HISTORY AND THEORY OF CULTURE
SYLLABUS
Anna E. Afanasyeva,
Associate Professor at the School of Cultural Studies, NRU HSE
Staraya Basmannaya ul., 21/4, office 406
Email: [email protected]
1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
PRE-REQUISITES:
Basic knowledge of world history and philosophy is required as well as the good working
knowledge of English.
COURSE TYPE:
Compulsory
ABSTRACT:
As follows from the title of the course, its aim is twofold: first, it seeks to provide a historical
survey of the most important developments in Western culture from Ancient Greece to the 21st
century which have shaped Western civilisation. It addresses various modes of social
organisation and behaviour, ways of thinking and artistic expression within their historical
context. Second, it deals with the main concepts and interpretative strategies employed in the
academic field of Cultural studies to explain both contemporary culture and the cultures of the
past in their manifold dimensions. The overall aim of the course is to foster the development of a
reflexive, analytical and critical understanding of culture and its various phenomena.
2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
•
•
•
•
to examine the most important developments in Western culture and enable students to
analyse them within their historical context;
to introduce students to cultural studies as a multi-faceted field addressing various
aspects of culture both from its historical and contemporary perspectives;
to provide students with the main categories and theoretical concepts of cultural studies
as well as basic tools for the analysis of cultural objects and processes;
to develop a critical and reflexive understanding of cultural phenomena.
3. LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students who complete this course will be able to:
• relate cultural phenomena to their historical periods and analyse them within their
historical contexts;
• understand various theoretical approaches to the study of culture;
• apply a new vocabulary and use the interdisciplinary critical perspectives to examine the
meanings of cultural objects and processes.
4. COURSE PLAN
№
1.
Topic
Contact hours
Lectures
Seminars
Introduction to Cultural studies: key
concepts, terms and debates
2
2
2
0
6
8
4
4
4
4
2
2
6
6
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
38
38
I. History of Culture
2.
Early civilizations and the first empires
3.
The culture of Ancient Greece and Rome
4.
Medieval culture
5.
Early modern culture
6.
Europe during the Enlightenment
7.
European culture in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries
II. Theory of Culture
8.
Critical theory and Cultural studies
9.
The linguistic turn in cultural studies.
Poststructuralism. Postmodernism
10.
Postcolonial theory
11.
Feminist perspectives of culture
12.
Body studies
13.
Anthropology and cultural studies
Total:
OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
Lecture 1. Introduction to Cultural studies: key concepts, terms and debates
Main approaches to the definition of culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Borders of culture.
Culture and nature: social vs biological. Evolutionary approach of Konrad Lorenz and antinaturalistic view of Michel Foucault. Culture and civilization: Oswald Spengler. Arnold Toynbee
and his comparative study of civilizations. “Civilization” revived: Samuel Huntington’s “Clash
of Civilizations” (1993). “The Civilizing Process” by Norbert Elias. Forms of culture. Functions
of culture. Methods of cultural studies.
Seminar 1. What is Culture?
Ryan M., Ingram B., Musiol H. Cultural Studies: A Practical Introduction. Chichester,
West Sussex, U.K, 2010. (Any 2 chapters out of 14).
Williams R. Culture is Ordinary. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An
Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 53 – 59.
Lectures 2 - 13. History of Culture
Lecture 2. Early civilizations and the first empires
Pre-historic cultures: first human settlers. Early cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt as the cradle
of civilization. Urbanism. The development of writing. Science and technology. Religion. Law.
Foundations of art. Indo-European linguistic forms. Transnational trade and diplomacy. The
Persian empire. Zoroastrianism and its legacy. The development of Hebrew monotheism.
Lectures 3 - 4. Ancient Greece
Aegean Civilization: Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece.
The culture of Archaic Greece, 800 – 500 BC. Greek colonial expansion and its impact on the
Greek identity. The rise of the polis. Tyranny and democracy. Greek polytheism and the ideas of
life, death, body and soul. The Ionian revolution in thought. Main developments in Greek art:
vase painting. Kouroi and korai. Architectural orders.
Classical period (c. 480 – 323 BC): Periclean Athens as the centre of Greek civilization.
Athenian literature and drama. Schools of philosophy. Greek sculpture: developments in the
treatment of the human figure. Contrapposto. Praxiteles and the change of the canon. Female
nude: “Aphrodite of Knidos” (c. 350 BC). The Parthenon and its relationship to contemporary
history and politics.
Hellenistic period (323 – 31 BC): the conquests of Alexander the Great and their aftermath. The
fall of the polis. Hellenistic kingdoms. Stoicism and Epicureanism. The scientific revolution of
antiquity: medicine, physics, geography, astronomy. Hellenistic art (Pergamon).
Cosmopolitanism of Hellenistic culture.
Seminar 2 Greek sculpture: developments in the treatment of the human figure
Gombrich E. H. The Story of Art. Oxford, 2012. Chapter 4. The Realm of Beauty: Greece
and the Greek World, Fourth century BC to First century AD. P. 67 - 78.
Damaskos D. Free-standing and Relief Sculpture. In: A Companion to Greek Art. /Ed. by
T. Smith and D. Plantzos. Malden, Mass., 2012. P. 105 - 131
Seminar 3 The Elgin marbles: should they stay or go?
Hitchens Ch., Browning R., Binns G. The Elgin Marbles: Should They Be Returned to
Greece? London, 1987. P. 17 – 106.
Hamilakis Y. Stories from Exile: Fragments from the Cultural Biography of the
Parthenon (or 'Elgin') Marbles. In: World Archaeology. 1999. Vol. 31, No. 2, Oct. The
Cultural Biography of Objects. P. 303 – 320.
British Museum website.
Acropolis Museum website.
Seminar 4. Alexander the Great in history and popular culture
Plutarch. Life of Alexander. Selections at: http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/alexandr.html
Oliver Stone. Alexander (movie), fragments.
Lecture 5. Ancient Rome
The ambiguous status of Roman culture in the ancient Graeco-Roman civilization. Greek
influences in Roman culture: philosophy, religion, art and literature. Rome’s own unique
achievements: law, administration, engineering and military organization.
The early Roman republic and the territorial expansion of Rome. Social structure, law and
political culture. The ancestors’ cult and its place in shaping Roman identity. Roman religious
life. Popular assemblies and the sense of belonging. Roman architecture: urban planning and the
new construction methods. Literature and history writing.
The Roman Empire. Pax Romana. The challenge of imperial expansion. Christianity and
Neoplatonism. Shifting centres: the founding of Constantinople. The rise of the Christian
Church. The impact of the 5th – century migrations. The shaping of a new worldview.
Seminar 5. Roman Art
Janson H.W., Janson A.F. A Basic History of Art. NY., 1992. Roman Art. P. 94 – 107.
Feifer J. Roman Portraits. In: A Companion to Roman Art. Ed. by B.Borg. Oxford, 2015.
Chapter 12. P. 233 – 251.
Lectures 6 - 7. Medieval culture
“Middle Ages”: the problem of chronology and localization. Approaches to the study of
medieval culture. Antique legacy and its transformations in the culture of the Middle Ages. The
conversion of North-Western Europe. The role of monasteries as intellectual and spiritual
centres. Changing concepts of time and space. Early medieval art. Illuminated books. The
Carolingian Renaissance.
European culture in the 11th and 12th centuries. The agricultural revolution. “Feudalism”: a
contested term. Court culture: chivalry, the evolution of sensibilities and courtly love. Popular
culture. Pilgrimages. Romanesque art (c. 1050 – 1200). Crusades and the influence of Islamic
culture.
Phenomenon of the medieval town. “A Europe of town-dwellers” (J. Le Goff). Commercial
revival. The intellectual revolution: the emergence of the university. Scholasticism. Latin and
vernacular languages. “The time of cathedrals” (G. Duby). The Gothic style in architecture.
Late medieval culture. Black Death and its impact on the medieval societies. Peasant rebellions
and urban revolts. The persecution of witches. The shattering of the unity of the Church. The
invention of printing press. The growth of national monarchies.
Seminar 6. The Mental World of Medieval Europe
Le Goff J. Medieval Civilization, 400-1500. Oxford, UK, 1988. Chapter 9. Mentalities,
Sensibilities, and Attitudes. P. 325 – 361.
Le Goff J. Medieval Man. In: The Medieval World. /Ed. by J. Le Goff. London, 1997. P.
