Module manager: Prof. Derek Edyvane
Email: d.j.edyvane@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
| PIED3617 | Reimagining Politics: Gender, Race, and Popular Culture |
PIED3617 Reimagining Politics: Gender, Race, and Popular Culture
This module is approved as a discovery module
Democracy is in peril. In the face of rising populism, authoritarianism, and autocracy, the complacent assumption of democracy’s triumph has withered. The task for democrats today is not one of perfecting their institutions, but of confronting tyranny. This module introduces students to critical debates in contemporary democratic theory. It asks what democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and self-government mean in a time of crisis. And it asks how to keep those ideals alive.
This module aims
(i) to introduce students to important conceptual and normative issues in democratic theory.
(ii) to equip students to analyse and evaluate a range of arguments and positions in relation to these issues.
(iii) to develop students’ ability to reflect on, summarise and present the key issues and their analyses of them in writing.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Understand advanced normative and conceptual issues in democratic theory.
2. Appreciate how normative and conceptual issues in democratic theory link to one another and to wider issues in contemporary society and political practice.
3. Critically engage the problems that key texts in democratic theory are seeking to identify, and assess their relevance for contemporary democratic challenges.
4. Build Analyse and evaluate conceptual and normative arguments in political theory.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
1. Weigh up different arguments and perspectives, using supporting evidence to form opinions, arguments, theories and ideas.
2. Reflect critically on learning and how it relates to personal experience, and demonstrate learning and growth from the experience.
3. Communicate effectively and to a high level in written form to articulate an argument, supported by relevant evidence and adhering to academic convention.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Seminar | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Private study hours | 178 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 22 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
A formal formative assessment opportunity will be provided for the summative assessment task, which is specifically pedagogically aligned to that task. As part of this, each student will receive feedback designed to support the development of knowledge and skills that will be later assessed in the summative task
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | - | 25 |
| Coursework | - | 75 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Extensive guidance is provided to support students in completing the two assessment tasks, both in written form and in two in-person workshops run in the usual lecture slots.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
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