IP103 Art and Revolution

Module leader: Dr William Rupp

Core module | 30 CATS

Terms 1-3 | 22 weeks

44 contact hours: 1 x 2 hour workshop per week

Extension opportunities, including film screenings

Not available to students outside the School for Cross-faculty Studies

Moodle Platform

Principal Aims

This module explores the ways in which art and artistic expressions ("the things we make") prompt, influence, or resist moments of crisis and change. Using Problem-Based Learning, students explore four rich case studies that cut across a range of historical, cultural, and conceptual boundaries. The case studies are organized around four central themes that require students to connect theoretical frameworks and methodologies to specific actions, conceptual and material objects, texts, datasets, and academic fields in order to tackle complex problems. While the specific content of the case studies are dynamic, changing year on year in response to specific cohort interests, the four case studies retain their thematic structures to help students build knowledge transfer and critical thinking skills. Students will work individually and in groups with a wide range of diverse materials; these student-led activities require that students interrogate existing professional, academic, and cultural paradigms through the lenses of race, gender, colonialism, and cultural theory.

In 2020-21, we will explore the Franco-Haitian Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cultural Revolution in China, and Aboriginal Australian revolutionary movements. While this module draws on a diverse range of case studies, students are expected to take a leading role in bringing their own interests, goals, and lived experiences into the classroom.

Principal Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, you'll be expected to:

Understand the ways in which artistic expression has positioned itself in relation to revolutionary events
Examine in-depth the historical contexts of each revolution and relate them to specific artistic productions
Explore the political and social contexts of each revolution and understand how they impacted on artistic production
Critically analyse specific artistic productions by deploying an appropriate theoretical framework
Compare artistic productions from various eras and in different parts of the world, and attempt to theorise their contributions
Compare dominant revolutionary narratives and scholarship with marginalized ones in relation to scholarly theory and practice
Have demonstrated foundational research and professional communication skills

Syllabus

Term 1

Term 1 Week 1 — Introduction: Art & Revolution I
Weeks 2-5 —The Franco-Haitian Revolution
Weeks 6-9 —The Russian Revolution
Week 10 — Critical Reflection

Term 2

Week 1 -- Introduction: Art & Revolution II
Weeks 2-5 – The Cultural Revolution
Weeks 6-9 –The Aboriginal Revolution
Week 10 --Critical Reflection and Group Presentations

Term 3

Weeks 1-2 –Revision workshops

Reading List Assessment

Practical Work	Group presentation 15 minutes (10%)
Coursework	Archival analysis: 1,500 words (15%) Analysis of a painting: 1,500 words (15%) Analysis of a film: 1,500 words (15%) Critical essay: 3,000 words (30%)
In-class Analytical Exam	May/June, 2 hours (15%)

Employability Skills

Through this module, you will develop different skills that are sought by employers which will support your professional development. We have highlighted this to enable you to identify and reflect on the skills you have acquired and apply them throughout your professional journey including during the recruitment process whether this is in a CV/application form or at an interview.

Written communication: A variety of written assignments, both formative and summative, are set to help students write critically in different settings and to different briefs. This culminates in a major research paper and analytical test based on cumulative critical work done each week.
Oral communication: In addition to regular spaces in class to present critical ideas there is a major group presentation.
Teamwork: Weekly team presentations and online writing help students work together towards a mutually beneficial end. Classes are built around small group discussions, further helping students develop effective skills for working with peers.
Data analysis: This module asks students to engage with specific kinds of data at specific points, including archival material. This work is done in structured ways to cumulatively build skills across a range of different kinds of qualitative research. Doing so allows the students to engage with an end of year test designed so they can showcase their analytical abilities.
Self-awareness: Topics covered in this module ask students to interrogate their own perspectives and biases. Doing so helps enable students to understand intellectually diverse opinions, question authoritative underpinnings of written and visual work, and begin to understand the place of their own viewpoints in such discussions.
Time and self-management: The consistent volume of reading, preparation, and work is designed to encourage students to be proactive in how they do the necessary work for this module.

"This module was one of my favourites"

"During this (module) we learnt about a variety of revolutions such as the Haitian, Iranian etc. But, rather than being restricted to just learning the 2D facts such as dates and places, we looked at the larger context of the revolutions by looking at the art being produced at that time and what it said about the conditions of the time. This module was one of my favourites last year because it really challenged me to turn my back on the way I’d been learning in past."

Olamide

Liberal Arts Graduate

Read more

Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on these pages.