Outline

Overview

This unit provides you with the tools to look at the world in a new light, investigating a range of differing perspectives, such as those of nationalism, feminism, conservatism, post-structuralism, Marxism, Taoism, narcissism and the traumatised. The unit makes a case for the lifelong benefits of wide and critical reading. It is committed to deep thinking and learning through engaging with key texts that examine ideas across a range of cultures. Focussed engagement with texts will improve your critical thinking skills, stimulate your curiosity in new areas and encourage your creativity, as you closely read and imaginatively respond to texts, movements and their at times provocative ideas.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	FASS2100
Academic unit	Arts and Social Sciences
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	must be in the Dalyell stream
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Brendon O'Connor, brendon.oconnor@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Response papers n/a	20%	-	750 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Essay n/a	50%	- Due date: 01 Jun 2022 at 23:00	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Response papers n/a	20%	Multiple weeks	750 words
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Seminar participation n/a	10%	Ongoing	You must attend 10 seminars
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Response papers: You need to write two papers on 2 of the set texts. These pieces of writing will be your thoughts and reflections on a particular text.
Essay: This is an essay on any of the book length set texts, however, you cannot write on the texts chosen for your response pieces. The essay should be a more wide ranging piece of writing than the response paper and it should draws on your close reading of the text as well as reviews and expert opinions. The text should be placed in context and you should discuss one or more of the debates the text contributes to.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Descriptions for the FINAL ESSAY
High distinction	85 - 100	Very well written and well-structured paper. Close and deep reading of the set text. Use of other illuminating texts to develop arguments about the set text and the issues it raises. The paper develops an argument rather than just commenting on a series of quotes and other people’s ideas. Or simply, brilliantly original.
Distinction	75 - 84	Well written paper. Close reading of the set text. Use of other texts to develop arguments. This paper develops an argument, but it lacks the focus, coherence or originality of an HD as it relies too much on other people’s arguments. Or what holds the paper back is that it still needed more redrafting to sharpen its argument and overall coherence.
Credit	65 - 74	A solid effort that focuses on the set text but reads like an early draft. Shows reading of the set text but this reading is not particularly close or deep. Use of other useful sources but these sources do not provide strong insights into the set text or topic of analysis. Often a credit essay needs better structuring, and it reads as each paragraph is exploring a new thought, rather than paragraphs building upon each other. Or credit essays tend to become repetitive as the essay is not based on deep or wide enough reading to develop more than a few thoughts.
Pass	50 - 64	This essay does enough to pass a university unit as it shows familiarity with the set text. However, students in the Dalyell program should not be satisfied with pass marks for essays. A pass essay tends to be poorly written or not particularly well constructed. The amount of research and reading presented in the essay is underwhelming. The essay tends to lack any sustaining or convincing argument to keep the essay together as a coherent piece of work. Pass essays tend to be very vague or repetitive. They are often hard to read as the marker is looking for the argument and some structure and failing to find it. Pass essays often read like first drafts.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Orwell and Nationalism – Brendon O’Connor	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 01	Introductions and Orwell	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 02	Kushner, the Essay and Radicalism - Brendon O'Connor	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Kushner, the essay and radicalism	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 03	Feminism - TBC	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	The Second Sex	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 04	Feminism - Annamarie Jagose	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	What is a woman? and Gender Trouble	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 05	Environmentalism - John Keane	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Kolbert - The Sixth Extinction	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 06	Environmentalism - Danielle Celermajer	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Danielle Celermajer - Summertime	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 07	Beloved in Historical and Political Context – Brendon O’Connor	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Beloved	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 08	Peter Minter - The White Girl	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	The White Girl	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 09	Lasch, Narcissism, and the Internet - Brendon O'Connor	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	The Culture of Narcissism	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 10	David Foster Wallace, Manipulation and Narcissism - Lucas Thompson	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Good old Neon	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 11	Chinese History and The King of Trees - Sean Moores	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	The King of Trees	Seminar (1 hr)
Week 12	Contemporary Chinese Politics and Society – Minglu Chen	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	China	Seminar (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Weeks 1: Nationalism

Reading: George Orwell, Essays (The Penguin Modern Classics edition) with introduction by Bernard Crick.

The two compulsory essays to read are: “Notes on Nationalism” and “Politics and the English Language”… “Shooting an Elephant” and “A Hanging” are also highly recommended to get a sense of Orwell the conservative socialist anti-colonial colonist

Week 2: Radicalism

Rachel Kushner, The Hard Crowd (Penguin, 2021)

The compulsory essays to read are “Bad Captains,” “The Hard Crowd,” “Is Prison Necessary?,” “Bunny” and “Lipstick Traces.”

Weeks 3 and 4: Feminism

Readings: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (the compulsory chapter to read is titled “Childhood”) and Toril Moi, “What is a Woman?” in What is a Woman, Oxford University Press, 2001; Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, (Chapter 1)

Weeks 5 and 6: Environmentalism

Reading: Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction

Weeks 7 and 8: Racism, Colonialism and Trauma

Reading: Toni Morrison, Beloved

Reading: Tony Birch, The White Girl

Weeks 9 and 10: Narcissism and Populism

Reading: Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism and David Foster Wallace, “Good old Neon” in Oblivion, Abacus, 2004.

Weeks 11 and 12: Maoism, Taoism and Xiism

Reading: Ah Cheng, "The King of Trees: Three Novellas: the King of Trees, the King of Chess, the King of Children", New Directions Publishing Corporation (2010)

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Communicate effectively in written and spoken English
LO2. Engage deeply with key texts on movements and ideas that changed the world
LO3. Learn how to analyse issues and debates from a multi-disciplinary perspective
LO4. Develop a deeper theoretical understanding of key social and political issues
LO5. Develop an understanding the strengths of fiction and non-fiction in understanding history, politics and society.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

I will spend more time this year explaining the assignment expectations in writing, in an online video that they can re-watch, and via examples. I will also tutor in the unit this year and that always helps in my experience to be aware of student concerns early rather than too late.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

FASS2100: Ideas and Movements that Changed the World

Semester 1, 2022 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect