Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Department of English Language & Literature
Master of Arts in English (Interdisciplinary Studies)
Course Title:
Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Studies
Course Code:
ENG 502
Number of Credits:
3
Duration in Weeks:
14
Contact Hours Per Week:
Lecture (2 Hours)
Tutorial (1 Hour)
Pre-requisite(s):
NIL
Prepared by:
Prof. WONG Kin Yuen and Dr. Amy CHAN
Course Description
Knowledge-claims in the 21st century have gone beyond the modernist mind-set of
departmentalization. In an emerging network culture and unprecedented complexity of
learning, students need to adopt a more mobile and permeable "interdisciplinary" approach to
what they learn at tertiary level. This seminar is designed for students in cultural studies to
achieve a sense of integration among the various components in their curriculum. Besides
reading materials which deal directly with ideas such as counter-disciplinary praxis, the
intersection of natural science, social sciences and humanities, the philosophy of difference
which stresses a relational ontology, etc., students will be initiated into the actual working of
what is now called "Interdisciplinary Studies" as an umbrella concept of such an approach.
Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment
Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
describe the concept of interdisciplinarity
ILO1
synthesize the knowledge they have learned earlier in an interdisciplinary
ILO2
way
apply the interdisciplinary approach in research
ILO3
construct their own model of interdisciplinarity
ILO4
TLA1
TLA2
TLA3
TLA4
TLA5
Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
Exemplification of core issues and concepts with relevant examples
Close reading of materials
In-class Discussion
Group Oral Presentation
Response to oral presentation
2
TLA6
AT1
AT2
AT3
AT4
Term Paper
Assessment Tasks (ATs)
In-class discussion
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.
Oral presentation
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.
Responses to presentations
In a group of 3-4, students are to respond to an oral presentation.
They are to comment on the presentation and raise questions which
demonstrate their understanding of the topic.
Final written project
Students are to write a research paper which can demonstrate a solid
grasp of issue(s) and concept(s) taught in the course. Students have to
formulate a specific question and adopt a problem-solving approach
which can demonstrate their ability of critical thinking and analysis.
TOTAL
15%
30%
20%
40%
100%
Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities
and Assessment Tasks
Course Intended Learning
Teaching and Learning
Assessment Tasks
Outcomes
Activities
ILO1
TLA1,2
AT1,2,3
ILO2
TLA4,5,6
AT2,3,4
ILO3
TLA4,6
AT2,3
ILO4
TLA6
AT4
Course Outline
Week 1 Introduction: Interdisciplinarity and Cultural Studies
Moran, Joe. (2010) Interdisciplinarity. London & New York: Routledge. pp. 1-73.
Week 2 Interdisciplinarity and Critical Theories
Moran, Joe. (2010) Interdisciplinarity. London & New York: Routledge. pp. 74 – 164.
Week 3 Interdisciplinarity and Humanities
Klein, Julie Thompson. (2005) “Introduction: Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity,”
“Forming Humanities,” “Changing Humanities,” and “Rewriting the Literary.” Humanities,
Culture, and Interdisciplinarity: The Changing American Academy. Albany: State
University of New York Press. pp. 1-54; 83-106.
3
Week 4 Complexity and Network Culture
Mitchell, Melanie. (2009) “What Is Complexity?,” “Dynamics, Chaos and Prediction,”
“The Science of Networks,” “Applying Network Science to Real-World Networks.”
Complexity: A Guided Tour. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 3-39, 227-257.
Bell, Gordon & Gemmell, Jim. (2009) Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will
Change Everything. New York: Dutton. pp. 3-25.
Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Garden of Forking Paths” from Labyrinths
Week 5 Linguistics and Literature
Tyson, Lois. (2006)“Reader-response criticism” and “Structuralist criticism.” Critical
Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. London & New York: Routledge. pp.169-248.
Leopoldo Lugores, “Yzur,” from The Eye of the Heart, pp. 91-100.
Week 6 Translation and Cultural Studies
Munoz-Calvo, Micaela. (2008) “An Approach to New Trends in Translation and Cultural
Identity.” New Trends in Translation and Cultural Identity. Ed. By Micaela Munoz-Calvo,
Carmen Bueso-Gomez and M. Angeles Ruiz-Moneva. London: Cambridge Scholar
Publishing. pp. 1-10.
Qold. MixhWL. (2008) “Interference from the third Space? The Construction of Cultural
Identity through Translation.” New Trends in Translation and Cultural Identity. Ed. By
Micaela Munoz-Calvo, Carmen Bueso-Gomez and M. Angeles Ruiz-Moneva. London:
Cambridge Scholar Publishing. pp. 11-20.
