6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL
Undergraduate - Unit
Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.
Faculty
Organisational Unit
Chief examiner(s)
Associate Professor Carolyn James
Coordinator(s)
Not offered in 2018
Prerequisites
Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.
Prohibitions
ATS3579
Synopsis
This unit will consider the cultural history of Western Europe from late antiquity through to the beginnings of modernity. We will focus particularly on the persecution of witches, accused sometimes of fornication with the devil or of infanticide and cannibalism, but will look also at other individuals and groups that have been considered sinful, unnatural, freakish or depraved. In so doing, we will explore the long story of the European outsider, and ask what these harsh designations and cruel treatments of people who were marginal or different might tell us about the history of European society as a whole.
Outcomes
Students who have completed the subject will:
- be familiar with different approaches in the cultural history of the body and deviance
- know how to critically assess these approaches
- discuss their merit
- formulate their own positions on key issues based on a critical engagement with the historiography and relevant primary sources
- situate their own work within larger historiographical debates
- In addition, at Level 3, students will develop an independent research project.
Assessment
Within semester assessment: 100%
Workload requirements
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
See also Unit timetable information