2500 WORD CRITICAL CASE STUDY
2500 WORD CRITICAL CASE STUDY – 60% of module grade
SUBMISSION DATE: Tuesday 14th January 2014, 12 noon
For this assessment, I have consciously moved away from a list of topic-based essay questions in favour of requiring a more integrative, theoretically informed and empirically grounded critical case study. This approach mirrors the teaching and learning processes of the module, is the hallmark of visual cultural analysis, and is the logical extension of the work you have undertaken for workshops which served as a valuable `rehearsal’ for this assessment.
The aim of the critical case study is to bring together the threads of your knowledge and understanding of the interdisciplinary field of visual cultures, its contribution to sociological knowledge and understanding and its varied methodological approaches, to produce an in-depth, focused analysis of visual cultural data. Such data can be drawn from a wide variety of sources including film, television, artworks, sculpture, architecture, computer games, internet, fashion, photography, cartoons etc. and may be both contemporary or historical. The key requirement is that your data is used as a resource to develop a visual cultural analysis of an aspect of social life of your choice. There is a considerable amount of flexibility and choice in the selection of your case study; however, it is your responsibility to make sure that your choice of case is viable and that there is plenty of available literature to support your intellectual discussion/arguments. The critical case study, then, is `self-defined' and `self-directed', in the sense of setting your own topic of interest, but it also needs to be clearly linked to, and contextualized within a frame of reference which demonstrates your grasp of the theoretical and analytical frameworks explored in the module programme. In other words, you will be conducting your own theoretically informed, empirical research. Please be sure not to make the mistake of
SUBMISSION DATE: Tuesday 14th January 2014, 12 noon
For this assessment, I have consciously moved away from a list of topic-based essay questions in favour of requiring a more integrative, theoretically informed and empirically grounded critical case study. This approach mirrors the teaching and learning processes of the module, is the hallmark of visual cultural analysis, and is the logical extension of the work you have undertaken for workshops which served as a valuable `rehearsal’ for this assessment.
The aim of the critical case study is to bring together the threads of your knowledge and understanding of the interdisciplinary field of visual cultures, its contribution to sociological knowledge and understanding and its varied methodological approaches, to produce an in-depth, focused analysis of visual cultural data. Such data can be drawn from a wide variety of sources including film, television, artworks, sculpture, architecture, computer games, internet, fashion, photography, cartoons etc. and may be both contemporary or historical. The key requirement is that your data is used as a resource to develop a visual cultural analysis of an aspect of social life of your choice. There is a considerable amount of flexibility and choice in the selection of your case study; however, it is your responsibility to make sure that your choice of case is viable and that there is plenty of available literature to support your intellectual discussion/arguments. The critical case study, then, is `self-defined' and `self-directed', in the sense of setting your own topic of interest, but it also needs to be clearly linked to, and contextualized within a frame of reference which demonstrates your grasp of the theoretical and analytical frameworks explored in the module programme. In other words, you will be conducting your own theoretically informed, empirical research. Please be sure not to make the mistake of