DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
COURSE OPTIONS
INFORMATION FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
The information supplied in this document was correct at the time of going to press (July
2014). The Department of History reserves the right to modify any statement if necessary,
and to make variations to the contents or methods of delivery of programmes of study. All
courses listed may not be available each academic year.
Irrespective of degree programme, all students must take courses to the value of four units
each year. However, the range of options and permitted substitutions varies depending on
the degree programme. All courses may not be available each academic year.
YEAR 1 COURSES
There are two types of first-year courses on offer in the History Department:
Foundation courses and Gateway courses. Foundation courses (all valued as half
units) initiate students into unfamiliar skills, themes and methods including the use of
information technology, whilst Gateway courses (valued as one unit each) introduce
broad historical themes and unfamiliar periods and cultures.
FOUNDATION COURSES (HALF UNIT)
TERM ONE
HS1002
History and Meanings
This course examines the development of historical writing and how the interpretation
and writing of history has evolved over the centuries. The first half of the course
examines changing expectations about historical truth, style and content, with
reference to Classical, Christian, Reformation, Renaissance and Enlightenment
approaches. Other non-western history-writing traditions are discussed for
comparative purposes at various points. The second half of the course is organised
thematically, within the context of the global professionalisation of historical research
and writing as a discipline from the nineteenth century onwards. Specific casehistories include the impact of Marxism, Anthropology, Gender Studies, Foucault and
Postmodernism.
HS1007
Doing History I
This course will introduce students to a range and variety of primary sources used by
historians to reconstruct pre-modern society and culture. It will engage students in
the interpretative problems raised by a number of types of primary source: visual
sources; state records; and literary sources. As well as engaging with specific types
of source, the course will introduce students to the practical skills needed to do
history: using the internet, referencing sources, citing primary and secondary
materials, and applying various types of IT to primary research materials will be
embedded in the lectures and seminar activities. The course will aim to give
students experience in writing exercises, discussing the interpretation of primary
materials and develop students' skills of critical and interpretative analysis.
HS1283
British Social and Economic History 1914-1945
This course aims to draw out the particular features which shaped the economic and
social history of Britain in the three decades between the beinning of the First World
War and the end of World War Two, and to study them in depth while incorporating
basic economic statistics as a tool for analysis. Most of the emphasis of the course
will be on the years of turmoil during the 1920s and 1930s, and will deal with the
social impact of economic change as much as the economy itself. Students will thus
become familiar with the use of socio-economic data for the historian, and
understand how British Government economic policy and the economic relationship
between the British state and the individual evolved from a laissez-faire stance in
1914 to the Keynesian revolution in 1941-45 and how such economic change
impacted upon wider society.
TERM TWO
HS1005
Public History
This course assesses the challenges faced by historians in recent decades and
explores how the past has been used and written about by academic and popular
historians, journalists, the state and the public. Representative topics through which
such Public History can be can be explored include the Holocaust and its
memorialisation; debates over the colonial past; popular history on television; history
in museums and heritage sites; Britishness and its history; the uses of history in the
twentieth-century non-western world; and the importance of community and oral
history. Students will have the opportunity to consider their own roles as consumers
and producers of history, and to embark on their own case studies of public
engagement with History.
HS1008
Doing History II
This course will introduce students to a range and variety of modern sources which
historians use to write the history of post 1800 society, politics and culture. Methods
and procedures for doing (for example) oral history, the history of other cultures, and
the history of everyday life, will be explored by using specific sources. As with
HS1007 students will also examine these historical records through using a variety of
practical historical skills. The course will aim to give students experience in writing
exercises discussing the interpretation of primary materials and develop students'
skills of critical and interpretative analysis.
HS1280
British Social and Economic History 1945-1997
This course aims to give a basic grounding in economic principles for non-specialist
students. Particular attention is paid in the lectures to the analysis of topics e.g. the
effect of changing exchange rates, the reasons for inflation or deflation of the price
level, the definition and calculation of the national income, and the impact of
government policy on the economy. Work in the classes concentrates on developing
skills in the use of the statistical tools which are required to read and comprehend
economic history and contemporary economic affairs, e.g. the use of index numbers,
the use of averages, the sources and reliability of economic statistics.
GATEWAY COURSES (ONE UNIT)
HS1105
Gods, Men and Power: An Introduction to the Ancient World,
from Homer to Mohammed
This course looks at how power was exercised in the ancient Mediterranean world in politics, in religion, and in culture. It covers a long and dramatically changing
period, from early Greece (the time of the Homeric epics) to the rise of Christianity
and then the rise of Islam. A variety of areas of life are investigated through both
primary sources (in translation) and a selection of the latest secondary works.
