CS201-6-FY-CO:
The World in Question: The Social, Cultural, Political & Environmental Legacies of the Enlightenment
2021/22
Interdisciplinary Studies Centre (ISC)
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 07 October 2021
Friday 01 July 2022
30
30 September 2021
Requisites for this module
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CS201 provides an interdisciplinary examination of recent and contemporary issues arising from the Enlightenment and its 19th century offspring, industrialism and capitalism. It explores social, political and existential issues that took new shapes in the 20th and 21st centuries. The module covers three broad themes Empire, The Self, and Nature. We start by examining Empire and look at the connections between Enlightenment thought and European expansion, colonialism and cultural domination.
In Part 2, The Self, we then move on to look at how new conceptions of the self were fashioned from sociological, psychoanalytic and economic ideas. Finally, we consider the changing conceptions of Nature that have arisen from the imposition of capitalist and industrial ways of life on most of the planet. The emphasis is on both on the forces that have caused so much destruction of nature and attempts to maintain and reclaim connections with it.
The aims of this module are:
1. To introduce students to the key ideas of the Enlightenment and its economic and political implications
2. To foster understanding about the links between historical processes and their contemporary legacies
3. To provide students with varied insights into the politics of empire, the formation of the modern notion of self, and the ecological impacts of how nature has historically been conceived
4. To encourage students to engage in interdisciplinary thinking, drawing on methods and theories from different academic fields
By the end of this module students should have:
1. A broad understanding of the social, cultural and environmental legacies of the Enlightenment industrialism and capitalism.
2. The capacity to summarise and critically engage with set texts.
3. The ability to discuss and debate the module topics.
4. The ability to construct arguments drawing on approaches and evidence presented in lectures readings and classes
Students taking this module in their final year (CS201-6) are expected to have an enhanced ability for reasoning and interrogating concepts and evidence presented in lectures, readings and classes.
No additional information available.
Weekly lecture, plus a weekly seminar . Dr Hindley will give about half of the lectures and these will be complemented by guest lectures by academics from Art History, ISC, LiFTs, Philosophy, and Psychoanalytic and Psychosocial Studies.
There will be a Reading Week in Spring term when no teaching will take place, exact week to be confirmed.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Assignment 1: 3000 word essay |
|
50% |
| Coursework |
Assignment 2: 3000 word essay |
|
50% |
| Exam |
Main exam: 24hr during Summer (Main Period)
|
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Giulia Champion, email: g.champion@essex.ac.uk.
Rachel Bosler
Interdisciplinary Studies Centre, Room 6.130. Email: istudies@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Ross Wilson
University of Nottingham
Director of Liberal Arts
Available via Moodle
Of 50 hours, 22 (44%) hours available to students:
6 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
22 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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