202mc is a short, intensive module which last for approximately three weeks. The module consists of a one-day field trip where students gather data for a group project on a specific theme. Group projects are showcased and assessed at the end of the module. There are no formal lectures except for a mandatory kickoff meeting.
However there was also an individual task for those of us who were continuing our professional experience. This task would not require us to be physical present during the term at uni and so would allow us to continue our work experience whilst carrying out the set task.
Having various professional experiences lined up (wedding, and baby shoot for example) for the weeks ahead I decided it would be easiest for me to do the individual task;
202MC Individual Alternative Task:
Class, Race, Gender and Citizenship in Neoliberal Times
Neoliberalism is more than a narrow economic philosophy, [it is] a totalizing
rationality that has made competition the guiding principle not only of the
market, but work, education, and many other spheres. This rationality produces
its own subjects who see themselves as enterprises in general competition with
other human enterprises. (Dardot and Laval 2014)
The last thirty years have seen the increasingly hegemonic ascendance of
Neoliberalism. We understand Neoliberalism as a political and economic project, but
above all a cultural one. Neoliberal thought and practices saturate the fabric of British
society: they inform the way we construct and conceptualise our own selves and what
we do, and they shape our daily practices of work, leisure and consumption.
British urban structures are a key field of signification and praxis, where Neoliberal
norms shape how we understand, embody and enact class, race, gender and
citizenship. Where we live, and how, helps produce racialised, gendered and classed
subjects, which can variously be excluded and abjected through forms of political,
economic and cultural oppression. Excluded groups, however, produce forms of
resistance and revolt. Tyler describes these ‘revolting subjects’ as:
a counter-public within the borders of the state which, through their protests,
fracture[s] and contest[s] the coercive ideologies, injustices and deepening
inequalities of a degraded British democracy. The voices of resistance against
the abjectifying logics of neoliberal governmentality are growing louder. (Tyler
2013: 2)
For your 202MC individual task, you have to critically analyse how
contemporary Neoliberal configurations of class, race, gender and citizenship are
represented, embodied and enacted in an urban neighbourhood of your choice. If
you are in Coventry, for example, you might want to look into Tile Hill or Wood
End: but it’s up to you which area you pick. Don’t go far from where you are: it
is important to understand more about identity and citizenship where we live,
because that can help us make sense of the ideologies and policies we are
immersed in. Make sure you use the readings provided on the module blog, and
situate your analysis in the larger social and cultural structures of power. The
results of your analysis must take the shape of a media artefact (e.g. a blog).
In order to fulfill your brief you have to pick a place, immerse yourself in it, and
gather appropriate material of all kinds: pictures, films, impressions, discussions, and
more, and you will use these materials in a way that does not assume these represent
some essential truth of the place you picked. It is key that you also use the readings on
the module blog, and do research in the library to integrate and deepen your analysis.
Also think of what you learned in these past two years—how can you use that to build
on your project? Take some time upfront to think about how you can fulfill your brief.
Collect appropriate materials on site. Think carefully about how the materials you
choose either confirm or trouble preconceived notions of your project. As you work,
keep reflecting upon your ideas and your findings.
Above all, be analytical and be critical— you are not being asked to provide
marketing material, descriptive postcards or a tourist brochure. This is not an activity
in technique and surface: you will not be marked on your production values, but your
critical and creative thinking. You should engage in-depth with the cultural and social
meaning of what you see.
You have come a long way now in your degree, and we expect a corresponding level
of quality, cultural awareness, reflection and analysis. Also be careful about the scope
of your project: time and resources are limited, so you should focus on one particular
and specific angle.
You may want to ask yourselves:
How can I respond to the brief in an interesting and unusual way?
How can I use the theories I studied to make sense of my data?
What are the ideological, political, economic and social determinants of the
place I am in? (e.g. class, age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability…)
How can I articulate my perspective and my ideas in my work?
What are the different possibilities I have? Why am I making the choices I am
making?
What is the significance of my work, its cultural implications?
How does this place compare with other places/times?
How does this place feel? If it’s familiar, how do I make it strange so I can see
it anew? If it’s strange, why is that?
What is this place trying to say? Is that the only possible meaning? What other
(counter) narratives are possible?
Although a good BA level project will also go beyond these questions and engage in
original and innovative reflection and self-scrutiny. Think in terms of a critical
analysis – explain the significance of your work and its cultural implications. Show us
your analytical and reflective skills, and your critical and creative thinking.
This brief is very open, in line with the objectives of the module. It should encourage
you to think creatively and demonstrate a positive attitude to working well under
stressful condition. Imagine this is a real-life exercise in coping with pressure,
uncertainty and short deadlines. You will have to demonstrate that you can deal with
these conditions positively and constructively. Such an exercise will set all courses up
well with the challenges of their final year.
Yasmin Taylor 