Everyday Cultures: Identity, Technology and Nature

Module overview

This module explores the cultural politics of the everyday, focusing in particular on how identity, digital technologies and human-nature relations shape contemporary life. It examines identities in a fractured world, the role of digital technologies in everyday life and evolving relationships with more-than-human worlds. Thus, the module links these themes to contemporary social debates of nationalism, digital wellbeing, and care ethics, offering tools to understand the cultural geographies of the 21st century.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

The module is delivered via a weekly two-hour lecture and a fortnightly one hour seminar. Each session will usually feature a lecture outlining key conceptual issues and a case study in which this issue is present. Seminars will centre on in-depth exploration and student engagement with the lecture theme through focus on particular readings, images, films etc. Seminars will take place through a variety of formats such as presentations, debates and group discussions. The format of each seminar is disclosed in the handbook and will also be outlined the week before the seminar is to take place. The module will draw upon local, national and international examples and will employ a diverse range of materials including academic, literary and popular texts, media accounts and film. Sessions are clustered into blocks reflecting contributor expertise. The module comprises of two pieces of coursework. For seminars, students will be split into groups at the start of the module and will be assigned a seminar leader.

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	124
Teaching	26
Total study time	150

Assessment

Assessment strategy

The course is assessed by one recorded oral presentation and an essay each worth 50% which will focus on discussing and applying key approaches and concepts from each half of the module.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Oral presentation	50%
Essay	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External