100-level

MAOR108
Te Patu a Maui : The Treaty of Waitangi - facing and overcoming colonisation
Description
Through focus on the themes of Power, Property and Citizenship, this course examines the historical realities of the Treaty, enabling an understanding of the modern colonial nation state and its processes with respect to Indigenous peoples. The course examines Maori responses, engagement with, and resistance to the colonial project leading to a critical understanding of colonialism.
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2024 (Distance)
Semester Two 2025
Semester Two 2025 (Distance)
Special non-calendar-based One 2025 (UC Online)
Special non-calendar-based Three 2025 (UC Online)
Points
15 points
Restrictions
CULT114, MAOR113 (prior to 2006)
CULT114
Te Patu a Maui: The Treaty of Waitangi - facing and overcoming colonisation
Description
Through focus on the themes of Power, Property and Citizenship, this course examines the historical realities of the Treaty, enabling an understanding of the modern colonial nation state and its processes with respect to Indigenous peoples. The course examines Maori responses, engagement with, and resistance to the colonial project leading to a critical understanding of colonialism.
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2024 (Distance)
Semester Two 2025
Semester Two 2025 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Restrictions
MAOR108, MAOR113 (prior to 2006)
CULT133
Kia Kaha / Say It Loud: The Rise of Aotearoa/NZ Music
Description
This course will chart the rise of Aotearoa/NZ popular music from the Maori showbands of the 1950s through pop, rock, folk, reggae, punk, metal, hiphop, and EDM, and include examples from many of the subgenres hidden within those broad styles. The course readings will introduce students to key Cultural Studies concepts and theorists, all of which will be supported by texts and media from local music commentators. A key theme to be discussed will be the nation’s myth-making: that as Blam Blam Blam put it in 1981, ‘we have no racism / we have no sexism / there is no depression in New Zealand’. Taught on campus, and through distance learning, there will be 2 x two-hour workshops per week featuring music, videos, documentaries, and other cultural media, along with an online tutorial during which students will be encouraged to contribute media that relates to that week’s topic. As we move through the decades and genres, we will discuss the music in relation to the physical, social, and cultural context which produced it, with attention paid to political concerns such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Dawn Raids, the 1981 Springbok Tour, gender, LGBTQIA+ rights, and our position as a Pacific Island nation in a region particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. Students will be given the opportunity to further explore specialist music interests through the course assessments.
Occurrences
Summer Jan 2025
Summer Jan 2025 (Distance)
Points
15 points

200-level

COMS201
Media Audiences
Description
How does our media consumption shape our opinions, actions, identities and lives? How do audiences influence the production and circulation of media? How do we create our own media presence online, and act as an audience for each other? This course examines the relationship between audiences and media. We discuss theory and research that represents audiences as passive consumers of media products, active decoders of media texts, producers of our own representations online, and participants in interactive media production. The course looks at a broad range of media forms and content to reflect and build on your own experiences of being media audience members. "Media Audiences" will encourage you to reflect on your own relationship with media, and to consider the broader contexts that shape your listening, viewing, reading, and interaction. This course has on-campus and distance options. It has a one hour lecture and a two-hour workshop each week. The course includes group work in classes and for assessments, and requires active in-class engagement. You will advance core skills in reading and carrying out research, with reflection, collaborative work, networking, creativity, writing and presentation.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Semester Two 2025 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from COMS or CULT, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CULT201
CULT201
Media Audiences
Description
How does our media consumption shape our opinions, actions, identities and lives? How do audiences influence the production and circulation of media? How do we create our own media presence online, and act as an audience for each other? This course examines the relationship between audiences and media. We discuss theory and research that represents audiences as passive consumers of media products, active decoders of media texts, producers of our own representations online, and participants in interactive media production. The course looks at a broad range of media forms and content to reflect and build on your own experiences of being media audience members. "Media Audiences" will encourage you to reflect on your own relationship with media, and to consider the broader contexts that shape your listening, viewing, reading, and interaction. This course has on-campus and distance options. It has a one hour lecture and a two-hour workshop each week. The course includes group work in classes and for assessments, and requires active in-class engagement. You will advance core skills in reading and carrying out research, with reflection, collaborative work, networking, creativity, writing and presentation.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from COMS or CULT, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
COMS201
CULT202
Cultural Politics/Cultural Activism
Description
This course offers students a grounding in Cultural Studies theories and methods. It examines the political dynamics and historical foundations of contemporary culture, and the strategic roles that it can play as a force for change. Drawing from a wide variety of examples, it focuses on how culture - as a process, as a practice, and as the production of meaning - functions as a battleground in the assignment of and struggle for social power.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from any subject.
