SOC30690 Art & Social Change

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module examines the dynamics, roles and politics of culture, art and creative agency in the reproduction and transformation of society. It focuses on the ways art and artists respond to, dismantle and reimagine beyond the discursive and institutional formations that construct difference as ‘problematic’, and the injustices they give rise to.

We will critically explore art, artists, art practices and art institutions
(1) as subjects of research (ie., as forms of political and cultural production that reflect the workings of the social world);
(2) as acts, instigators and spaces of political intervention (which are, themselves, implicated in the global colonial histories of modernity), and the ways they play out in the contemporary politics of voice, representation and participation; and
(3) as forms, sites and producers of inquiry – how, like other forms of 'research', art practices involve processes of social engagement, analysis and critique.

This is an empirically- and practice-focused module that interrogates the relationships and tensions between knowledge, aesthetics and pedagogy through examination of ground-breaking works of art and scholarship across a range of pressing social justice issues and national contexts.

It is interdisciplinary, and convenes readings from sociology and anthropology, art history and social movement studies, across the theoretical traditions of feminism, Black, indigenous and queer studies, as well as post- and decolonialism. There is no ‘textbook’ or singular approach to this area of study. Coursework therefore will require equal measures of weekly scholarly and weekly arts-based work.

Students do not need to have prior arts experience or skills, and will not be graded on the basis of their artistic or creative 'ability' (whatever that actually means - just navigating everyday life is a confirmation of our inherent creativity!).

But this is a PRACTICE-based module that explores the embodied and creative mobilisations of art and artists. As such, experimenting with different modes of expression used in art-making (mapping, drawing, collaging, journaling, audio-visual etc) is a central element of the coursework.

NOTE: This course is designed for students who are seeking active and novel learning experiences. It is not recommended for those who shy away from engaged, reflective, multi-modal coursework that progresses in a developmental fashion, and must be completed on a weekly basis.

Show/hide contentOpenClose All

Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this module, students should demonstrate
(1) foundations of critical, theoretically and empirically informed understandings of the complex relationships between art, knowledge production and social change;
(2) the cultivation of skills for effectively working with and across different disciplinary and knowledge traditions, cultural practices and forms of expression; and
(3) progress in developing fundamental skills necessary to undertake advanced research, and professional and/or activist work, as relevant, in these areas.

Indicative Module Content:

Course content engages with three broad areas of critical debate/inquiry:

- Art-Historical Entanglements in Colonialism, Eurocentrism & Western Modernity
- Art as/in Movements: From Avant Garde(s) to Afro-Futurism (and beyond)
- Moving Art: Protest & the Politics of Representation

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Specified Learning Activities

50
Autonomous Student Learning

50
Total

124
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
As noted in the general module description, given the central role played by embodied, relational dynamics in the politics and practices of art, activism and research, we also will be incorporating experiential forms of learning in the class.

Thus, in tandem with the course focus on resistance, reimagining and social transformation, we will be employing arts-based and creative practices as learning tools in and of themselves. Similarly to the ways creative arts practices are used to 'trouble' conventional ways of seeing and acting in the world, we will also be using them in the module to interrupt and expand the standard practices of reading-discussion-presentation as the central ways of making 'sociological' sense of social justice and social change. This will involve weekly experimentation with such activities as reflexive journaling, drawing, collage with and alongside more conventional modes of study.

As previously noted, this course is not recommended for students seeking a passive, cram-it-last-minute approach to study.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Project: Final project (plus the weekly assignments for Weeks 6-12) Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

60
Portfolio: Portfolio of weekly assigned work (written, reflective and visual arts-based); Weeks 1-5 Week 6 n/a Graded No

40

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
Autumn
      
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Tues 13:00 - 14:50