This module provides students with an advanced introduction to some of the ways in which historians have approached a range of prominent themes within the modern historical discipline, such as religion, gender, race, class, community, and conflict. The module introduces these themes through a mixture of case studies and background reading and information, with an emphasis on historiographical development and a range of different theoretical, methodological and interdisciplinary influences, such as sociology, anthropology, the material turn, etc. Each week students are guided in reading influential texts that relate to one of these key themes, and students then meet in small seminar groups to discuss a mixture of historiographical case studies and additional theoretical background. The module is assessed by a 4,000 word review of approaches to one of the themes covered by the module in their own chosen historical field.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module the student should be able to:
• Display an advanced critical understanding of the nature and value of the major historical approaches to the themes outlined by the module;
Demonstrate a good awareness of the key interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological influences on the historical discipline covered by the module;
Demonstrate an understanding of how historians work, how their theories differ from their practices and how they are influenced by their intellectual surroundings;
Distinguish between different types of historical project and be able to choose methodologies that are appropriate to their own chosen field(s) of enquiry
