| Code | Faculty | Department |
|---|---|---|
| 01130133 | Faculty of Humanities | Department: School of the Arts |
| Credits | Duration | NQF level |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum duration of study: 3 years | Total credits: 368 | NQF level: 07 |
With the increasing importance of the visual medium in the communications and cultural media, informed interaction with all forms of visual culture has become imperative. This programme aims to promote visual literacy by offering instruction in the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of various aspects of visual culture, in both an historical and contemporary context.
Closing date for applications: 30 September annually.
Please apply as soon as applications open on 1 March.
1. You will be considered for conditional admission, if space allows, and if you:
2. You will be considered for final admission to degree studies, if space allows, and if you:
Minimum requirements | ||
Achievement level | ||
English Home Language or English First Additional Language | APS | |
NSC/IEB | AS Level | |
5 |
C |
30 |
To retain admission, you must obtain an APS of at least 28 in the NSC.
Academic literacy
The academic literacy of all students who enrol at the University of Pretoria for the first time and all new students enrolling with the Faculty of Humanities for the first time will be assessed at the start of the academic year by means of their NSC marks.
Students following a degree programme: The NSC Grade 12 English mark will be used to determine whether students in the Faculty of Humanities should register for the academic literacy modules (ALL 110 and ALL 125 ):
All students in the Faculty of Humanities who are identified as being at risk in terms of their level of academic literacy, are compelled to obtain at least 12 credits in the academic literacy modules ALL 110 and ALL 125.
All students in the Faculty of Humanities who are not at risk in terms of their level of academic literacy, are compelled to obtain at least 12 credits in language modules:
Department of English
ENG 110 Introduction to literature in English (I)
ENG 120 Introduction to literature in English (II)
ENG 118 English for specific purposes
Departement Afrikaans
AFR 110 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde
AFR 120 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde
AFR 114 Afrikaans vir sprekers van ander tale (I)
Department of African Languages
NDE 110 Introduction to isiNdebele grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take isiNdebele in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
ZUL 110 IsiZulu for beginners
ZUL 111 Introduction to isiZulu grammar – Capita selecta
* Students want to take isiZulu in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
SEP 110 Sepedi for beginners
SEP 111 Introduction to Sepedi Grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take Sepedi in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
STW 110 Setswana for beginners
STW 111 Introduction to Setswana Grammar – Capita selecta
*Students who want to take Setswana in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
Department of Modern European Languages
DTS 104 German for beginners
DTS 113 German: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 German
FRN 104 French for beginners
FRN 113 French: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 French
SPN 101 Spanish for beginners
SPN 102 Spanish for beginners
PTG 101 Portuguese for beginners
Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures
HEB 110 Hebrew
LAT 110 Latin
GRK 110 Greek
LANGUAGE GROUPS FOR SELECTION IN PROGRAMMES
Note: Consult the yearbook for module-specific requirements/prerequisites by searching for the relevant language module.
Module group 1 – Afrikaans
Year level 1
• As a first language: AFR 110, 120
• For speakers of other languages (also for speakers of other languages who are registered for qualifications in education and law) AFR 114
• For law students (first language): AFR 110 Note: AFR 120 may be taken additionally.
• For students following a programme in education: AFR 110, 120; (first language); AFR 114 (speakers of other languages)
Year level 2
• As a first language: AFR 214, AFR 210 ,220
• For students following a programme in education: AFR 214, AFR 220
Year level 3
• As a first language: AFR 311, 321
• For students following a programme in education: Any modules with alpha codes AFR offered at year level 3.
