It is compulsory to do a disseration but you can choose to do it in either American and Canadian Studies or History.
University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK
Qualification | Entry Requirements | Start Date | UCAS code | Duration | Fees |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BA Jt Hons | ABB | September 2025 | TV71 | 3 years full-time (or 4 years with optional year abroad) | £9,250 per year |
Qualification | Entry Requirements | Start Date | UCAS code | Duration | Fees |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BA Jt Hons | ABB | September 2025 | TV71 | 3 years full-time (or 4 years with optional year abroad) | £9,250 per year |
Higher Level History grade 5
6.5 (no less than 6.0 in any element)
As well as IELTS (listed above), we also accept other English language qualifications. This includes TOEFL iBT, Pearson PTE, GCSE, IB and O level English. Check our English language policies and equivalencies for further details.
For presessional English or one-year foundation courses, you must take IELTS for UKVI to meet visa regulations.
If you need support to meet the required level, you may be able to attend a Presessional English for Academic Purposes (PEAP) course. Our Centre for English Language Education is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK.
If you successfully complete your presessional course to the required level, you can then progress to your degree course. This means that you won't need to retake IELTS or equivalent.
Check our country-specific information for guidance on qualifications from your country
A level
B in History.
GCSE
English grade 4 (C).
All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.
Please note: Applicants whose backgrounds or personal circumstances have impacted their academic performance may receive a reduced offer. Please see our contextual admissions policy for more information.
We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education.
Consequently we treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A-levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis, and we gladly accept students with a whole range of less conventional qualifications including:
This list is not exhaustive. The entry requirements for alternative qualifications can be quite specific; for example you may need to take certain modules and achieve a specified grade in those modules. Please contact us to discuss the transferability of your qualification. Please see the alternative qualifications page for more information.
RQF BTEC Nationals
Access to HE Diploma
International students must have valid UK immigration permissions for any courses or study period where teaching takes place in the UK. Student route visas can be issued for eligible students studying full-time courses. The University of Nottingham does not sponsor a student visa for students studying part-time courses. The Standard Visitor visa route is not appropriate in all cases. Please contact the university’s Visa and Immigration team if you need advice about your visa options.
At the University of Nottingham, we have a valuable community of mature students and we appreciate their contribution to the wider student population. You can find lots of useful information on the mature students webpage.
A level
B in History.
GCSE
English grade 4 (C).
Higher Level History grade 5
All candidates are considered on an individual basis and we accept a broad range of qualifications. The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.
Please note: Applicants whose backgrounds or personal circumstances have impacted their academic performance may receive a reduced offer. Please see our contextual admissions policy for more information.
We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education.
Consequently we treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A-levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis, and we gladly accept students with a whole range of less conventional qualifications including:
This list is not exhaustive. The entry requirements for alternative qualifications can be quite specific; for example you may need to take certain modules and achieve a specified grade in those modules. Please contact us to discuss the transferability of your qualification. Please see the alternative qualifications page for more information.
RQF BTEC Nationals
Access to HE Diploma
We make contextual offers to students who may have experienced barriers that have restricted progress at school or college. Our standard contextual offer is usually one grade lower than the advertised entry requirements, and our enhanced contextual offer is usually two grades lower than the advertised entry requirements. To qualify for a contextual offer, you must have Home/UK fee status and meet specific criteria – check if you’re eligible.
You can also access this course through a Foundation Year. This may be suitable if you have faced educational barriers and are predicted BCC at A Level.
If you have already achieved your EPQ at Grade A you will automatically be offered one grade lower in a non-mandatory A level subject.
If you are still studying for your EPQ you will receive the standard course offer, with a condition of one grade lower in a non-mandatory A level subject if you achieve an A grade in your EPQ.
At the University of Nottingham, we have a valuable community of mature students and we appreciate their contribution to the wider student population. You can find lots of useful information on the mature students webpage.
On this course, subject to you meeting the relevant requirements, your may spend an academic year studying abroad at a partner university in North America.
This will give you the opportunity to consolidate your learning, and to broaden your horizons and enhance your CV by experiencing another culture.
