School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

History, Politics and Society

Topics we cover are:

  • France and the French-speaking world; Germany
  • Austria and the Low Countries
  • Russia and the Balkans and Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

Our focus is on the development of the social and political structures that underpin the evolution of culture as a whole.

We also look at:

  • Political and cultural history and historiography
  • Memory
  • National identity, contemporary society
  • Holocaust and post-conflict studies

and our work extends from the Byzantine era down to the present day. Our outputs in history, politics and society complement research in Culture Film and Media, and American and Canadian Studies.

History, politics and culture 
 

Research and activities

 

Current research topics include:

  • French political culture
  • World War II and the German Democratic Republic in memory
  • The Serbian diaspora in the UK, and contemporary Cuban history

We are active in the following centres and groups:

Postgraduate study

 

Our MA and PhD students make up a diverse and vibrant intellectual community. Current and recent topics include:

  • The French education system; representation of labour in a control society
  • The West German peace movement 1979-1985
  • Representations of the German military during the Second World War
  • Representations of youth in Russia and Serbia since the 1990s
  • Constructing bodies in the Orthodox Christian culture of pre-Mongol Rus
  • Francoist political violence in post-Civil War Spain
  • Hegemonic discourse and sources of legitimacy in Cuba.

You can find out more about our postgraduate research opportunities by consulting the online prospectus.

Online prospectus

 

Contacts

 

For enquiries, please contact the School's Director of Research or relevant experts listed below:

French and Francophone Studies

Rebecca Ford (French Enlightenment) Jeremy Lane (Post-war sociology) John Marks (Contemporary society) Paul Smith (Contemporary France)

German Studies

Ute Hirsekorn (GDR memory) Maike Oergel (Historicism)Rachel Palfreyman (Heimat discourse) Karl Wilds (History and politics) Bram Merten (Western European post-war literature and thought)

Russian and Slavonic Studies

Siggy Frank (Russian émigrés) Monica White (Medieval Russia and Byzantium) Vladimir Zorić (Contemporary Serbia)

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

Jane-Marie Collins (Brazil, slavery) Neil Hughes (Spain, education) Rui Miranda (Lusophone post-conflict cultures) Stephen Roberts (Spain, intellectuals) Mark Sabine (Lusophone and transoceanic studies) Álvaro J Vidal Bouzon (Iberian, national identities) Parvathi Kumaraswami (Cuba)
 

School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

Contact us