Topic outline

  • Welcome to the course Fashion in Society!

    This course focuses on fashion as an important societal phenomenon. Through lectures and texts about  fashion as a social process, fashion and digitalization and fashion and datafication, you will learn to understand how fashion is shaped by forces beyond design. The course also gives you tools for thinking and contextualizing your own creative work (for example the written part of your BA- or MA-thesis).


    There are two possible ways to pass the course:

    1. Attending on-line lectures and making assigned tasks related to them (see the program below)

    2. Self-study (see instructions in the section "Self-Study Option")


    Program for Zoom-lectures


    4.3. Introductory lecture: Fashion in Society

    9.15-12 On-line lecture by Annamari Vänskä


    11.3. Exhibition visit: Fashion as embodied culture 

    10-12 Visiting the exhibition "Intiimin kosketus" (Intimacy) at Designmuseum in Helsinki with Annamari Vänskä

    13-15 Independent work


    18.3. Digitalization of fashion

    9.15-12 On-line lecture and discussing the read text, session led by PhD-researcher Natalia Särmäkari

    13-15 independent work


    1.4. Datafication of fashion

    9.15-12 On-line lecture and discussing the read text, session led by Post-Doc researcher Jenni Hokka

    13-15 Independent work


    8.4. Independent work

    Independent work towards completing the learning diary


    Course deliverables 

    To pass the course, you will do the following assignments:


    1. Attend on-line lectures

    2. Visit the exhibition Intiimin kosketus (Intimacy) at the Designmuseum 

    3. Read articles, listen to podcasts, and watch online talks attached to the lectures and write summaries on them

    4. Write a short "learning diary" (2-5 pages) on how you can use the learnings (texts, lectures, discussions) in contextualizing your own (creative) work in a chosen societal question.


    FORMAT OF THE CLASSES

    The course convenes four times, three times on-line and once physically. The physical meeting is on 11 March at 10-12 am the Designmuseum when we will visit the exhibition Intiimin kosketus (Intimacy) together. You will join lectures through Zoom. 

    On-line classes will start with an introductory lecture and are followed by group discussions. Afternoon sessions are dedicated to individual work: you will read assigned articles, listen to podcasts and watch on-line lectures and write a short (1-2 pages long) summary on these. 

    The final assignment: You will write a short "learning diary" (2-5 pages) on how you could use the course materials to contextualize your own (creative) work (e.g. your Bachelor's or Master's thesis). The course is designed to help you in forming a plausible framework for your creative work or inspire you to think further the topic of your upcoming thesis.


    PASSING THE COURSE

    Attending online lectures and the exhibition visit. Note! If you are unable to visit the exhibition physically, you can familiarize with it virtually in the section "Self-Study Option".

    Reading pre-assigned texts. Instructions for reading and analysing texts are in the section "Instructions".

    Listening to podcasts and watching on-line lectures.

    Writing a summary on each read text, podcast and lecture. The length of a summary is max. 1-2 pages. You can write the text in Finnish, Swedish, or English. By reading the text you prepare for discussion in class and will get more out of the discussion when you have read the text.

    To pass the course, you will write a "learning diary" in which you think how the course materials can help you frame your own creative practice or inspire your thesis work. The length of the learning diary is 2-5 pages. The learning diary is returned in the folder "Final assignment: learning diary". You can write in Finnish, Swedish or English. The course is graded pass/fail. 


    DEADLINES

    Deadlines for returning summaries:

    Summary one: Thursday 17 March at 3 pm

    Summary two: Thursday 31 March at 3 pm

    Final assignment, learning diary: Friday 8 April at 23.59 pm


    HOUSE RULES

    • Let’s try to make the course a safe and inclusive place for everyone
    • Let's respect others and be on time on the course
    • Let’s try not to make identity-related assumptions about each other. You can talk to Annamari if you feel unsafe or violated
    • It is always ok to ask if you feel you don’t understand a word, concept or term or anything else
    • Let’s try to give everyone an equal chance to participate in group discussions
    • We should always choose a person who will moderate the small group discussion, giving everyone the chance to speak
    • Let’s try not to talk over others. You can use the hand signal to ask for the floor