Undergraduate - UnitATS3933 - The meaning of things: Writing cultural history

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	Not offered in 2012
Coordinator(s)	Dr Clare Monagle

Synopsis

Societies express themselves through art, literature, ritual, everyday objects and other cultural artefacts. One of the tasks of the historian is to understand this interplay of culture and society, and how it manifests in different historical periods or places. In this unit we explore the ways in which historians of many different periods (from late antiquity to the present) write about culture, from 'great' art to the stuff of daily life. Students will be introduced to a broad range of cultural products and their meanings, and be required to undertake in-depth research into a topic, area and period of interest of their choice.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students will be expected to have:

Critically engaged with different forms of cultural product, placing them in their historical and aesthetic contexts.
Understood the meaning of the term "Cultural History", including its historiographical implications.
Drawn on a number of theoretical frameworks in order to understand the history of culture.
Conducted research into a particular area of cultural history.

Students successfully completing this unit at a Third Year level will have acquired, in addition:

independent research skills across a range of historical source areas.

Assessment

Class participation: 10%
Historiographical review (submitted by end of week 4) (750 words): 15%
Research proposal (750 words): 15%
Research essay (2000 Words): 40%
Class test (1000 words): 20%

Note that at level 2 students will be directed to prepared topics and sources for their research essay. At level 3 students will be given more freedom to design their own topic and find appropriate sources, and will be expected to draw on a wider range of primary and secondary sources. In addition, at level 3 students will be expected to demonstrate a higher level of conceptual awareness.