This module introduces students to the social, cultural, economic, and political history of Britain from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. Through close reading of primary source material and the assessment of historiographical debates and trends, students will develop key analytical skills and become confident in identifying change and continuity across the time period. Topics covered may include industrialisation and decline, poverty and the rise of the welfare state, political and electoral change, culture and leisure, social class and social change, and multi-ethnic Britain.

Assessment: Primary Source Analysis (30%) and Portfolio (70%)

This module addresses the significance of journeys and places as key concepts in your studies. You will attend lectures with students from across the School of Creative Industries and Culture and gain an insight into the value of interdisciplinary study whilst engaging with concepts that include place, migration and travel, belonging, identity, intercultural spaces, and sustainable living.

You will attend History subject workshops and produce History assessments in order to apply these concepts within the historical discipline. The historical themes covered during this module include travel writing, migrant experiences, national identity, multicultural cities, and international trade.

Assessment One (30%) and Assessment Two (70%)

This module will introduce you to the rise of nationalism, the significance of the nation-state as a unit of political organisation, the development and expansion of empires (both European and non-European), and the impact of revolutions throughout the nineteenth century from a global perspective. Through thematic lectures, seminars, workshops, and independent reading, you will explore a range of case studies and develop an understanding of these fundamental building blocks of modern history. Students will additionally learn to identify different historiographical approaches that historians have utilised to study these important historical themes.

Assessment: Secondary Source Analysis (35%) and Essay (65%)

This module introduces you to the way the world has evolved throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. It does so by focusing upon specific events such as the First and Second World Wars, the collapse of European empires, and revolutions in Europe. The module will also explore key ideologies and themes related to rise of extremism and terrorism, socialism, capitalism, genocide, and the development of new world order through the spread and clash of civilisations and globalisation. You will also be introduced to the key historiographical approaches which have shaped historical writing over the past two centuries, such as empiricism, Marxism, postmodernism, and history from below.

Assessment: Essay (40%) and Exam (60%).

This module introduces students to the history of the Cold War in a global context. It explores the roots of the Cold War and its impact upon the nations and people of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Alongside geopolitics and diplomacy, this module assesses major themes and topics such as race, culture, propaganda, military conflict, decolonisation, and espionage. Students will engage with competing historiographical interpretations of the Cold War and assess its global legacy through a diverse range of regional case studies.

Essay (50%) and Presentation (50%)

In this module you will explore the history of work, labour, and employment in a variety of contexts and gain support towards the pursuit of post-degree pathways. You will attend lectures with students from across the School of Creative Industries and Culture that focus on enhancing your graduate attributes and transferable skills as well as developing a familiarity with the world and politics of work. You will attend History subject workshops and produce History assessments that will allow you to gain an understanding of the significance of work to human history.

The historical topics covered on this module include the history of work, organised labour, businesses and firms, work in imperial contexts, gender and work, and migration and labour.

Portfolio (100%)

This module will examine the centrality of migration, multiculturalism and racism in the development of the modern world. Focusing mainly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the module will tackle themes that might include theories and criticisms of the concept of multiculturalism, histories and experiences of migration, theories of diaspora, the social and economic status of minorities, the ways in which ethnic, racial, migrant, religious or other types of minorities interact with the dominant society and culture, and the representation of these experiences in sports and visual culture. Case studies that might be examined in this module include the Jewish community in Britain, the global African diaspora, the origins of multicultural Britain, among others.

Assessment: Primary Source Analysis (40%) and Essay (60%)

The module will introduce you to a range of historical sources and research methods used in project work. The module will examine core themes in history and the sources/methods associated with them. The methodologies studied will then be adapted to a personal research project, which will lead to the Level 6 dissertation. Study of sources may include maps; economic data; census; national and local government records; diplomatic and military records; press and media; records of education, health, poverty/charity and criminality; church and religious history; oral history; visual sources. There will be visits to archives and relevant research depositories.

Assessment: Primary Source Analysis (40%) and Project Portfolio (60%)

This module will introduce students to cutting-edge research drawn from the expertise of the History team. It will be led by members of the teaching team on a rotating basis and will provide you with the opportunity to discuss specialised research topics with leading experts on a diverse range of topics. You will study two topics on this module from the list below and specialise in one of them in the final assignment. You will acquire in-depth subject knowledge and gain first-hand experience relating to the research process, including the identification of suitable archives, the interpretation of the archival evidence, and the current historiographical debates and controversies related to each subject.

Each year, two subjects from the following will feature on this module:

• The Late Ottoman Empire and its Legacies – Explore the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its aftermath and assess its consequences in Greece, Cyprus, Armenia and the Western Balkans.
• Sport in Britain, 1850-1945 – Explore the social history of sport in Britain between 1850 and 1945.
• Photography and Medicine in the Nineteenth Century – Explore the ways in which photography shaped medical practice during the nineteenth century.
• The Disintegration of Yugoslavia – Explore the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and discern its lasting impact into the twenty-first century.
• The Zimbabwean Diaspora in the UK – Explore the history of Zimbabwean migrants who settled in the United Kingdom.
• Jews in Twentieth Century Britain – Explore the social, cultural, political, and economic experiences of British Jews from the late Victorian era to the present.
• The United States and the First World War – Explore the diplomatic, social, and military history of the United States during the First World War.

Portfolio (40%) and Essay (60%)

This module introduces you to the history of anti-imperialist independence movements and the creation of new nation-states through case studies drawn from South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and South America. It will explore different case studies in the decolonization processes across time and space. The module also explores the relationships between ideologies and resistance against imperial rule, as well as post-colonial conflicts in nation-building and the social and economic legacies of imperial rule in the post-colonial world. You will study these processes in a broad and theoretical way in lectures, seminars, and workshops, as they deepen their understanding of specific case studies. You will develop an understanding of the key factors instrumental in developing post-independence relations of neo-colonialism in post-colonial nation-states as a historical unit of analysis in the context of global politics The module will further introduce you to relevant historiographical approaches such as post-colonialism and Subaltern Studies.

Assessment: Essay (40%) and Portfolio (60%)

This module explores the economic, social, political, and cultural aspects of the home front during the Second World War focusing upon case studies such as Britain and Germany. The module will examine primary sources on the individual case studies and also offer students the opportunity to engage with different historiographical traditions and interpretations during this time frame. The case studies covered will also be placed into wider international context.

Assessment: Primary Source Analysis (50%) and Podcast/Video (50%)

The dissertation provides an opportunity for sustained work of an independent nature in an area of personal interest, allowing the exploration a particular issue, topic or problem in considerable depth. You will define and analyse a question or problem, or test a hypothesis, arising from their historical interest. The dissertation provides an opportunity to look beyond the textbooks and other secondary sources and to get to grips with primary evidence including textual, material or visual sources. The dissertation will draw out research, critical and writing skills in several ways.

Assessment: Presentation (10%) and Dissertation (90%)