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| Semester | fall semester 2013 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Peter Robert Burleigh (p.burleigh@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Culture is often represented, understood, digested and framed through visual mechanisms. This proseminar will address how British Culture is subjected to this framing by looking at a wide range of photographic artefacts considered across the history of the medium. We will start by developing tools and terminology particular to the description and analysis of images, thinking, too, about how we can understand what photography is as a medium and a practice. In a second phase, we will look at the development of different photographic approaches to British culture, raising questions about photography's documentary, evidential, and affective status. Thus, we will touch on aspects of identity construction, self-representation and broader political discourse, yet always keep in frame actual culture. The interplay of private and public and the key articulator of memory will also have important consequences in the development of a framing of British culture. |
| Learning objectives | Students will learn key terminology in visual discourse, and in particular photography. Students will learn about major figures in British photography. Students will read central critical texts in photography and visual studies, with the view to integrating and positioning these thinkers into a general understanding of the cultural in general and of British culture in particular. Students will engage in discussing and critiquing each others' ideas and presentations of small sets of images, thus arriving at a synthesis of critical positions through group work. |
| Bibliography | Selected readings will be collected into a course reader; a body of images will also be provided, which students must familiarize themselves with. |
| Admission requirements | Old BA curriculum (2005): This course may only be taken after successful completion of the first-year module "Learning about Literature". New BA curriculum (2013): It is strongly recommended that this course is taken only after the successful completion of the "Introduction I + II: Literary Studies" proseminars. |
| Course application | Enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch indicating your 1st and 2nd choice proseminar. The first 18 to enrol are guaranteed a place in the course of their 1st choice; others may be shifted to one of the other 4 courses (35012, 35013, 35017) on offer. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, optional |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Introduction to Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation and a specific task of presentation, taking minutes or chairing |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |