Students

MHIS365 – From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture Since the 1950s

2018 – S1 External

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Chelsea Barnett
Contact via email
Australian Hearing Hub, Level 2
email for appointments
Lorna Barrow
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
39cp at 100 level or above or (6cp in HIST or MHIS or POL units at 200 level including 3cp in HIST or MHIS)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
What can we learn about the past when we examine it through the lens of popular culture? This unit traces a history of popular culture in the United States of America and Australia from the 1950s to the present, exploring the ways that popular culture can magnify and reflect changing ideas about race, class, gender, and ideology. We will examine the impact of new technologies, moral panics over popular culture, and whether popular culture constituted a form of cultural citizenship. Film, television, music and other media are used in this unit to evoke seminal moments in the history of popular culture and students are encouraged to explore these non-discursive forms as primary sources. Students are also encouraged to consider the reception of popular culture by audiences and to think about their own experience of popular culture historically. This unit will be of particular interest to students in media, education, and cultural studies, as well as history.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

General Assessment Information

Late Penalty for Assignments

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply 2 marks out of a total of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Weekly Quiz 25% No Assessed Each Week
Primary Source Analysis 10% No Saturday 24 March, 5pm
Research Essay Proposal 25% No Sunday 15 April 5pm
Research Project 40% No Friday 8 June 5pm

Weekly Quiz

Due: Assessed Each Week
Weighting: 25%

You will find a quiz in the iLearn block for each week of this unit, consisting of two short-answer questions (you only need to write a maximum of 2-3 sentences for each answer). The quiz is timed - you will have 10 minutes to write your responses (so don't open the quiz until you're ready to complete it!). One question will assess your understanding of one of week's lectures, the other will assess your understanding of the readings. You will do twelve quizzes over the semester (plus one practice test in week one, which is not graded); the best ten will count towards your grade. The quiz will be graded out of 4 (2 possible marks per question). You will receive feedback in the form of model answers for each question.

NOTE: You will need to complete your quiz before midnight on Sunday of each week.  Unless you are ill or have an unavoidable absence, and can provide documentation, you will not be able to make up any quizzes after the week in which they are given. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Primary Source Analysis

Due: Saturday 24 March, 5pm
Weighting: 10%

Our online seminar in Week 3 will focus on analysing primary sources and how to use them in a research essay. We will be working online with a primary source that relates to this week's topic area. 

You will then be supplied (via iLearn) with an additional primary source that also relates to this week's topic area. Using the skills developed in the online workshop, you have one week to write a 500-word analysis of the supplied primary source. 

The written piece is to be submitted by Saturday 22th March, 5pm. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends

Research Essay Proposal

Due: Sunday 15 April 5pm
Weighting: 25%

This task will assess your ability to develop a research question and approach, as well as your ability to locate and analyse primary and secondary sources. It is the first step towards developing your research essay. The proposals will be returned in time for you to work on your research essay after the mid-semester break. 

You must choose a topic that relates to the unit in some way and you must demonstrate that you will be using primary sources – that is, sources which were themselves part of the historical situation you are discussing.

You should proceed as follows:

Thinking about a topic: It is best to start this process as early as possible. Look at the weekly lecture and tutorial schedule. What themes in this course do you find most interesting? What questions are you interested in exploring? Do you want to write about Australia, the United States, or both? 

Try to think about popular culture historically - that is, think carefully about how we can use popular culture as evidence of past attitudes, representations, ideologies, and points of view. You are aiming to relate popular culture to broader social, cultural, and political events and ideas, and to relate popular culture to the broader society that produced it. 

Developing a question: Your question needs to be direct and focused, because you will be assessed on how you answer it - for example, "How did x reveal ideas about y in the American 1950s?". You can focus on media debate about a particular pop culture text or group of texts, or examine responses of a particular kind of pop culture consumer to an item of pop culture. You can trace the ways responses to a particular event, new technology (for example, television) or social movement (for example, feminism, the Iraq War) played out in popular culture, or explore how certain popular culture texts represent gender or race or sexuality in particular historical contexts and reflect - or contest - dominant representations. 