Module group 2 – English
Year level 1
• For special purposes: ENG 118
• For academic purposes: ENG 110, 120
Year level 2
ENG 210, 220
Year level 3
• ENG 310, 320
• ENG 311, 322
Module group 3 – French
Year level 1
• For beginners: FRN 104, 181 (LLM students)
• Cultural-professional (for students who have passed French in Grade 12): FRN 113, 123
Year level 2
FRN 211, 221
Year level 3
Cultural-professional: FRN 361, 362, 363, 364
Module group 4 – German
Year level 1
• For beginners: DTS 104
• Cultural-professional (for students who have passed German in Grade 12): DTS 113, 123
Year level 2
DTS 211, 221
Year level 3
Cultural-professional: DTS 361, 362, 363, 364
Module group 5 – Greek
Year level 1
GRK 110, 120
Year level 2
GRK 210, 220
Module group 6 – Hebrew
Year level 1
HEB 110, 120
Year level 2
HEB 210, 220
Module group 7 – Latin
Year level 1
LAT 110, 120 (students who passed Latin in Grade 12 may start immediately with Latin at year level 2)
Year level 2
LAT 210, 220
Year level 3
LAT 310, 320
Module group 8 – IsiNdebele
Year level 1
For speakers of isiNdebele as home language or first or second additional language
NDE 110, AFT 121
Year level 2
NDE 210, AFT 220
Year level 3
NDE 310, AFT 320
Module group 9 – IsiZulu
Year level 1
• For beginners: ZUL 110, 120
• For speakers of isiZulu as home language or first or second additional language: ZUL 111, AFT 121
Year level 2
• For students who did ZUL 110, 120 at year level 1: ZUL 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121: ZUL 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, ZUL 211
Year level 3
ZUL 310, AFT 320
Module group 10 – Sepedi
Year level 1
• For beginners: SEP 110,120
• For speakers of Sepedi as home language or first or second additional language: SEP 111, AFT 121
Year level 2
• For students who did SEP 110, 120 at year level 1: SEP 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121, SEP 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, SEP 211
Year level 3
SEP 310, AFT 320
Module group 11 – Setswana
Year level 1
• For beginners: STW 110, 120
• For speakers of Setswana as home language or first or second additional language: STW 111, AFT 121
Year level 2
• For students who did STW 110, 120 at year level 1: STW 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121, STW 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, STW 211
Year level 3
STW 310, AFT 320
Module group 12 – Spanish
Year level 1
For beginners: SPN 101, 102
Year level 2
SPN 211, 221
Year level 3
SPN 311, 321
Module group 13 – Portuguese
Year level 1
• For beginners: PTG 101
• Portuguese language and culture (for students who have passed Portuguese in Gr 12): PTG 113, 123
Year level 2
PTG 211, 221
Year level 3
PTG 311, 321
Minimum credits: 122
Elective modules for the first year
Select any three disciplines (subjects) at year level one and do two semester modules from each of these disciplines (to the value of at least 68 credits).
Special note: If BEM is selected as a discipline to continue with up to the third year, note that STK 110 is a prerequisite for BEM 314 and should already be taken in the first year of study.
If a language is selected as one of the three disciplines, the information provided under Language Groups should be taken into consideration – see Other programme-specific information.
Module content:
Find, evaluate, process, manage and present information resources for academic purposes using appropriate technology.
Module content:
Apply effective search strategies in different technological environments. Demonstrate the ethical and fair use of information resources. Integrate 21st-century communications into the management of academic information.
Module content:
This module intends to equip students to cope more confidently and competently with the reading and understanding of a variety of texts, to apply these skills in a variety of contexts and to follow the conventions of academic writing.
Module content:
This module equips students to understand and use a range of discipline-specific terminology; apply the strategies of critical and comprehensive reading to their own academic literacy; apply the conventions of academic writing to their own writing, using the process approach, to produce intelligible academic texts and use the correct referencing technique as required by the faculty.
Module content:
This module provides an overview of the fundamentals of marketing by considering the exchange process, customer value, marketing research and the development of a marketing plan. It also addresses the marketing mix elements with specific focus on the seven service marketing elements namely the service product, physical evidence, people, process, distribution, pricing and integrated marketing communication.
Module content:
Foundations of visual culture
This module introduces art and visual culture theory using a wide range of texts and ideas. The module gives students wide exposure to visual discourses and includes a variety of visual culture examples e.g. artworks, advertisements. These discourses may include: exploring what visual culture is; modes of analysis; introducing terminology such as ideology and myth; dealing with selected periods from history contextually; introducing cultural icons and themes from popular visual culture.
Module content:
Images across media: current issues
This module presents an introduction into the ways in which images appear across media in contemporary visual culture from a specific African perspective within the global. This is done by means of exploring key modes, themes, genres, platforms and visual texts. Among the media and mediums that may be covered are photography, art, graphic design, advertising, film, documentaries, video, digital and social media.
Module content:
This introduction to social anthropology introduces basic themes of the discipline including ritual, religion, marriage and sex. It combines classic studies with recent scholarship, and asks the ‘big question’ about human society and human cultures that offer challenging perspectives on the world we live in.
Module content:
This module builds on the ethnographic and theoretical themes introduced in APL 110, asking particular questions about how we may think about the relationship between the local and the global; indigenous and universal; public and private; the real and the possible.The module continues in the vein of APL 110, in that it explicitly encourages students to understand the society in which they live through a series of critical anthropological perspectives.