Restrictions
ENGL232
SOCI202
Constructing Bodies
Description
This course focuses on the ways in which the body is shaped in culturally/historically specific contexts, which include the lived body as a site of knowledge and experience. It explores a range of body practices, representations and technologies such as non-mainstream body modification, sexuality education, trans medico-surgical practices and the sexualization of culture.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ANTH, CULT, or SOCI, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
GEND102, FMST102, GEND112, AMST113, CULT112, AMST142, GEND201, CULT207
CHIN206
Global China on Screen
Description
Like in the West, Chinese cinema has held a significant share in the cultural industry since the first film was made in China in 1905. Being a cultural product, film has always been seen as reflection of its contemporary culture, despite various aspects it might have taken. Taking primarily a Cultural Studies approach, this course introduces Chinese culture, especially a series of its contemporary phenomena by surveying Chinese cinema. The course will be taught in English and all Chinese films are subtitled. By viewing the films in class and many more available in the well-resourced UC library on the course's recommendation and students' own interests, the course encourages students to further develop their study in one or more of the following areas: Studies of Chinese culture and society; Cross-cultural studies with a focus on China/Asia and beyond; Cultural studies with a special emphasis on postmodernism (including postcolonialism) and Third World culture; Film studies focusing on national cinema. CHIN206 and CINE215 are the same course.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CHIN or CINE, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CINE215, CHIN306, CULT334
CULT206
Creature Features: From Jaws to Planet of the Apes
Description
This course explores cinematic representations of insects, mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, with an emphasis on their special place in horror and science fiction genres. Students will also be introduced to Human-Animal Studies as a field of scholarship.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST236, AMST331, ENGL243, GEND213, GEND311, and ENGL349
CULT207
Constructing Bodies
Description
This course focuses on the ways in which the body is shaped in culturally/historically specific contexts, which include the lived body as a site of knowledge and experience. It explores a range of body practices, representations and technologies such as non-mainstream body modification, sexuality education, trans medico-surgical practices and the sexualization of culture.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or SOCI, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
GEND102, FMST102, GEND112, AMST113, CULT112, AMST142, GEND201, SOCI202
SOCI209
Te Tiriti: The Treaty of Waitangi
Description
This course uses the Treaty of Waitangi to frame examinations of contemporary New Zealand society. We ask questions designed to highlight and emphasise the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to everyday New Zealanders. In addition, the course looks at the importance of this document in the maintenance of Crown and Maori relations. Topics covered range from the signing of the Treaty, and historical developments, to the protest movements and activism of the continuing Maori renaissance period, race relations and one law-for-all.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from ANTH, CULT, HIST, HSRV, MAOR, POLS, SOCI, or SOWK, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST268, MAOR219, POLS218, POLS258, HSRV207, CULT219
CULT219
Te Tiriti: The Treaty of Waitangi
Description
This course uses the Treaty of Waitangi to frame examinations of contemporary New Zealand society. We ask questions designed to highlight and emphasise the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to everyday New Zealanders. In addition, the course looks at the importance of this document in the maintenance of Crown and Maori relations. Topics covered range from the signing of the Treaty, and historical developments, to the protest movements and activism of the continuing Maori renaissance period, race relations and one law-for-all.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT, HIST, HSRV, MAOR, POLS, SOCI, or TREO, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR219, POLS218, POLS258, HIST268, SOCI209, HSRV207
MAOR219
Te Tiriti: The Treaty of Waitangi
Description
