2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

ARTF5033M Aesthetics and Politics

30 creditsClass Size: 15

Module manager: Dr Diane Morgan
Email: findlm@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2017/18

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module explores the theoretical debates over and history of the relation between aesthetics and politics, focusing on the modern (post-Enlightenment) and contemporary periods.

Objectives

On completion of the module, students will have:
- acquired comprehensive knowledge of the major contributions to the ongoing debates about aesthetics and politics;
- developed their understanding of the history of these debates;
- developed their understanding of the major issues (theoretical, philosophical and political) at stake in these debates;
- become able to follow - and have begun to be able to participate in - the current intellectual discussions in this field;
- researched, analysed and synthesised an aspect of these debates;
- demonstrated ability to articulate and structure an argument in writing.

Learning outcomes
- Knowledge of the key contributions to, and literature in, the historical and contemporary debates on 'aesthetics and politics'.
- An understanding of the key terms, issues and problems pertaining to these debates.
- Skills of advanced critical analysis, synthesis and close reading.
- Ability to formulate, focus and research an advanced research topic.
- Ability to articulate ideas and structure a coherent argument in writing.

Syllabus

Students will study key aesthetic treatises by, among others, Immanuel Kant, Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Schiller, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Georg Lukacs, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Peter Burger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Fredric Jameson, Francois Ranciere and Alain Badiou.

Central themes addressed include: debates over autonomy and heteronomy; utopia and anti-utopian tendencies; relation between 'art' and 'life'; debates over the concept 'avant-garde'; debates over modernist form, questions of organic and inorganic methods, and analytical methods of homology versus analogy.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	10	3.00	30.00
Private study hours			270.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

The module is structured around key aesthetic-political texts, which require close reading, detailed analysis and careful study.

Preparation for seminars is demanding and advanced, requiring substantial time commitment. Students are encouraged - but are not required - to complement individual private study with independent group study.

The second major area of private study involves the research for and preparation of a major essay, for which students are expected to develop their independent research skills, sourcing additional material (primary or secondary). Students are expected to identify an area of focus in negotiation with the tutor.

Support will be provided by the tutors during term time and the complementary Essential Research Skills module.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Seminar preparation
- Contributions to and involvement in weekly seminar discussions
- Negotiation with tutors over his/her chosen research topic in tutorial.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	7,000 word essay (inc footnotes and bibliography)	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 24/03/2017

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