Students take one compulsory module during Semesters 1 & 2, and choose one optional module in both Semester 1 and 2.
Semester 1: 21/09/2020 - 22/01/2021
Semester 2: 25/01/2021 - 04/06/2021
Compulsory Module
Academic Writing and Skills Development
This compulsory module prepares students for studying at degree level. They are encouraged to develop a questioning approach, to structure an argument, to write academically and to avoid plagiarism. Students are introduced to the study skills needed for successful learning within a higher education environment. Students are supported to work autonomously as well as together in a community of practice to develop their own knowledge and skills and support the development of their peers.
Semester 1 Optional Modules
Introduction to Literary Studies
This module will provide students with a grounding in the study of literature and criticism. It offers the skills required for the continued study of the discipline. During the module, we will discuss a variety of genres: from drama and poetry to fiction, asking basic questions about the context, nature, form and reception of each of these genres throughout its development. Through studying poetry students will acquire a basic knowledge of how the genre works, the relationship between form and content, as well as changes in poetry over time. We will study plays from different periods and in different modes, be they comic or tragic. When studying the novel, we will ascertain how this genre took over the literary scene in the 18th century and became a staple of literary and cultural production.
What is History?
History is an imprecise art, and what historians say and write about the past is not the same as what actually happened. This module will introduce students to the study and presentation of the past. It will focus on developing the skills students will need to work within DACE History modules over the course of their study at Swansea University. It will offer an overview of how history as an academic discipline has changed over time. Students will consider the following broad topics: how to read, think and write as a historian; how to approach primary and secondary sources; understanding historiography and historiographical shifts; thinking critically about how the past is used in the public sphere; and reflecting on how the study of history will equip students with skills beyond the immediate discipline.
Introduction to Psychology in the Humanities
This module will adopt a speculative enquiry into the meaning and purpose of life, within the contexts of time and place. Students will examine a range of interdisciplinary themes and perspectives, at an Introductory level, which will lay the foundations for further study within this engaging field. Students will discover how the Arts and literature can provide deeper insight into what it means to be human. They will examine a range of literary sources and will relate content to their own experience.
Introduction to Sociology
This module provides an introduction to Sociology and explores the main theoretical perspectives within Sociology and its application to the social world. The module provides broad understandings from sociological research into areas such as dimensions of inequality, crime, education and/or the family. There will be a consideration of sociology as a ‘way of seeing’ through an exploration of sociological theory which will include; Functionalist/Consensus, Conflict, Interactionist and postmodernist and poststructuralist schools of thought.
Semester 2 Optional Modules
Culture, Politics and Society in post-war Britain
This module will examine British social and political change in the period since World War Two. It will also explore cultural change in Britain via the in-depth study of key literary texts and films and will seek to explore the relationship between social, political and cultural developments. Students will be encouraged to explore the distinctiveness of the Welsh experience since 1945.
Human Development and Identity
This module supports students to develop an introductory understanding of psychological perspectives on how individuals might develop across the lifespan. This module will explore historical and current theory and literature within the main schools of thought in psychology in relation to developmental and lifespan perspectives. Students will critique and compare these positions.
Tales of Terror: Ghosts, Monsters and Other Anxieties in Literature and Film Culture
Do you wonder how and why particular novels such as Frankenstein, or poems such as ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ continue to have a wide and critical appeal? Do you think about why films such as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining continue to send shivers down your spine, even on repeat viewings?
What do these ‘tales of terror’ tell us about ourselves and the world in which we live? Do they shed a light on cultural anxieties and particular periods in history, or are they pure escapism? How do they tap into our most intimate fears and desires, and how are they expressed and represented in our culture?
In this module you will study range of literature and cinematic texts that explore the shadowy worlds created through figures of fear, feelings of excess and paranoia, and texts that test the limits of reason, and confront us with ‘the uncanny’.
Crime and Society
This module provides an introduction to criminology and focuses on some of the key perspectives and debates around crime and deviance. Students will be introduced to competing arguments regarding how crime and deviance may be defined, different theoretical approaches to understanding crime, patterns and prevalence of criminal behaviour and victimisation, the relationship between crime and social factors such as social inequality, deprivation, class, age, gender and race, etc. and social responses to crime and deviance.
Please see disclaimer: BA (Honours) Humanities (Part-time) 2020-21