1 – 35.
Seminar 7. The Gothic Cathedral
Ralls K. Gothic Cathedrals: A Guide to the History, Places, Art, and Symbolism. Lake
Worth, FL, 2015. Chapter 1. Gothic cathedrals: Architectural gems in stone. P. 11 – 25.
Scott R.A. The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral.
Berkeley, 2011. Chapter 10. Sacred Force and Sacred Space. P. 147 – 170.
Lectures 8 - 9. Early modern culture
Renaissance as the transitional period: the problematic uses of the term. The rediscovery of the
classical past: Italian Renaissance. Renaissance art: new architectural forms and painting
techniques. Perspective. Humanism as the new intellectual and political agenda. Humanism and
religion. The Renaissance north of the Alps. Reformation and the spread of Protestantism.
New technologies of conquest: early colonial expansion of the Europeans and its impact on
Western culture. Europe and the Atlantic world. “The Columbian Exchange” (Alfred Crosby).
The influx of the New World’s silver and the growth of capitalism in Europe.
The rise of absolutism in Europe. Court society as a public institution. Ceremony in the court
life. “Imperial theatre”. The symbolic meanings of absolutist power and their representations in
art. Classicism and Baroque art.
The intellectual origins of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. The Copernican
revolution. The new philosophy: Bacon and Descartes. Science and cultural change.
Seminar 8. The New Realism: The Early Renaissance in Europe
Gombrich E. H. The Story of Art. Oxford, 2012. Chapter 12. The Conquest of Reality:
The early fifteenth century. P. 167 - 181.
Carroll M.D. “In the Name of God and Profit”: Jan van Eyck's “Arnolfini Portrait”. In:
Representations. 1993. No. 44. P. 96 – 132.
Seminar 9. The Court Culture
Elias N. The Court Society. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983. Chapter 5. Etiquette and
Ceremony. P. 86 – 126.
Wortman R. Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy. Princeton,
N.J., 1995. P. 1 – 6; 9 – 20.
Lecture 10. Europe during the Enlightenment
The exploding consumer economy and its impact on the European culture. The foundations of
the Enlightenment. The main themes of the Enlightenment thought: law and punishment,
humanitarianism and religious toleration, government and the economy.
Colonial expansion of the European states: slave trade, exploration and scientific missions.
Chinoiserie and its visual language.
Parisian salons. Rococo style. The practice of Grand Tour and its role in the revival of the
enthusiasm for classical antiquity. Neoclassicism in painting and architecture. The rise of the
middle-class reading public. Urban and rural popular culture.
Seminar 10. Chinoiserie in Western Art
Ledderose L. Chinese Influence on European Art, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. In:
China and Europe: Images and Influences in Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. /Ed. By
T. Lee. Hong Kong, 1991. P. 221 – 249.
Sloboda S. William Alexander and the visual language of Chinoiserie. In: The British Art
Journal. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 2. P. 28 – 36.
Lecture 11 - 13. European culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Wars and revolutions in Europe. The aesthetic of Romanticism and its historical context. The
idea of national identity. The Industrial revolution. The coming of railways and the change of
spatial and temporal vision. The rise of the middle classes. The 19th-century city: observer and
the crowd. New forms of public transport and their influence on city culture. Gender and the cult
of domesticity. “Angel in the House” (Patmore). Colonialism and imperialism. Orientalism as a
specific cultural projection of the West. The concept of “civilizing mission”. Imperial culture and
racial thought. The cult of science in the 19th century. Positivism. Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
Challenges to rationality: Pavlov and Freud.
Mass industry and consumer culture. Social movements. Suffrage and the redefinition of
womanhood.
Realism in art. The development of photography and its influence on visual arts. The
Impressionist movement. Post-Impressionism. Symbolism in art. Art Nouveau: the search for
new aesthetic forms. Modernism in literature, music, theatre, architecture.
Non-classical formations in the culture of the early 20th century: destruction of traditional forms
in arts, literature and science. The impact of the WWI: “the Lost Generation”. The aftermath of
the WWII: Europe divided. Changes in structural relations between sexes and generations after
the war. The 1960s: the move towards social and personal liberation. Feminist movement.
