KUMP005 Classic works related to culture and society (5 cr)

Open the course unit brochure on Sisu
Study level:
Basic studies
Grading scale:
0-5
Language:
Finnish
Responsible organisation:
Department of History and Ethnology
Curriculum periods:
2024-2025, 2025-2026, 2026-2027, 2027-2028

Description

Upon completion of the course, the student will have become familiar with several classic works related to culture and society. These examples of classic works will have guided the student to understand the basic structures of internationally recognized theoretical discussion and to become practiced in research literature that demands more of the reader. The student will be able to recognize and define several key concepts, and to approach in a rigorous manner the empirical reality which is successfully described in the classic works.   

Learning outcomes

 After completing the course, the student

  • Will have become familiar with classic research on culture and society

  • know how theoretical thinking is constructed in international research literature

  • understand cultural and social processes and structures as well as models of thought and practice

  • have had practice in reading demanding research literature. 

Additional information

Independent work through a written assignment. Contact teaching through a reading circle may be organized in some years.

Study materials

For independent completion, the student should choose one Finnish-language and one English-language book from the list below for their exam.

  • Douglas, Mary: Puhtaus ja vaara: rituaalisen rajanvedon analyysi. (2000)
  • Durkheim, Émile: Uskontoelämän alkeismuodot: australialainen toteemijärjestelmä. (1980)
  • Foucault, Michel: Parhaat. (2015)
  • Ranciére, Jacques: Vapautunut katsoja. (2016)
  • Hall, Stuart: Identiteetti. (1991)
  • Tsing, Anna: Lopunaikojen sieni – elämää kapitalismin raunioissa (2021)
  • Adorno, Theodor, Benjamin, Walter, Bloch, Ernst, Brecht,, Bertolt & Lukács, Georg: Aesthetics and Politics 
  • Becker, Howard: Art worlds (1981, useita painoksia)
  • Geertz, Clifford: Interpretation of Cultures (1973, useita painoksia)
  • Kohn, Eduardo 2013. How Forests Think. Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human. University of California Press.
  • Bourdieu, Pierre: The Field of Cultural Production (1993, useita painoksia)

  • Williams, Raymond: Culture (1981, useita painoksia)

  • Ialenti, Vincent. Deep time reckoning: How future thinking can help Earth now. MIT Press, 2020. 

In courses organized as contact teaching, the teacher will inform students about the learning materials. 

Completion methods

Method 1

Description:
For independent completion, the student should choose one Finnish-language and one English-language book from the list for their exam.
Evaluation criteria:
The grading scale in all completion modes will be numerical: 0-5. The grade will be based on the evaluation of the assignments that measure the extent to which the learning goals have been achieved. In courses organized in the form of contact teaching, completion requires participation in teaching and the assigned tasks at a level approved by the instructor. Being active during the course meetings can raise one’s grade by a maximum of one numeral. For independent learning, completion of the unit requires that written assignments are completed and approved by the teacher in charge
Select all marked parts

Method 2

Description:
In courses organized as contact teaching, the teacher will inform students about the learning materials.
Evaluation criteria:
The grading scale in all completion modes will be numerical: 0-5. The grade will be based on the evaluation of the assignments that measure the extent to which the learning goals have been achieved. In courses organized in the form of contact teaching, completion requires participation in teaching and the assigned tasks at a level approved by the instructor. Being active during the course meetings can raise one’s grade by a maximum of one numeral. For independent learning, completion of the unit requires that written assignments are completed and approved by the teacher in charge.
Select all marked parts
Parts of the completion methods
x

Independent study (5 cr)

Type:
Independent study
Grading scale:
0-5
Language:
Finnish

Teaching

x

Participation in teaching (5 cr)

Type:
Participation in teaching
Grading scale:
0-5
Language:
Finnish
No published teaching