Module content:
The languages of drama and film
This module introduces the languages of drama and film as well as approaches to drama and film analysis. In addition, historical and contemporary drama and film theories will be used to read various drama and film texts.
A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.
Module content:
Drama and film genres: This module introduces the notion of genre as part of a wider concept of narrative building and storytelling in both drama and film. Different types of genre are introduced and discussed with regard to film and drama and furthermore linked to the idea of emerging identities in contemporary storytelling. All these parts are conceptually introduced and provide an introduction to reading, interpretation and giving meaning to various discourses in film and drama narratives.
Module content:
Overview of the origin and nature of tourism development of South African cultural, natural and adventure tourist destinations.
Module content:
An introductory exploration of the relationship between heritage conservation and tourism.
Module content:
Introduction to Philosophy
The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, ontology and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely epistemology and metaphysics with reference to the work of a range of scholars from the Global South and the West. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as critical judgment and discernment.
Module content:
Introduction to Philosophy
The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, ontology and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely ontology and ethics and the emphasis is on texts by African and Western scholars. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as critical judgment and discernment.
Module content:
The making of the Modern World: a survey
A selection of themes on Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and their contribution to the making of the Modern World.
Module content:
Africa and South Africa: a survey
An overview focusing on the making of African and South African societies from the earliest times to the present with emphasis on the most significant historical forces, factors and events.
Module content:
This module is an introduction to the study field of information science and its various professions. Key concepts that will be discussed include the following: the human as information processor and user; the life-cycle of information in terms of processes, products and role-players; as well as the communication of information. The social-ethical impact of globalisation is included as a key concern, with reference to Africa.
Module content:
Information and communication technology. This module offers a brief overview of hardware and software, telecommunications technology, LANs, WANs and intranets, the information highway, the internet and the World Wide Web, computer ethics, ICTs, e-commerce, mobile computing technology and the influence that new trends and developments have on the distribution of information.
Module content:
What is religion? The functions of religion. Studying religion. Perspectives on religion. Common concepts and key terms in various religions will be dealt with - also generic dimensions and aspects. The interdependence of religion, culture and society.
Module content:
The occurrence of religion in societies. Types of religion. Primal religions. Christianity, Judaism, Islam. A variety of religions will be addressed: capita selecta will be made from Christianity; Hinduism; Buddhism; New Religions; New Age; main developments in the world and South Africa.
Minimum credits: 126
Elective modules for the second year
Select any two disciplines (subjects) which were sucessfully completed at year level one and do both semesters at year level two ( to the value of 80 credits). If DFK and /or BEM modules are selected, an additional module must be taken to meet the minimum credit requirement of 80.
Module content:
Gender, sexuality and visual representation
Introduction to the representation of sex, gender and sexuality in visual culture. Gender theory and terminology related to feminism, masculinity studies and lbgtq theory (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, queer) are unpacked. Themes and issues in gender and identity politics such as the male hero, the nude in late 19th century art, the femme fatale, hysteria, androgyny and transsexuality are dealt with. Sexuality and gender issues across a range of visual cultural such as soaps, sitcoms, artworks, advertisements, fashion, music videos and films are addressed.
Module content:
Visual (Post)colonialisms
This module investigates aspects of Africanness, Afrocentrism, multiculturalism, transnationalism and the African diaspora and studies a cross section of work including traditional art, tourist art and the hybrid aesthetics of contemporary African art and visual culture. The module also focuses on the ideology of imperialism and colonialism and its influence on art and visual culture from the nineteenth century onwards. The influence of postcolonial thinking on the deconstruction of the ideology of colonialism is highlighted with reference to landscape and memory, the exotic and primitivism in South African visual culture.
Module content:
Cultural constructions of sex and sexuality are the primary building blocks of social organisation. Anthropological discussions of sexuality tend to revolve around the various aspects of social organisation, such as the lifecycle, gendered identities, and personhood. These discussions are informed by the cultural meanings we impute to differences in biological sex and reproduction, and the ways in which these meanings influence social organisation, personhood, and power. In this module, we will consider cultural constructions of sex and sexuality as these inform certain aspects of social organisation such as kinship and marriage. We will attempt to develop an anthropological perspective on the interplay between sex, culture and society. To this end, we will examine the physiology of sexuality, and then consider different theoretical perspectives on human sexuality as reflected in cross-cultural ethnographic case studies.
