LNCE10517 Staging citizenship - art and democracy (Spring 2021)

Facts about the course

ECTS Credits:
15
Responsible faculty:
Faculty of Teacher Education and Languages
Campus:
Halden
Course Leader:
Gunhild Brænne Bjørnstad
Teaching language:
English
Duration:
½ year

Table of contents

The course is affiliated to the following study programme

Optional course, relevant to school.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Higher Education Entrance Qualifications.

Applicants with Certificate of Upper Secondary Education from other than the Nordic countries can be granted dispensation from the requirement of proficiency in the Norwegian language on condition of documented proficiency in the English language, cf. Regulations for Admission to Study Programmes at Østfold University College, section 3.

Teaching semester

Spring

Content

Is society staged? In this module, students learn to interpret dramatic portrayals of society. Communities develop through self-portrayal and conversation. Using methods of applied theatre, students will analyse enacted interpretations and critiques of historical and contemporary case studies. Examples will include contextualized dramatic texts, rituals, and field studies in citizenship formation. Our approach draws on both social-scientific and aesthetic disciplines. The course will involve training in the method of applied theatre, together with readings in contextualized performances and work on case studies in the local Nordic context.

The student's learning outcomes on passing the course

Knowledge and understanding

The student

  • can recognize the relations between drama and citizenship;
  • is familiar with a selection of enacted interpretations in history and contemporary society;
  • can give an account of applied theatre methods of interpretation.

Skills including transferable skills

The student

  • can use methods of applied theatre to interpret critical portrayals of society;
  • can conduct and analyse democratic artistic processes in society;
  • can contextualise ritual and dramatic expressions and critiques of political situations.

General competence

The student

  • can develop a critical awareness of democracy as participatory practice;
  • can recognise and use artistic and ritual expressions as tools for enacting citizenship

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, workshops, projects, assignments

Groups of varying sizes and individual work.

In and out of classroom, projects in society (in public sector, non-governmental organisations, private sector, schools and relevant institutions).

Workload

Approximately 20 hours pr week. May vary throughout the semester

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

The following required coursework must be approved by teacher before the student can take the exam:
  • Approved attendence of minimum 80 %
  • Attendence in practical workshop (3 days) on a given topic

Exam

The total assessment of the course will consist of:

  • Individual essay throughout the semester (approximately 3000 words)(60 % of total) on a chosen problem formulation. Internal examiners.
  • Practical group exam on a given theme (40 % of total). Further described in the semester plan. Internal and external examiners.

An overall individual final grade is awarded for the course using grading scale A to F. A indicating excellent and F indicating fail.Both parts of the exam must be passed in order to pass the course.

Course evaluation

The course will be evaluated at the end of the course.

Reading list

The reading list was last updated on 1 December 2020.

* = included in electronic compendium

*Austin, Philosophical Papers Oxford: Clarendon Press, chapter 10 “Performative Utterances” pp. 220-240. ISBN: 9781298498199 (21 pages)

Beckett. Waiting for Godot: a tragicomedy in two acts London: Faber & Faber, 2006 (1955) (87 pages)

*Bjørnsen. (2012) Norwegian cultural policy — A civilising mission? The Cultural Rucksack and abstract faith in the transforming powers of the arts. Poetics. Volume 40, Issue 4, pp. 382-404. (22 pages) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2012.05.005

Boal Theatre of the Oppressed (tr. McBride, Mcbride and Fryer) London: Pluto press (2000 edition or newer) ISBN: 978-0-7453-2839-3. (174 pages)

Bogart, Anne, and Tina Landau. The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition. New York: Theatre Communication Group, 2005. ISBN: 9781559362412 (218 pages)

*Eco “The Frames of comic ‘freedom’” in Sebeok, Thomas A., Umberto. Eco, Vi͡acheslav Vsevolodovich. Ivanov, Mônica. Rector, and Marcia E. Erickson. Carnival! Approaches to Semiotics; Berlin: Mouton Publishers, 1984, pp. 1-10. ISBN: 3-11-084871-6 (10 pages)

Fischer-Lichte, Erika., and Saskya Iris. Jain. The Transformative Power of Performance: A New Aesthetics. London: Routledge, 2008. ISBN: 9780415458559 Chapters 2, 3, 5 and 7. (100 pages)

*Harari, Yuval Noah, John Purcell, and Haim Watzman. Sapiens : A Brief History of Humankind. London: Vintage Books, 2015. Pages 1-69. ISBN: 978-0-099-59008-8

Mould, Oli. Against Creativity. London: Verso books, 2018. ISBN: 9781786636492 (202 pages)

Rappaport, Roy (1999) Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge University Press, chapter 1-4 (139 pages)

Sauter, Willmar. Eventness : A Concept of the Theatrical Event. 2nd Rev. ed. Stockholm: STUTS, 2008. ISBN: 9789186434342 (149 pages)

*Schechner, Richard. Performance Theory. Routledge Classics. London: Routledge, 2003. Chapter 4 (pp. 112-170). ISBN: 0415314550 (61 pages)

*Songe-Møller, A., Bjerkestrand, K. & Bjørnstad, G. B. (2018). The responsible citizen: An investigation of the Theatre of the Oppressed. Applied Theatre Research Vol. 6(2). https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.6.2.139_1 (Translated article) (16 pages)

Žižek, Slavoj (2016) Antigone. Bloomsbury (72 pages)

Last updated from FS (Felles studentsystem) Oct. 15, 2026 2:42:07 AM