The Arcades Project: Walter Benjamin’s Excavation of Modernity

This course is offered by the Department of Culture and Aesthetics in collaboration with the Department of Slavic and Baltic Studies, Finnish, Dutch and German, as a part of the Doctoral School in the Humanities. The course is offered during the spring semester of 2025, and on campus only.

Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project (written 1927–1940) is considered to be one of the great texts of twentieth-century cultural criticism, with implications for a wide range of disciplines. The course is entirely devoted to this work and presents a unique opportunity to explore Benjamin’s understanding of modernity and its contemporary resonances.

During seven seminars the course close-reads Benjamin’s critical endeavor from the following thematic vantage points: “A Totality in Fragments: An Unfinished Work and its Wirkungsgeschichte”, “Dust in the Arcades: Materiality, Historiography and the Excavation of the Present”, “Visual Culture: Photography, Film”, “Architecture and Urban Dreams”, “Anthropology of City Life: Hoarders, Gamblers, Prostitutes and Pimps”, “Fashion and the Production of the New” and “Postcolonial Interventions”.

Learning outcomes

In order to pass the course, students are expected to be able to:

analyze and critically discuss Walter Benjamin's Arcades project and its relevance to historiography and philosophy, material and visual studies, and theories of spatiality and temporality
apply theories and methods actualized by the Arcades project to independently selected research areas and problems
become familiar with interdisciplinary practices applied to cultural phenomena with the Arcades project as a starting point.

Practical information

Mandatory elements

All seminars are compulsory, with the last one being a joint workshop.

Examination

The course is examined through active participation in the course seminars, submission of a written paper, and feedback on a fellow student's draft paper in a workshop.

Instruction

The working methods consist of text seminars, lectures and a workshop.

NB. The course is offered on campus only.

Period: Spring semester 2025

Course dates: The first meeting will take place on Friday 4 April, at 13–16 pm. The last session of the course will be in the form of a workshop, preliminary planned for 11 June.

The full schedule will be announced here before the start of the course.

Language of instruction: English

Course syllabus: Course syllabus LV1020F pdf, 104.5 kB.

Apply to the course

Application

Applications for courses starting in the spring semester 2025 are received between May 15 and June 15 2024, as well as between November 15 and December 15 2024. Notifications of acceptance are sent out as soon as possible after the final date.

All applications are sent by the supervisor to: doctoralschool@hum.su.se. Official transcript of records, or certificate of registration, verifying the applicant's status as doctoral student should be enclosed with the application.

All courses are free of charge, and they are open to all who are admitted to studies on PhD-level, regardless of faculty or university. Prerequisites and special admittance requirements may apply for some courses.

How do I apply?

The application form (document link below) is used to apply for a place in a course. The supervisor (or equivalent) must support the doctoral student’s application with a motivation as to why the doctoral student should participate in the course. The supervisor also submits the proposal to the following address: doctoralschool@hum.su.se.

Application form for place in a joint faculty course docx, 294.6 kB.

Who can apply?

The Faculty of Humanities’ doctoral students have priority for places, and external doctoral students (from Stockholm University or another university) can be admitted to a course subject to availability. External doctoral students will be registered in Ladok in order to enable the Board to monitor all participants in a course.

Last updated: 2025-12-09

Source: Faculty of Humanities