Contemporary English Culture

Code:

LA006

Acronym:

CICON

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Cultural Studies - English

Instance: 2009/2010 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Applied Languages

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
EELRI	0	Official Study Plan - LEELRI	4	-	6	52	162
LA	41	Study Plan - Applied Languages: Business Relations	1	-	6	52	162
		Study Plan-Applied Languages: Translation	1	-	6	52	162
LLC	34	Single Language Plan-English	2	-	6	52	162
			3

Teaching language

English

Objectives

Together with a discussion of some concepts directly connected with the study of “culture” – such as the ones of “culture”, “civilization”, “history”, “nation” and “art” –, the main goal of this course is to stimulate the students’ capacity to critically relate some English “cultural” expressions with the wider social and political realties to which they belong and simultaneously interrogate. Theoretical classes will be dedicated to the identification of the main features of 20th century English society, and particularly to the decades between the end of the Second World War and today, while practical classes will concentrate on a more analytical approach to dome – theoretical, journalistic, historiographical – texts and some films regarded as capable to create the necessary conditions for a fruitful questioning of the different realities represented in each of them.

Program

The first moments of the programme will be dedicated to the systematization of some information on the political, social and economical history of 20th century England, structures around the following moments: the transformations occurred in the period between the two world wars, the emergence of popular culture and mass culture, the impact of the Second World War and its consequences for the transformation of the British Empire, the creation of the Welfare State and the cultural transformations between the 50’s and the 90’s.
A second moment will contemplate the interrogation of a set of concepts – besides those already mentioned above, also those of “class”, “gender”, “race” and others –, as well as an approach to the making of an English national identity.
A third and more developed moment will consist on the (partial or integral) viewing, commentary and critical discussion of a group of English films, taken as representative of some of the most expressive transformations in the English society and culture and of the internal or external projection of a given image of the English nation: "The Scarlet Pimpinel" (1934), directed by Alexander Korda; "Night Mail" (1936), directed by John Grierson; "Brief Encounter" (1945), directed by David Lean; "Every Day Except Christmas", directed by Lindsay Anderson (1957); "We Are the Lambeth Boys", directed by Karel Reisz (1959); A Room at the Top (1959), directed by Jack Clayton; "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" (1960), directed by Karel Reisz; "A Taste of Honey" (1961), directed by Tony Richardson; "This Sporting Life" (1963), directed by Lindsay Anderson; The Servant (1963), directed by Joseph Losey; "Chariots of Fire" (1981), directed by Hugh Hudson; "The Ploughman’s Lunch" (1983), directed by Richard Eyre; "A Passage to India" (1985), directed by David Lean; "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985), directed by Stephen Frears; “Distant Voices, Still Lives” (1988), directed by Terence Davies; "East is East" (1999), directed by Damien O’Donnell.

Mandatory literature

Susan Bassnett (ed.); Studying British Cultures: An Introduction, Routledge, 1997. ISBN: 0-415-11440-3
David P. Christopher; British Culture: An Introduction, Routledge, [1999] 2006

Complementary Bibliography

Boris Ford (ed.); The Cambridge Cultural History: Early 20th Century Britain, Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0-521-42888-2
Boris Ford (ed.); The Cambridge Cultural History: Modern Britain, Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 0-521-42889-0
Raymond Williams; Keywords, Fontana Press, 1983
Alistair Davis / Alan Sinfield (eds.); British Culture of the Postwar: An Introduction to Literature and Society 1945-1999, Routledge, 2000. ISBN: 0-415-12811-0
Robert Murphy (ed.) ; The British Cinema Book, British Film Institute, 1997. ISBN: 0-85170-641-X

Teaching methods and learning activities

The nature of the course will demand, especially during the first classes, that the teacher conveys a set of coordinates and problems regarded as important for the prosecution of the study. However, and given the partially practical basis of the course, it will be indispensable to rely on the regular and active participation of students, both orally and/or through written assignments, which will find its necessary expression in the evaluation.

keywords

Humanities
Humanities > History
Humanities > Literature
Social sciences > Cultural studies

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
Attendance (estimated)	Participação presencial	56,00
Elaboração de relatório de leitura ou trabalho de investigação	Trabalho escrito	31,00		2010-02-28
Preparação de exame	Exame	73,00		2010-02-28
Exame escrito	Exame	2,00		2010-02-28
	Total:	-	0,00

Eligibility for exams

Attendance of 75% of classes, except in the cases legally considered.

Calculation formula of final grade

Reading reports and research work/essay papers - 30%
Examination - 70%

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable.

Classification improvement

According to the Evaluation Rules approved by the Faculty.

Observations

This course will be integrally taught in English. Assessment (exam papers and critical essays) will also be in English.