Student protests. Disintegration of the empires. The rise of the youth culture. Music and popular
art. Abstract expressionism. The “Americanization” of culture. “Liquid modernity” (Zygmunt
Bauman): the flow of money and people. Globalizing world. Postmodernism in arts and
literature. Conceptual art. Art and activism.
Seminar 11. Modernism in Europe
Gombrich E. H. The Story of Art. Oxford, 2012. Chapter 27. Experimental Art: The first
half of the twentieth century. P. 429 – 463.
Curtis W.J.R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. London, 1996. Chapter 10. Architecture
and Revolution in Russia. P. 132 – 143.
Seminar 12. Cultural revolution
Hobsbawm E.J. Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991. London,
1994. Chapter 11. Cultural Revolution. P. 320 – 343.
Haraway D. A Cyborg Manifesto. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An
Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 454 – 471.
Seminar 13. Pop Art
James J. Pop Art. London, 1996. P. 5 – 26.
Honnef K. Andy Warhol, 1928-1987: Commerce into Art. Cologne, 1990. P. 7 – 43.
Lectures 14 - 19. Theory of Culture
Lecture 14. Critical theory and Cultural studies
Modernist theories of culture: the concepts of culture in Marxism and Freudianism. Critical
theory: the Frankfurt school and its main figures. “Dialectic of Enlightenment”. Culture as
commodity (Herbert Marcuse). Theories of ideology: Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci.
Cultural hegemony. Culture as a site of ideological struggle. Birmingham school of Cultural
studies: Edward Thompson, Raymond Williams, Tony Bennett, Stuart Hall. Concepts of power,
agency, subjectivity, identity.
Seminar 14. Reforming Culture
Horkheimer M., Adorno T. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. In:
Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 40 – 52.
Marcuse H. The Affirmative Character of Culture. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural
Theory: An Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 27 – 39.
Lecture 15. The linguistic turn in cultural studies. Poststructuralism. Postmodernism
Language as a system of communication. Semiotics. The model of a sign: Ferdinand de
Saussure. Cultural codes. Roland Barthes’ systems of signification: denotation and connotation.
The polysemic nature of signs: Mikhail Bakhtin, Valentin Voloshinov. Poststructuralism: the
main concepts. Intertextuality. Representation. Deconstruction. Michel Foucault: the notion of
discourse. Discursive formation. Epistemes. ‘Regimes of truth’. Power/knowledge.
Medicalization. Postmodernism: the end of grand narratives (Jean-Francois Lyotard)
Seminar 15. Representation and Discourse
Mills S. Discourse. London, 2010. Chapter 3. Discursive structures. P. 43 – 68.
Hall S. The Work of Representation. In: Representation: Cultural Representations and
Signifying Practices. /Ed. by S. Hall. London, 2003. P. 13 – 63.
Lecture 16. Postcolonial theory
Colonialism and imperialism: definitions and debates. Orientalism as a way of constructing the
non-Western world: the works and legacy of Edward Said. Travel writing, literature and colonial
discourse. The critiques of capitalist modernity. Debates over nation and national liberation.
Constructivist theories of nation. “Imagined communities” by Benedict Anderson. The role of
national culture in the project of decolonization. The issue of representation in postcolonial
writing. The notion of creolization. Hybridity, mimicry and ambivalence: Homi Bhabha.
Subaltern studies: Gayatri Spivak and Ranajit Guha. “Provincializing Europe” by Dipesh
Chakrabarty.
Seminar 16. «Orientalism» and Postcolonial studies
Said E. W. Orientalism. New York, 1979. Introduction. P. 1 - 28.
Young R. C. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Blackwell, 2001. Chapter 1.
“Colonialism and the Politics of Postcolonial Critique”. P. 1 – 11; Chapter 5.
“Postcolonialism”. P. 57 - 69.
Lecture 17. Feminist perspectives of culture
Feminist and post-feminist critiques of culture. The notion of patriarchy. “Patriarchal bargain”
(Deniz Kandiyoti) and “patriarchal dividend” (Raewyn Connell). Varieties of feminist
programmes in the 20th and 21st centuries. Intersectionality. The works by Joan W. Scott, Judith
Butler, Gayatri Spivak and Julia Kristeva and their role in conceptual redefinition of cultural
studies. Gender studies. Interactionist approaches: ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel.
