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Module Catalogue

TH116-30 Ways of Seeing

Department
SCAPVC - Theatre and Performance Studies
Level
Undergraduate Level 1
Module leader
Freya Verlander
Credit value
30
Module duration
20 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

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Introductory description

This module introduces students to both the processes and practices of undergraduate study (such as active listening, forging arguments and so on) and the skill of analysing theatre and performance.

Module web page

Module aims

This module has two primary aims. The first is to introduce and train you in some core skills necessary for undertaking undergraduate study in theatre and performance studies: critical, interpersonal, embodied. The second aim is to introduce you to the practice of critical analysis. Together we will explore how and why one might read cultural works and everyday life. In this sense we will ask how meaning is made, shared, and distributed. What do things mean? How do we know what they mean? And how do I know that you mean what I mean when we talk together about what something means? In short, we will reflect on acts of interpretation and what is at stake when we talk about art.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Indicative Schedule

Autumn

  1. Presence
  2. Listening
  3. Responding
  4. Unknowing
  5. Co-Creating
  6. Reading Week
  7. Observing
  8. Finding
  9. Reading
  10. Writing

Spring

Weeks 1-3 Gaze – How is seeing constructed?

  1. John Berger – Ways of Seeing and The Social Dilemma
  2. Stuart Hall – ‘The Social Eye of Picture Post’ and This Girl Can
  3. Adrian Poole – ‘The Identity of Meaning’ and The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

Weeks 4-7 Positionality – Where do we see from?

  1. bell hooks – The Oppositional Gaze and Precious
  2. Donna Haraway – Situated Knowledges Paris is Burning
  3. Reading Week
  4. Contrapoints – ‘Beauty’ and RuPaul’s Drag Race

Weeks 8-10 Cultural Materialism – How and why do we read?

  1. Raymond Williams – Culture and Materialism and Jerusalem
  2. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield – Political Shakespeare and Hamlet
  3. Jill Dolan – ‘The Discourse of Feminisms’ and Hamilton

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • analyse various kinds of performance and introduce terminology suitable to the analysis of theatre and performance
  • better understand, appreciate, and discern the different elements of performance work (in both art and real-world contexts)
  • produce critical response to performance and have improved skills in written critical expression
  • distinguish between various forms of performance criticism and critical theory and examine how they are shaped by social, political, and historical contexts
  • have an emerging sense of study skills such as debate, listening, and argument
  • have a more nuanced understanding of contentious concepts such as taste, quality, and beauty

Indicative reading list

Ways of Seeing, John Berger

Subject specific skills

Students will learn the core skills necessary to undertake undergraduate study in the humanities. They will also learn how and why one might choose to analyse cultural works and creative phenomena.

Transferable skills

analysis, listening, teamwork, discipline, time management , organisation , communication

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 18 sessions of 1 hour (9%)
Seminars 18 sessions of 2 hours (18%)
Assessment 146 hours (73%)
Total 200 hours

Private study description

No private study requirements defined for this module.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A4
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Practical Project 50% 66 hours No

Your first assessment is a practical project in groups of 4-5. You will design a 10 minute exercise that responds to one of the core competencies covered in the first and teaches the group one new skill. This will take place in a one-day ‘Festival of Learning’ at then end of Term One
Essay 50% 80 hours No

50% A 2000 word essay that offers a close analysis of one art work or cultural example. This will include an annotated bibliography that includes a minimum of 5 academic sources.
Feedback on assessment

Criticism Project (20%) ¿ oral and written feedback \r\nPortfolio (30%) Maximum 1500 words ¿ written feedback \r\nEssay ¿ 50% 2000 words ¿ written feedback \r\n

Courses

This module is Core for:

  • Year 1 of UTHA-W421 Undergraduate Theatre and Performance Studies
  • Year 1 of UTHA-W422 Undergraduate Theatre and Performance Studies (with Intercalated Year)