This module (and its co-requisite) will allow students to study a historical theme or area in great depth. 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. Like Part A, Part B will involve a detailed examination of primary as well as secondary sources, (documents, newspapers etc) both published and unpublished, and students will be tested on their ability to compare different source materials from the period under scrutiny.
Module Summary: 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 experience 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 appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny;
analyse and evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material offering where appropriate, an explicitly comparative perspective;
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration;
Summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form showing an awareness of further research potential.
