Liberal Arts at The University of Manchester

Liberal Arts modules

Key to symbols for three routes of studying Liberal Arts (BA programmes; minor programme; free choice on other programmes)

• ✅ Compulsory (core) module
• 🆗 Available as an option (subject to programme requirements)
• 🚫 Not available as an option

Year 1

In your first year, you’ll explore the role and value of the humanities for the generation of knowledge and for their impacts on the world. You’ll be able to explore and challenge the distinction between the arts, humanities, and sciences, and learn about new, cutting-edge insights that are changing the landscape of knowledge in digital, interdisciplinary, and culturally diverse contexts. You’ll also be able to learn about the pioneers behind these ideas, interrogate why we find ourselves drawn to key thinkers over others, and ask how we might rethink our foundations for understanding ourselves and the world.

Core units

SALC11281 Research Methods in the Arts

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• 🚫 Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

Methods and methodological concerns are at the heart of all research: the questions that we ask can impact the answers that we find. As such, it’s particularly important to develop a critical understanding of methodologies, both when evaluating others’ research, as well as developing your own.

This course trains you to think critically about methodologies across the arts and humanities, partially in differentiation to scientific methodologies. You will have a chance to reflect on how you might apply different methodologies to your own interdisciplinary, challenge-led research that you will develop throughout your Liberal Arts degree programme (and beyond). What sources and datasets will you use, how will you bring together ideas from different disciplines, and how will you consider the impacts and implications of your research? Through a series of workshops - with some delivered in partnership with cultural institutions such as the John Rylands Library and the Museum of Medicine and Health - this course helps you to think about the role and value of the humanities as represented through its methods, which is an important foundation for Liberal Arts study. You will be able to make connections across ideas while raising appropriate critiques of them, which are skills that will be continually emphasised throughout your programme.

SALC10411 Humanities in Public: The Politics and Value(s) of Knowledge

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• ✅ Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

What is the role and value of the humanities? Starting with this question, this module guides you to reflect on how the humanities are important for helping us to understand and challenge the cultures and structures through which we live our lives. You will also be trained to analyse and critique how the humanities have been perceived by different groups in society, including by various disciplines both within and beyond the remit of the label 'humanities'. What impressions of the humanities, for example, are conveyed when different tuition fee rates are charged for arts vs sciences degrees? What ideals should the humanities champion and live up to? How can we determine the success or 'impact' of research across the humanities, across a myriad of cultures and geographical and historical contexts?

On the course, and through a range of lectures, seminars, and independent and collaborative work, you will critically consider topics such as the divide between humanities and sciences, the social and political context of knowledge and ideas, and new trends in the humanities, including the medical humanities, digital humanities, and posthumanities. The course will also help you to contextualise and apply your learning in other modules, and to begin to critique some of the trends that underpin our approaches to the humanities, as well as to the human(e) face of knowledge more widely.

SALC10002 Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Foundations for Study in the Arts

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• ✅ Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

This Level 1 course introduces you to the key ideas, concepts and thinkers in the Western tradition which underpin the ways we approach the world in the different disciplines in the arts, from archaeology to literature, history to film, art to drama, religion to music. In the course students are introduced to a spectrum of revolutionary ideas in Western thought including well known figures like Freud and Marx to less familiar arguments on gender proposed by Connell and Fanon's writing on ethnicity. Each week, you will explore a central idea in a lecture, a seminar, and your written submissions, and engage directly with the texts or images at the heart of the debate. By doing so, you will gain a broad foundation in the ideas and concepts you will use throughout your degree programme in the School, and come to understand the intellectual underpinnings of the Western approach to knowledge, wisdom and truth.

Optional units

Thematic Clusters

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• 🚫 Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

You'll be able to choose from modules that explore notions of truth, that reveal the role that language has played in shaping ourselves and our cultures, and that introduce you to digital tools and methodologies.

If you want to, you'll be able to take modules from the Thematic Clusters - including modules from areas in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, but also in the School of Social Sciences (in disciplines such as Philosophy, Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Criminology), and in the School of Environment, Education and Development (in disciplines such as Geography, Planning, and Education).

You can choose to take language(s) through a number of study routes.

