999. Print.
Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2010. Print.
Casanova, Pascale. The World Republic of Letters. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2004. Print.
Halberstam, Judith. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York UP, 2005. Print.
James, C. L. R. Beyond a Boundary. London: Serpent’s Tail, 2000. Print.
Ryan, Derek. Animal Theory: A Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2015. Print.
Williams, Raymond. Keywords. London: Fontana, 1988. Print.
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Available as distance learning?
Yes
Origin date
01/12/2015
Key words search
Critical Theory, Human, Planet, World, Gender, Class, Sexuality, Self, Identity
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