Being Human in the Modern World (LIB1105)

30 credits

This core module provides grounding in the practices of the liberal arts, namely, multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary training. In this module you will engage in a variety of critical approaches and methods surrounding constructions of identities and aspects of life, culture, and society in the modern world both past and present. You will develop your skills in critical analysis of literary, artefactual, digital and visual materials. By introducing you to both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, you will hone your persuasive oral and writing skills. The study of identities, cultures, and beliefs is concerned with some of the most crucial questions, locally and globally, about human behaviour and social interaction. You will investigate (and interrogate) who you perceive yourself and others to be, and how these identities, cultures, and beliefs are connected to complex intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, religion, politics, economics, and embodiment. With the help of an introduction to multi- and inter-disciplinary learning for global challenges, you will critically survey identities, cultures, and society through narrative, time, space, experience and encounters, and investigate how convictions stated through a diverse range of communications (sites, texts and discourses ranging from historical material artefacts to political rhetoric and digital media) have variously shaped and influenced the ways individuals and communities behave.