This course uses the Treaty of Waitangi to frame examinations of contemporary New Zealand society. We ask questions designed to highlight and emphasise the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to everyday New Zealanders. In addition, the course looks at the importance of this document in the maintenance of Crown and Maori relations. Topics covered range from the signing of the Treaty, and historical developments, to the protest movements and activism of the continuing Maori renaissance period, race relations and one law-for-all.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT, HIST, HSRV, MAOR, POLS, SOCI, SOWK, or TREO, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
POLS218, POLS258, HIST268, SOCI209, HSRV207, CULT219
ENGL232
Cultural Politics/Cultural Activism
Description
This course offers students a grounding in Cultural Studies theories and methods. It examines the political dynamics and historical foundations of contemporary culture, and the strategic roles that it can play as a force for change. Drawing from a wide variety of examples, it focuses on how culture - as a process, as a practice, and as the production of meaning - functions as a battleground in the assignment of and struggle for social power.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CULT202
ENGL243
Creature Features: From Jaws to Planet of the Apes
Description
This course explores cinematic representations of insects, mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, with an emphasis on their special place in horror and science fiction genres. Students will also be introduced to Human-Animal Studies as a field of scholarship.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST236, CULT206, GEND213, AMST331, GEND311, and ENGL349
HIST255
Heroines in History
Description
Heroines' histories will be used to represent different moments of womanhood and femininity, women's place in domesticity, war, religion, education, politics and governance. Themes include spirituality, health and well-being, warrior and regal identities, cross-dressing, martyrdom and untimely death, imperialism, science and technology and glamour. Heroines to be studied include Boadicea, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Florence Nightingale, Kate Sheppard, Marie Curie, Te Puea, Jean Batten, Rosa Luxemburg and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in HIST or CULT or CLAS120, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST361, GEND215, CULT336
HIST268
Te Tiriti: The Treaty of Waitangi
Description
This course uses the Treaty of Waitangi to frame examinations of contemporary New Zealand society. We ask questions designed to highlight and emphasise the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to everyday New Zealanders. In addition, the course looks at the importance of this document in the maintenance of Crown and Maori relations. Topics covered range from the signing of the Treaty, and historical developments, to the protest movements and activism of the continuing Maori renaissance period, race relations and one law-for-all.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in HIST, CULT, HSRV, MAOR, POLS, or SOCI, or CLAS120, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR219, POLS218, POLS258, SOCI209, HSRV207, CULT219

300-level

MAOR301
Ngati Apopo: Maori Futures
Description
This course explores the local, national and global trends that will materially impact on the future trajectory of Maori self determination and futures making. Students will investigate how Maori navigate such shifts and trends to advance self-determination as change agents.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, MAOR, POLS, or TREO, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
POLS331, POLS358, CULT319
CINE302
Documentary: From the Margins to the Mainstream
Description
This course examines the artistic, ethical and political principles that govern the representation of reality in contemporary documentary film.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CINE or CULT; or 30 points from DISC211, DISC212, or DISC213; or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CULT322
CULT302
Takahi: Colonisation
Description
Colonisation has had a significant effect on the shaping of contemporary New Zealand society. This course will cover key events in the colonisation throughout New Zealand’s brief colonial history. This course utilises different theories of colonisation to critically examine the continued subjugation of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa and around the world. Special attention will also be paid to breaking down the power relationships that have emerged between coloniser and colonised.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, HIST, or MAOR, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR317, RELS322, HIST366