You'll also have the opportunity to start a Minor in another subject through Flexible Honours. If you choose not to take up a Minor, you'll be able to select more options from the Thematic Clusters.

Year 2

In your second year, through a combination of theory and practice, you will learn more about the communication of ideas. You’ll see how rhetoric – the art of persuasive speech and writing – has had a huge impact on the world since ancient times, and can help us to make sense of public speech from politicians, advertisers, and activists, as well as to respond to the crises of polemics, post-truth, and ‘fake news’ that we currently face. You’ll also learn about the particular challenges faced by the city of Manchester, a cultural and one-time industrial hub, and you’ll find out how current arts-based research works with communities to bring about change.

Core units

SALC21141 Understanding Rhetoric: The Arts of Persuasion

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• 🆗 Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

In a world that is faced with the challenges of ‘fake news’, ‘information bubbles’, and ‘post-truth politics’, the importance of rhetoric cannot be understated. Rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speech and writing, and insofar as it emphasises the importance of language in shaping our perceptions of the world, it offers a useful way of thinking about the value of the arts and humanities in contemporary society.

In Ancient Greece, an understanding of rhetoric was foundational to the Liberal Arts and to the empowerment of free citizens, and the course begins by introducing you, in face-to-face classes, to such early philosophical and philological approaches to persuasive speech and writing. You'll then be introduced to different understandings of rhetoric throughout history, before exploring its significance in the contemporary world. These ideas are delivered via a blend of face-to-face classes alongside access to bespoke online materials from experts in various fields from the arts to statistics, politics, and psychology. You will be able to engage with these ideas through both online exercises and group activities.

In addition to understanding the role of rhetoric in shaping past, present, and future societies, you'll also have the opportunity to develop and reflect on your own persuasive speech and writing by preparing for and participating in formal debates. Face-to-face workshops throughout the course will train you how to use debating rhetoric, and this will develop important skills for further academic research as well as in a range of careers including (but not limited to) politics, law, and media.

SALC21152 Arts & The City: People, Power & Protest

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• ✅ Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

Liberal Arts at Manchester emphasises learning and research that is driven by real-world challenges, rather than disciplines. What, then, are the challenges that mark contemporary contexts, for Liberal Arts to engage with? Using Manchester as a laboratory, this course considers different case studies that can be approached by arts-based and humanities research. You'll be trained in how to work with local resources in museums and archives, as well as in how to consider representations of different communities and groups or identities, in order to determine the challenges that mark the contours of civic life in Manchester. On the course, you will have the opportunity to explore a range of themes that underwrite such challenges, including development, inequality, democracy, sexuality, sustainability, and trauma, among others.

Overall, the course will teach you about some of the research approaches and methodologies that underwrite interdisciplinary and socially responsible research that links to communities outside of academia. You'll be guided to reflect actively on the research process and your ethical responsibilities as researchers, as well as to innovate and be creative about how you address and illustrate some of the myriad of narratives that make up Manchester. Assessment to this end will encourage you to work (a) in groups to identify, research, and present a case study using PechaKucha, and (b) individually to write an analytical essay on a theme or method of your choice.

Optional units

UCIL2XXXX On Creativity

• 🆗 BA Liberal Arts
• 🆗 Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

What is creativity and why is it an important employable skill? In this flagship module, which can be taken as a shorter or longer course, and is open to students on Liberal Arts programmes and anywhere across the University, you'll be trained to recognise creativity and to develop your own creative praxis, through groupwork and individual reflective assignments. You'll also have the opportunity to learn about creativity and industry, and recognise how to tailor your creative strengths to your own studies and to a huge range of career paths.

UCIL20402 Persuading People: Rhetoric in Speeches, Debates and Everyday Life

• 🚫 BA Liberal Arts
• 🆗 Minor programme
• 🆗 Free choice unit

Everywhere in society, we find examples of persuasion. Whether that's a politician trying to convince you to vote for them or to accept their policies, or a business trying to convince you to buy their products, or even a friend trying to convince you to heed their advice, we're always being persuaded and trying to be persuasive.

