HIS5792 - Themes in Modern World History

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate the ability to discuss historical questions dealing with a range of geographical areas across the nineteent and twentieth centuries.
Critically analyse the nature of key forms of historical argument and debate, especially Western and non-Western views on recent history.
Demonstrate a critical use of a range of contemporary evidence including that produced by British and non-British peoples.
Synthesis, organise and present key arguments in various written contexts.

Content:

Students will examine specific aspects of international relations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, considering how World History was shaped by such factors. For instance, British economic and imperial power during the nineteenth century together with the loss of that position as pressures for political independence grew amongst the colonised peoples during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, might be examined. How these international factors affected daily life in Britain, the Empire and later the Commonwealth, and elsewhere, from the early nineteenth century until today, might constitute another part of this study.

During the first sessions a consideration of the influence of ‘Empire’ on Britain today will be made through websites such as The National Archive’s Moving Here: Two Hundred Years of Migration in England at http://movinghere.org.uk/ as well as documentaries and historic news film available on various databases such as Box of Broadcasts. The rest of the semester an aspect of historiographical debate will be explored by examining a recent text, and will focus on case studies of specific aspects of World History during this time period, including a consideration of Britain as a world power and the implications of this, followed by an examination of the growth of national independence in the Empire. A range of different forms of historical sources will be used, from contemporary texts and arguments, newsfilm and bulletins and feature films, to advertisements, buildings, statues and works of arts. These will include commentaries and critiques made by non-British cultures within the Empire and Commonwealth. Students will be introduced to text-based data mining.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Learning will be facilitated through a combination of workshops, mini-lectures as plenaries and fieldwork. This will include group work and report backs, use of online digital resources re the National Archives, and film footage, and large-scale data holdings.

Workshop/Seminars
Hours: 23
Intended Group size: 25

Tutorials and Fieldwork
Hours: 1 + 6
Intended Group size: 1/2 and 25

Guided independent study
Hours: 170

Further details relating to assessment
The Report will specify headings that the students must adhere to in submitting their work, and cover questions such as ‘How far is the Britain of today a result of the British Empire and its people?’ with advisory material such as discuss this in light of the both ‘old and new imperial histories’, and contemporary primary sources produced throughout the British Empire and beyond. (The latter component may be presented in the form of at least two case studies of specific examples of primary sources).

Assessment: