Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies programme.
Limited places are also open for exchange students.
Please note: this course takes place in The Hague. Traveling between University buildings from Leiden to The Hague may take about 45 minutes.
Description
Culture plays an important role in how social groups (societies, communities, regions) and individuals understand themselves and the world; more specifically, culture is understood as the practices and activities through which people give meaning to the world, their community and themselves. So how can we understand and analyse these practices and activities? How can we gauge their relation to other social and individual domains and activities such as politics, economics and technological changes? And how has the emergence of a globalised world impacted the way we understand culture, cultural transference and the specificity of culture?
Cultural Studies offers students an overview of the most important theoretical and historical approaches to studying culture, cultural transference and cultural representation. During the course students will come to understand that culture is never monolithic and is always in flux: studying the difference between elite and mass culture, between high art and lowbrow entertainment, you will learn how you can study both high and low, both elite and mass culture to understand a society and its specificity. The course focuses on the present situation. Special emphasis will be on the relation of culture to economics, politics and technology.
Course objectives
By the end of the course:
students can recognise and recall the most important discussions on the nature and impact of culture;
students can accurately explain in their own words how culture relates to economics, politics or to technology according to the major theories in the field of cultural studies;
students can correctly define the most important methods and concepts within the field of Cultural Studies; and
they can apply these concepts and methods to describe the interaction between culture, politics, technology and economics in a cultural object of their own choosing.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
Lectures are held every week, with the exception of the midterm exam week. Weekly lectures will cover issues both inside and outside the readings.
Tutorials
Tutorials are held once every two weeks, with the exception of the midterm exam week. Attending all tutorial sessions is compulsory. If you are unable to attend a session, please inform your tutor in advance. Being absent at more than two of the tutorial sessions will result in a lowering of your tutorial grade (30% of the end grade) with 1 point for each session missed after the first two sessions. Please note that being absent at any tutorial session may have a negative impact on the grade of the assignment due for that particular tutorial session. This is at the discretion of the tutor.
Course Load
Total course load for this course is 5 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), which equals 140 hours, broken down by:
| Component | Estimated time |
|---|---|
| Attending lectures | 24 hours |
| Attending tutorials | 12 hours |
| Assessment hours (exams) | 2 hours |
| Study of compulsory literature | 64 hours |
| Completing assignments, preparing for classes and exams | 38 hours |
Assessment method
Assessment
Tutorials:
Written assignment (web-post of 500 words, 10% margin), chairing a student discussion, and participation in the tutorials (see tutorial guidelines for details).
Final exam:
Written examination with 30 multiple-choice questions with four possible answers, and 3 open questions.
Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | 30% |
| Final Exam | 70% |
End Grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note of the following:
The end grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of Tutorial grade and Final Exam grade.
The Final Exam grade needs to be 5.5 or higher.
This means that failing Exam grades cannot be compensated with a high Tutorial grade.
Resit
If the end grade is insufficient (lower than a 6.0), or the weighted average of Midterm- and Final Exams is lower than 5.5, there is a possibility of retaking the full 70% of the exam material, replacing Final Exam grade. No resit for the tutorial is possible.
Please note that if the Resit Exam grade is lower than 5.5, you will not pass the course, regardless of the tutorial grade.
Retaking a passing grade
Please consult the Course and Examination Regulations 2019 – 2020.
Exam review and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organised.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for tutorial groups. Students are requested to enroll on Blackboard, but only after correct enrolment in uSis.
Reading list
This course works with a selections of texts that introduce students to the core concepts and theories of cultural studies. Students also read selections of primary texts from authors such as Raymond Williams and Michel Foucault. Texts will be made available to students thorugh the library system (via Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis for Tutorials and Lectures is mandatory.
Students will be enrolled for Exams by the Administration Office, as long as they have a valid Tutorial enrolment.
General information about uSis is available on the website.
The programme’s administration office will register all first year students for the first semester courses in uSis, the registration system of Leiden University.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
When contacting lecturers or tutors, please include your full name, student number, and tutorial group number.
Please use your University email-address (uMail) when communicating with any person or department within Leiden University.