Please note:
In order to undertake a compulsory year abroad, you will need to achieve the relevant academic requirements as set by the University and meet the selection criteria of both the University and the partner institution. The partner institution is under no obligation to accept you even if you do meet the relevant criteria.
"America is so much more than you’d imagine. They’re so similar to us in so many ways, but still so different. It was a great experience to be able to go there. It’s the reality behind what you’re studying."
– Natalie Shortall, 2018 graduate. Natalie spent her year abroad in Charleston, South Carolina
In your department
Become 'workplace-ready' with our Work Placement and Employability programme tailor made for students in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. It helps you develop skills and experience that allow you to stand out to potential employers.
Internships, placements and other work experience
Our reputation means we can work with top employers to offer high quality opportunities to gain experience and build employment skills. Check out our Careers and Employability Service for what’s on offer.
Nottingham Advantage Award
Boost your employability with a range of employer-led projects and career development opportunities. See the Nottingham Advantage Award website for what’s available.
"I decided to participate in the ‘Experience Heritage’ module as part of the Nottingham Advantage Award to gain experience in the heritage sector. One of the highlights of the placement was the opportunity to create a display for the reading room which utilized the range of artefacts being stored at Manuscripts and Special Collections. This enabled me to craft a display that was directly related to my degree, with the topic being related to surviving photographs from the Crimean War of 1853-56, alongside being able to use my analytical and organisational skills in preparing the display."
– Bron Bury, American Studies and History BA graduate
On this course, subject to you meeting the relevant requirements, your may spend an academic year studying abroad at a partner university in North America.
This will give you the opportunity to consolidate your learning, and to broaden your horizons and enhance your CV by experiencing another culture.
Please note:
In order to undertake a compulsory year abroad, you will need to achieve the relevant academic requirements as set by the University and meet the selection criteria of both the University and the partner institution. The partner institution is under no obligation to accept you even if you do meet the relevant criteria.
"America is so much more than you’d imagine. They’re so similar to us in so many ways, but still so different. It was a great experience to be able to go there. It’s the reality behind what you’re studying."
– Natalie Shortall, 2018 graduate. Natalie spent her year abroad in Charleston, South Carolina
In your department
Become 'workplace-ready' with our Work Placement and Employability programme tailor made for students in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies. It helps you develop skills and experience that allow you to stand out to potential employers.
Internships, placements and other work experience
Our reputation means we can work with top employers to offer high quality opportunities to gain experience and build employment skills. Check out our Careers and Employability Service for what’s on offer.
Nottingham Advantage Award
Boost your employability with a range of employer-led projects and career development opportunities. See the Nottingham Advantage Award website for what’s available.
"I decided to participate in the ‘Experience Heritage’ module as part of the Nottingham Advantage Award to gain experience in the heritage sector. One of the highlights of the placement was the opportunity to create a display for the reading room which utilized the range of artefacts being stored at Manuscripts and Special Collections. This enabled me to craft a display that was directly related to my degree, with the topic being related to surviving photographs from the Crimean War of 1853-56, alongside being able to use my analytical and organisational skills in preparing the display."
– Bron Bury, American Studies and History BA graduate
*For full details including fees for part-time students and reduced fees during your time studying abroad or on placement (where applicable), see our fees page.
If you are a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you may be asked to complete a fee status questionnaire and your answers will be assessed using guidance issued by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) .
All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice.
Essential course materials are supplied.
Books
You'll be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to buy your own copies of core texts. A limited number of modules have compulsory texts which you are required to buy. We recommend that you budget £100 per year for books, but this figure will vary according to which modules you take. The Blackwell's bookshop on campus offers a year-round price match against any of the main retailers (e.g. Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith). They also offer second-hand books, as students from previous years sell their copies back to the bookshop.
Volunteering and placements
For volunteering and placements e.g. work experience and teaching in schools, you will need to pay for transport and refreshments.
Optional field trips
Field trips allow you to engage with source materials on a personal level and to develop different perspectives. They are optional and costs to you vary according to the trip; some require you to arrange your own travel, refreshments and entry fees, while some are some are wholly subsidised.
Faculty of Arts Alumni Scholarships
Our Alumni Scholarships provide support with essential living costs to eligible students. Find out more about eligibility and how to apply.
