The School of Literary, Visual and Performance Studies offers a major and minor sequence in five disciplines, each with their own particular emphasis:
These disciplines are taught at the following locations:
The
English section offers a variety of units in the literatures of Britain,
Australia, America, Asia, and in a range of related areas.
In first year, students are introduced to the study of English through a choice
of unit sequences. Each sequence has a different focus -- the study of English
literature and the study of literary semiotics and comparative literature. Each
aims to introduce students to a variety of modes of reading and to a number of
ways of speaking and writing about what they read. Each provides an
introduction to the historical and contemporary study of literature and to
aspects of critical theory.
The majority of English students follow the literature sequence of ENH units
through both semesters. At Clayton, the text and context sequence, provided by
the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, may also lead into
later-year English units. Students at Clayton should note that these CLS units
are recommended as usefully supplementing English literature units in the first
year, and that one of these sequences may be taken alongside the ENH units.
Second and third-year units in English literature build on this foundation.
There are units that introduce students to the literature and culture of
different historical periods. Related units are offered in the following
fields: Australian studies, the theory and practice of children's literature,
critical theory, feminist theory and women's writing, postcolonial theory and
literature, the languages of literature, literary and visual semiotics and
performance studies, creative writing and professional writing. Students may
select from these areas to develop their major in English. For the language of
places and performance sequence, see entry for 'Drama and theatre studies'.
Students will find the expectations of English outlined in unit handbooks as
they proceed through the degree.
English provides consultation and advice on choice of units at first, second,
third and fourth-year levels to ensure that students choose suitable and
coherent sequences.
In first-year, students may complete the minimum 12 points required to proceed to a minor or major sequence by taking ENH1010 (Reading literature I) and either ENH1220 (Reading literature II: worlds in conflict) or ENH1250 (Effective writing 2: professional writing).
Students may complete their first-year in English by taking
one of the following sequences:
(i) ENH1010 (Reading literature I) in first semester followed in second
semester by either ENH1220 (Reading literature II: worlds in conflict) or
ENH1230 (Language, style and literature) or ENH1250 (Effective writing)
or
(ii) ENH1250 Effective Writing 1 (first semester) followed by either ENH1260
Effective Writing 2 (second semester) or ENH1220 (Reading Literature II) or
ENH1230 (Language, style of literature)
Students are strongly advised that if they wish to continue in second or
third-year with literature units they should also include at least ENH1010 and
possibly another first-year literature unit in their choices.
or
(iii) CLS1010 (Text and context) in first semester followed in second semester
by either CLS1020 (Introduction to comparative literature) or CLS1040
(Introduction to cultural studies).
In addition, with the permission of the English section, students who have
completed CLS1010 (Text and context) may proceed in second semester to either
ENH1220 (Reading literature II: worlds in conflict) or ENH1230 (Language, style
and literature) or ENH1260 (Effective writing 2: Professional writing).
The English-in-use (EIU) program is designed for students whose first language is other than English. As the program is a study of the functional, theoretical and cultural features of the English language and not a literature-based course, it is a separate unit to English and may not be taken as part of a sequence in English. This allows second language students the option of taking EIU as a separate sequence and considering English as a possible second major or minor within their degree. This program is available to international and non-English-speaking-background students who fulfil the Arts faculty second language entry criteria.
The
Visual Culture section teaches courses in two major streams: visual culture,
and film and television studies. Minor sequences, major sequences and honours
studies may be undertaken in either of these broad areas, or a combination of
the two. The first-year unit VSA1000 (Introduction to visual culture: back to
the future) is designed to provide a foundation for all subsequent studies in
visual culture. Students may choose to complete a first-year sequence by taking
VSA1010 (Contemporary visual culture) or VSA1050 (Contemporary popular film),
or both, in second semester.
Visual culture units involve historical and critical approaches to film and
television, video and new screen technologies, photography, painting, fashion,
sculpture and the built environment, with a special emphasis on Australian,
European and American art and architecture. Particular attention is paid to
recent manifestations of visual culture. Film and television studies cover
Australian, Asian and European national cinemas, contemporary popular Hollywood
and its institutions, alternative film and video, documentary and television
studies and video practice.