CULT303
Sexualities in Culture
Description
This course analyses representations and models of 'normal' and 'abnormal' sexuality as these occur in sexology, psychiatry, self-help psychology, cinema and popular culture, and queer activism.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST332, ENGL332, GEND307, GEND211
SOCI303
Sexualities, Gender and Relationalities
Description
This course explores the changing landscape of sexuality and gender categories and identities, as well as new forms and understandings of intimacy and relationality. It considers how various identities, representations and practices disrupt and/or reproduce gendered, sexual and non-sexual intimacies and relationship normativities in a range of sites. These include mediated intimacies, polyamory and other non-consensual non-monogamies, asexualities, incels and PUAs (‘pick up artists’), ‘sexting’ and dating apps.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from ANTH or SOCI, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
CHIN306
Global China on Screen
Description
A survey of Chinese cinema - the first one hundred years of the Chinese film industry, major Chinese film genres, social implications of film and the Chinese culture reflected through film. The course is taught in English and all Chinese films are subtitled.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CHIN, CINE, or CULT, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CINE215, CHIN206 and CULT334
ENGL313
Scream Theory: The Changing Face of Fear
Description
This course examines shifting representations of the fearful, monstrous and abject in visual culture and popular culture more generally. Emphasis is placed on sociocultural, feminist and postmodern interpretations of horror themes in American, Japanese and New Zealand contexts.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST313, CULT317, AMST413, ENGL413, CULT417
CULT317
Scream Theory: The Changing Face of Fear
Description
This course examines shifting representations of the fearful, monstrous and abject in visual culture and popular culture more generally. Emphasis is placed on sociocultural, feminist and postmodern interpretations of horror themes in American, Japanese and New Zealand contexts.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST313, ENGL313, AMST413, ENGL413, CULT417
ENGL317
Special Topic: Modern Poetry
Description
This course takes a broad view of modern poetry. We begin with a selection of English and American poets identified with literary modernism, before widening our reading to encompass poets of other places and more recent eras who have responded in a variety of ways to modernist forms, techniques and preoccupations.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
ENGL434
MAOR317
Takahi: Colonisation
Description
Colonisation has had a significant effect on the shaping of contemporary New Zealand society. This course will cover key events in the colonisation throughout New Zealand’s brief colonial history. This course utilises different theories of colonisation to critically examine the continued subjugation of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa and around the world. Special attention will also be paid to breaking down the power relationships that have emerged between coloniser and colonised.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, HIST, MAOR, or TREO, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
RELS322, HIST366, CULT302
CULT319
Ngati Apopo: Maori Futures
Description
This course explores the local, national and global trends that will materially impact on the future trajectory of Maori self-determination and futures making. Students will investigate how Maori navigate such shifts and trends to advance self-determination as change agents.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, MAOR or POLS, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR301, POLS331, POLS358
CULT322
Documentary: From the Margins to the Mainstream
Description
This course examines the artistic and political principles that govern the representation of reality in contemporary documentary film.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CINE or CULT; or 30 points from DISC211, DISC212, or DISC213; or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CINE302
ENGL332
Sexualities in Culture
Description
This course analyses representations and models of 'normal' and 'abnormal' sexuality as these occur in sexology, psychiatry, self-help psychology, cinema and popular culture, and queer activism.