International students
We offer a range of international undergraduate scholarships for high-achieving international scholars who can put their Nottingham degree to great use in their careers.
Learn about international scholarships here.
*For full details including fees for part-time students and reduced fees during your time studying abroad or on placement (where applicable), see our fees page.
If you are a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you may be asked to complete a fee status questionnaire and your answers will be assessed using guidance issued by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) .
All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus. For more information, please check the equipment advice.
Essential course materials are supplied.
Books
You'll be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to buy your own copies of core texts. A limited number of modules have compulsory texts which you are required to buy. We recommend that you budget £100 per year for books, but this figure will vary according to which modules you take. The Blackwell's bookshop on campus offers a year-round price match against any of the main retailers (e.g. Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith). They also offer second-hand books, as students from previous years sell their copies back to the bookshop.
Volunteering and placements
For volunteering and placements e.g. work experience and teaching in schools, you will need to pay for transport and refreshments.
Optional field trips
Field trips allow you to engage with source materials on a personal level and to develop different perspectives. They are optional and costs to you vary according to the trip; some require you to arrange your own travel, refreshments and entry fees, while some are some are wholly subsidised.
Our Alumni Scholarships provide support with essential living costs to eligible students. Find out more about eligibility and how to apply.
Home students*
Over one third of our UK students receive our means-tested core bursary, worth up to £1,000 a year. Full details can be found on our financial support pages.
* A 'home' student is one who meets certain UK residence criteria. These are the same criteria as apply to eligibility for home funding from Student Finance.
Are you curious about the impact of historical events on our current lives? Do you want to understand why empires and superpowers rise and fall?
This course opens up new worlds and possibilities. You will deepen your knowledge of how societies develop and learn how the past influences the present. We offer a variety of modules in both American studies and history, covering:
Are you curious about the impact of historical events on our current lives? Do you want to understand why empires and superpowers rise and fall?
This course opens up new worlds and possibilities. You will deepen your knowledge of how societies develop and learn how the past influences the present. We offer a variety of modules in both American studies and history, covering:
This course is perfect for a career in the creative industries. At Nottingham, you can gain valuable experience through internships, placements, and work opportunities. No more so though than with our prestigious Hollywood Internships programme, unique to Nottingham. Previous internships have involved:
Indicative partner organisations include A24, CAA, Disney, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate, UTA, and WME.
Our partners, and the number and nature of the internships, change each year. Vacancies are advertised in the Autumn term for students in years two and above. These are highly competitive positions, and places are not guaranteed. Terms and conditions apply.
The internships are supported through the generosity of Peter Rice, Nottingham graduate and former Chair of Disney General Entertainment Content
The awards are competitive and open exclusively to our students.
Find out more about what it's like to study with us:
Mandatory
Year 1
American Freedom? Empire, Rights and Capitalism in Modern US History, 1900-Present
Mandatory
Year 1
Approaches to American Culture 1: An Introduction
Mandatory
Year 1
Approaches to Contemporary American Culture 2: Developing Themes and Perspectives
Mandatory
Year 1
Learning History
Mandatory
Year 1
Race, Power, Money and the Making of North America, 1607-1900
Optional
Year 1
From Reformation to Revolution: An Introduction to Early Modern Europe c.1500-1800
Optional
Year 1
Making the Middle Ages, 500-1500
Optional
Year 1
Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945
Optional
Year 1
The Contemporary World since 1945
Optional
Year 2
Key Texts in American Social and Political Thought
Optional
Year 2
North American Regions
Optional
Year 2
American Radicalism
Optional
Year 2
Business in American Culture
Optional
Year 2
Contemporary North American Fiction
Optional
Year 2
The CIA and US Foreign Policy 1945-2012
Optional
Year 2
The Hollywood Musical
Optional
Year 2
A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great
Optional
Year 2
British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the World Wars, 1895-1939
Optional
Year 2
Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914
Optional
Year 2
Consumers & Citizens: Society & Culture in 18th Century England
Optional
Year 2
De-industrialisation: A Social and Cultural History, c.1970-1990
Optional
Year 2
European Fascisms, 1900-1945
Optional
Year 2
Environmental History: Nature and the Western World, 1800-2000
Optional
Year 2
Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages
Optional
Year 2
Imagining 'Britain': Decolonising Tolkien et al
Optional
Year 2
International History of the Middle East and North Africa 1918-1995
Optional
Year 2
Kingship in Crisis: Politics, People and Power in Late-medieval England
Optional
Year 2
Liberating Africa: Decolonisation, Development and the Cold War, 1919-1994
Optional
Year 2
Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930
Optional
Year 2
Rule and Resistance in Colonial India, c.1757-1857
Optional
Year 2
Sex, Lies and Gossip? Women of Medieval England
Optional
Year 2
Sexuality in Early Medieval Europe
Optional
Year 2
"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
Optional
Year 2
Soviet State and Society
Optional
Year 2
The British Empire from Emancipation to the Boer War
Optional
Year 2
The Rise of Modern China
Optional
Year 2
The Second World War and Social Change in Britain, 1939-1951: Went The Day Well?
