The United States in the World (L2064A)
The United States in the World
Module L2064A
Module details for 2010 cohort.
30 credits
FHEQ Level 6
Module Outline
As the twenty-first century begins, the United States is still the world's only superpower: no other nation possesses comparable military and economic power or has interests that reach the entire globe. To understand the place and power of the US in the contemporary world, it is vital to understand how its geopolitical strategies function, militarily and economically. Yet because US power is also secured through cultural and discursive strategies, it is equally important to analyse how US cultural/discursive products and processes participate in the construction of the US in all the varied ways it imagines itself. The aim of this module is to analyse how US cultural/discursive strategies participate in imagining the US in the world, either by being embedded within traditional geopolitical strategies or by sitting alongside them. Rather than taking an historical approach, the module is organised around specific theoretical and cultural/discursive themes and practices. These include architectural theory and the building of embassies abroad, design theory and designing the nation through everyday objects, film theory and screening the nation through popular film, remediation theory and virtually remediating the nation, entertainmentality theory and exhibiting the nation in museums, performance/performativity theory and re-enacting the nation though historical re-enactments as well as song, and advertising theory and advertising the nation to US citizens. Along the way, significant foreign and domestic policy debates from Cold War politics to the War on Terror to the US domestic War on Illegal Immigration will be considered through political, cultural, and discursive theories (e.g. Said's notion of orientalism, Foucault's notion of governmentality, Butler's notion of performativity, and Ranciere's notion of the birth of the nation).
| Type | Timing | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | 10.00% | |
| Coursework components. Weighted as shown below. | ||
| Research Plan / Proposal | T1 Week 8 | 100.00% |
| Essay (6000 words) | Mid Year Assessment | 90.00% |
Timing
Submission deadlines may vary for different types of assignment/groups of students.
Weighting
Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.
Please note that the University will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver courses and modules in accordance with the descriptions set out here. However, the University keeps its courses and modules under review with the aim of enhancing quality. Some changes may therefore be made to the form or content of courses or modules shown as part of the normal process of curriculum management.
The University reserves the right to make changes to the contents or methods of delivery of, or to discontinue, merge or combine modules, if such action is reasonably considered necessary by the University. If there are not sufficient student numbers to make a module viable, the University reserves the right to cancel such a module. If the University withdraws or discontinues a module, it will use its reasonable endeavours to provide a suitable alternative module.