Violence, Trauma and Reconciliation (CRIM90017)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | May |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
Mass violence inflicted by states and groups have a prolonged effect on communities and nations. This subject considers the forms of trauma people experience as a response to these forms of violence and explores how this trauma propels calls for apologies, truth commissions, retribution and torture. The subject employs psychoanalytic theory and practice to consider what it means to be traumatised and what it means to seek remedies from law, and uses examples of cross-cultural lawful practice to interrogate ideas of violence and trauma. Legal practices, apologies and demands for reconciliation will be discussed as methods of responding to the rage, pain and mourning that trauma demands. The course will be divided into 4 sections dealing with – trauma and violence, torture, testimony and reconciliation. In these sections we will look at events in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Australia and Nazi Germany, where legal mechanisms, apologies and vengeance have been utilised as responses to events such as genocide, terrorist acts, hostile occupation, and war. Note – some of the content of this course may be distressing.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject students should be able to:
- Employ understandings of psychoanalytic theories of trauma and know how to apply some of these theories to their practice in the field.
- understand the effects of torture on a body and on a society;
- consider the application of law, torture and ideas of reconciliation in relation to theories of justice;
- understand the role of legal rhetoric and policy in its relation to some practices of punishment, prohibition and incarceration;
- Understand different ideas of reconciliation and the implications of their application in differing contexts.
Generic skills
On completion of this subject students should:
- have highly developed cognitive, analytical and problem-solving skills;
- have an advanced understanding of complex concepts and the ability to express them lucidly in writing and orally;
- have sophisticated awareness of cultural, ethnic and gender diversities and their implications;
- have an ability to plan work and to use time effectively.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Criminology at Undergraduate level.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Additional details
- A 1000-word reflective essay or presentation (20%) due two weeks after conclusion of intensive teaching period.
- A 4000-word research essay (80%) due six weeks after conclusion of intensive teaching period.
- Hurdle Requirement: As this is an Intensively-taught subject, Lecture/Seminar attendance is compulsory at all classes and regular class participation is expected.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Dates & times
- May
Principal coordinator Juliet Rogers Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 32 contact hours: This subject will be delivered intensively from 9:00am - 5:00pm, with seminars over four days. Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 24 May 2019 to 1 June 2019 Last self-enrol date 24 May 2019 Census date 31 May 2019 Last date to withdraw without fail 14 June 2019 Assessment period ends 28 June 2019 May contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
Additional delivery details
Seminars/workshops run from 9am until 5pm
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Readings will be provided online through the subject's LMS site prior to the commencement of the subject.
Recommended texts and other resources
- Agamben, Giorgio Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (trans) Daniel Heller-Roazen, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
- Brown, Wendy (2004) 'The Most We Can Hope For....: Human Rights and the Politics of Fatalism'. South Atlantic Quarterly 103:2/3, Spring/Summer. Duke University Press.
- Douzinas, Costas The End of Human Rights: Critical Legal Thought at the Turn of the Century Hart Publishing: Oxford., 2000.
- Simpson, Gerry War, Law and Crime: War Crimes, Trials and the Reinvention of International Law, Cambridge. Polity Press, 2007.
- Freud, Sigmund 'Mourning and Melancholia' Standard Edition Vol XIV (1914 - 1916): On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement, Papers on Metapsychology and Other Works, Trans. James Strachey, Vintage 2001, Great Britain.
- Scarry, Elaine Body in Pain: the making and unmaking of the world, New York, Oxford 1985.
- Subject notes
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Specialisation (formal) Criminology Specialisation (formal) Criminology Specialisation (formal) Criminology Informal specialisation 100 Point Master of Arts (Professional and Applied Ethics) Informal specialisation PD-ARTS Criminology Informal specialisation 200 points Master of Arts (Professional and Applied Ethics) Informal specialisation Criminology - Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
Subject coordinator approval required
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 3 November 2022