Optional
Year 2
The Venetian Republic, 1450-1575
Optional
Year 2
The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture
Optional
Year 2
Travel and Adventure in the Medieval World
Optional
Year 2
The Early Modern Global Spanish Empire (1450-1850)
Optional
Year 2
A Protestant Nation? Politics, Religion and Society in England, 1558-1640
Optional
Year 2
Commodities, Consumption and Connections the Global World of Things 1500-1800
Optional
Year 2
Communities, Crime and Punishment in England 1500-1700
Optional
Year 2
France and its Empire(s) 1815-1914
Optional
Year 2
From Imperial Downfall to Republican Crisis: Themes in Modern German History, 1888-1933
Optional
Year 2
Gender, Empire, Selfhood: transgender history in global context
Optional
Year 2
In the Heart of Europe: Histories of Modern Poland
Optional
Year 2
Rethinking the Tudors: Monarchy, Society and Religion in England, 1485-1603
Optional
Year 2
The politics of memory in postwar Western Europe
Optional
Year 2
Villains or Victims: White Women and the British Empire c.1840-1980
Optional
Year 2
Exile and Homeland: Jewish Culture, Thought and Politics in Modern Europe and Mandatory Palestine between 1890 and 1950
Optional
Year 2
The Tokugawa World: 1600-1868
Optional
Year 2
The politics of memory in postwar Western Europe
Optional
Year 2
Conquerors, Caliphs, and Converts: The Making of the Islamic World, c.600-800
Optional
Year 2
A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great
Optional
Year 2
Employing the Arts
Optional
Year 3
Dissertation in American and Canadian Studies
Optional
Year 3
Dissertation in History
Optional
Year 3
American Madness: Mental Illness in History and Culture
Optional
Year 3
Troubled Empire: The Projection of American Global Power from Pearl Harbor to Covid-19
Optional
Year 3
US Foreign Policy 1989-2009
Optional
Year 3
North American Film Adaptations
Optional
Year 3
Varieties of Classic American Film, Television and Literature since 1950
Optional
Year 3
Politics and Visual Culture
Optional
Year 3
Jazz: Origins and Styles
Optional
Year 3
Prohibition America
Optional
Year 3
Sexuality in American History
Optional
Year 3
Popular Music Cultures and Countercultures
Optional
Year 3
Art Criticism in Twentieth-Century America
Optional
Year 3
"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
Optional
Year 3
Alternatives to War: Articulating Peace since 1815
Optional
Year 3
Black History
Optional
Year 3
British Culture in the Age of Mass Production, 1920-50
Optional
Year 3
China under socialism 1949-1989: society, politics and culture
Optional
Year 3
Cultures of Power and the Power of Culture in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany
Optional
Year 3
European colonialism and the boundary of the human in the long eighteenth century
Optional
Year 3
Federation to Liberation: Zimbabwe 1953-1980
Optional
Year 3
From Revelation to ISIS: Apocalyptic Thought from the 1st to 21st Century
Optional
Year 3
From serf to proletarian?: Imperial Russia’s rural population, 1825-1932
Optional
Year 3
Italy and the Second World War
Optional
Year 3
Overseas Exploration, European Diplomacy, and the Rise of Tudor England
Optional
Year 3
Rebels Against Empire: Anticolonialism and British Imperialism in the mid 20th Century
Optional
Year 3
Russia in Revolution 1905-21
Optional
Year 3
Sexuality and Society in Britain Since 1900
Optional
Year 3
The 1960s and the West, 1958-1974
Optional
Year 3
The Agony and the Ecstasy: Drugs for Pleasure and Pain in the History of Medicine
Optional
Year 3
The British Civil Wars c.1639-1652
Optional
Year 3
The Hundred Years War
Optional
Year 3
The past that won’t go away: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
Optional
Year 3
The Reign of Richard II
Optional
Year 3
'World wasting itself in blood': Europe and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)
Optional
Year 3
Zero Hour: Germany, Poland, and post-war reconstruction in Europe, 1945-1955
Optional
Year 3
Britain in the Age of the French Revolution: 1789-1803
Optional
Year 3
Victorians in Italy: Travelling South in the Nineteenth Century
Optional
Year 3