Throughout the course of studies, emphasis will be given to a variety of
critical and theoretical methods of analysis appropriate to the study of visual
culture, including formal, semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches,
consideration of issues to do with the intersection of ideology and culture,
the representation of gender, race and class, and questions concerning the
relations between visual culture and technology.
Students are encouraged to consider combining their visual culture studies with
other relevant and compatible disciplines in the Faculty of Arts. Examples are
performing arts, comparative literature and cultural studies, English, history,
women's studies, and a range of relevant Asian and European languages.
Particular attention is drawn to the following units:
Units
under this heading are taught by the Centre for Comparative Literature and
Cultural Studies, or are taught by other schools or sections and made available
to students under a centre code. The centre is an interdisciplinary teaching
unit within the School of Literary, Visual and Cultural Studies with
responsibility for teaching and research in three main areas of work:
comparative literature, cultural studies and critical theory.
Comparative literature is the study of literature in ways that go beyond
particular national or linguistic boundaries. In practice, comparative literary
studies are of two main kinds: substantive studies of the literature of two or
more languages or literary cultures; and generalising studies of the literary
process itself, eg literary history, the sociology of literature or
psychological approaches to literature. Texts studied in the centre at
undergraduate level are all taught in English or in English translation, but
knowing a language other than English is helpful, and those students with no
exposure to one are strongly encouraged to pick up the study of a language.
Cultural studies is the study of cultural texts, spaces and practices,
including texts that are not normally included in the canon of high literature
(the texts of popular fiction, television or cinema, for example). These
aspects of culture are studied in relation to the various social, historical
and other contexts within which cultures manifest themselves.
Critical theory is a term which has come to signify a number of
contemporary approaches to textual and cultural criticism, eg hermeneutics,
structuralism, semiotics, post-structuralism, theories of ideology,
psychoanalytic theory, and so on. Such theories have also been central to, for
instance, recent work in anthropology, philosophy, English, performance studies
and film studies.
Students enrolled in sequences offered by the centre may combine courses from
any of these areas.
A first-year sequence in the centre consists of CLS1010 and either CLS1020 or CLS1040.
Students
who wish to make a specialist study of drama and theatre studies as part of
their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Performing Arts may do so within the
Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies. The units available represent a wide
range of approaches to studies in the field. Most place a strong emphasis on
performance. While the major in drama and theatre studies is not designed
specifically as a course in systematic skills training, the element of
performance in our program (whether in public production or through in-house
experimental work) is regarded as fundamental to the analysis of theatre texts
and processes.
The first-year prerequisite for students intending a major or minor sequence in
drama and theatre studies is DTS1060 (The language of performance) and DTS1160
(The places of performance). A second first-year sequence is available as an
additional option (DTS1320 and DTS1420). In later years, majoring students
should take at least 48 points (12 points at second-year level and 24 points at
third-year level) from DTS units offered by the faculty. While some of the
units, which are not offered solely by the centre, have disciplinary
prerequisites, students taking these units as DTS studies may, with the
permission of relevant discipline area, be excused of those requirements.
Students who are appropriately qualified may be admitted to the fourth-year
honours program.
The units below are offered at the Clayton campus unless otherwise indicated.
None of the units listed below may be counted towards more than one minor or
major sequence.
AVAILABLE ONLY TO STUDENTS TAKING THE BACHELOR OF PERFORMING ARTS
The
following sequences form the normal pattern for a major, a minor, or a
first-year sequence in each area. Students should consult the listings under
relevant discipline for information about individual units. In particular,
students should be familiar with the core requirements for each sequence listed
below and consult the individual discipline if further information is required.
For the minor in dance studies, students will need to devise an appropriate
sequence of units in consultation with the Centre for Drama and Theatre
Studies.
Some variations in the combinations of units may be allowed with the permission
of the coordinators of the degree. Students should discuss these matters in the
first instance with Associate Professor Peter Fitzpatrick and then with the
relevant discipline area.
The primary major for the Bachelor of Performing Arts is drama and theatre
studies, but, with approval, majors may also be taken in music and in visual
culture.
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