This module (and its co-requisite) will allow students to study a historical theme or area in great depth, drawing on both secondary sources (i.e. books and articles) and primary sources (documents, newspapers etc), both published and unpublished. The module will allow students to study an aspect of history in detail and gain a fuller understanding of how different types of source material inform the historical process.
Module Summary: Egypt in Revolution. Modernity, Masculinity and Revolution in 20th Century Egypt: This module explores the social and cultural history of modern Egypt over the past century and half. Like anywhere in the world, also in Egypt modernity ushered into a period of unprecedented social change; yet, modernity also meant many things to many people. Historians have conventionally approached these changes through the “big picture” of colonialism, capitalism, the rise of the modern national state, the building of modern institutions and novel forms of politics. Using the lens of social and cultural history, we will approach these large processes “from below.” The triple focus on modernity, masculinity and revolution allows us to focus on how ordinary Egyptians not only experienced the changing world, but how they actively worked to remake it; and how notions of class, gender and expectation were remade in the process. Beside more conventional historical sources (documents, speeches, the press), the module uses a broad range of less conventional primary material, including novels, films, photographs, and personal narratives.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny;
analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material;
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration;
Summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form.