Study an overview of the main themes of gender history from the late 19th-century to the end of the 20th century, and how cultural constructions of gender identity have changed over that time. You will tackle broad themes such as work, sex, family life, war and politics, and gender in `Western' society (broadly defined as Western Europe (including Britain), North America and Australasia).
The Atlantic World was marked by a series of revolutionary transformations between the 1770s and 1848 - you'll explore how themes such as democracy, gender, race and violence ran across different revolutions.
Gain an understanding of late 20th-Century Britain by exploring some of the key themes in its social and cultural history during the period c.1979-1990. You will develop skills in working with primary and secondary sources, and the ability to communicate ideas effectively.
Engage with historiographical debates which challenge long-held historical assumptions of an imperial/metropolitan divide. You will examine the role of the empire in British social, political, cultural and material life and how the relation between metropole and colony was experienced and expressed in everyday practices, such as consumer culture and popular entertainment. You will use a wide range of primary sources including visual, media and literary material. This module will explore and problematise how the empire is presented and preserved today by encouraging you to reflect critically on how histories, objects and perceptions of empire are presented in the 21st century in institutions where collections of empire are displayed.
Develop your historical research skill set through online lab sessions in which you will apply your learning from lectures. You will explore how to create a website using a content management system, how to use digital libraries such as JSTOR, how to use apps to understand specific landscapes of enquiry over time and the possibilities presented by virtual reality for research and research communication.
Examine the origins, implementation and aftermaths of genocide by engaging extensively with historiography and contemporary debates about victims and perpetrators, the `grey zone? of resistance, collaboration and survival, and particularly the politics of remembrance. This module will also encourage you to critically examine why past genocides, such as the Nazi Holocaust, have assumed such importance in contemporary society. You will engage with debates about the politics of commemoration requiring the use of theory and empirical evidence and consider the language and history of remembrance in relation to genocide.
Study how different media, including visual art, material culture and literary fiction, shaped and interpreted the modern British landscape. Reflecting recent trends in social and cultural history, you will look at the history of material forms, from water to electricity, and of the senses through which the environment has been apprehended. You will then consider the conservation and the place of landscape in contemporary policy-making.
This module covers the key movements for political change in the British Isles over the period from the Wilkesite protests of the 1760s to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Your studies will encompass movements such as those mounted by Christopher Wyvill?s Yorkshire Association, radical movements for universal suffrage such as Chartism and violent action against the state and its functionaries such as the Despard Conspiracy, and revolutionary movements, including Irish Republicanism.
This module will cover themes of change in European history during the `Age of Revolutions', namely the period between the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 to the completion of national unifications in Italy and Germany by 1871. You will focus on the development of new political ideologies, the impact of economic and social and economic change, the advance of communications technology, cultural conflict, and reflections of all of these themes through the art and architecture of the period.
Study how labour in the British empire was extracted by coercive means through four main case studies: slave societies in the Caribbean, colonial Indian indentureship, slavery at the Cape between the 17th and 19th centuries and forced labour in West Africa during the interwar and World War II period. You will examine the development of slave systems and other mechanisms to compel colonised people to work, the economic and ideological rationale behind transitions to enslaved labour, the ways in which slaveholders, planters and overseers controlled workers and the many ways in which workers resisted their bondage. This module also considers the creation of new identities and cultures amongst slaves and other unfree labourers, the different experiences of men and women, and the rise of British anti-slavery from the 18th up to the mid-20th century.
Explore the ideological challenges posed by communism and fascism to liberal democracy in the 20th century. In particular, you will focus on the `Age of Extremes' (1918-1991), in which authoritarian ideologies of the left and right embraced mass politics and offered alternative visions of social and political organisation that directly challenged the hegemony of the liberal-capitalist order. This module will enable you to question the usefulness of totalitarianism as a concept to understanding this era in history.
Develop an understanding of early 20th-century British history by exploring some of the key themes in social and cultural history during the period c.1900-1950. You will hone your skills in three key areas: identification and engagement with secondary sources, identification and analysis of primary sources and the ability to communicate ideas both orally and in writing.
Examine comedy in contemporary media and society. You will explore the analytical and theoretical literature on comedy's purposes and structures before exploring up to three forms of comedy in detail. Firstly, you will study stand-up, secondly the sit-com genre on television and, thirdly romantic comedy in cinema.
This module will see you explore the relationship between young people, crime and media culture. You will approach the study of youth and crime cultures through various historical, theoretical and sociological perspectives and address a range of themes including deviance, resistance, labelling, policing, violence, and crime as a fiction/film genre. You will critically consider these themes in relation to different theories of youth and criminality including delinquency, antisocial behaviour, countercultures, subcultures, club cultures, gangs, drug use and surveillance.
Explore some of the features of professional working practices within the media and cultural industry sectors. During this module you will have the opportunity to work on a practice-based project and learn from visiting tutors who are working in areas such as online marketing, publishing, television and radio production. You will also undertake a series of online-workshop reflective tasks covering aspects of a range of professional skills to help you identify your strengths, develop your skills and prepare you for your future career.
Understand the way that humanities disciplines and skills intersect with a range of professional working contexts. You will complete 36 hours of live-brief learning to gain first-hand experience of planning, delivery and evaluating a professional working brief set by an industry partner organisation. You will work as a group across 10 weeks alongside a tutor to design, deliver, present and evaluate the brief to industry standards. As well as conducting a reflective case study of your brief, you will complete a CV, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and undertake a recorded mock interview.
