2023/24 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

SLSP5250M Decolonial and Social Thought

30 creditsClass Size: 50

Module manager: Dr Hizer Mir
Email: h.mir@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2023/24

This module is mutually exclusive with

SLSP5141M

Contemporary Social Thought

Module replaces

SLSP5141M Contemporary Social Thought

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

The aim of the module is to introduce students to the intellectual kernel of decolonial thinking and how it disrupts and/or validates the sociological imagination. The module will foster a conceptual approach to this body of theoretical work in order to allow students to develop a critical understanding of contemporary social and political life. The module aims to extend insights from the decolonial away from the pedagogic to the consideration of the philosophies and problems of the world. In doing so it broadens the range of examples through which we understand the world and our place in it.

Objectives

This module will:
- Allow students to understand and deploy advanced concepts arising from their rigorous engagement with decolonial, social and political thought;
- Help students engage rigorously with questions that emerge from this work and to develop advanced critical capabilities.
- foster an academic environment in which students can acquire increased critical reasoning, refined communication skills, and begin to develop their own critical position on a number of major social and political themes.
- Foster an awareness of intellectual formations and trajectories arising from different regions of the world in the aftermath of planetary processes of decolonisation.

Learning outcomes
On completion of the module students should show evidence of being able to:
1. demonstrate an advanced grounding in the relationship between decolonial thinking and contemporary social and political theory as expressed in the module content;
2. assess the importance of theoretical work in the practical analysis of society and how this has developed historically and culturally;
3. evaluate critically the relationship between decolonial thinking and social and political phenomena in order to implement the use of concepts and theory in the practical analysis of such;
4. exhibit mastery in the exercise of both generic and specific intellectual abilities relevant to the study of social and political theory and its intersection with decolonial thought.
5. Read and think critically, to understand the differences between alternative explanations of global imaginaries, and to assess and evaluate competing theoretical perspectives.

Skills outcomes
Reflection

Syllabus

The module will be focused on decolonial theory and social thought and the intersections between the two. It will include an introduction to decolonial thought and the key concepts that thinkers have developed. We will also be looking at Western social thought and its limits. The module will also look to views of what the post-Western will look like within various fields of thought.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	9	2.00	18.00
Group learning	2	1.00	2.00
Independent online learning hours			80.00
Private study hours			200.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

Private study involves a very considerable level of reading and study into the decolonial, sociological and political theories covered by the module, including both primary and secondary sources. This is a principal learning outcome and it is for this reason that such a heavy stress is placed upon independent private study.
Another key reason for this emphasis is to enable students to develop the core analytical and transferable skills identified above and to have realised these in practice as a central outcome of the module.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

The students will receive feedback in an ongoing way through their seminar work and contributions to discussions therein. In addition to this, tutors on the module will be available to go over essay outlines in one-to-one meetings and also be able to discuss the students’ reflective log with them.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 3,000 words	90.00
Reflective log	3 x 400 word entries	10.00
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: 13/09/2023 14:06:39

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