Hong Kong Shue Yan University



Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Department of English Language & Literature

Master of Arts in English (Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies)

Course Title : Fabrications of Identity

Course Code : ENG 506

Year of Study : N/A

Number of Credits : 3

Duration in Weeks : 14

Contact Hours Per Week : Lecture (2 Hours)

: Tutorial (1 Hour)

Pre-requisite(s) : NIL

Prepared by : Dr Lau Chi Chuen Paris

Course Description

This course explores the formations of identity from different perspectives, for example, national, cultural, psychoanalysis, postmodern, postcolonial, and gender studies. In recognizing the influence of technology and visual culture on the 21st century, it particularly emphasizes the fabrication of identity in the disciplines of technoscience, consumer culture, fashion design, media culture and ecology. It examines the representation of identity and difference in various local, national, and global settings. Drawing upon theoretical writings of nationalism, psychoanalysis, postcolonialism postmodernity, gender studies, technoscience culture, media culture and ecology, the course aims to examine the fabrication of identity from an interdisciplinary approach. Students are encouraged to engage local and global cultural texts in their oral presentation and written works.

Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment

|Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) |

|Upon completion of this course students should be able to: |

|ILO1 |identify the key issues in formation of identities |

|ILO2 |illustrate the key issues in formation of identities with concrete examples from cultural texts |

|ILO3 |analyse formation of identities in cultural texts |

|ILO4 |generate a theoretical framework of fabrication of identities |

|ILO5 |Evaluate one’s own fabrication of identities according to the theoretical framework |

|Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) |

|TLA1 |Introduction to the concept of identity |

|TLA2 |Close reading of articles |

|TLA3 |Critical discussion |

|TLA4 |In-class discussion |

|TLA5 |Online discussion |

|TLA6 |Oral presentations by students |

|TLA7 |Writing papers |

|Assessment Tasks (ATs) |

|AT1 |In-class discussion |10% |

| |Students are to respond actively to specific questions made by the lecturer as well as participate in| |

| |class discussion in either in lecture or tutorial. | |

|AT2 |Oral presentation |30% |

| |In a group of 3-4, students are to deliver an oral presentation on a specific topic which can | |

| |demonstrate their understanding of the issue(s) and concepts(s) discussed in this course. Also, at | |

| |the end of the presentation there will be time for class discussion. | |

|AT3 |Online discussion |20% |

| |Students are to take part in online discussion. Specific topics/ questions will be posted on the | |

| |online teaching and learning platform. | |

|AT4 |Final written project |40% |

| |Students are to write a research paper which can demonstrate a solid grasp of issue(s) and concept(s)| |

| |taught in the course. The research paper has to be a critical analysis of specific topic and adopt a | |

| |problem-solving approach which can demonstrate students’ ability of critical thinking and analysis. | |

| |TOTAL |100% |

|Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities and Assessment Tasks |

|Course Intended Learning Outcomes |Teaching and Learning Activities |Assessment Tasks |

|ILO1 |TLA1,2 |AT1 |

|ILO2 |TLA4,5,6,7 |AT2, 3, 4 |

|ILO3 |TLA6,7 |AT3,4 |

|ILO4 |TLA7 |AT4 |

|ILO5 |TLA7 |AT4 |

Course Outline

Week 1 Introduction

Hall, Stuart. (1996) “Introduction: Who Needs an Identity?” Question of Cultural Identity. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage. pp. 1-17.

Week 2 National Identity

Anderson, Benedit. (2006) “The Origins of National Consciousness.” Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. New York: Verso. pp. 37-46.

Gellner, Ernest. (2001) “Nations and Nationalism.” Nations and Identities: Classic Readings. Ed. Vincent P. Pecora. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 292-308

Andersn, Benedict. (2001) “Imagined Communities.” Nations and Identities: Classic Readings. Ed. Vincent P. Pecora. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 309-317.

Week 3 Cultural Identity

Barker, Chris. (2002) “Disturbing Cultural Identities.” Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. Buckingham: Open University Press. pp. 9-32.

Bhabha, Homi K. “Culture’s In-Between.” Question of Cultural Identity. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage. pp. 53-60.

Week 4 Psycholoanalysis and Identity

Lacan, Jacques. (2000) “The Mirror Stage.” Identity: A Reader. Ed. Paul de Bay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman. London: Sage. 44-50.

Mansfield, Nick. (2000) “Lacan: The Subject is Language.” Subjectivity: theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway. New York: New York University Press. 38-50.

Mansfield, Nick. (2000) “Freud and the Split Subject.” Subjectivity: theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway. New York: New York University Press. pp. 25-37.

Week 5 Language and Identity

Tabouret-Keller, Andree. (1998) “Language and Identity.” The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Ed. Florian Coulmas. London: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 315-326.

Benveniste, Emile. (2000) “Subjectivity in Language.” Identity: A Reader. Ed. Paul de Bay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman. London: Sage. pp. 39-43.

Week 6 Postcolonialism and Identity

Bhabha, Homi K. (2001) “Interrogating Identity: The Post Colonial Prerogative. Identity: A Reader . pp. 94-101.

