Course Catalogue

Humanities and Social Science

1. To analyse domestic space as an important aspect of contemporary culture; 2. To familiarize students with a range of disciplinary and philosophical traditions which have focused upon domestic space, with a particular focus on phenomenology and psychoanalysis. 3. To encourage students to reflect upon their own experiences of domestic space.

Outline Syllabus:The key texts studied may vary each year subject to availability and the expertise of staff teaching on the module, but an example of a core syllabus would be: Houses in Literary History: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ Felicitous Spaces and Childhood homes – The Wind in The Willows Furnishing Feelings and Housing Memory – Bachelard, Proust, and ‘Seaside Houses’ The Doll’s House - The Miniaturist Spaces of horror and confinement – The Cement Garden and Room

Module Overview:
The aim of this module is to analyse domestic space as an important aspect of contemporary culture, to familiarize you with a range of disciplinary and philosophical traditions which have focused upon domestic space.

Additional Information:This module focuses on the representation of domestic space and the various ways in which such representations have figured in a variety of disciplinary, theoretical and artistic contexts. Key theorists on the module will be Bachelard, Merleau- Ponty, Heidigger and De Certeau Relevant issues include the 'Big House' of English fiction, the house as a locus of terror, and adolescent transformations of domestic space. Students will be encouraged to reflect upon their own experiences of the house and its material cultures, to compare such experiences with a selection of textual representations from various media, and to consider the academic treatment of 'ordinary space'.