Samurai Revolution: Reinventing Japan, 1853–78
Optional
Year 3
Faith and Fire: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England
Optional
Year 3
The Black Death
Optional
Year 3
The Chimera: British Imperialism and Its Discontents, 1834-1919
Optional
Year 3
Disease and Domination: The History of Medicine and the Colonial Encounter
Optional
Year 3
The past that won’t go away: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
Optional
Year 3
Plague, Fire and the Reimagining of the Capital 1600-1720: The Making of Modern London
Optional
Year 3
Slavery, Caste and Capitalism: Labouring Lives in Global History, 1750-2000
Optional
Year 3
Napoleonic Europe and its Aftermath, 1799-1848
Optional
Year 3
Crisis, What Crisis? The West, c. 1970 to 2000
Optional
Year 3
A historical journey through Italy's links with the wider world
Optional
Year 3
Politics, culture, and sexuality in Renaissance and baroque Rome
The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. This content was last updated on Tuesday 27 August 2024. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.
It is compulsory to do a disseration but you can choose to do it in either American and Canadian Studies or History.
Discover the history of the United States in the 20th century.
You will explore the changes in the lives of American people, focussing on:
This module is worth 20 credits.
Challenge your assumptions through exploring key aspects of American culture, across a broad historical range.
We introduce a variety of cultural issues and controversies within contemporary US society. You will explore how contemporary cultural forms and phenomena can deepen our understanding of American history and national identity.
Topics include:
You will also consider a variety of forms, which might include:
This module is worth 10 credits.
This module develops the themes from ‘Approaches to Contemporary American Culture 1’.
You will explore how contemporary American culture has become an arena of fierce political disagreement and polarisation. You'll also analyse the way specific cultural forms engage with social issues and respond to key moments in American history.
Topics include:
You will focus on how art, entertainment and communications technologies intervene in and spark political debates and controversy.
This module is worth 10 credits.
Learn the skills you need to make the most of studying history.
This module aims to bridge the transition from school to university study, preparing you for more advanced work in your second year.
We will:
This module is worth 20 credits.
"It’s very much a skills-based module. It was so useful. I had a long break from finishing sixth form in May, to starting uni in September – I thought 'how on Earth do I write an essay? What is this thing called referencing?!' The module took those worries away." – Emily Oxbury, History and Politics BA
Discover the history of North America, from European contact through to the start of the 20th century.
You will explore how the interactions of European colonizers with Native Americans shaped the future of the region, as well as the rise of Atlantic slavery, its development over time and the eventual emergence of distinctive African-American cultures.
We cover a broad chronological period, which includes European colonization, independence and Civil War. You will also examine the influence and development of attitudes towards race, class, gender, democracy and capitalism.
This module is worth 20 credits.
Discover key themes in the history of early modern Europe.
We analyse the religious, political, demographic, social and cultural history of this dynamic period.
Themes include:
This module is worth 20 credits.
Discover medieval European history from 500-1500.
We explore the major forces which were instrumental in shaping the politics, society and culture in Europe, considering the last currents in historical research.
Through a series of thematically linked lectures and seminars, you will be introduced to key factors determining changes in the European experience, as well as important continuities linking the period as a whole.
