Module Information
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 Hours. (10 x 1 hour) |
Lecture | 10 Hours. (10 x 1 hour) |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | Essay: 1,500 words | 20% |
Semester Assessment | Seminar Performance | 10% |
Semester Assessment | Extended Written Assignment: 1 x 4,500 words | 70% |
Supplementary Exam | Resit opportunities for this module will be available in the Supplementary examination period. F resit: The student will re-sit the module by examination only for a 'capped' pass mark (40). H resit: The student will submit missing coursework elements and/or re-sit by examination in the upplementary exam period in lieu of a missed/failed exam for full marks. Students re-sitting elements of failed coursework are required to select a different essay/assignment title and must not submit re-written versions of the original essay/assignment. |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- demonstrate a good understanding of approaches described as poststructural
- discuss some of the ethico-political questions raised by this work
- demonstrate a familiarity with key poststructuralist writers, based on a direct reading of their texts.
Brief description
Research inspired by post-structuralist approaches forms a challenging contribution to recent international relations, political theory and postcolonialism. There are two linked modules that explore this field. This first module, which is introductory, looks at the writings of thinkers associated with the move. There are no prerequisites, apart from a willingness to read in depth and engage with the material.
Content
Lectures
Section A
1. Course introduction and outline
2. Genealogy, values and the uses of history
3. Decentering the subject of language
Section B: Power, sovereignty and the law
4. Foucault I: power, sovereignty and government
5. Derrida I: the force of law
6. Agamben I: sovereignty and bare life
Section C: Ethics, freedom and the coming community
7. Foucault II: freedom, ethics and resistance
8. Derrida II: the politics of friendship
9. Agamben II: the coming community
10. Butler: agency and performativity
Seminars
Section A
SEMINAR 1: Introduction
SEMINAR 2: Nietzsche
SEMINAR 3: Saussure
Section B: Power, sovereignty and the law
SEMINAR 4: Foucault I
SEMINAR 5: Derrida I
SEMINAR 6: Agamben I
Section C: Ethics, freedom and 'the coming community'
SEMINAR 7: Foucault II
SEMINAR 8: Derrida II
SEMINAR 9: Agamben II
SEMINAR 10: Butler
Aims
This module, which is introductory, allows students to develop a critical appreciation and understanding of poststructural work through a reading of primary writings. They will then be well placed to go on if they wish to study scholars of international politics or other disciplines who draw on this work. The module concentrates on giving a flavour of the excitement of these approaches, rather than examining the debates between postmodernism and its critics.
Transferable skills
10 ECTS credits
Reading List
General TextCaroline Williams (2001) Contemporary French philosophy: modernity and the persistence of the subject. London: Athlone Press Primo search Edkins, Jenny. (1999.) Poststructuralism and international relations :bringing the political back in /Jenny Edkins. Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6