School of History and Social Anthropology
2013-14
HIS2055
HISTORY AND SOCIETY
Professor S.J. Connolly: Group 04
ABOUT THE MODULE
History and Society is a module specifically designed for History students reaching
the crucial mid-point in their undergraduate careers. It has three main purposes:
1.


To give you a deeper knowledge of history, through
a collaborative research project on a historical topic
an independently researched study of a significant work of history
2.
To provide you with a training in the skills you will require to complete your
level three dissertation through
 writing classes,
 instruction in footnoting techniques
 practice at bibliographical research
 exercises in the assessment and interpretation of primary and secondary
sources
 advice on how to choose a dissertation topic.
3.




To develop the skills you will require for life after graduation through
experience of the development of a history-related project in a commercial
context
experience of group work
experience of oral presentation
training in the development of a business plan
TEACHING ARRANGEMENTS
Teaching involves two elements.
(i)
Lectures on Fridays 2.00-3.00 in PHY/EMEL.
(ii) A weekly seminars on Monday 10.00-12.00 in PFC/02/025.
ASSESSMENT
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Assessment for the module has four components:
(i)
30% will be awarded for an individual bibliographical essay. For details see
below, p. 11. This must be submitted by Monday 7 April
(ii)
25% will be awarded for a group presentation. Details of what is involved are
given below, p. 10. Presentations will take place during the normal teaching times in
weeks eleven and twelve.
Supporting documentation (see below p.11) must be submitted to the School Office
by 19 May.
(iii) 20% will be awarded for an individual report relating to the group
presentation. This must be submitted to the School Office by 19 May.
(iv)
25% will be awarded for group work participation, as reflected in a portfolio
to be submitted by 5 May.
LECTURE LIST
7 February
Effective presentation (Dr Elaine Farrell)
14 February
A book and its reception: The Making of the English Working
Class (Professor Connolly)
21 February
Criteria for a successful business plan (Mr Jamie Curran, National
Heritage lottery)
28 February
Heritage and lottery funding (Mr Jamie Curran)
7 March
Museums, monuments and national identity (Professor Connolly
14 March
Varieties of historical writing (Professor Connolly)
21 March
Researching a business plan (Professor Connolly)
28 March
Finding sources for your dissertation (Dr Brown, Dr Morier-Genoud,
Dr O’Sullivan)
4 April
Presenting history: footnoting conventions (Professor Connolly)
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Sample seminar
Week Three
Museums, identity and ideology
Reading
Malvern, Sue, ‘War, memory and museums: art and artefact
in the Imperial War Museum’ in History Workshop Journal, 49
(2000), pp 177-203 QOL
Gable, Eric et al, ‘On the uses of relativism: fact, conjecture
and black and white histories at Colonial Williamsburg’
in American Ethnologist, xix (1992), pp 791-805 QOL
McKeown, Laurence, ‘Bulldozing history?’ in History Ireland,
xiii (2005), pp 5-6 JStor
Laura McAtackney, ‘What can archaeology tell us about the
Maze site?’ in Archaeology Ireland, 19/1 (2005), pp 22-4
JStor
This seminar addresses issues central to the group projects. Museums, in all their
different forms, seek to communicate a knowledge of the past to the general public.
At first sight artefacts and buildings are neutral. In fact, as the case studies of the
Imperial War Museum and the Colonial History museum at Williamsburg show,
constructing an exhibit involves a whole series of choices, some of which can be
controversial, and all of which illustrate the extent to which museums are products of
their time and place. Closer to home, the continuing controversy over the site of
former HMP Prison Maze highlights the same broad issues.
(i) Student presentation
What are the general problems highlighted by
the case studies of the Imperial War Museum and the Colonial History museum at
Williamsburg?
(ii) Student presentation
Maze be developed?
How should the site of the former HMP Prison
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