Faculty of Arts

 Cultural Studies

Table of Contents

Subject Lists
    Fourth Year Honours subjects

Convener: Chris Healy (Department of English)

The Cultural Studies program at the University of Melbourne is a Faculty of Arts interdepartmental program housed in the Department of English and focused on the study of contemporary culture, media and communications. In Australia Cultural Studies as an academic field has developed a distinctive set of concerns: with cultural texts from movies to mardi gras; with the workings of cultural power; with the consumption of cultural products and with the circulation, effects and meanings of culture in everyday life. The program at the University of Melbourne is producing innovative teaching and research in Cultural Studies, which is engaged with and contributing to national and international developments in the study of contemporary culture. We have research strengths in the areas of postcolonialism, theories of transgression (in particular queer theory) and theories of the popular media and media technologies.

The Cultural Studies undergraduate program combines interdepartmental coursework and opportunities for concentrated study of specific areas of cultural production, and specific issues in, and sites of, cultural politics, including those of nation, class gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race. It addresses questions about the social functions of culture, the institutions in which culture is produced and transmitted, and its role in the formation of identities.

 1. Prerequisites

The Cultural Studies program commences in Second Year. The general prerequisite for entry is the completion of 50 points of First Year study. These must include 25 points of First Year study from Anthropology, Art History, Cinema Studies, Criminology, English, History, History and Philosophy of Science, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science or Sociology.

Students wishing to undertake subjects as part of a Major in Cultural Studies are not required to fulfil the usual departmental prerequisites for Second/Third Year subjects if they have completed 25 points of First Year study in one of the departments listed above.

Students planning to undertake a Major in Cultural Studies are strongly advised to complete both 106-001 Contemporary Culture and Media and 106-005 Contemporary Culture and Everyday Life in their First Year. These subjects are offered in the Department of English in Semester One and Two respectively. The completion of these subjects is not, however, a formal prerequisite for the Second/Third Year component of the Cultural Studies program.

 2. Requirements for a Major

A Major in Cultural Studies usually consists of nine 12.5 point subjects, totalling 112.5 points. It comprises:

• two First Year subjects in Anthropology, Art History, Cinema Studies, Criminology, English, History, History and Philosophy of Science, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science or Sociology (25 points), and;

• seven Second/Third Year subjects (totalling 87.5 points), which must include:

  • 106-064 Contemporary Cultural Studies, the program's compulsory subject (12.5 points) and;

  • at least four subjects from the list of core subjects below and;

  • the remainder from the list of core subjects or from the list of optional subjects below.

 3. Cultural Studies subjects

 3.1. First Year

Students are recommended to take the two following First Year subjects offered in the Department of English as part of their Cultural Studies Major.

Recommended First Year subjects
	106-001 Contemporary Culture and Media	1
	106-005 Contemporary Culture and Everyday Life	2

 3.2. Core subjects

Students must take at least four of the following core subjects at Second/Third year toward their Cultural Studies Major in addition to the program's compulsory subject 106-064 Contemporary Cultural Studies.

Core subjects (Second/Third Year)
Compulsory subject		Semester
	106-064 Contemporary Cultural Studies	1
Core subjects
	110-115 Japanese Popular Culture	1
	106-012 Television Cultures	2
	106-020 Reading Sexuality	1
	106-022 City Cultures: New York/LA Stories	Not Offered
	106-036 Postmodernism	2
	106-042 Postcolonial Cultural Studies	2
	106-047 Art/Pornography/Blasphemy/Propaganda	2
	106-055 Cybercultures: Global/Local	Not Offered
	106-057 From Rock to Rave: Cultural Formations	2
	106-063 Aboriginal Cultural Studies	1
	106-064 Contemporary Cultural Studies	1
	106-065 Spaces, Places, Culture	Not Offered
	106-067 Feminist Cultural Studies	1
	106-068 Imagining Hollywood	Not Offered
	107-077 Television and Australian Culture	2
	107-079 Feminist Film and Television Theory	2
	107-080 Commodity Culture	Not Offered
	107-082 The Entertainment Experience	Not Offered
	131-071 Museums, Objects, Spectacles	1
	136-073 Critical Theories	1
	166-034 An/Other China:Theorising Everyday Life	2
	191-026 Crime and Culture	Summer

 3.3. Optional subjects

Students must take no more than two of the following optional subjects at Second/Third year level toward their Cultural Studies Major.

You must consult the relevant area of study entries in this handbook to make sure that you meet the prerequisites, if any, for entry to these subjects. Existing prerequisites may be waived for students undertaking an interdepartmental program. If you do not meet the existing prerequisites, please consult the relevant subject coordinator for permission to enrol.

General enquiries about optional subjects as they relate to the Cultural Studies program should be directed to the Cultural Studies convener in the Department of English.

Optional Subjects (Second/Third Year)
English		Semester
	106-032 Novel and Film	2
	106-033 Postcolonial Writing	1
	106-035 Popular Fiction	1
Cinema Studies
	107-075 International Art Cinema	Not Offered
	107-076 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema	Not Offered
	107-084 Surrealism and the Cinema	1
	107-086 City as Film	Not Offered
	107-088 Love Stories: Film and Narrative Theory	Not Offered
Art History
	107-034 Postmodernism in Postwar Art & Design	2
	107-061 You Beaut Country: Australia in the '50s	Not Offered
	107-066 Postmodern Culture: Art in New York	2
Geography
	121-016 Landscapes of Power	1
	121-026 The Mobile World: Migration and Tourism	Not Offered
History
	131-019 Varieties of History:Memory & History	1
History and Philosophy of Science
	103-005 Cybersociety	1
Philosophy
	161-022 Philosophy of Feminism	2
Political Science
	166-038 Contemporary Indigenous Studies	2
Faculty of Music
	740-144 Music Cultures of Asia & the Pacific	Not Offered

Students interested in further subjects in Ethnomusicology and Australian music studies should consult the Faculty of Music handbook entry. See Music subjects.

 4. Honours entry

The prerequisites for entry to Fourth Year Honours in Cultural Studies are:

• completion of all the requirements for the BA and;

• completion of a Major in Cultural Studies and;

• an average grade of H2B or higher over the Second/Third Year subjects within the Major.

Entry to Honours must be approved by the convener of Cultural Studies and the Faculty of Arts Honours course adviser.

 5. Honours requirements

 5.1. Pure Honours

Students undertaking pure Honours in Cultural Studies must complete:

• 106-128 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis (37.5 points) or;

• 106-100 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis (MYE) and;

• 106-126 Research Principles and Practices (12.5 points) and;

• four Honours subjects in Cultural Studies (totalling 50 points) from the list below.

 5.2. Combined Honours

Students undertaking combined Honours in Cultural Studies and another area of study must complete:

• 106-128 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis(37.5 points) or;

• 106-100 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis (MYE) and;

• two Honours subjects in Cultural Studies from the list below (totalling 25 points), including 106-126 Research Principles and Practices (12.5 points) and;

• three Honours subjects in the combined area of study (totalling 37.5 points).

or

• Honours thesis in the combined area of study (37.5 points) and;

• two Honours subjects in the combined area of study (totalling 25 points) and;

• three Honours subjects in Cultural Studies from the list below (totalling 37.5 points), excluding106-126 Research Principles and Practices.

Honours subjects
	106-071 Cultural Policy Studies	2
	106-072 Reading the Subject: Freud/Lacan/Fiction	1
	106-083 Subcultural Studies	1
	106-088 Body Cultures	1
	106-089 Global Culture: History and Theory	1
	106-092 Theorising the Spectator	2
	106-095 Reconciliation	1
	106-125 Diaspora Cultures	1
	106-126 Research Principles and Practices	1, repeat 2
	107-059 Art and Mass Culture in the 1960s	Not Offered
	107-072 Sound & Vision: Art & Popular Music	2
	107-095 Film, Modernity and the Avant-Garde	Not Offered
	136-069 Disease and Culture	2
	136-079 Reading Texts in Social Theory	Not Offered
	166-060 Postcolonial Concerns, Postmodern Theory	2

 6. Career opportunities

A degree with a Major in Cultural Studies is an excellent preparation for careers in the arts, in the media, and in cultural policy.

 7. Further study

There is an MA by thesis in Cultural Studies. Students wishing to apply for entry into the MA program should have an H1 or H2A Honours degree (or equivalent) in a related discipline.

 8. For more information

Chris Healy
Department of English
Second Floor, John Medley Building
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Tel: +61 3 9344 5506/7/8
Web: http://www.english.unimelb.edu.au

Fourth Year Honours subjects

106-128 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis
106-100 Cultural Studies Honours Thesis (MYE)

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