Module POC3132 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC3132: Politics of War
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to introduce you to contemporary interdisciplinary approaches war and society, with a particular focus on critical interventions made by scholars within the humanities and social sciences. The module will locate war within its wider social, economic and political context, encouraging a broader understanding of the experience and legacies of war through a focus on race, gender and class. You will be introduced to a range of theoretical approaches to war, for example feminism and postcolonialism. The ultimate aim of the module is to encourage you to think critically about war-making, commemoration and militarism.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate a critical understanding of the military, political, and social impacts of war 2. demonstrate excellence in the application of various theoretical perspectives in the analysis of concrete examples of war and its consequences |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. relate the academic study of war to questions of public concern in order to develop well-reasoned arguments and conclusions 4. think critically and independently about events, ideas and institutions with minimal guidance 5. demonstrate awareness of contingency in historical, sociological and political processes |
| Personal and Key Skills | 6. study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively 7. communicate effectively 8. demonstrate critical and analytical skills through seminar discussions and module assessments 9. demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation 10. work collaboratively with peers |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Indicative content includes: critical approaches to studying war and society; the role of gender, race, and nationalism in legitimising war; introduction to a range of different historical and cultural contexts; consideration of cultural practices surrounding war which may include film, ceremony, art; questions of agency and resistance; the relationship between military technologies and the experience of war.
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 & Teaching Activity | 22 | 11 x 2-hour seminars |
| Guided Independent study | 50 | Private study reading and preparing for seminars |
| Guided Independent study | 78 | Preparation for portfolio and group project including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the work |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group project plan | 500 words | 1-10 | Verbal |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group project | 30 | 3,000 words (approx. 1000 words per student) | 1-10 | Written |
| Portfolio | 70 | 3000 words | 1-9 | Written |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group project | 1000 word film critique | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
| Portfolio | Portfolio (3000 words) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Bourke, J. (1996) Dismembering the Male: Men’s bodies, Britain and the Great War, London: Reaktion Books.
Sylvester, C. (2012) War As Experience, London: Routledge.
Zehfuss, M. (2007) Wounds of Memory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edkins, J. (2003) Trauma and the memory of Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
King, A. (2010) ‘The Afghan War and ‘postmodern’ memory: commemoration and the dead of Helmand’ in The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 61(1), pp.1-25.
McSorely, K. (2012) ed. War and the Body: Militarisation, Practice and Experience, London: Routledge,
Gerber, D. A. (ed.) Disabled Veterans in History, revised edition, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Zehfuss, M. (2009) ‘Hierarchies of Grief and the Possibility of War: Remembering UK Fatalities in Iraq’ in Millennium, vol. 38(2), pp. 1-22.
Sjoberg, L. and Via, S. (2010).eds. Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives (Santa Barbara, Denver and Oxford: Praeger).
Higate, P. R. (2003) ed. Military Masculinities: Identity and the State. (Westport, CT and London: Praeger).
Goldstein, J. S. (2001) War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Enloe, C.( 2000) Manoeuvres: The International Politics of Militarising Women’s Lives.( Berkeley, University of California Press).
Enloe, C. (2007) Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link. (Lanham and Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers).
Basham. V. (Forthcoming 2013). War, Identity and the Liberal State: Everyday Experiences of the Geopolitical in the British Armed Forces (London: Routledge).