Occurrences
Semester One 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
AMST332, CULT303, GEND307, GEND211
CULT336
Heroines in History
Description
From the days of the Virgin Mary to the advent of Lorde, this course travels through time critically recovering a wide variety of global and local historical heroines. It moves beyond traditional mythological celebration to consider how women's histories have been told, re-told, and represented. What does it take to become celebrated as an icon or role model? Themes include spirituality, health and well-being, warrior and regal identities, politics, governance and domesticity, cross-dressing, martyrdom and untimely death, imperialism, science and technology, education and glamour.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST361, HIST255
ENGL349
Creature Features: From Jaws to Planet of the Apes
Description
This course explores cinematic representations of insects, mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, with an emphasis on their special place in horror and science fiction genres. Students will also be introduced to Human-Animal Studies as a field of scholarship.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or ENGL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
ENGL243, AMST236, CULT206, GEND213, AMST331, GEND311
HIST361
Heroines in History
Description
From the days of the Virgin Mary to the advent of Lorde, this course travels through time critically recovering a wide variety of global and local historical heroines. It moves beyond traditional mythological celebration to consider how women's histories have been told, re-told, and represented. What does it take to become celebrated as an icon or role model? Themes include spirituality, health and well-being, warrior and regal identities, politics, governance and domesticity, cross-dressing, martyrdom and untimely death, imperialism, science and technology, education and glamour.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST255, CULT336
HIST366
Takahi: Colonisation
Description
Colonisation has had a significant effect on the shaping of contemporary New Zealand society. This course will cover key events in the colonisation throughout New Zealand’s brief colonial history. This course utilises different theories of colonisation to critically examine the continued subjugation of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa and around the world. Special attention will also be paid to breaking down the power relationships that have emerged between coloniser and colonised.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2025
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, HIST, or MAOR, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR317, RELS322, CULT302

Not Offered Courses in 2025

100-level

CULT132
Cultural Studies: Reading Culture
Description
This course is an introduction to Cultural Studies, emphasising aspects of the field that are most pertinent to English Studies. Drawing from a wide range of examples, it demonstrates how our everyday life is a constant exercise in encoding and decoding our cultural environment through an exploration of the textuality and 'readability' of cultural forms and practices.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see CULT132 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL132
Cultural Studies: Reading Culture
Description
This course is an introduction to Cultural Studies, emphasising aspects of the field that are most pertinent to English Studies. Drawing from a wide range of examples, it demonstrates how our everyday life is a constant exercise in encoding and decoding our cultural environment through an exploration of the textuality and 'readability' of cultural forms and practices.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see ENGL132 course details
Points
15 points

200-level

DIGI201
Digital Cultures
Description
This course will challenge students to critically assess both digital cultures, and their relationship to them. Students will engage with digital tools they might not have experienced before, and consider how a range of digital tools enable, restrict and/or undermine their role as citizens.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see DIGI201 course details
Points
15 points
CINE203
Coming of Age in Global Cinema
Description
The coming-of-age experience is familiar to all social classes and cultures. Stories of youth after childhood are compellingly represented in films across the globe. In this course, we will examine the representation of adolescence within an international context, focusing primarily on the experience of youth beyond dominant Hollywood. We will closely analyse those films from across the globe that complicate our understanding of adolescent identity by acknowledging its intersection with other kinds of identification - in particular racial, class, national, and that of sexual orientation.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see CINE203 course details
Points
15 points
CULT209
Humans, Animals and Society
Description
This course introduces students to the study of human relations with other species and the natural world. It provides students with the opportunity to question taken for granted assumptions about nature, the environment and the roles of animals in society and the human services. The topic adopts a social justice approach and includes consideration of issues such as ecofeminism, animal liberation and speciesism in relation to other forms of oppression. The course provides students with the opportunity to question taken for granted assumptions about power as well as encouraging students to think about the nature, form and process of advocacy on behalf of the marginalized.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2021 , 2022 , 2023 , 2024
For further information see CULT209 course details
Points
15 points
HSRV209
Humans, Animals and Society
Description
This course introduces students to the study of human relations with other species and the natural world. It provides students with the opportunity to question taken for granted assumptions about nature, the environment and the roles of animals in society and the human services. The topic adopts a social justice approach and includes consideration of issues such as ecofeminism, animal liberation and speciesism in relation to other forms of oppression. The course provides students with the opportunity to question taken for granted assumptions about power as well as encouraging students to think about the nature, form and process of advocacy on behalf of the marginalized.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see HSRV209 course details
Points
15 points
CULT213
Digital Cultures
Description
This course will challenge students to critically assess both digital cultures, and their relationship to them. Students will engage with digital tools they might not have experienced before, and consider how a range of digital tools enable, restrict and/or undermine their role as citizens.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2017
For further information see CULT213 course details
