Module POC3106 for 2018/9
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC3106: Biopolitics of Security
This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
The module aims to enable you to develop a critical understanding of contemporary security events, formulate new research insights and understand issues of International Relations, Security and Migration studies through a biopolitical lens. The module will help you to understand the techniques and rationales used by the nation-states to decide who shall live and who shall die, who shall be counted and who should be disappeared out of sight, and how to make such management acceptable to public morality and reason. The module will also prepare you for academic and other careers in the field of critical theory and security studies.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Understand and explain, in-depth, contemporary and emerging challenges to security. 2. Demonstrate a critical and reflexive approach in assessing academic and policy debates on security |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Show awareness of key perspectives and debates in Biopolitics and their interface with critical theory. 4. Apply Foucauldian methodology, abstract theoretical perspectives to actual events of security. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. Develop critical arguments and offering alternative means of thinking. 6. Construct a reasoned and logical argument supported by evidence. 7. Work independently within a limited timeframe to complete a specified task |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Introduction to Biopolitics.
- Governmentality: Understanding the ‘conduct of conduct.’
- Creating Bare Life and States of Exception: Understanding life reduced to nakedness.
- Regulating Death.
- Surveillance and Control: Understanding how societies are governed and regulated.
- Resistance to Biopolitics.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11x 2 hour seminars |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Seminar preparation through directed reading |
| Guided Independent Study | 6 | To complete the formative essay plan |
| Guided independent study | 24 | To complete the review essay |
| Guided independent study | 48 | To complete the critical research paper. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 page plan of critical research paper | Week 2 onwards submission in class or by email | 1-6 | Verbal/written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | 20 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review essay | 20 | 1000 words | 1-6 | Written |
| Examination | 20 | 1 hour | 1-7 | Written |
| Critical research paper | 60 | 2500 words | 1-6 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review Essay | Review Essay (1000 words) | 1-6 | August/September reassessment period |
| Examination | 1 hour examination | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
| Critical research paper | Critical research paper (2500 words) | 1-6 | August/September reassessment period |
