2014-15 Coursework options for the 1000 word essay

Rubbish: The culture of junk:

 Our understanding of 'rubbish' is culturally constructed. What is regarded as waste reveals changing attitudes towards consumption and sustainability. This topic encourages you to explore the meanings to be found in the ways in which societies, subcultures and individuals conceptualise, discard and dispose of goods. The range of issues you might address include the process by which objects move from having value to being valueless; the reclaiming of rubbish as an anti-consumerist act; the scavenging and trading of trash; rubbish as art and as fashion. It is often said that we live in a disposable culture. Are material goods the only things that we dispose of so readily? You might also want to consider the other things we discard or devalue: people, relationships, education.

Rites of Passage: Moving on:

 A rite of passage is a cultural practice that marks a time when a person reaches a new and significant change in his/her life and such moments of transition are often acknowledged through ceremonies or other formal or informal rituals. These rituals can be anything from a high school prom or a birthday party, to a funeral. Most rites help people to understand their new roles in society and can also help to bring about a change in the way others perceive them. This is an opportunity to explore significant rites of passage and the cultural products and practices through which they are experienced, narrated and represented.

Entertaining Ways: Amusing ourselves

The entertainment industry permeates our culture in many ways. It shapes the cultural practices of billions of people around the world, through cinema going, watching television, DVDs or downloads, listening to music, playing computer games and reading magazines. However, at the same time as advances in technology have enhanced and expanded the forms of entertainment available to us, the entertainment industry has been criticised for its negative effects on society. Some of the issues at the heart of recent debates include: the trivializing of culture, the dumbing down of audiences, the damaging effects of screen violence and the increasingly individualised way in which we consume entertainment and the consequent undermining of communities and social interaction. This topic encourages you to explore an aspect of these debates or any of the numerous issues, which an examination of the entertainment industry reveals. Whichever focus you choose, you will need to identify a range of relevant sources that will help you to produce an informed and discursive argument.