Undergraduate - UnitATS2909 - Villains and rogues: A history of ideas about gangsters

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 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

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	History
Offered	Clayton First semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Annabelle Baldwin

Synopsis

For much of the 20th century, the exploits of gangsters have been constantly re-imagined in books, music, film, radio, and television. In popular culture and the news media, gangsters are often either portrayed as rogues resisting the intrusive state, or as villains who commit heinous crimes. But beneath the veneer of sensationalism, gangsters have had a much more complex relationship with states and societies. Just what makes a gangster, and what do gangsters tell us about the societies that cast them as such? This unit will explore the very idea of the gangster in modern history. Using case studies from the United States, Britain, China, and Japan, we will track the emergence of the idea of the gangster as a contemporary character in world history.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will:

Have a deep understanding of the history of twentieth century organised crime and gangsterism
Understand the complex nature of gangsters' relationships with states and societies
Recognise the historical and contemporary contexts in which gangsterism emerges and flourishes
Understand the relationship between the romanticisation of gangsters and the state of society
Develop the capacity to analyse the meaning of popular sources such as film
Become familiar with the research skills and methods of social and cultural historians
Have further developed their oral and written communication skills
Have experience working with a range of textual, visual, and material historical sources