BA (Hons) Liberal Arts (Global Engagement Year) Bachelor's degree at Lancaster University

Discover how conceptions of the Liberal Arts in global and local contexts are shaped through past and present narratives. You will engage with a series of cultural artefacts, such as a film, museum object, or an iconic figure, and through these you’ll explore a range of social issues and opportunities that connect the humanities to the real world. You will approach each cultural artefact of study from a range of disciplinary methods, including subjects such as: Approaching objectivity Power structures Decolonisation Digital literacy By focusing on narratives – how they are constructed, what effects they have, who they are aimed at – you will begin to understand and critique how humanity shar

In this module you will explore religion as a central dimension of global society, focusing on how religious ideas, practices, and identities intersect with major political and ethical issues. It provides a focused introduction to religion in global contexts. The module is organised into three main areas, which explore “religion” as a category of analysis. These may be organised either regionally – for example, Africa, South Asia, and the Muslim world – or thematically, depending on available expertise. Thematic focuses may include issues such as conflict and peacebuilding, climate change and environmental ethics, or questions of gender, identity, and power. Throughout this course you will e

This module starts with an introductory session on ‘What is culture?’, and will then take you onto a learning journey through a range of cultural phenomena and practices. In each case, you will engage with relevant critical and analytical theory from a different discipline and with an experientially grounded ‘voice.’ The theories, phenomena and practices include a selection of any of the below: The figure of the witch and Silvia Federici’s analysis of the European witch-hunts: feminist historiography and the critique of popular representations The reactionary mind: the interplay of disposition and ideology in the study of ultra-conservatism through political theory and programmatic texts Pow

Discover opportunities for making a real difference in the local community by mapping and remapping the region and its range of communities. You will learn critical and theoretical approaches to spatial humanities. Then, through workshops on location in community settings and a series of guest speakers, you will use this knowledge and experience to map community organisations and networks. Addressing a range of themes such as mobilities, networks, invisible existence, or cohesion, you’ll create and archive a landscape visualisation of the region which will build each year to enact lasting change and engagement with North-West communities.

Develop your critical and analytical skills in relation to culturally, socially and politically relevant themes. You will learn to read critically within and across a variety of disciplines and genres. Themes may include: Crisis and paradigm shifts The State and Institutions The relationship between ideology (or post-ideology) and political formation Relationality with place Resistance to infrastructure projects Cyberpunk and Big Tech Alongside each theme you will study contextualizing information such as interviews or manifestos by individuals or collectives, another text that offers analysis or intervention and a representation (for example, a film, novella, essay, exhibition and so on). Y

Hone a strong sense of purpose and gain the satisfaction of applying your skills and knowledge to a community, charity or student-led initiative. Your challenge will be to take responsibility for arranging and completing a voluntary or fundraising activity, locally, virtually or during vacation periods at home. You will need to show that you have made a positive difference through this activity. In class, you will be asked to reflect on this experience and explore the wider social impact of the work. In doing so you will build your confidence in your ability to contribute meaningfully to society through your future personal and professional path.

You are invited to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team with other students as you explore major global challenges such as climate change, inequality or emerging technologies. Throughout the module you will examine how the humanities, arts and social sciences contribute to understanding and addressing complex issues. Classroom discussions and activities focus on the process of identifying problems and considering innovative, ethical responses, while helping you to consider and articulate the relevance of this work to your personal and professional development.

Explore how ideas can be developed into real-world projects with lasting value. Through hands-on collaboration and problem-solving, you will develop innovative projects, learn how to bring ideas to life and explore ways to sustain them. Whether you are working in a team or individually, you will be encouraged to experiment with different approaches to making a difference in artistic, cultural, social and community spaces.

In this module you will explore how issues concerning gender, womanhood, and sexuality have played out in relation to culture and religious traditions across the world and through time. You will be encouraged to question preconceptions and examine – through an analytical gender lens – how practices of piety have both empowered and enabled, as well as controlled, women in expressing their experiences, identities, and agency. You will explore how religious texts, rituals, and institutions have constrained or facilitated gendered expressions using case studies from Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and indigenous traditions. A focus on the subcontinent may examine sacred womanhood, investigating c

