Module: HIS4109-20 War and Popular Culture

Level: 4

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: TBC

Module Tutor Contact Details: TBC

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module explores how war has informed and influenced popular culture in a variety of contexts; and the ways in which artists, writers, and filmmakers, among others, have responded to it: war as a maker and a destroyer of truth. It examines representations of war through variety of genres, including painting, poetry, novels, films, war memorials, newspapers and song, as well as in various official and unofficial formats.

2.Outline syllabus:

We will explore a variety of topics to enable us to consider the ways in which war provides the stimulus for art, drama, journalism and popular protest.

Topics may include:

• War in art: from Rubens to Guernica; Goya to the Chapman Brothers
• Propaganda and persuasion
• War in literature
• War on film
• From the front line: war artists, writers, photojournalism
• The memorialisation of war
• Not in my name: popular protest and anti-war movements
• Caught in the crossfire: culture as target or collateral damage?
• Technological shifts

3.Teaching and learning activities:

This module is delivered through a mix of introductory lectures and seminars. Seminars are used to examine and discuss primary source material relating to each topic, as well as explore in greater depth the ideas and issues that are discussed in the lecture. You will be encouraged to bring your own reading / viewing into class, and to begin to explore this from a more critical perspective: whose view of armed conflict does that novel or film convey; how are the histories of war embedded in texts, objects and places; how is protest expressed through art, music and words?

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Group project (3000 words equiv)
• % Weighting: 60%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Individual commentary (1000 words)
• % Weighting: 40%