In this unit, we examine some of the different ways that scholars have theorised what makes effective persuasive tools and techniques. We'll explore the psychology of persuasion, the philosophy of it, and the politics of it. You'll then delve into a range of different examples of persuasion, from the courtroom to the street protest, and from the newspaper to the Twittersphere. The unit will help you to develop the tools needed to make sense of persuasion, including how to recognise and reflect on how we're being persuaded, why that matters, and how we can use these tools to make ourselves more persuasive in turn.

The unit will provide you with a good working knowledge of persuasiveness, which you'll then be able to develop by selecting the topics on the unit that matter the most to you. In addition to gaining deeper insights into different uses of persuasiveness, you'll also learn how to debate with others and to be persuasive even when you don't always agree with the argument that you're putting across.

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Thematic Clusters

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• 🚫 Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

You'll have the opportunity to delve deeper into key ideas and concepts across the arts, such as critical theory and world philosophies.

You'll also have a choice of modules from UCIL, the University Centre for Interdisciplinary Learning. Modules include topics like AI, aliens, Antarctica, mental health, cybersecurity, sustainability, and diversity.

If you took up a Minor in your first year, you'll be able to carry on with that. If you didn't, or if you'd like to drop your Minor, you'll have access to more modules on the Liberal Arts Thematic Clusters.

You can also choose to continue studying a language, or take up a new one through a number of study routes.

Year 3/4

The skills and knowledge that you gain in your first two years will allow you, in your final year, to develop your own challenge-led, interdisciplinary research project that works with institutions and communities across Manchester. You’ll receive training and support as you conduct your research, and you’ll also be able to pursue topics that interest you in further detail through a list of optional modules.

Core modules

SALC31122 Liberal Arts in the Making: Reflecting, Connecting, Reimagining

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• 🚫 Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

Reflective learning is essential across the Liberal Arts, given the breadth of topics that can be explored. Reflective learning enables synthesis of ideas, and to realise the connections across different disciplines. In this module, you will be guided to analyse and critique the connections that you have made across your studies and to explore how Liberal Arts respond to challenge-led learning.

The reflections that you make in this course will be informed by class discussions, pedagogical theory, and an emphasis on contemporary contexts. You'll be able to think about the everyday impact and importance of reflexivity itself, as well as using reflexivity as a tool to illustrate your own experiences throughout your degree programme, in particular to potential employers as you begin to approach the end of your studies. The course will additionally help you in the writing up of your project for SALC30010 by helping you to be aware of your approach to connecting theory with practice.

SALC30010 Engagement Project: Creativity, Culture, and Community

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• ✅ Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

Creative Manchester is a flagship initiative developed by the School of Arts, Languages & Cultures to facilitate collaborations between researchers, educators, civic leaders, employers, and communities. The Creative Manchester module on the Liberal Arts programme allows you to design and develop your own world-facing research that responds to the needs of organisations and industries in Manchester. You will be able to utilise volunteering and placement opportunities in building their relationships with impact groups, which will ultimately take the form of an external consultancy role.

In addition to volunteering and placement hours, you will meet with an academic project supervisor to oversee the research and writing process. The course will also feature group seminars to provide scope for peer support, as well as guidance from experts on how to consider tasks such as research design, ethics proposals, and report writing. This innovative course celebrates creative approaches to research, communication, and social responsibility. Assessment is divided between coursework (which will typically involve a report) and a final presentation. The course places a strong emphasis on employability skills and brings together different approaches and skills focused on in other core Liberal Arts units.

Optional modules

Thematic Clusters

• ✅ BA Liberal Arts
• ✅ Minor programme
• 🚫 Free choice unit

Your third year gives you the most flexibility to tailor your learning. You can choose to write a long essay, where you will have independent supervision from planning to researching, and from writing to editing. You can also choose to develop your critical knowledge about the importance of the past, aestheticism, romanticism, or modernism as movements and ideas that have impacted the arts.

You'll be able to take a further unit from UCIL, as well as more options from the Liberal Arts Thematic Clusters. If you took a Minor subject in your first and second year, you'll be able to complete it so that you can graduate through Flexible Honours. Alternatively, you can take additional modules from the Thematic Clusters.