Spanning the linguistic and cultural contexts of France, Germany, Spain, and the Sinophone world, this module explores how language functions as a primary site of identity formation, political contestation, and cultural power. You will explore various topics, such as: Language standardisation and stigma Minority and regional languages Multilingualism and migration Linguistic nationalism Colonial and postcolonial language politics The relationship between language, class, and social reproduction Through sociolinguistics, cultural theory, and the analysis of film and literature, you will investigate: The ways in which language policies reflect and reproduce relations of power, and how their hu

This module equips you with the skill set to analyse films from the UK, Europe, Latin America and China in their socio-historical contexts through core themes, typically migration, the environment, artificial intelligence and gender. You will make use of the ‘language of film’ (cinematic techniques and genre conventions) to explore migration, for example, through sociological concepts of human movement, the role of documentary in representing beneficial and detrimental approaches to the environment, the concept of ‘artificial culture’ through the blurring of human/non-human boundaries in film, and the relationships between masculinities and different forms of violence on screen. In the proce

In this final project module, you will apply your own Liberal Arts perspective in a practical, external-facing way designed to strengthen a range of employability skills. Inspired by works of relevant historical and contemporary figures, you will collaborate with external stakeholders to create a project in response to a jointly devised brief. You’ll work on the project element of the module as a group. The output(s) will be presented at the end of the year and may take different forms such as: Creative performance Policy work Multimedia projects You will also create an individual journal in which you will discuss your contribution to the project, drawing on the experience, knowledge and ski

You will explore how humanities research gets out into the world, and what happens when it meets other kinds of knowledge. You will look at the relationship between academic research, professional practice and expertise through experience. Through examples, discussion and practical work, you will develop your own sense of how humanities research can work with people, places, organisations and publics.

What do we understand by queerness? Looking back at earlier interpretations, we imagine how queerness might evolve, how it might be lived, felt and understood in the future. You will explore queer futures from a range of perspectives and viewpoints, while examining both feminist and queer theory, as well as queer media and cultural texts and material relating to areas such as activism, politics and healthcare.

What are the possibilities and pitfalls of community and citizen action, voice and agency? This module uses interdisciplinary case-studies to critically examine collaboration with communities. You will participate in activities such as a mock citizens' assembly, visit local community groups and hear different points of view from a range of guest speakers on concepts like power, race, gender, class, affect and justice.

How might we engage with the implications of environmental transformation locally, nationally and globally? Where do we have agency and capacity to intervene? This module brings together a range of perspectives, historical, political, philosophical and cultural, to explore the nature and severity of the effects of the climate crisis on our world.

What happens when radically different forms of art meet? How do these fused forms change our understanding of the world? We will draw on material from different periods and continents, to explore works of art where, for example, film meets history, poetry meets philosophy, fine art meets sociology, religion meets fiction, and theatre meets politics.

You will explore imagined futures through creative and critical approaches. You will consider how you can contribute to future challenges, from community and the environment to technology, utopia, dystopia and alternative timelines. Starting with a series of workshops on set readings, you’ll progress on to envisaging your future career through a series of interventions and collaborative work.

What do we mean by 'dictatorship' in the 20th and 21st centuries? You will explore distinctions between totalitarianism and authoritarianism, single party rule, military and personalist dictatorships, for example. We will discuss the political, social and ideological conditions that enable dictators to come to power, consider the structures they put in place to establish and maintain their rule, and reflect on why so many dictators have clung onto power for so long. This module addresses questions, such as: How have dictators represented their political projects to the people? What is the importance of rhetoric to the dictator? What kind of language have they used? What is the role of 'offic

In this module you will explore the relationships between sciences and cultures in an experimental “laboratory” environment, spanning scientific and humanistic knowledge in diverse linguistic and cultural settings across the world. Topics covered include Spirits and Matter, Neoshamanism, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Futures, Transformations in Medical Science, Hospitals, Healthcare, Witchcraft, Cosmologies, Technocracies etc. Sources come from multiple genres, such as speculative fiction, graphic novels, film, philosophical essays, and online talks. Focusing on diverse humanities perspectives and renderings of scientific goods and harms, this module asks intriguing questions

Explore how religion and the modern state have developed in relation to one another across different historical and global contexts. You will be encouraged to question common assumptions about secularism and political authority and examine how religion continues to shape political life. You will further analyse how religious traditions both influence and are transformed by modern state structures. You will engage with key questions such as: What role does religion play in contemporary governance? How have modern states redefined religious authority and practice? To what extent does religion support, challenge, or reconfigure political ideologies such as liberal democracy and human rights? Wh