We will consider:
You will spend three hours in lectures and seminars each week.
This module is worth 20 credits.
Explore a chronology of modern history, from 1750 to 1945.
We concentrate on:
This module is worth 20 credits.
Analyse the key developments in world affairs after the Second World War.
We will consider:
This module is worth 20 credits.
American history, from the period of colonisation to the nation's emergence as a global superpower, has always involved intense social and political debate.
This module analyses key texts in the history of American political and social thought, from the settlement period to the present day.
You will be introduced to debates over issues such as:
We analyse primary sources by a diverse range of thinkers and writers to interpret these debates, showing how they continue to shape American society and politics in the present.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module will deploy the concept of "region" and, more broadly, “place” to explore key North American texts— drawn primarily from the spheres of film, television and literature. The notion of the "regional" will be applied expansively as well as conventionally to incorporate everything from the urban to the suburban/exurban; border territories; the transnational. Possible areas of study may include the American West; the Pacific North-West; New York City; the black inner city “ghetto”; "mountain" people and the Appalachians; Hispanic-America; first nations; French-Canada; Texas; Chicago; New Orleans; California; and the transnational impact of extensive US military occupations (post-war Japan; South Vietnam; twenty-first century Iraq).
American radicals have been dismissed as impractical, wild-eyed, and subversive - even "un-American"- although many of their most visionary aims have been realized. This module will consider these paradoxes, beginning with the American Revolution in the late 18th century. 19th century subjects will include the abolitionists, early feminism, utopian socialism, anarchism, and farmer populism. 20thcentury subjects will include the Socialist Party in the 1910s, the Communist Party and the anti-Stalinist left in the 1930s, opponents of the Cold War, the 1960s New Left, Black Power militancy, and more recent radicalisms, including the gay liberation movement, women's liberation, and resistance to corporate globalisation.
This module introduces students to the conflicting views about business that can be heard echoing through American literature and culture in the last two centuries. These views are evident when literature and culture directly represent the business culture-its executives, managers and employees, or the physical and mental conditions of employment and entrepreneurship; they are also evident in the narrative unconscious of works appreciated for qualities other than their treatment of business. This module aims to try and understand not only what drives American culture's preoccupation with business, but also to study the various strategies used as literature and culture represents what the module calls the discourses of business: the way that business as a theme is written and talked about in the United States by presidents, by social critics, by journalists, and by writers and other cultural producers; the way that the historical accumulation of this collective input has fashioned a set of rules that govern the way successive generations can think about business; the way that specialised and professionalised languages of business become tropes and metaphors to be used outside of a strictly business environment. The module examines these discourses in a variety of representational forms from the mid-nineteenth century through to the present day: shorts stories and novels; newspapers, magazines and illustrations; speeches, autobiographies and memoirs; film and television.
This course will consider the contexts and development of contemporary fiction and the novel in the United States and Canada since the 1990s. It will do so by positioning literary works within their wider historical, political and cultural context. The course will examine the dominant ideas and concerns of a number of fictions and novels by writers from a range of ethno-cultural backgrounds. Issues for discussion will include the impact of race, ethnicity, gender, class, generation and sexuality on North American fiction and the novel; the bearing of technology on contemporary fiction; and various debates about the nature of the historical novel in the twenty-first century.
The module examines the contribution made by the CIA to US foreign policy from the Cold War to the ‘war on terror’. The course begins by examining the role of a secret intelligence agency in a democratic state and the functions and duties it is given. It considers the origins and purpose of the CIA in the early Cold War and how the role of the CIA evolved subsequently; how different Presidents viewed the Agency; the extent to which intelligence influenced the formation of policy during the Cold War; the successes and failures of covert operations and their wider significance in Cold War strategy; the extent to which the CIA was able to adapt to a post-Soviet world; and finally, the impact that the ‘war on terror’ has had on the CIA.
Hollywood musicals have been hugely popular from the invention of “talkies” to the present day. But how are they different to musicals written for the stage?
We'll use a range of case studies, from The Jazz Singer (1927) to The Greatest Showman (2017), to consider specific issues such as:
You'll develop a broad knowledge of the:
This module is worth 20 credits.
