In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, as the population expanded and people became more mobile, cities grew. In this period, increasing numbers of people came to engage with and inhabit city life. This module seeks to explore the social, cultural and sensory aspects of urban living in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. It primarily asks: how did people experience these ever-changing urban environments? Using London as a case study, the module explores five key sensory experiences: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. By looking to these different sense, the module will encourage students to consider the nature of urban life and the ways in which it changed in social and cultural terms over the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
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
