Module manager: Ross Truscott
Email: R.Truscott@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| ARTF3102 | After Authoritarianism |
This module is not approved as an Elective
After Authoritarianism takes as its point of departure a twenty-first century resurgence of authoritarianisms in numerous parts of the world. While authoritarianism has drawn much attention in the social sciences, this course pursues it from an Arts and Humanities perspective, giving particular attention to aesthetics. While considering debates over art and politics, the module focusses on aesthesis, perception by sensation, and the technologies of everyday life—of surveillance and control, of administration and management, of communication and entertainment—that shape human perception. If authoritarianism is, in part, a training in perception, the module explores how an aesthetic education might work towards undoing authoritarian formations. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The module aims to offer you a grounding in three interrelated areas of study. Firstly, it engages twentieth century problematisations of authoritarianism. We will focus on critiques that emerged in, around, and in conversation with the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Secondly, it engages twenty-first century studies of the resurgence of authoritarianisms. We will consider critiques of authoritarianism that seek to glean lessons from the past even as they concede that new formations of power do not fit squarely into the categories and concepts of earlier critiques of authoritarianism. Thirdly, we will focus our attention on the place of aesthetics in the above two fields, giving particular attention to aesthesis—perception by sensation—and the material and technological conditions that shape it. Through the module, you will study key cultural interventions that have aimed to transform the conditions of human perception as a way of addressing authoritarianism.
On successful completion of the module, you will be to:
1. Analyse instances of twenty-first century authoritarianism in relation to twentieth century debates about authoritarianism.
2. Discuss the concept of aesthesis in relation to critiques of authoritarianism.
3. Weigh up different arguments on how technologies of everyday life shape perception.
4. Formulate a research question relating to authoritarianism and aesthetics.
5. Reflect on the cultural analysis of authoritarianism in relation to the other fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences that study authoritarianism.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
6. Gather information and perspectives from a range of sources.
7. Reflect on the ways in which institutions—such as universities, but also galleries, museums, and the culture industry more generally—are implicated in the problem of authoritarianism.
8. Demonstrate the ability to think critically about constellations of authority, and creatively about how to work, practically, towards the democratisation of everyday life.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 3 | 30 |
| Private study hours | 270 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 30 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
You will be offered formative (constructive, non-assessed feedback) in seminars throughout the module. You are invited to book a meeting to discuss your essay topic with the module leader at any point during the module. You will be offered written formative feedback after the final essay. After the final essay mark has been given, you will be able to book a meeting with the module leader to help you understand the grade you received and how to improve future written assignments.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Written | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 30/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team