Module content:
Power and wealth
This module explores anthropological perspectives on politics, power and wealth in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Key concepts that are discussed include anthropological approaches to citizenship, cosmopolitanism, hegemony, human rights, neoliberalism, sovereignty, civil society, gender, race and class.
Module content:
Internal and external influencing factors of consumer behaviour, the consumer's decision process and application fields of consumer behaviour, consumerisms and social responsibility, buying behaviour of consumers in both product and service related industries, consumer psychology and the influence thereof on buying behaviour, psychology of pricing, influencing factors in consumer buying behaviour, the impact of various forms of marketing communication on buying behaviour.
Module content:
Integrated brand communications approach, marketing communication planning, objectives and budgets for integrated marketing communications, principles and strategising of marketing communication elements, new media, the brand name communication process, marketing metrics and evaluation for marketing communication effectiveness.
Module content:
Historical modes of Western performance
The module involves a study of the socio-political contexts of Western Classical and Renaissance theatre, redirecting the focus to the notion of violence in performance during the age of Enlightenment.
A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.
Module content:
Realism and contemporary South African performance
Concepts of naturalism and realism will be interrogated in relation to dramatic texts and performance values in both drama and film. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives since the "Age of Reason" will be offered. Against this background, the concept of "realism" will be interrogated in relation to performance texts and performance values in the emergence of interdisciplinary framework of performance studies. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives will be offered and discussed, so as to draw connections between realism, and contemporary South African performance.
A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.
Module content:
A multidisciplinary look at notions of representation and perception as they pertain to the tourism sector.
Module content:
An analysis of tourism’s history and development theories, focussing on community-based tourism (CBT) and pro-poor tourism (PPT).
Module content:
This module engages the historical emergence of modern African philosophy in relation to the Western canon. The first module traces the history of modern western philosophy as the history of different conceptions of First Philosophy – from the claim that it is epistemology (Aristotle through eg. Kant and Hegel), to ontology (eg Heidegger), to the ethical (eg. Levinas) to the claim that it is the political (eg Grosfoguel, Mignolo). The second module traces the historical process through which the modern African subject is constituted in a struggle for recognition with reference to the work of theorists such as Hegel, Du Bois, Fanon and others.
Module content:
In this module contextually relevant aspects of human reality are reflected on through philosophy considered as practical activity. Students will engage issues of socio-political relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. The focus is on key themes and texts in debates of contemporary relevance and may include issues from any of the sub-disciplines of philosophy such as political philosophy, moral philosophy and philosophy of science.
Module content:
A selection of themes on the history of Africa and its people in the recent past that shaped the African historical experience.
Module content:
The development of South Africa through segregation and apartheid to democracy.
Module content:
User studies and dissemination. This module focuses on the individual as seeker, user, reader and communicator of information. Various user groups are identified and their information use and communication patterns and requirements are analysed and investigated. This module covers methods of service provision to facilitate and enhance the use and dissemination of information in accordance with the user's needs.
Module content:
Social and ethical impact. This module examines moral and legal regulation practices related to information in print and digital environments. Different ethical theories are identified and applied to privacy, access to information, information poverty and censorship. The interpretation and enforcement of rules and regulations are discussed.
Module content:
Economics and politics of information. This module examines the economics and politics of information, with a special emphasis on South Africa's information sector. It aims to promote an understanding of the market and non-market qualities of information, and their consequences for the production, distribution and marketing of information goods and services. The ways in which information access and expression are regulated and the use of ICTs in crime and corruption is also addressed.
Module content:
Investigating the method of Phenomenology as way of studying religions. Focussing on African Christianity and the phenomenon of African Independent Churches. Highlighting Prosperity Theology as phenomenon in Africa. Exploring the place of land, water and the city within religion in Africa
Module content:
Ancient religions and Health:
Exploring ancient religions (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Zoroastranism, Aztec, Inca and Mayan) and health. Exploring the San religious treatment of health matters. The relationship magic and religion is investigated.
Minimum credits: 120
Elective modules for the third year
Select one discipline (subject) which was sucessfully completed at year level two and do both semesters at year level three ( to the value of 60 credits). If DFK and /or BEM modules are selected, an additional module must be taken to meet the minimum credit requirement of 60.
Module content:
Post/Modernities: Contemporary discourses
This module investigates Modernism and Postmodernism as the dominant aesthetic, discursive and visual paradigms of the 20th and 21st centuries. Key concepts in these discourses and counter-discourses are highlighted and explored, such as the creation of modern subjectivity, the beautiful and the sublime, the avant garde, the metaphysics of presence, originality, authorship, hermeneutics, the “language turn”, différance and the so-called “end of art”. Theorist may include: Kant, Heidegger, Derrida and Foucault.