Be sure to find both a question and a set of sources that will help you answer it. Your question might be quite narrow, ie. What was Playboy magazine’s attitude towards women in the 1950s? This gives you the opportunity to go into the question in depth.

While you need to find primary sources to research your essay, you need to read those sources and ask your question in light of your knowledge of the historical context, and of historiographical debate. This knowledge is mostly gained from scholarly secondary sources (books, journal articles, book chapters). Don’t forget that reference books and tools can be useful too. But be cautious about internet sources. See the Modern History essay writing guide for further information on sources.

Online workshop: Our seminar in Week 6 will focus on developing and refining your research question. You will give and receive feedback on your draft research proposals. This is also the best opportunity to ask Chelsea about how best to shape and refine your question and proposal. 

For this workshop, you will to upload a draft of your research proposal for workshopping and feedback by Monday 2nd April. This draft proposal should include your ideas for what your research question will be, the primary sources you are thinking of working with, and the initial secondary texts you will be using to kickstart your research. You must provide feedback to a set number of your peers by Friday 6th April, 5pm. More details on the logistics of the workshop will be available on iLearn.

Submitting your proposal: After giving and receiving peer feedback, you will then be required to take the feedback and ideas from the workshop and refine your proposal for submission. The proposal is due Sunday 15th April via turnitin on iLearn.

Your proposal should be 1500 words and must include the following:

  1. Your research question, clearly framed as an essay question, rather than simply as an idea.
  2. Your approach to the question. This section should be around 800 words. In outlining your approach, consider the following questions:
    • What is your topic about? What time and place are you focusing on?
    • What might your main primary sources be? Are they accessible? Why are they useful? List at least three and explain how at least one of your sources relates to your research area and question, explain its key themes, and explain how you might use it as evidence - what components of the source are most useful to you?
    • How does the genre or form of your primary sources shape their meaning?
    • What do you need to know about the historical background/context of your topic? (For example, if you are writing about film and the Gulf War, then you need to include works on the Gulf War as well as its cinematic representations.)
    • What other themes or issues do you need to understand in order to explore this topic properly? (For example, do you need to find out more about changing gender roles, or how propaganda works?)
    • Are there questions about evidence or methodology you need to consider?
  3. An annotated bibliography, which must have seven 100 word entries. The works in your annotated bibliography should be the most relevant secondary sources for researching your project. You may use the questions in the ‘approach’ section above as a guide to thinking about the kinds of readings you need to cover in your annotate bibliography. 
  4. The proposal enables you to start thinking about your research essay at an early stage and understand where your work will fit within the relevant field of study. If you are unsure what an annotated bibliography looks like, see the following websites: 

Grading Criteria: You will be assessed on the following criteria - 

  • Understanding and focus on the task of presenting a detailed, relevant research project proposal
  • Knowledge of both the historical and historiographical context of the proposed area of research
  • Communication: clarity of prose, use of correct grammar and spelling
  • Referencing and annotated bibliography: appropriate use of source material and academic honesty/relevant annotations in the bibliography
  • Presentation: presence of page numbers and bibliography, double-spacing of text, justification of margins, completion of the entire assessment task

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Research Project

Due: Friday 8 June 5pm
Weighting: 40%

This assessment task evaluates your ability to construct an argument in response to your own self-devised research question, based on primary and secondary sources. This task is the culmination of your assessment tasks in this unit; all your previous assessments are "scaffolding" this final task. You need to observe the conventions of writing and referencing as outlined in the essay writing guide on iLearn.

Your final essay should be 3000 words, not including referencing. 

This assessment is to submitted via turnitin on iLearn. Remember to submit the essay self-assessment (available on iLearn) sheet with your essay. You must also include a short statement, about one paragraph, on how you have utilised the feedback you received on your research proposal in completing your final research project. 

There is a rubric for this assessment task included as a PDF download in the "Assessments" section on iLearn. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Delivery and Resources

Unit webpage and technology used and required:

Online units can be accessed at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au

PC and Internet access are required. Basic computer skills (eg internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement.

