Universität Wien

124220 SE Cultural and Media Studies Seminar (2024S)

Victorian Material Cultures

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 11.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 18.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 08.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 15.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 22.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 29.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 06.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 13.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 27.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 03.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 10.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 17.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09
  • Monday 24.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 2 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-09

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The Victorians are said to have been fascinated by things: they invented window shopping as a leisure activity, they collected bric-a-brac on their mantelpieces, and they displayed objects, often shipped from colonies, in galleries and museums. The reasons for this preoccupation with materiality are manifold. The nineteenth century did not only see the heyday of the British colonial expansion but also the advent of mass production and the rise of the consumer society. Formerly reserved for the elite, commodities such as silk and print publications became widely available for the aspirational middle class and partly for the working class. The flipside of the material opulence, it appears, are the squalid living and work conditions of the poor, industrial pollution, and the exploitation of the natural resources in GB and the colonies.
In this seminar, we will examine the Victorians' complex and sometimes uneasy relationship with materiality as reflected in different media. Besides investigating the meanings of things in the context of property and consumption, we might also look into the scientific and technological developments (e.g. Darwin's theory of evolution) enabling new relationships with materiality and destabilizing the dichotomy between the human and non-human matter, between subject and object: When do people appear thing-like or inanimate and when are objects attributed with agency and aliveness? Apart from literary texts published in different formats (periodicals, novels, poems), we will have a look at photography, pamphlets, and advertisements.
Aimed at MA students and advanced BA students, the objective of this course is to develop students' theoretical and methodological competences in order to conduct independent academic work. Furthermore, the course is intended to develop the students' ability to present the results of their research in oral and written form.
Methods include group discussions, group and independent work, and various smaller tasks. Please be aware that this is a theory-heavy course.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance; regular preparation of assigned reading material; active participation in class; active as specialist/in specialist team for one lesson per term (expert session); group work and/or group presentation; one background task; final paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Attendance:
No more than two lessons may be missed without certified medical reason. If a doctor's note is produced, a third lesson may be missed, but is to be compensated for at the teacher's discretion. If more than three lessons are missed, this results in failing the course.

NEW assessment criteria (11 March)
Expert session: 20%
Specialist research task: 40% (abstract, presentation pitch and table of contents)
Term paper: 40%

Marks in %:
1 (very good): 90-100%
2 (good): 80-89%
3 (satisfactory): 70-79%
4 (pass): 60-69%
5 (fail): 0-59%

Points must be collected in all of these areas to pass. The benchmark for passing this course is at 60%.

The term paper/BA thesis will be marked according to the following categories: argumentation; use of primary and secondary sources; methodology; quality of thesis; language; form; style.
The term paper/BA thesis has to be uploaded on Moodle as a .doc file to be checked for plagiarism using Turnitin. The deadline is 30th September 2024 (corr: 21 March). If you need the grade early enough to subscribe for the courses next semester, talk to the convenor at the beginning of the course.

The written work itself is: 6,500-8,000 words for a seminar paper; 8,000-10,000 words for a BA thesis. It has to be accompanied by a signed and dated anti-plagiarism statement plus a declaration that you have not used ChatGPT or any other AI-based tools in the process of writing your paper.

Examination topics

This is an interactive course with continuous assessment ("prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung"). Students are expected to complete reading assignments, actively participate in class throughout the semester (in group activities and discussions), lead an expert session, and hand in their specialist research task and their term paper on time. There will be no written exam.

Reading list

Primary Literature:
A set of study materials will be provided in digital form on Moodle.

Secondary Literature:
- Briggs, A. Victorian Things. Penguin, 1990.
- Pietrzak-Franger, M. "White Fluff/Black Pigment: Health Commodity Culture and Victorian Imperial Geographies of Dependence." Medicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture. Eds. S. Dinter & S. Schäfer-Althaus. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. pp. 235-257. (Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture 11)
- Pietrzak-Franger, M., and M. Middeke (eds.). Handbook of the English Novel, 1830-1900. De Gruyter, 2020. (Handbooks of English and American Studies: Text and Theory 9)

Background reading:
Some basic knowledge about the nineteenth century as well as about the study of material culture and the material turn in the Humanities would be very much appreciated. Some basics about the Victorian era can be found in various companions and readers.

Association in the course directory

Studium: BA 612, MA 844(2);
Code/Modul: BA 09.2; MA 844(2) 4.1, 4.2;
Lehrinhalt: 12-0405

Last modified: Th 21.03.2024 15:45