Module Identifier IP31020  
Module Title WHAT IS POST MODERNISM ANYWAY?  
Academic Year 2000/2001  
Co-ordinator Dr Jenny Edkins  
Semester Intended For Use In Future Years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Lecture   10 Hours 10 x 1 hour  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours 10 x hour  
Assessment Essay   1 x 1,500 word short essay   30%  
  Assignment   1 x 2,500 word assignment   45%  
  Seminar presentation   Seminars participation and presentation   25%  

Brief description
This module provides an introduction to the politics of what some call the postmodern critical agenda: questions of knowledge/power; subjectivity; practices of exclusion and closure; and notions of time and essence. It will address the question 'What is
postmodernity?' through a study in depth of three writers - Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan. The course begins with an examination of Freud, Saussure and Marx as precursors of this strand of thought. It also considers the work of Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek. Seminars will be student led and based on a careful reading of selected texts supported by extensive discussion. The lectures will include opportunities for questions and debate.

Aims
Research inspired by post-modern or post-structuralist approaches forms a challenging contribution to recent international relations, political theory and postcolonialism. There are two linked modules that explore this field. This first module, which is introductory, looks at the writings of thinkers associated with the move. It allows students to develop a thorough critical appreciation and understanding of the field through a reading of 'primary' writings. They will then be well placed to go on if they wish to
study scholars of international politics or postcolonialism who draw on this work, for example by taking the second module (IP31120 Identity, 'race' and displacement) or other courses. Criticisms will be addressed, but the module will concentrate on introducing the debates and giving a flavour of the excitement of these approaches. There are no prerequisites.

Objectives
By the end of the course, students should:

- have a good understanding of approaches described as postmodern or post-structural
- be able to discuss some of the ethico-political questions raised by this work
- be able to demonstrate a familiarity with key post-structuralist writers, based on a direct reading of their texts

Reading Lists
Books
** Recommended Text
Jenny Edkins. Poststructuralism and IR.
Alan Sheridan. Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth.