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War, Culture and Society

Module description

The problem of war is perhaps the most fundamental of political issues. Conventionally studied through abstract theorising and the perspectives of political elites, many traditional approaches to the study of war fail to capture the experience of violence and destruction or the complex social, political and economic dynamics of militarism and violence. In this module you will be introduced to a range of interdisciplinary perspectives about war, which will foreground the political nature of any attempt to understand, commemorate or respond to war. You will use these critical approaches to understand and analyse past and present wars and their consequences. This module will invite you to consider the following questions: What social processes legitimise and make war possible? How is war experienced by different people? How are wars remembered? How have people tried to resist war? Please note that this module is not about geo-politics, military strategy or military history. The emphasis in this module is critical and cultural which means that war will be understood in relation to wider socio-economic, historical and political contexts. The assessment has been designed to encourage and reward sustained engagement throughout the module and your communication skills. There will be several film screenings and, subject to availability, a guest workshop offered by a British military veteran.

There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this module.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to introduce you to contemporary interdisciplinary approaches to war, with a particular focus on critical interventions made by scholars within the humanities and social sciences. The module will locate war within its wider social, economic and political context, encouraging a broader understanding of the causes, consequences and legacies of war. You will be introduced to a range of theoretical approaches and concepts such as militarisation. You will engage with a number of historical case studies, including: the contemporary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the legacies of the First World War in British society, the Second World War in American film, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Cultural representations of war in art, novel, film and museums will be critically interrogated, with a focus on race, gender and class. The ultimate aim of the module is to encourage you to think critically about war-making, commemoration and militarism.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding of a range of different empirical examples and case studies of war and its consequences;
• 2. Apply various theoretical perspectives in the analysis of primary sources produced about, or during, war;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Relate the academic study of politics to questions of public concern in order to develop well-reasoned arguments and conclusions;
• 4. Think critically and independently about events, ideas and institutions with minimal guidance;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Synthesize challenging literature and effectively articulate complex ideas in written form;
• 6. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources with minimum guidance

Syllabus plan

The module is taught through weekly 2 hour seminars and includes several film screenings with discussion.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some of the following topics:

• Introduction: Why study war?
• Industrialised warfare, masculinity and the body in the First World War
• Remembrance Day and memorials after the First World War in Britain
• The Second World War in American Film 
• Aerial bombing
• Contested memories of the Second World War in Germany: Dresden
• Sex and the Second World War
• Bearing Witness and Visual Culture after the Holocaust
• War and resistance in the Nuclear Age
• The Vietnam War and civil rights movement in the US
• British nationalism and the Falklands War
• Liberal soldiering in the twenty first century
• Commemorating 9/11 and the War on Terror
• Drone warfare and civilian causalities

Nostalgia for war in contemporary Britain 

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Basham. V. (2013). War, Identity and the Liberal State: Everyday Experiences of the Geopolitical in the British Armed Forces (London: Routledge)
• Bourke, J. (1996) Dismembering the Male: Men’s bodies, Britain and the Great War, London: Reaktion Books.
• Enloe, C. (2000) Manoeuvres: The International Politics of Militarising Women’s Lives.( Berkeley, University of California Press).
• McSorely, K. (2012) ed. War and the Body: Militarisation, Practice and Experience, London: Routledge.
• Mühlhäuser, R. (2020) Sex and the Nazi Soldier: Violent, Commercial and Consensual Encounters during the War in the Soviet Union, 1941-45 (Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh)
• Zehfuss, M. (2007) Wounds of Memory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• See the list of war films and documentaries listed on the ELE page.

Key words search

War, memory, identity, masculinity, society