Critical Debates

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

Completion of 37.5 pts of level two subjects in English or Theatre Studies and enrolment in the Bachelor of Arts or Graduate Diploma in Arts. Bachelor of Arts students should endeavour to take the capstone subject in their final semester of study after completion of 25 pts of 3rd year.

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106-361 Critical Debates

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 Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject will proceed through close examinations of a series of debates that continue to influence literary studies today. The debates have been chosen for both their centrality and their diversity, for their historical force as for their abiding contemporary significance, for their dense particularities as for their global import. The situations, conditions, agents, arguments, concepts and consequences of the debates will be examined in detail. Key figures examined may include Jacques Derrida, Jurgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Julia Kristeva, Alain Badiou, Jacques Rancire, among others. The particular case-studies will also serve to illuminate such general headings as Literature and Science, Literature and History, Literature and Politics, Literature and Philosophy, Literature and Society, Literature and Sexuality, Literature and Postcolonialism etc.

Students who complete this subject will:

• reflect critically on the analytical skills and methods developed over the course of the major;
• demonstrate a detailed knowledge and understanding of a number of key theoretical debates that have set the direction and tone for literary discourse today;
• demonstrate a general understanding of the concepts and principles from cognate disciplines like the history of philosophy, political theory and media theory;
• apply an independent approach to knowledge that uses rigorous methods of inquiry and appropriate methodologies that are applied with intellectual honesty and a respect for ethical values;
• articulate the relationship between diverse forms of knowledge and the social, historical and cultural contexts that produced them;
• communicate effectively in a variety of oral and written formats;
• act as informed and critically discriminating participants within the community of scholars; and
• work with independence, self-reflection and creativity.

A 1500 word essay 40% (due mid-semester), and a 2500 word essay 60% (due in the examination period). This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• be able to develop and apply research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;

• be able to develop persuasive arguments on a given topic;

• be able to communicate oral and written arguments and ideas effectively and articulately.

This Capstone subject is compulsory for students wishing to complete the English major in the New Gen degree and is only available at 3rd year level.