Language and Society

3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021246ANR for all students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Sonja Lavaert (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
18 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

After a thematic and historical introduction on what will be discussed, the first part focuses on the project of modernity in which ideas of equality and freedom take shape in conjunction with a new vision on language. Religion, tradition and dogmas are questioned, freedom of thought and expression becomes to be central. According to this leitmotif, the following key figures are treated: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx, Gramsci. Part two deals with the criticism of modernity of the Frankfurter Schule (Horkheimer & Adorno, Benjamin, Marcuse, Habermas), the postmodern thinkers (Lyotard, Derrida, Foucault) and Arendt. The third part looks at current critical theories that build on this criticism with a reflection in which language practice is central. The following themes are addressed: biopolitics; multitude; postcolonialism (i.a. Agamben, Negri, Said, Spivak). The fourth part focusses on concepts and analyses relating to the European project.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Teksten en materiaal, Canvas
Course text (Required) : Syllabus: Taal en maatschappij. Inleiding in moderne en kritische theorieën, Sonja Lavaert, VUB, 2220170008486, 2021
Handbook (Recommended) : Vrijheid, gelijkheid, veelheid, Het moderne democratie-denken van Machiavelli tot Spinoza en zijn kring, Sonja Lavaert, VUBPress, 9789057187933, 2020

Additional info

The lectures take place 3/4 digitally and 1/4 on campus (if necessary, on campus lectures are converted to live digital). In the physical and digital lectures, reading and searching assignments are given to document the course. Texts are provided for compulsory independent reading as well as for documentation purposes.

Tutoring: by appointment with lecturer, e-mail, and electronic learning platform.

Learning Outcomes

Doelstellingen

Students have acquired general knowledge about social theories in relation to the language of the modern and contemporary world.
Students are able to acquire and elaborate consolidated information about language and social theories in Dutch and another language.
Students understand the historical and linguistic nature of social systems of thought.
Students are able to situate current social theoretical and cultural discourses in a global and historical perspective.
Students are able to take in consideration alternative approaches and different perspective.
Students are able to argue a thesis.
Students respect the values, norms and attitudes of other human beings.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
LEC Paper determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the LEC Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Take home examen with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Note: Take home examen

Additional info regarding evaluation

The written Take home exam consists of open questions, reflection questions and an essay question about the content of the syllabus/book and lectures.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context