Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3194: Rethinking the Politics of Communities

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

This module will:

Familiarise you with the history of critical perspectives on the political theory of communities
Introduce you to a series of ways in which the theory of communities has been radicalised in recent political theory
Introduce you by way of a series of case studies to concrete examples of how the concept of community is functioning in contemporary political practices
Reflect on the role the concept of community is likely to play in future developments of political theory

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Articulate what is distinctively political about the concept of community 2. Identify and critically evaluate one or more case studies of how theory and/or practice of community is informing contemporary political activities
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. Deploy political theory to assess the significance and import of contemporary theorising of community for politics and public/social policy 4. Evaluate the relative insightfulness of competing theoretical interpretations of political phenomena
Personal and Key Skills	5. Engage in constructive peer-evaluation 6. Work effectively in collaboration with peers

The sequence of seminars may vary from year to year. However, key themes will include:

The history of the political thought of community (Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, Marx, Tönnies)
The emergence of the theory of community in recent communitarian thinking (Dewey, Taylor, Sandel; Etzioni, Putnam)
The radicalisation of the theory of community in recent European political theory (Bataille, Nancy, Blanchot, Agamben, Bauman)
Case studies of community in contemporary political practice, based on the module convenors own community engaged research (multiculturalism, protest, resistance; virtual communities; asset based community development; engaging communities; performing communities)

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
44	256	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 activities	42	22x 2 hour seminars
Guided independent study	256	148hrs seminar preparation, 60hrs research, 48hrs course work

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Video & audio recordings relating to case studies.