Module content:
Visual and virtual spaces
Critical decoding of culturally encoded ideas and ideologies embodied in the construction of space, place, and cyberspace in selected Modernist and Postmodernist cultural practices. Topics include spaces of consumption and entertainment such as shopping malls; gender and spatiality; symbolic spaces; surveillance and the architecture of fear. Land art, environmental art and related debates are also addressed. The ways in which real space is virtualised through new technologies; the history and development of virtual reality, virtual communities, the cyborg and cyberpunk, as well as post humanism, are all engaged with specific emphasis on how embodiment and disembodiment are represented visually.
Module content:
This module considers the colonial histories of anthropology in Africa and their impact on traditions of knowledge production in the discipline to propose a decolonised anthropology. It does so by critically reflecting on old and contemporary ethnographies from and about the African continent and pays particular attention to ethnographic methods, politics of representation, reflexivity, power and identity as pertinent questions to establish a decolonised anthropology. Students in this module are encouraged to imagine a decolonised anthropology in and for Africa.
Module content:
Fieldwork, ethnography and theory
This module reviews themes such as conducting fieldwork, writing ethnography and developing theory in anthropology. The module allows the opportunity to gain experience with ethnographic field methods in order to develop insight into the implications of methodological choices and their relationship to research questions and settings.
Module content:
The role of marketing research, the process of marketing research, interpretation of secondary research, qualitative research, survey research, observation, measurement and attitude scaling, questionnaire design, sampling design and sampling procedures, basic data analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, interpretation and reporting of results, research report writing.
Module content:
Strategic issues in marketing, strategic marketing, strategic analysis (market analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis and internal analysis), market strategies (competitive strategies, strategies in the product life cycle and relationship building strategies) and strategy implementation and control.
Module content:
Reading cultural representation
Against the framework of post-colonialism, issues of signification, representation and meaning in performance will be considered in relation to selected theoretical approaches to performance and their concern with gender in theatre and film. Representation and subjectivity and how they are revealed as gendered fictions rather than "natural", inevitable realities will be explored through various drama and film texts. The student will explore how the body, as codified cultural product, can become a symbolic battleground for cultural supremacy in and through performance.
A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.
Module content:
Module content:
An evaluation of South African cultural activities and heritage sites, with a specific focus on tourism in practice.
Module content:
In this module the focus is on understanding humankind and its relation to reality and knowledge. The focus of the module as a whole is philosophical anthropology or contemporary metaphysics, and it trraces the development of the conceptions of ‘self’ and ‘subjectivity’ in any given philosophical tradition in Africa, the West or more generally the Global South by focussing on questions such as the relation between consciousness, self-consciousness and the human unconscious; the meaning of life; the nature of personal identity and the issue of free will.
Module content:
In this module students will philosophically engage issues of socio-political relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. A range of themes may be investigated, such as structure and agency, social imaginaries, new social formations, institutional cultures, gender and sexuality, subject constitution, and others. These issues will be be framed in a spectrum of approaches that may include Critical Theory, Theory of Ideology, Contractarianism, Social Action Theory, and Critical Race Theory.
Module content:
Historical trends in the modern world
A selection of political, economic and social themes.
Module content:
Interpreting the process of global change. Explaining the debates and the origin and nature of globalisation and its significance.
Module content:
Information Organisation. The module is concerned with the organisation of information in the digital environment focusing on the structure and use of document management and workflow systems, as well as distribution channels and virtual environments. The characteristics and application of the internet, intranets, as well as portals and applications use, are considered.
Module content:
This module deals with the construction and management of digital repositories. It also addresses the characteristics of the digital repository in a rapidly changing technological world and a challenging information society. Core aspects include: system design, relationships to hybrid libraries, digital collections and rights management, standards, virtual referencing and the development and evaluation of digital repositories.
Module content:
The function of myths and rites in current society is investigated. The relation between religion and art is explored. The place and function of music in religion is investigated. The way in which holy texts are interpreted (scriptural reasoning) within different religions is explored.
Module content:
The following social themes are addressed: Religion and Media; Religion and Ecology; Religion and Xenophobia; Religion and Homophobia; Religion and Violence; Religion and Gender equality; the possibility of Inter-religious dialogue.
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