HIST7056 Critical Theory: Past and Present

2020

4.5

1 x 2-hour workshop weekly

1 Admission into HBCA-Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours)
1a Admission into HBA-Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
1b Admission into HBBSC-Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours)
1c Admission into HBARCH-Bachelor of Archaeology (Honours)
1d Admission into MSD-Master of Sustainable Development
1e Admission into GDPSD-Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Development
1f Admission into GCSD-Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Development
1g Admission into HBPF-Bachelor of Performance (Honours)
2 108 units of study
3 Admission into BCAHVEED-Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours) (Visual Effects and Entertainment Design)
Must Satisfy: (((1 or 1a or 1b or 1c or 1d or 1e or 1f or 1g)) or (2 and 3))

Assignment(s), Tutorial participation, Tutorial presentation

The purpose of this topic is for participants to increase their understanding of the origins, development and cutting-edge thinking in critical theory. The primary focus is the way theory has been used in past research in the humanities and social sciences, and how it might be used in the 21st century to explain the past and the present, theoretically. Participants will engage with enduring theories of gender, class and race as well as newer strands of theory, including biopolitics, embodiment theory, queer theory, Orientalism, post-colonialism and decoloniality, post-anthropocentrism, poststructuralism, and posthumanism, going straight to the original sources. Discussions will focus on analysing the theories and assessing how they might be engaged by the student.

This topic will:

• Provide students with a deepened understanding of key critical theories, past and present

• Provide students with the tools to apply critical theory to historical and cultural questions pertinent to the Humanities and Social Sciences

• Show students how historians employ theories and concepts in their work through different methodologies.

On completion of this topic, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Critique various theories and how they may be interpreted when pursuing particular lines of inquiry regarding the past

2. Determine the historical contexts of changing methodologies and models of interpretation

3. Communicate research findings and a nuanced argument in a range of written and oral forms

4. Interpret methodologies and models for research and reporting to new and unfamiliar fields.