Week 7 Science and Humanities
Bennett, Maxwell & Hacker, Peter. (2009) “Selections from Philosophical Foundations of
Neuroscience.” Neuroscience and Philosophy: Brain, Mind & Language. Maxwell Bennett,
Dainel Dennett, Peter Hacker. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 1-48.
Bennett, Maxwell. (2009) “Neuroscience and Philosophy.” Neuroscience and Philosophy:
Brain, Mind & Language. Maxwell Bennett, Dainel Dennett, Peter Hacker. New York:
Columbia University Press. pp. 49-72.
Selected stories from Ra Page’s Bio-Punk
Week 8 Science and Arts
Hogan, Patrick Colm. (2003) Cognitive Science, Literature and the Arts. New York:
Routledge. Chapters 4 & 5. pp. 87-159.
Excerpts from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
4
Week 9 Science and Arts continues
Hogan, Patrick Colm. (2003) Cognitive Science, Literature and the Arts. New York:
Routledge. Chapters 6 - 8. pp. 140-218.
Greg Egan’s “The Caress” from Axiomatic
Week 10 Literature and Science
Gottschall, Jonathan.(2008) Literature, Science and a New Humanities. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 17-88.
Tania Hershman’s “Drink Me” and “We are All Made of Protein but Some of us Glow
More than Others” from The White Road and Other Stories
Week 11 Literature and Science continues
Block, Ned.(2009) “The Mind as the Software of the Brain.” Science Fiction and
Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence. Ed. Susan Schneider. West Sussex:
Blackwell. pp.126-169.
Kurzweil, Ray. (2009) “Superintelligence and Singualarity.” Science Fiction and
Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence. Ed. Susan Schneider. West Sussex:
Blackwell. pp.201-224.
Deutsch, David & Lockwood, Michael. (2009) “The Quantum Physics of Time Travel.”
Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence. Ed. Susan
Schneider. West Sussex: Blackwell. pp.322-334.
Poems from Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars: Poems
Week 12 Gender and Science
Harding, Sandra. (2008) “Co-evolving Science and Society,” and “Haunted Modernities,
Gendered Traditions.” Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and
Modernities. London: Duke University Press. pp.75-100, 191-213.
Greg Egan’s “Closer”, from Axiomatic
Week 13 Language and Sexuality
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don. (2003) “Talking sex and thinking sex: the linguistic
and discursive construction of sexuality,” “What has gender go to do with sex? Language,
heterosexuality and heteronormativity,” and “Language and sexuality: theory, research and
Politics.” Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-43, 133155.
Week 14 Recapitulation
5
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 behaviour 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 behaviour 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, the term paper has to be submitted to
VeriGuide.
Resources
Primary Texts:
Bell, Gordon & Gemmell, Jim. (2009) Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will
Change Everything. New York: Dutton.
Bennett, Maxwell, Dennett, Daniel and Hacker, Peter. (2009) Neuroscience and Philosophy:
Brain, Mind & Language. New York: Columbia University Press.
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don. (2003) Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Gottschall, Jonathan.(2008) Literature, Science and a New Humanities. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Harding, Sandra. (2008) Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities.
London: Duke University Press.
Hogan, Patrick Colm. (2003) Cognitive Science, Literature and the Arts. New York:
Routledge.
Klein, Julie Thompson. (2005) Humanities, Culture, and Interdisciplinarity: The Changing
American Academy. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Law, John and Moe, Annemarien. (eds.). (2002). Complexities: Social Studies of Knowledge
Practices. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Mitchell, Melanie. (2009) Complexity: A Guided Tour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moran, Joe. (2010) Interdisciplinarity. London & New York: Routledge.
6
Munoz-Calvo, Micaela, Bueso-Gomez , Carmen and Ruiz-Moneva, M. Angeles, eds. (2008)
New Trends in Translation and Cultural Identity. London: Cambridge Scholar Publishing.
Schenider, Susan, ed. (2009) Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to
Superintelligence. West Sussex: Blackwell.
Taylor, Mark C. (2001). The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Tyson, Lois. (2006) Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. London & New York:
Routledge.
Supplementary Texts:
Allen, Graham. (2000). Intertextuality. London & New York: Rutledge.
Barabás, Albert-Lászlo. (2003). Linked. New York: Penguin.
Goldberg, David Theo. (ed.). (1994). Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Hudson, R.A. (1996). Sociolinguistics. (2nd edn). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ridley, Matt. (2004). Nature and Nurture. London: Harper Perennial.
Skelton, Tracy and Allen, Tim. (eds.). (1999). Culture and Global Change. London & New
York: Routledge.
Watts, Duncan J. (2003). Six Degree: The Science of a Connected Age. London: William
Heinemann.