East/West: Space, Time, Body

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

120 Hours

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and the Disability Liaison Unit: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This seminar looks at the traditional divide between Eastern and Western cultures, values, beliefs and how these find expression in the arts. Themes explored include scientific and spiritual cosmologies; medical traditions; anatomical and holistic bodies; rational paradigms and mysticism; martial arts, cybernetics and body modification. This seminar includes both theoretical and practice based workshops in meditation and tai chi, and other movement traditions.

This subject aims to introduce students to key distinctions and paradigm shifts in Eastern and Western cultural systems and beliefs. Students will research intersections between traditional divides that will enable them to reconceptualise cultural difference in order to forge strong connections to international artists and institutions.

5000 words or equivalent written and practical project, developed in conjunction with supervisor with feedback throughout the semester (100%).

Subject Reader

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completing this subject students will have:

• the ability to communicate, cooperate and collaborate in a range of cultural contexts internationally;
• a deep awareness of and respect for cultural differences, protocols and aspirations;
• the ability to generate and promote intercultural dialogue through the arts;
• an ability to initiate research projects and develop highly innovative and experimental modes of representation and communication;
• a high level of understanding and appreciation of transnational practices across the art form;
• the capacity to interpret and translate into clear English a range of discipline-specific vocabularies and languages ;
• a capacity for innovative and original thinking marked by well-developed and flexible problem-solving abilities;
• the capacity to clearly communicate the results of research and scholarship by oral and written communication;
• a profound respect for truth and intellectual integrity, and for the ethics of research and scholarship;
• a capacity to cooperate and collaborate with people across all national, social and cultural divides.