HS1107
Republics, Kings and People: The Foundations of European
Political Thought from Plato to Rousseau
This course investigates the origins of our ideas about human rights and duties,
revolution and democracy, consent and liberty, etc. A number of key writings are
studied: ranging from Plato and Aristotle in the ancient world to Macchiavelli, More,
Hobbes, Locke and the Enlightenment in the transition from the early modern to the
modern world. Analysis of the development of fundamental ideas about politics and
society through these examples sharpens the mind and throws light upon the present
in the perspective of the past.
HS1108
The Rich Tapestry of Life: Early Modern England, Europe and the
Wider World (1453-1789)
This course aims to provide students with a grounding in the key processes which
had a major impact on the lives of early modern Europeans: from the new culture of
religious reform and personal discipline to the strengthening of patriarchy, from the
rise of consumerism to the intensification of social and geographical mobility.
Students will be directed to some of the most exciting writing in the recent social and
cultural history of early modern Europe, and introduced week by week, to analytic
concepts (space, gender, status, identity, etc.) which are central to recent
interpretations of this period of history. Finally, they will be acquainted with a range
of primary source material. Topics covered will include: masculinity and femininity;
privilege and protest; popular culture, magic and witchcraft; life and death; body and
mind; new world and race.
HS1109
Conflict and Identity in the Modern Europe, c.1770-2000
This course highlights a range of major themes in (predominantly) European history
from the French Revolution to the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In studying specific events
and developments students will also be introduced to more general concepts like
revolution, constitutionalism, liberalism, nationalism, industrialisation, socialism,
communism, fascism, parliamentary democracy and welfare state. Exposure to
different historical methods and conflicting interpretations will help students to hone
their own analytical skills.
HS1113
From Mao to Mandela: Twentieth-Century Leaders of the nonWestern World
The course looks at the role of world leaders in the twentieth-century with a view to
understanding, from their experiences and the problems that confronted them, the
nature of politics in the non-western world. Not surprisingly, they represent a range
of political ideas on leadership, authority and charisma. But they had one common
problem – how to handle the impact of the west on the country in which they
operated – and so they were often closely linked with nationalist struggles. By
necessity, many were also involved in revolutionary change and war, both of which,
like western ideas, helped to shape them and the lives of their people. The course
also guides students in research using the internet and electronic resources.
HS1116
Rome to Renaissance: An Introduction to the Middle Ages
The terms 'Middle Ages' and 'Medieval' are often used to evoke a dark and bigoted
world, wracked by war, pestilence and superstition and oppressed by tyrannical kings
and prelates. The image is not entirely false as all those things can be found in
medieval history but it is by no means the full picture. The period from c.400 to
c.1500 saw Western Europe transform itself from the poorer part of the retreating
Roman Empire to a wealthy and dynamic society that was starting to explore the
world far beyond its borders. This course explores some of the changes that took
place along the way and answers some of the questions that you may always have
wanted to ask: What was 'feudalism'? How were castles and Gothic cathedrals built?
Why did the Pope become so powerful? What were the Crusades? And does any of
this have any relevance whatsoever to the modern world?
PR1400:
Introduction to Politics and Government
This course is compulsory for the degree programme BA MODERN HISTORY AND
POLITICS. It is taken with students studying for degrees in the Department of Politics
and International Relations. The course covers three main areas: the nature of
politics and political science, key theories, models and concepts used in the study of
politics and government; with particular reference to the political systems of the
United Kingdom and the United States.
LATIN (HALF UNIT)
HS1111
Introductory Latin for Historians
This course takes students with little or no previous knowledge of Latin language up
to approximately GCSE standard in one year. It is particularly recommended for
students taking the Ancient and Medieval History degree or with a strong interest in
the medieval part of the History degree. The classes are held weekly in terms one
and two. Students can take Introductory Latin in their first or second year.
HS2111
Further Latin for Historians
This course takes students with GCSE level Latin up to Advanced Level knowledge
of the language in one year. It may be taken either in the first year by students with
the appropriate entry level knowledge of Latin, or in a subsequent year by students
who have passed HS1111. The classes are held weekly in terms one and two. The
objective of the course is to enable students to read Latin with reasonable fluency,
with the help of dictionaries, particularly to assist students planning to take a Group 3
course in ancient or medieval history.
Students can take Further Latin in their first or second year.