Liberal Arts 2B: Cultures and wellbeing LIBARTS2002

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Modern Languages and Cultures
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 2 (SCQF level 8)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course will ask how and to what extent cultural practices from a range of geographical, cultural and linguistic contexts promote, hinder, and define wellbeing. Encompassing physical, mental, economic and social conceptions of wellbeing, we will examine how cultural practices intersect with class, race, ethnicity, gender and religion and how they reveal or obscure social differences and inequalities. The course considers the potential of cultural production, practices, rituals, language, norms, customs and traditions to be both individually and collectively transformative.

Timetable

10 x 2 hours weekly seminars as scheduled in MyCampus, Friday 2pm-4pm

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Reflective Journal - 2000 words - 50%

Group presentation - 10mins - 25%

Individual report of group project - 1000 words - 25%

Course Aims

The aims of the course are to

■ cultivate students' curiosity for, and understanding of, concepts of wellbeing as located in a range of socio-cultural, geographical, ethnic and linguistic contexts

■ develop the graduate attribute of being 'independent and critical thinkers' by fostering experiential learning and encouraging students to apply theoretical frameworks to concrete case-studies, relating these to a variety of socio-cultural backgrounds

■ support students in becoming 'effective communicators' through presentations and team projects based on real-life scenarios.

■ equip students with new critical and ethical tools, as well as transferable skills applicable both inside and outside academia.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course, students will be able to

 

■ Produce an account of the diverse ways of conceptualizing health and wellbeing in relation to specific socio-historical contexts.

■ Analyse how cultural practices such as sports, music, political activism, and language-learning might relate to the levels and causes of wellbeing and intersect with questions of class, gender, age, race and/or ethnicity.

■ Work independently and as part of a team to identify and address a problem related to wellbeing.

■ Reflect on and engage critically with relevant readings and audio-visual material including literary texts, academic scholarship and film.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.