Module overview
This module will introduce you to studying questions of history, society and culture through the prism of Southampton in order that you can apply those approaches to the study of cities in the French, Spanish and German-speaking world.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- Cities as micro-sites of historical, social political and linguistic developments and conflicts that have national and/or transnational significance.
- the ways in which historical and national narratives are told by monumental and representational cultures of cities.
- How key notions such as ‘nation’, ‘class’, ‘race’, ‘gender’ ‘culture’, or ‘history’ are formed, represented and reproduced in a metropolitan context.
- How cosmopolitanism and diversity are expressed in urban environments.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- produce academic writing to required conventions
- set and monitor goals reflecting on your own learning and learning form feedback
- communicate effectively and confidently both orally and in writing
- work with a range of sources taking accurate notes and keeping records
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- apply knowledge, understanding and critical analysis to readings of the city
- formulate and clarify critical questions informed by theoretical approaches pertinent to the study of cities
- define present and exemplify concepts relating to the subject
Syllabus
The module will introduce you to studying questions of history, society and culture through the prism of the city locally in order to be able to analyse cities at global level. The module will use the example of Southampton and other UK cities for the purposes of the research task and you will be able to apply the relevant theories and approaches to global cities such as Madrid, Paris and Berlin in the essay. The module explores cities as sites of national identity and conflict and of wider transnational and global links. Whilst the weekly lectures focus in the main on Southampton and UK cities, references will be made to cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin and Mexico City and you will have the opportunity to explore those urban centres in more depth through the essay. We will examine linguistic practices, cultural products and sites through which cities are represented and through which issues of urban identity and politics are expressed (e.g. film, photography, monuments, architecture). In addition we will look at metropolitan cultures as subjects of cultural theory and read some key theoretical texts on issues such as the modern city, cities as sites of linguistic diversity, cosmopolitanism, urban cultures, the global city, space, segregation and inequality.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include:
Lectures introducing the key topics
Small group seminars to discuss primary sources and secondary readings
Individual essay tutorials
Learning activities include:
Close analysis of using and evaluating primary and secondary historical texts
Extensive reading of secondary and theoretical literature
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Completion of assessment task | 40 |
Revision | 40 |
Seminar | 12 |
Wider reading or practice | 40 |
Preparation for scheduled sessions | 2 |
Follow-up work | 4 |
Lecture | 12 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson (2010). The Blackwell City Reader. Blackwell.
Doreen Massey at al (eds.) (1999). City Worlds. Routledge.
Deborah Stevenson (2003). Cities and Urban Cultures. Open Univ. Press.
Suzanne Hall and Ricky Burdett editors (2018). The Sage Handbook of the 21st Century City. Sage.
Steve Pile and Nigel Thrift (eds.) (2000). City a-z. Routledge.
Anna Minton (2009). Ground Control Fear and Happiness in the twenty-first- century city. Penguin.
Imogen Tyler (2020). Stigma The Machinery of inequality. London: ZED books.
Smakman, D and Heinrich, P editors (2018). Urban Sociolinguistics: The City as a linguistic process and experience. Routledge.
Diarmit Mac Giolla Chriost (2007). Language and the City. Palgrave.
Fran Tonkiss (2006). Space, the City and Social Theory. Blackwell.
Michael Peter Smith (2001). Transnational Urbanism Locating Globalization. Blackwell.
Nadine El-Enany (2020). (B)ordering Britain. Law ,Race and Empire. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Research proposal | 30% |
Coursework Presentation | 20% |
Analytical essay | 50% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Analytical essay | 50% |
Coursework Presentation | 20% |
Research proposal | 30% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Coursework Presentation | 20% |
Research proposal | 30% |
Analytical essay | 50% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External