Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Deb Waterhouse-Watson
Contact via email
By appointment
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
12cp at 100 level or above
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit introduces students to some of the major theories and movements, including marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, structuralism, deconstruction, post-colonialism, ecocriticism etc., that have framed and continue to frame the way we understand the production and consumption of media, its meaning and its affect.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Written work must be submitted via the Turnitin link that can be found in ilearn. You do not need to attach a cover sheet to your essays.
Essays that are submitted late will be penalised 2% per day. No essays will be accepted more than seven (7) days late without special consideration.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Short essay: textual analysis | 20% | No | December 20, 2018 |
Active Participation | 20% | No | Continuous |
Major Research Essay | 40% | No | January 21, 2019 |
In-class Test | 20% | No | January 18, 2018 (Day 12) |
Due: December 20, 2018
Weighting: 20%
Students will analyse a set text through one of the following foundational media/cultural theories: Marxism, psychoanalysis or feminism. The set texts for each theory will be made available through iLearn during the first week of semester.
In this assignment students will be assessed on their critical engagement with unit and individually researched reading material, their undertaking of the task, their knowledge of theory, their critical and relational thinking and their use of academic writing conventions like structure, academic English and referencing.
Minimum Research Requirement: At least two unit readings from the relevant day's topic plus at least two other relevant and appropriate academic publications.
You will be marked against the following criteria in this and the major essay:
Due: Continuous
Weighting: 20%
Students are expected to read the material in the unit reader prior to seminars, to take part in class discussion and group work. Participation will be graded twice (2 X 10%) during the semester (days 2-6 and 7-11).
Students will be assessed on their informed participation in the group work that features in each day's seminar.
Due: January 21, 2019
Weighting: 40%
Students will analyse a pair of set texts through one of the following theories--postcolonialism, ecocriticism or psychogeography. As with essay one, the set texts will be circulated via iLearn during the semester.
In this assignment, students will be assessed on their critical engagement with unit and individually researched reading material, their undertaking of the task, their knowledge of theory, their critical and relational thinking and their use of academic writing conventions like structure, academic English and referencing.
Minimum Research Requirement: At least three unit readings from the relevant day plus at least three other relevant and appropriate academic publications.
You will be marked against the following criteria:
Due: January 18, 2018 (Day 12)
Weighting: 20%
A closed-book multiple-choice class test. The questions will be based on seminar material from Days 1, 5, 6, 10 and 11. Questions will test students' knowledge of the key concepts of that day's particular theory.
Readings will be made available via iLearn. There is a Leganto reading list
Seminars will be held from 10-12pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The first hour of each day will be a lecture, followed by tutorial activities to consolidate learning.
Essays must be submitted as Word documents via the Turnitin link in iLearn. Students must ensure that they upload the correct file as Turnitin will only accept a single submission.
Day 1 -- Introduction: Scientists of the text: Structuralism
Kate McGowan (2006) 'Structuralism and Semiotics', in Malpas, S. and Wake, P. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory, London: Routledge
Day 2 -- Media & Society: Marxism
Moyra Haslett (2000) from 'Culture and Society' and 'Culture and Ideology', Marxist Literary and Cultural Theories, Basingstoke: MacMillan
Day 3 -- Reading the Repressed: Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1991) 'The Dream Work' in Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis [1916], Harmondsworth: Penguin
Day 4 -- Media and the Other: Feminism
Toril Moi (1988) 'Helene Cixous: an Imaginary Utopia', in Sexual/Textual Politics, London and New York: Routledge
Day 5 -- Distracting Distractions: Mass Culture Theory
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1999) 'The Culture Industry Thesis: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' [1944], in During, S. (ed) The Cultural Studies Reader, London: Routledge
Day 6 -- The Return of the Reader: Reader-response Theory
Jennifer Riddle Harding (2014) 'Reader Response Criticism and Stylistics', in Burke, M. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, London: Routledge
Day 7 -- The Empire Writes Back: Postcolonialism
Edward Said (2000) 'Orientalism Reconsidered', in Reflections on Exile and Other Essays, Cambridge: Harvard Uni. Press
Day 8 -- Tales from the Natural World: Ecocriticism
Scott Hess (2010) 'Imagining an Everyday Nature', Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment, 17:1, Winter, 85-112
Day 9 -- Writing the City/the City as Writing: Psychogeography
Merlin Coverley (2010) from Psychogeography, Harpenden: Pocket Essentials
Day 10 -- Ethical Reading: the ethical turn
Simon Stow (2006) 'Reading our Way to Democracy? Literature and Public Ethics', Philosophy and Literature, 30, 410-423
Day 11 -- Theory After theory? Theory in the post-theoretical moment
Brian Boyd (2006) 'Theory is Dead--Like a Zombie', Philosophy & Literature, 30:1, 289-298
Day 12 -- Class test
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).
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 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.
MMCCS Session Re-mark Application http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/?id=167914
Information is correct at the time of publication
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
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.
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
There are minimum research requirements for both essay assignments:
When looking for relevant publications outside the unit reader don't place your trust in online sources of doubtful provenance. To help you in your research you'll find in ilearn a brief list of 'suggested reading', including some reliable online material: please use this list as a starting point for your independent research. The quality of your research will be reflected in the quality of your analysis.
For this unit the Harvard referencing style should be used. For a comprehensive referencing style guide please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/harvard.html. Please note that footnote-style referencing is not acceptable for this unit.
All written assignments must be processed through the Turnitin anti-plagiarism software. Essays are to be uploaded via the Turnitin link in ilearn.