Erving Goffmann and the notion of “gender display”. Candace West and Don Zimmerman
(“Doing gender”, 1987): gender as a product of human effort. Performative theory of gender
(Judith Butler). Feminist epistemology. Verbal and visual representations of gender in culture.
Seminar 17. Feminist theory
Nochlin L. ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’ In: L. Nochlin. Women,
Art, and Power. New York, 1988. P. 145 - 178.
Dworkin A. ‘Gynocide: Chinese Footbinding’. In: Feminist Frontiers III. /Ed. by L.
Richardson, V. Taylor. New York, 1993. P. 60 – 68.
Lecture 18. Body studies
Emergence of the body studies: Bryan Turner and the “somatic turn”. The social and cultural
production of the body. Precursors of body studies: Marcel Mauss and his “Techniques of the
body” (1935). Body as a visible manifestation of culture. The civilizing process and the bodily
control: Norbert Elias. Michel Foucault: docile and disciplined bodies in the European culture.
The notion of panopticon. The range of interdisciplinary perspectives in body studies.
Medicalized bodies. Racialized bodies. The body in the feminist theory.
Seminar 18. Body as a cultural construct
Fausto-Sterling A. ‘Sexing the Brain: How Biologists Make a Difference’. In: FaustoSterling A. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New
York, 2006. P. 115 – 145.
Gooldin S. ‘Being Anorexic: Hunger, Subjectivity, and Embodied Morality’. In: Medical
Anthropology Quarterly. 2008. Vol. 22. Issue 3. P. 274 – 296.
Lecture 19. Anthropology and cultural studies
The problem of disciplinary boundaries: culture as an object of analysis of various disciplines.
The contributions of anthropology into the field of Cultural studies. Anthropological definitions
of culture. Methods of anthropology. Field work. Interviews. Participant observation. “Thick
description” (Clifford Geertz). Visual anthropology as a way of studying culture.
Seminar 19. Anthropological definition of culture. «Thick description»
Geertz C. ‘Thick description. Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture’. In: Geertz C.
The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1973. P. 3 – 30.
Geertz C. ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight’. In: Geertz C. The Interpretation
of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1973. P. 412 – 453.
5. READING LIST
REQUIRED:
Dworkin A. ‘Gynocide: Chinese Footbinding’. In: Feminist Frontiers III. /Ed. by L. Richardson,
V. Taylor. New York, 1993. P. 60 – 68.
Elias N. The Court Society. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983.
Fausto-Sterling A. ‘Sexing the Brain: How Biologists Make a Difference’. In: Fausto-Sterling A.
Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York, 2006. P. 115 –
145.
Geertz C. ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight’. In: Geertz C. The Interpretation of
Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1973. P. 412 – 453.
Geertz C. ‘Thick description. Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture’. In: Geertz C. The
Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York, 1973. P. 3 – 30.
Gombrich E. H. The Story of Art. Oxford, 2012.
Hamilakis Y. Stories from Exile: Fragments from the Cultural Biography of the Parthenon (or
'Elgin') Marbles. In: World Archaeology. 1999. Vol. 31, No. 2, Oct. The Cultural Biography of
Objects. P. 303 – 320.
Haraway D. A Cyborg Manifesto. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An Anthology.
Oxford, 2011. P. 454 – 471.
Hitchens Ch., Browning R., Binns G. The Elgin Marbles: Should They Be Returned to Greece?
London, 1987. P. 17 – 106.
Hobsbawm E.J. Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991. London, 1994. Horkheimer M., Adorno T. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. In: Kaposy
T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 40 – 52.
James J. Pop Art. London, 1996.
Janson H.W., Janson A.F. A Basic History of Art. NY., 1992.
Le Goff J. Medieval Civilization, 400-1500. Oxford, UK, 1988.
Ledderose L. Chinese Influence on European Art, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. In: China
and Europe: Images and Influences in Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. /Ed. By T. Lee. Hong
Kong, 1991. P. 221 – 249.
Marcuse H. The Affirmative Character of Culture. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An
Anthology. Oxford, 2011. P. 27 – 39.
Mills S. Discourse. London, 2010.
Nochlin L. Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? In: L. Nochlin. Women, Art, and
Power. New York, 1988. P. 145 - 178.
