Cultural Studies

Code:

MEAAM007

Acronym:

ECUL

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Cultural Studies

Instance: 2025/2026 - 1S

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

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MEAA	20	MEAA - Study Plan	1	-	9	60	243

Teaching language

English

Objectives

This programme will provide students with information and conceptual tools for an understanding of the range of utopian representations, primarily in literature and on film, that have marked the cultures of the English language over the past century.
Particular attention will be given to the urban space as the choice environment for some of those representations - as civic / political designs.
Areas of intellectual output and debate to be considered will include theories of space in postmodern geography, with a special emphasis on representations of the city; film studies; and insights arising in the framework of the Digital Humanities.

Learning outcomes and competences

By the end of the semester, students should be able to

1. recognize main perspectives and critical notions involving utopia and dystopia and understand their cultural and intellectual background;
2. deploy notions from spatiality studies, within the framework of postmodern geography, to critical discussions of the range of representations comprised by the programme;
3. recognise and critically deploy some key notions in film studies;
4. participate in discussions involving the concepts, discourses and objects of study favoured by the programme, and formulate research questions arising from them;
5. elaborate on one of those research questions in order to offer an oral presentation and prepare a written submission addressing topics and objects of study within the range of this programme.

 

 

Working method

Presencial

Program

Utopia and the City in Modern and Contemporary Cultures

Module 1: Utopia

1. Introduction: 500 years of utopias
2. Utopian Studies: Concepts and discourses
3. Heterotopia and Resistance

Module 2: Posthuman Spaces

1. Foundations: Rethinking the human in space
2. Frankenstein to Frankissstein: the techno-urban laboratory in Mary Shelley and Jeanette Winterson
3. Posthuman Utopian Spaces: AI, Bodies, and the Post-City

Module 3: City, Identity, Mobility in contemporary Irish writing

1. Representing the City: Intersections of history, culture and literature.
2. Ciaran Carson, Alan Gillis: Memory, identity and wandering. Spatial and generic uncertainty. Technology and the urban space - promise, dysfunction.
3. Urban Landscapes: Scripts, Signs, Rewriting.

Mandatory literature

Carson Ciaran 1948-; The^twelfth of never. ISBN: 0-330-37370-6
Carson, Ciaran; The Star Factory, Granta, 1997. ISBN: 978-1862071179
Gillis, Alan; Somebody, Somewhere, Loughcrew: Gallery, 2004. ISBN: 9781852353728
Gillis, Alan; Hawks and Doves, Loughcrew: Gallery, 2007. ISBN: 9781852354183
Gillis, Alan; Here Comes the Night, Loughcrew: Gallery, 2010. ISBN: 9781852354947
Le Guin, Ursula; The ones who walk away from Omelas, New York: Harper Perennial, 2017. ISBN: 9780886825010
Jeanette Winterson; Frankissstein, Random House, 2019. ISBN: 9781473563254

Teaching methods and learning activities

For the introductory, conceptual part of this programme, new knowledge will be built on knowledge that students may have previously informally acquired either in an academic or an informal context.

The proposed study of texts and other cultural artefacts will take the form of participative discussions in a seminar environment.

Individual research projects will be discussed in the framework of tutorial meetings; 

The SIGARRA platform will be used for posting information and for communicating with students. Moodle will be used for the submission of written assignments.

keywords

Humanities
Humanities > Literature > European literature > Germanic literature > English literature

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	35,00
Trabalho escrito	65,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	35,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho de investigação	163,00
Total:	243,00

Eligibility for exams

a) Active participation in the seminar; b) oral and written presentation of a research paper on a topic to be agreed with the seminar leaders.

Note: Students are expected to attend at least 75% of the seminar sessions.

Calculation formula of final grade

The final mark will be based on the following evaluation components: a) Active participation in seminars, including formal oral presentations - 35%; b) a written essay to be discussed at the end of the semester - 65%

Examinations or Special Assignments

n/a

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students whose circumstances prevent them from abiding the regular calendar of assessment and entitle them legally to 'special assessment' should contact the course leader who will inform them of alternative arrangements.

Classification improvement

n/a

Observations

Language of instructions: English.