Translation, Theory and Practice in Europe
The course focuses on approaches to the theory and practice of translation in Europe. In the first semester the course will address the main areas of debate in Translation Theory and Translation Studies, with a historical survey of key theoretical texts and comparative and contrastive analysis of translations into English. It will then cover key approaches, skills and resources available to the translator.
In the second semester the course will focus on independent translation project work from your main language into English. You will be expected to agree a project with your tutor, for which you will translate a text from your main language into English and provide commentary on the text either in the form of annotations or in a separate analytical essay. You will be expected to contextualise your project within the debates and issues discussed in the first semester, utilising the appropriate approaches and resources for your chosen text.
Fascism in Western Europe
This module aims to introduce final-year students to some of the essential debates on fascism in history and culture. The concept of fascism is a complex one. The expression is often used in a very loose way and so the introduction of the course will be devoted to trying to define what it means. This attempt at definition will explore differences between fascism on the Italian model, National Socialism in Germany and the authoritarian regimes of Vichy France and Franco’s Spain, which developed a complex relationship with the ‘fascist model’.
Students will learn about, and be expected to analyse, the main themes of fascism, which include its concept of state authority- sometimes combined with an inversion of traditional hierarchies, its promotion of a cult of the personality of the leader, its racism; its hostility to the Left; its use of mass mobilisation, its development of a model of a new form of virility and its glorification of violence.
Fascism will be analysed both through history and culture. Visual material (film and art) will be shown to examine whether the fascists had a particular concept of visual culture and how they used this for promoting their vision of society and for mobilising the masses. Although the main chronological focus of these classes will be on the inter-war period and the Second World War, there will be some discussion of how far-right groups have adapted a neo-fascist discourse in the post-war years.
Extended Essay in European Film
The module will provide students with the opportunity to pursue their interests in European cinema in greater depth by writing an extended essay, based substantially upon independent study.
Modernism in Europe: Image, Text, Sound
The module provides a deep understanding of Modernism as a European cultural movement and will cover aspects of theory, literature, art and music. It examines the nature and role of Modernism in early 20th C European Culture. Early sessions are devoted to theories of Modernism which will both place the movement in its historical and cultural context and lead to an understanding of the movement as part of a wider paradigm shift in Western science and culture at the beginning of the 20th C. During the rest of the module Modernism will be studied in relation to various areas of the arts (e.g. literature, theatre, music, art) and a range of themes (e.g gender, social class, geography, the avant-garde).
Dissertation in Media and Cultural Studies
This dissertation involves conducting your own research on a topic that interests you under the guidance of a supervisor. Students are expected to use the knowledge acquired during their time at University in order to complete their own extended research project and to present it in an appropriate style. Students in previous years have, for example, written on: The Representation of the 'Ladette' in the Tabloid Media; Hypermasculinity in the Tale of Little Red Riding Hood; The Blog and the Function of the Author; Advertising the Military and German National Identity; Barbie as a Postfeminist Icon?; 'Mary Sue' Characters in Harry Potter Fan Fiction; Representations of Female Football Officials; Hyperreality and Drug Use in Postmodern Film; Space and The Fluxus Art Movement; Othering, Iraqi Kurds and Orientalism; Sympathetic Vampires and New Masculinities.