Plutarch. Life of Alexander. Selections at: http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/alexandr.html
Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. /Ed. by S. Hall. London,
2003.
Ryan M., Ingram B., Musiol H. Cultural Studies: A Practical Introduction. Chichester, West
Sussex, U.K, 2010.
Said E. W. Orientalism. New York, 1979.
Scott R.A. The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral. Berkeley,
2011.
Tatarkiewicz W. A History of Six Ideas: An Essay in Aesthetics. The Hague, 1980.
The Medieval World. /Ed. by J. Le Goff. London, 1997.
West S. Portraiture. Oxford History of Art series. Oxford, 2004.
Williams R. Culture is Ordinary. In: Kaposy T., Szeman I. Cultural Theory: An Anthology.
Oxford, 2011. P. 53 – 59.
Wortman R. Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy. Princeton, N.J.,
1995.
Young R. C. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Blackwell, 2001.
OPTIONAL:
A Companion to Greek Art. Ed. by T. Smith and D. Plantzos. Malden, Mass., 2012. Boardman J.
Greek Art. London, 1996.
A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque Art. Ed. by B. Bohn and J.M. Saslow. Chichester,
2013.
Adorno Th.W. The Culture Industry: Selected essays on mass culture. London - New York,
2005.
Althusser L. ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation).’
Mapping Ideology. /Ed. S. Zizek. London - New York, 1995. P. 100 - 140.
Anderson B. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism.
London - New York, 2006.
Baxandall M. Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy. Oxford, 1972.
Bhabha H. K. The Location of Culture. London - New York, 1994.
Boltanski L., Chiapello E. New Spirit of Capitalism. London - New York, 2007.
Britt D. Modern Art: Impressionism to Post Impressionism. London, 1999.
Burr V. Social Constructionism. London - New York, 2003.
Carroll M.D. “In the Name of God and Profit”: Jan van Eyck's “Arnolfini Portrait”. In:
Representations. 1993. No. 44. P. 96 – 132.
Conway H., Roenisch R. Understanding Architecture. An Introduction to Architecture and
Architectural History. London, New York, 1994.
Crary J. Techniques of the observer. Cambridge; London, 1992.
Eagleton T. Ideology. An Introduction. London - New York, 1991.
Eisenman S. and T.E. Crow. Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. London, 1994.
Elkins J. Visual Literacy. NY., 2009.
Emmison M., Smith P. Researching the Visual: Images, Objects, Contexts and Interactions in
Social and Cultural Inquiry. Sage, 2000.
Engels F., Marx K. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and Communist Manifesto.
New York, 1988.
Fanon F. Black Skin, White Masks. London, 2008. P. 109 - 140.
Gooldin S. ‘Being Anorexic: Hunger, Subjectivity, and Embodied Morality’. In: Medical
Anthropology Quarterly. 2008. Vol. 22. Issue 3. P. 274 – 296.
Habermas J. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. An Inquiry into a Category of
Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, Mass., 1993.
Jones A. A Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945. Malden, 2011.
Martin T. The Nude Figure in Renaissance Art. In: A Companion to Renaissance and Baroque
Art. Ed. by B. Bohn and J.M. Saslow. Chichester, 2013. P. 402 – 421.
Nash S. Northern Renaissance Art. Oxford, 2008.
Ricoeur P. Lectures on Ideology and Utopia. New York, 1986.
Rubin G. ‘The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex’. Feminist
Anthropology. A Reader. /Ed. by E. Lewin. Blackwell Publishing, 2006. P. 87 - 106.
Sloboda S. William Alexander and the visual language of Chinoiserie. In: The British Art
Journal. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 2. P. 28 – 36.
Smith T. J. and Plantzos D. A Companion to Greek Art. Malden, MA, 2012.
Spivak G. Ch. ‘Can Subaltern speak?’ In: Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. /Ed. by C.
Nelson and L. Grossberg. University of Illinois Press, 1988. P. 271 - 313.
Storey J. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. An Introduction. Longman Publishing Group,
2009.
Strinati D. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London - New York, 2005.
Watkin D. A History of Western Architecture. London, 2000.
Weintraub L. Making Contemporary Art. London, 2003.
Williams R. ‘The Analysis of Culture’. In: The Long Revolution. London, 1961. P. 57 - 70.
