HUM5312 - Writing History: Tales and Texts

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Analyse and assess critically two genres of history writing, historical fiction and the history textbook.
Identify how issues such as agenda and purpose, genre and style, levels of research and historical knowledge, target audience, and other contextual factors affect the representation of history to the public.
To plan and create an historical representation of their own, and reflect on their process, practice, and end product.
To develop subject and generic skills in the areas of comparative analysis, essay-writing, creative work, and group project work and presentation.

Content:

Students will study up to five examples of the nineteenth-century historical novel in the first part of the module, and in the second half they will focus on examples of the twentieth-century textbook. The texts studied in the first part will include important works in the development of the modern historical novel, such as Walter Scott’s Waverley, as well as lesser known works such as Elizabeth Gaskell’s Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) and W.H. Ainsworth’s The Tower of London (1840) They will be invited to consider these texts within a range of contexts, such as the development of history as a discipline, and Victorian nationalism and imperialism.

In the second half, the texts covered will begin with Henrietta Marshall’s Our Island Story (1905) and explore the works of R. J. Unstead, considering also the writing of history textbooks in other countries, and concluding with examples of current textbook histories. Relevant contexts will be considered, such as the development of education and history curriculum reform, and the impact of political and social changes. This semester may involve a participation of a guest speaker (eg a history teacher or educator), and the students may carry out an interview to explore an individual’s experience of school and textbook history.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The primary mode of delivery in both semesters will be workshops/seminars, with occasional lectures.

Seminar/Workshop
Contact hours: 24
Intended Group size: 25

Lecture
Contact hours: 6
intended group size: 25

Guided independent study,br> Hours: 170

Further details relating to assessment
The essay will focus on the historical novels covered in the course, considering how successful one or more of the works examined is as a piece of historical fiction. The group project will involve the creation of a history textbook, or section thereof, totalling 1,500 words or equivalent. This will be submitted as a supplementary handbook during the oral presentation, when students will be required to analyse and reflect on the process and end-product of their project as an example of an historical representation. Groups will consist of four students.

Assessment:

001 Essay 2,000 words End of semester 2 week 35 50%
002 Group oral presentation on project 20 minutes sem 2 50%


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