Points
15 points
CULT214
Sex and Sexuality on Screen
Description
This course addresses the myriad and often conflicting ways that sex and sexuality have been represented throughout the history of Western cinema, with an emphasis upon Hollywood and American independent film.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2024
For further information see CULT214 course details
Points
15 points
CULT215
Coming of Age in Global Cinema
Description
The coming-of-age experience is familiar to all social classes and cultures. Stories of youth after childhood are compellingly represented in films across the globe. In this course, we will examine the representation of adolescence within an international context, focusing primarily on the experience of youth beyond dominant Hollywood. We will closely analyse those films from across the globe that complicate our understanding of adolescent identity by acknowledging its intersection with other kinds of identification - in particular racial, class, national, and that of sexual orientation.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2016 , 2017 , 2018 , 2020 , 2022
For further information see CULT215 course details
Points
15 points
CINE223
Sex and Sexuality on Screen
Description
This course addresses the myriad and often conflicting ways that sex and sexuality have been represented throughout the history of Western cinema, with an emphasis upon Hollywood and American independent film.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see CINE223 course details
Points
15 points
CULT233
Popular Music in Context
Description
An exploration of contemporary popular music styles from a range of genres, and their historical significance and wider contexts, including music for film and television, and the rise of music video.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2016 , 2018 , 2019 , 2020
For further information see CULT233 course details
Points
15 points
MUSA233
Popular Music in Context
Description
An exploration of contemporary popular music styles from a range of genres, and their historical significance and wider contexts, including music for film and television, and the rise of music video.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see MUSA233 course details
Points
15 points
CULT252
Crime Stories
Description
The course addresses the usefulness and range of the crime genre as an appropriate focus for the acquisition of the skills (in research, critical analysis, and written expression) peculiar to English studies, as well as a form of social and political critique. It will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of the representations of crime, detection, confession, and punishments, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general contextual examination of engagements between these facets, the development of genre forms and concerns will be considered, especially because the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time in ways that likewise shape wider perceptions of crime and punishment. Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts that should represent differences and similarities in representation and subject choice that writers and directors negotiate.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2019 , 2020 , 2021 , 2023 , 2024
For further information see CULT252 course details
Points
15 points
ENGL252
Crime Stories
Description
The course addresses the usefulness and range of the crime genre as an appropriate focus for the acquisition of the skills (in research, critical analysis, and written expression) peculiar to English studies, as well as a form of social and political critique. It will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of the representations of crime, detection, confession, and punishments, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general contextual examination of engagements between these facets, the development of genre forms and concerns will be considered, especially because the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time in ways that likewise shape wider perceptions of crime and punishment. Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts that should represent differences and similarities in representation and subject choice that writers and directors negotiate.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see ENGL252 course details
Points
15 points
SOCI255
Sociology of the City
Description
This course is concerned with the city as it is experienced today: as shifting mixes of public and private spaces in which disruptions provoke different points of view, multiple memories and complex associations.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see SOCI255 course details
Points
15 points
POLS258
Te Tiriti: The Treaty of Waitangi
Description
This course uses the Treaty of Waitangi to frame examinations of contemporary New Zealand society. We ask questions designed to highlight and emphasise the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to everyday New Zealanders. In addition, the course looks at the importance of this document in the maintenance of Crown and Maori relations. Topics covered range from the signing of the Treaty, and historical developments, to the protest movements and activism of the continuing Maori renaissance period, race relations and one law-for-all.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see POLS258 course details
Points
15 points

300-level

CINE303
Coming of Age in Global Cinema
Description
The coming-of-age experience is familiar to all social classes and cultures. Stories of youth after childhood are compellingly represented in films across the globe. In this course, we will examine the representation of adolescence within an international context, focusing primarily on the experience of youth beyond dominant Hollywood. We will closely analyse those films from across the globe that complicate our understanding of adolescent identity by acknowledging its intersection with other kinds of identification - in particular racial, class, national, and that of sexual orientation.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see CINE303 course details
Points
30 points
CULT310
Sociology of the City
Description
This course is concerned with the city as it is experienced today: as shifting mixes of public and private spaces in which disruptions provoke different points of view, multiple memories and complex associations.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2019 , 2020 , 2021 , 2022 , 2023
For further information see CULT310 course details
Points
30 points
MAOR317
Takahi: Colonisation
Description
Colonisation has had a significant effect on the shaping of contemporary New Zealand society. This course will cover key events in the colonisation throughout New Zealand’s brief colonial history. This course utilises different theories of colonisation to critically examine the continued subjugation of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa and around the world. Special attention will also be paid to breaking down the power relationships that have emerged between coloniser and colonised.
Occurrences
MAOR317-25S1 (C)
Semester One 2025 - Not offered
For further information see MAOR317 course details
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, HIST, MAOR, or TREO, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
RELS322, HIST366, CULT302
ENGL318
Animal Stories: From Mythology to Social Media
Description
This course explores the role of imagery and narrative in producing historical and contemporary ideas about ‘animality’ and ‘speciesism’ across a range of texts and media (including mythology, fables and bestiaries; wildlife documentaries; contemporary art; graphic novels; animal biographies; online activism; social media). Students will also learn about intersectional theory and its use in the field of Critical Animal Studies.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see ENGL318 course details
Points
30 points
MUSA333
Popular Music in Context
Description
An exploration of contemporary popular music styles from a range of genres, and their historical significance and wider contexts, including music for film and television, and the rise of music video.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see MUSA333 course details
Points
15 points
CULT335
Animal Stories: From Mythology to Social Media
Description
This course explores the role of imagery and narrative in producing historical and contemporary ideas about ‘animality’ and ‘speciesism’ across a range of texts and media (including mythology, fables and bestiaries; wildlife documentaries; contemporary art; graphic novels; animal biographies; online activism; social media). Students will also learn about intersectional theory and its use in the field of Critical Animal Studies.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see CULT335 course details
Points
30 points
CULT352
Crime Stories
Description
The course addresses the usefulness and range of the crime genre as an appropriate focus for the acquisition of the skills (in research, critical analysis, and written expression) peculiar to English studies, as well as a form of social and political critique. It will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of the representations of crime, detection, confession, and punishments, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general contextual examination of engagements between these facets, the development of genre forms and concerns will be considered, especially because the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time in ways that likewise shape wider perceptions of crime and punishment. Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts that should represent differences and similarities in representation and subject choice that writers and directors negotiate.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025, offered in 2019 , 2020 , 2021
For further information see CULT352 course details
Points
30 points
ENGL352
Crime Stories
Description
The course addresses the usefulness and range of the crime genre as an appropriate focus for the acquisition of the skills (in research, critical analysis, and written expression) peculiar to English studies, as well as a form of social and political critique. It will particularly concentrate on the last two centuries of the representations of crime, detection, confession, and punishments, assaying major trends and preoccupations present in a range of texts and theories. Within a general contextual examination of engagements between these facets, the development of genre forms and concerns will be considered, especially because the genre often speculates the fears and desires of its time in ways that likewise shape wider perceptions of crime and punishment. Students will be expected to read a range of key material, including a small selection of novels, some short fiction, theoretical writings and visual texts that should represent differences and similarities in representation and subject choice that writers and directors negotiate.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see ENGL352 course details
Points
30 points
SOCI355
Sociology of the City
Description
This course is concerned with the city as it is experienced today: as shifting mixes of public and private spaces in which disruptions provoke different points of view, multiple memories and complex associations.
Occurrences
Not offered 2025
For further information see SOCI355 course details
Points
30 points