CULTURAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF LIBERAL ARTS
2005-06
Postgraduate Program in Cultural Studies
Aim
Cultural Studies is an emerging discipline that seeks to understand the complexity of culture and its political uses. Its contemporary force and relevance is that it has a wide vocabulary for the accommodation of the comparative understanding of different societies. The central aim of the postgraduate program in Cultural Studies is to promote the discipline at UWI as an important area of study and research and, by so doing, to stimulate academic discourse and promote understanding of Caribbean culture and identity.
Objectives
- To engage with and explore the concept of Cultural Studies in a Caribbean context.
- To study and document the historical range and diversity of Caribbean peoples and their cultures.
- To examine the many facets of Caribbean cultural practices in an interdisciplinary context and from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
- To promote research and publication in the area of Caribbean Cultural Studies.
- To explore the relationships between Caribbean culture and the social and political developments of the region.
- To analyze the attitudes towards and policies regarding the Caribbean’s cultural heritage in the economic development of the region and its people.
- To investigate the mutual construction of nation and identity as conceived by cultural history and how the dynamics of globalization are effecting its change.
- To critique the formation and existence of gender hierarchies in the Caribbean and the normalizing effects of culture.
- To establish UWI as a recognized international center of excellence for the study of Caribbean culture and identity.
POSTGRADUATE DEGREES IN CULTURAL STUDIES
MA Degree in Cultural Studies – Part Time (24 months)
Degree Requirements:
A recognized and appropriate undergraduate degree and/or graduate diploma from UWI or other tertiary institutions
Students must complete 5 core courses:
2005-06:
Dynamics of Caribbean Culture (8 credits) Year Long
Theory and Conceptualization of Culture (4 credits)
Methods of Inquiry in Culture (4 credits)
2006-07:
Debates in Caribbean Cultural Identity (4 credits)
Elective - Graduate Course (4 electives)
And complete:
2006-07:
Research Paper/Internship/Project (8 credits)
Total: 32 credits
POSTGRADUATE DEGREES IN CULTURAL STUDIES
MPhil Degree in Cultural Studies – Full Time (24 months)
Degree Requirements:
A recognized BA or MA from UWI or other tertiary institutions; or satisfactory completion of specified aspects of the coursework for the MA in Cultural Studies at UWI
Students must complete 3 core courses including CLTR6030 (8 credits) from the following:
2005-06:
Dynamics of Caribbean Culture (8 credits) Year Long
Theory and Conceptualization of Culture (4 credits)
Methods of Inquiry in Culture (4 credits)
Total: 16 credits
And complete:
Research Field
2 Seminar Presentations
A Thesis Proposal to be presented and defended upon completion of the research field
MPhil Thesis (40,000-50,000 words)
Part-time candidates have up to five years to complete the MPhil requirements.
POSTGRADUATE DEGREES IN CULTURAL STUDIES
PhD Degree in Cultural Studies – Full Time (5 calendar years)
Degree Requirements:
A recognized MA or MPhil degree from UWI or other tertiary institutions; or satisfactory completion of specified aspects of MPhil in Cultural Studies at UWI and adherence to the upgrading procedures
Students must complete 3 core courses including CLTR6030 (8 credits) from the following:
2005-06:
Dynamics of Caribbean Culture (8 credits) Year Long
Theory and Conceptualization of Culture (4 credits)
Methods of Inquiry in Culture (4 credits)
Total: 16 credits
And complete:
Research Field #1
Research Field #2
Both Research Fields should include the following:
-an annotated bibliography of the field with emphasis on the area of focus of the thesis (50%)
-a portfolio of written papers discussing the materials read or oral presentations or both (50%)
3 Seminar Presentations
A Thesis Proposal to be presented and defended at end of first year for those required to complete two research fields
PhD Thesis (80,000 words)
Part-time candidates have up to seven years to complete the PhD requirements
COURSES
CLTR6030
Dynamics of Caribbean Culture
Two-semester course (8 credits)
Description:
Cultural Studies in the Caribbean is an emerging field of inquiry that seeks to understand the complexity of culture within the ethnically diverse and multilingual Caribbean, and its diasporas. Its contemporary force and relevance is that it has a wide vocabulary for the accommodation of the comparative understanding of different societies. This course will explore issues of identity and critical consciousness and ways of knowing; it will provide insights into the music, festivals, visual arts, sport, language, literary and oral discourse and religious expressions of Caribbean societies.
Course activities will include lectures, seminars, films & visual presentations, and site visits and field trips.
Assessment:
Research Papers (5000 words each)50%
Critiques/field trip report/project40%
Oral presentation10%
CLTR6000
Theory and Conceptualization of Culture
First Semester (4 credits)
Description:
The course looks at different theories of culture within Cultural Studies. It examines key issues in the conceptualization of culture and explores how the various theories and concepts of culture can be applied to the study of everyday life. Special attention will be paid to the Caribbean context as the axes of class, gender, race and ethnicity, as well as the production and consumption of culture in the Caribbean are explored. Topics covered include Stuart Hall and the Birmingham School, structuralism & poststructuralism, creolization & hybridity, the tourist gaze and power, desire & the body.
Assessment:
Research Paper (5000 words)40%
Oral presentation10%
Final Exam50%
CLTR6100
Methods of Inquiry in Culture
Second Semester (4 credits) 2005-06
Description:
This course explores various issues in cultural research and guides students through some of the methodological approaches considered applicable to Cultural Studies. By examining the conceptual formulations that constitute knowledge (epistemology), it assesses how that knowledge is to be validated and verified (methodology). The course investigates such questions as how to read culture as a text, how to shape a theory of culture, and what the implications are for understanding a given cultural formation or practice by choosing a particular methodology to study it. The course provides students with the frameworks for critical analysis and research activity in Cultural Studies.
Assessment:
Methods Study40%
Project Proposal50%
Oral Presentation10%
CLTR6010
Debates in Caribbean Cultural Identity
First Semester (4 credits) 2006-07
Description:
This course allows students to examine some of the most important contemporary issues in research on the construction and practices of identity and identities in the Caribbean. Students will consider, for example, the problematics of what defines the Caribbean/West Indies/Antilles; how the Caribbean diaspora informs identity in the Caribbean; and what the dynamics of sexualities in the Caribbean say about Caribbean society and culture. Investigation into the controversies over the mimicry thesis and color/culture hierarchies, and the crisis of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean will be undertaken with an eye to understanding how specific cultural values in the Caribbean contribute to the emergence of these debates and phenomena.
Assessment:
Oral Presentation10%
Two critiques of selected works40%
Final Exam50%
Graduate Course Elective
Research Paper/Internship/Project
Second Semester (8 credits)
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