6. GRADING SYSTEM
The grade consists of four elements:
• Class attendance and active participation
• Presentation in class
• Essay
• Final examination (written test)
20%
20%
10%
50%
The final grade of a student (Gfinal) is formed of a cumulative grade (Gcumulative) and the grade for
examination (written test) (Gexam), calculated in the following proportion:
Gfinal = 0,5* Gcumulative + 0,5* Gexam
Cumulative grade (Gcumulative) is formed of the grade for the performance at the seminars
(Gseminars), for collective presentation in class (Gpresentation) and for the essay written at the end of
the third module (Gessay). These grades have the following weight in the overall cumulative
grade:
Gcumulative = 0,4* Gseminars + 0,4* Gpresentation + 0,2*Gessay
Students who regularly attend lectures and take an active part in lecture discussions receive one
extra point, which is added to their cumulative grade.
7. GUIDELINES FOR KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT
Class attendance and active participation: Preparation for and participation in class discussion
are essential parts of this course. Students are expected to come to class ready to discuss the
assigned texts and contribute productively to class discussions. Regular attendance of the course
is also important for the overall grade of a student. The students’ commentaries should be
logical, well-structured, well-argued, should demonstrate good knowledge of the assigned text as
well as the main theories and concepts of the course.
Presentations in class: Each student will have to participate in one collective presentation in
class. Each presentation is focused on the work with one specialised text on the history or theory
of culture. The mark for the collective presentation consists of the following:
- the quality of addressing the main issues of the text (2 points);
- the clarity of the presentation’s structure and accuracy in the use of visual material (2
points);
- the quality of the group work: coordination during the presentation and the level of its
organisation (2 points);
- the quality of the questions posed to the text (2 points);
- the accuracy of the answers given by the presenting group to the questions of the
audience (2 points).
Final Exam: a written test (60 min), consisting of several closed and one open question. The
answer to the open question should demonstrate the knowledge of the lecture material, be wellstructured, well-argued and clearly written.
8. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
Organisation of seminars:
The first seminar is focused on the discussion of scholarly texts on theoretical issues, dealing
with the concepts of culture. Starting from the second seminar and up to the end of the module
the class work is organised according to the following scheme.
Before a seminar:
1) the whole group reads one text for the seminar (“basic” text), which provides the general
context to a particular problem.
2) each seminar one presentation is made together by 2 or 3 students. The presentation is
centred on another text, which is related to the basic one everybody reads, but is focused
on a more specific problem. The group reads one basic text, and the presenters read two
texts, their own and the basic text for everyone.
• The main task of the presenters is to describe the key ideas and problems
discussed in their text.
• They will need to make a Power Point presentation to make their arguments clear.
If the text concerns art history and involves the demonstration of artworks, each
illustration must be provided with the name of the author of this artwork, title,
year of production, technique, its present location.
• The presenters will also have to prepare four questions to the audience on the
basic text and four questions on the text they are presenting.
During a seminar:
• Before the presentation the group divides into four mini-groups.
• Then follows the presentation (15 min)
• After the presentation the audience can ask short “questions of understanding”.
• Then the presenters formulate two questions to each of the four groups, one
concerning the text they were talking about, and another one concerning the basic
text everybody read for the seminar.
• The mini-groups discuss the questions between them.
• The general discussion begins. The presenters are responsible for leading this
discussion; they assess the quality of answers and make a conclusion after the
discussion.
All presenters are given the dates on which they are making their presentations well in advance.
If no one of the presenters appears in class on their date, their group gets zero mark for this task;
their work is not accepted afterwards. All presenters in one group get the same mark, so the
collective work should be well-organised and the presentation itself well-coordinated.
The organisation of the work on each seminar around two texts, one of which is read by
everyone, is aimed to stimulate the participation of the whole group of students in the classroom
discussion.
Given that the number of groups of 2 or 3 presenters is limited to about 11, the presentations
only take place on these 11 seminars out of 19. During one seminar at the end of module 3
students write an essay of 800 words on one of the topic of the course (the choice of four topics
is provided by the instructor). During other 7 seminars all students participate in the discussion
of assigned texts.
9. SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE SUPPORT (IF REQUIRED)
Laptop and projector. Power Point or similar software.