Moron, Anthony. (2011) “Indigenous Identities: from Colonialism to Postcolonialism.” Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies. Ed. Anthony Elliott. New York: Routledge. pp. 347-365.

Week 7 Postmodernity and Identity

Mansfield, Nick. (2000) “The Subject and Postmodernism.” Subjectivity: theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway. Ed. Nick Mansfield. New York: New York University Press. pp. 162-173.

Mansfield, Nick. (2000) “Deleuze and Guattari: Rhizomatics.” Subjectivity: theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway. Ed. Nick Mansfield. New York: New York University Press. pp. 136-147.

Week 8 Gender and Identity

Branaman, Ann. (2011) “Feminism and Identity.” Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies. Ed. Anthony Elliott. New York: Routledge. pp. 30-48.

Holmes, Mary. (2011) “Gendered identities.” Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies. Ed. Anthony Elliott. New York: Routledge. pp. 186-202.

Butler, Judith. (1999) “Identity, Sex, and the Metaphysics of Substance,” “The Body Politics of Julia Kristeva.” Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge . pp. 22-32, 84-90, 101-118.

Week 9 Media Culture and Identity

Kellner, Douglas. (1995) “Television, Advertising, and the Construction of Postmodern Identities.” Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern. London & New York: Routledge. pp.231-262.

Week 10 Consumer Culture and Identity

Sassatelli, Roberta. (2007) “Taste, Identity and Practices.” Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London: Sage. pp.91-112.

Featherstone, Mike.(2007) “Lifestyle and Consumer Culture.” Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage. pp.81-92.

Week 11 Fashion and Identity

Anderson, Fiona. (2009) “Fashion: Style, identity and Meaning.” Exploring Visual Culture: Definitions, Concepts, Contexts. Ed. Matthew Rampley. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 67-84.

Kellner, Douglas. (1995) “Madonna, Fashion, and Image.” Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern. London: Routledge. pp. 263-296.

Week 12 Technoscience Culture and Identity

Gray, Chris Hables. (2002) “The Cyborg Body Politic.” Cyborg Citizen: Politics in the Posthuman Age. New York: Routledge. pp.9-20.

Murphie, Andrew & Potts, John. (2003) “Technology, Thought and Consciousness.” Culture and Technology. New York: Palgrave. pp. 142-168.

Week 13 Ecology and Identity

Naess, Arne. (1995) “Self-realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World,” “Ecosophy and Gestalt Ontology,” “Deep Ecology and Lifestyle.” Deep Ecology for the 21st Century: Readings on the Philosophy and Practice of the New Environmentalism. Ed. George Sessions. Boston: Shambhala. pp. 225-245, 59-262.

Week 14 Recapitulation

Academic Honesty

You are expected to do your own work. Dishonesty in fulfilling any assignment undermines the learning process and the integrity of your college degree. Engaging in dishonest or unethical behavior is forbidden and will result in disciplinary action, specifically a failing grade on the assignment with no opportunity for resubmission. A second infraction will result in an F for the course and a report to College officials. Examples of prohibited behavior are:

• Cheating – an act of deception by which a student misleadingly demonstrates that s/he has mastered information on an academic exercise. Examples include:

• Copying or allowing another to copy a test, quiz, paper, or project

• Submitting a paper or major portions of a paper that has been previously submitted for another class without permission of the current instructor

• Turning in written assignments that are not your own work (including homework)

• Plagiarism – the act of representing the work of another as one’s own without giving credit.

• Failing to give credit for ideas and material taken from others

• Representing another’s artistic or scholarly work as one’s own

• Fabrication – the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research or other findings with the intent to deceive

To comply with the University’s policy, all written assignments have to be submitted to VeriGuide.

Resources

Primary Texts

Anderson, Benedit. (2006) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. New York: Verso.

Barker, Chris. (2002) Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Butler, Judith. (1999) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge .

Du Gay, Paul, Evans, Jessica & Redman, Peter , eds. (2000) Identity: A Reader. London: Sage.

Elliott, Anthony, ed. (2011) Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies. New York: Routledge.

Featherstone, Mike.(2007) Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage.

Gray, Chris Hables. (2002) Cyborg Citizen: Politics in the Posthuman Age. New York: Routledge.

Hall, Stuart. (1996) Question of Cultural Identity. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage.

Kellner, Douglas. (1995) Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern. London & New York: Routledge.

Mansfield, Nick. (2000) Subjectivity: theories of the Self from Freud to Haraway. New York: New York University Press.

Murphie, Andrew & Potts, John. (2003) Culture and Technology. New York: Palgrave. pp. 142-168.

Pecora, Vincent P, ed. (2001) Nations and Identities: Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell.

Rampley, Matthew, ed. (2009) Exploring Visual Culture: Definitions, Concepts, Contexts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Sassatelli, Roberta. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics. London: Sage.

Sessions, George. (1995) Deep Ecology for the 21st Century: Readings on the Philosophy and Practice of the New Environmentalism. Boston: Shambhala.

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