Required reading:

Students will need to have access to the following required text: Michelle Arrow, Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture since 1945 (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2009). This is available for purchase from the university Co-Op bookshop, and is also available from the university library to borrow or to access as an ebook. 

The iLearn site for this unit lists the required weekly readings alongside Friday on Our Minds. This will link to the university library's holdings, where the week's readings and primary sources are available. 

Classes and timetables:

Students are required to prepare for class by listening to the weekly lectures, which are available on iLearn. Students will attend a one and a half hour seminar seminar per week. See www.timetables.mq.edu.au for the most up-to-date information about class times and locations.

Learning and Teaching Strategy:

This unit has been 'flipped' - that is, we have moved to pre-recorded lectures in order to make more space in the timetable for discussion in seminars. Each week, you will need to prepare for class discussion through active listening of the lectures (taking notes is a valuable skill that you should practice whilst at University (see this article from The Conversation on the best ways to take notes: https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-most-effective-way-to-take-notes-41961).

You also need to prepare for class (remember, quizzes on this material consist of 25% of your grade) by reading the required readings. This doesn't mean skimming them - you should be printing out your readings, annotating them and highlighting the parts you think are most meaningful, and noting the parts you don't understand.

You may also be required to watch film or music clips before you come to class.

Online seminars are important for students because they represent a space for students to discuss the readings and issues raised by the lectures, to ask questions, and solve problems together. Of course, online seminars are different to face to face classes - the discussion is asynchronous (that is, everyone contributes at different times) but this can still produce meaningful discussion. You are strongly encouraged to interact with each other and to share links and primary sources you find online!

Student & Staff - Rights and Responsibilities: in order to learn best in this unit, students and staff have rights and responsibilities in relation to their learning. 

Staff have responsibilities to:

  • be prepared for classes 
  • treat students respectfully
  • mark student work fairly and according to transparent marking rubrics
  • return student's written work promptly
  • respond to student email queries within 48 hours

In turn, students have responsibilities to:

  • be prepared for classes (with reading and other tasks completed)
  • participate and contribute to group discussions and other activities
  • treat staff respectfully
  • follow guidelines for assessment and submit work on time
  • manage their time effectively in order to fulfill these responsibilities

Unit Schedule

Week

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Tutorial

Assessment

1

Introduction

Postwar Culture

Historians and Popular Culture

 

2

Suburbia and Family Life

The Introduction of Television

Postwar Culture and 1950s Family Life

 

3

Suburban Rebels

1950s Youth Cultures

Suburban rebels + Primary Source Workshop

Primary Source distributed in class

4

Student Protest Movements

The Sixties and Radical Cultures

Youth Cultures

Primary Source Analysis Task due  week 4

5

Vietnam war and popular culture

From Soul to Black Power

The Sixties and the Counterculture

 

6

Women’s Liberation and Popular Culture

Stonewall to AIDS

Research Proposal Workshop

 

 

7

Sexual Revolution

Seventies’ Culture of Crisis

Black Power and Popular Culture

Research Essay Proposal due Sunday 15 April

** MID-SEMESTER BREAK **

8

Punk 

The Eighties

The Sexual revolution and its enemies

Research Essay proposals returned

9

Sport as Popular Culture

 Hip Hop and African American Culture

The Reagan Revolution

 

10

Slackers and Generation X

Postmodern Femininities

Research Essay Workshop

 

11

Postmodern Masculinities

Reality Television

Postmodern Gender Cultures

 

12

In the shadow of the towers: pop culture and 9/11

Social Media and Connected Cultures

Reality TV and neoliberalism

 

13

Popular Culture, History, and Nostalgia

How Soon is Now? Popular Culture futures

Popular Culture and History

Research Essay due Friday 8 June

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Locate, read, and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources
  • Devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence
  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments
  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms
  • Be able to identify and analyse key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945
  • Analyse selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples, relate to, and reflect, broader, social, cultural, and political trends
  • Explain how the social and political movements of this period were shaped by, and reflected in, contemporary popular culture

Assessment tasks

  • Weekly Quiz
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • Research Essay Proposal
  • Research Project