The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, has forced historians to re-evaluate the Anglo-Saxon period and ask new questions about this crucial formative stage of English history.
The history of much of this period of conversions, conflicts and cultural renaissances is documented by Bede, a monk from Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria (c. 673–735). In 793, the world described to us by Bede was thrown into chaos by a Viking raid on the island monastery of Lindisfarne, an event that some Anglo-Saxons interpreted in apocalyptic terms. The subsequent settlement of Vikings across Northern and Eastern England profoundly changed the social, cultural and economic structures of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
This course covers the period from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth, ending with the reign of Alfred, the only English king to ever achieve the moniker 'the Great'.
Discover British foreign policy, from the last years of the Victorian Era to the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
We focus on the policy of British governments, giving an historical analysis of the main developments in their relationship with the wider world. This includes:
We also discuss the wider background factors which influenced British policy, touching on Imperial defence, financial limitations and the influence of public opinion.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module aims to encourage students to develop a detailed understanding of the major political, social and economic developments in Central Europe between 1848 and 1914. They should become aware of the main historiographical debates concerning the region and the Habsburg Monarchy in particular.
As a result of their historical studies and analytical thinking, students should enhance and develop a range of intellectual and transferable skills.
This thematic module examines the social and cultural world of eighteenth century England in the period when it enters the modern world. Areas for consideration include:
In the 1970s and 1980s, momentous economic changes swept through traditional industrial regions across the West, turning proud heartlands into rustbelts in less than a generation. As the lights went out in shipyards, steelworks, coal mines and manufacturing plants, a way of life was destroyed for millions of manual workers and their families, with profound repercussions on identities, communities and urban topographies. This module examines the social and cultural impact of de-industrialisation in the north of England, the German Ruhr basin, and the American Midwest, using a wealth of diverse primary sources, from government records to popular music, to tease out what it meant to live through a period of tumultuous socio-economic change. The module takes thematic approaches, exploring topics including:
Examine the rise of fascist movements in interwar Europe, following the First World War.
We focus in particular on the cases of Italy and Germany and also look at other cases for comparison (i.e. Spain, Britain, France, and Romania). This in order to understand why certain movements were more popular than others and able to seize power.
We will examine:
We will also analyse the practice of the Fascist and National Socialist governments in power, comparing these with particular reference to repression and attempts to build ‘consent’, gendered policies on ‘race’, and expansion through conquest.
The module ends by considering the Axis and genocide during the Second World War.
This module is worth 20 credits.
Discover the environmental history of the Western World over the past two centuries. The great nature-people stories that have shaped who we are today.
You will examine the history of environmental ideas and our changing and complex attitudes to animals and nature, alongside the history of human impacts on the environment. We will use the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain as case studies. Ultimately, we ask, can environmental history save the world in the 21st century?
Topics include:
This module is a must for anyone wanting to pursue a career in the environmental sector.
This module is worth 20 credits
The module compares and contrasts key historical, legendary and fictional figures to examine the development of western medieval values and ideologies such as monasticism, chivalry and kingship. It explores how individuals shaped ideal types and how they themselves strove to match medieval archetypes. The binary oppositions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are explored through study of the ‘bad king’, and the creation of villains such as the Jew. You will spend four hours per week in lectures and seminars.
This module examines the myths and legends of the ‘British’ Isles as written about by twentieth-century authors such as JRR Tolkien in Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion, and by CS Lewis in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Series.
You will explore the historiography of British myth-making and whether Tolkien and Lewis were retelling, reinventing or fabricating British mythology. Students will also be invited to explore the foundation of British myths known colloquially within the term ‘The Matter of Britain.’
The module will begin with defining the difference between myths, legends and history and explore issues of chivalry, nobility and ethnicity in Arthurian legends. Students will be encouraged to decolonise these myths, re-interpreting whether they are fantasies, or an exoticisation of something else, such as ethnic groups and gendered politics.
Later parts of this module will explore the myth-making and rituals detailed in the extensive works of antiquarian writers.
The module offers a knowledge of key developments in the Middle East and North Africa between the collapse of the Ottoman empire and the emergence of a politicised version of Islam. Students should familiarise themselves with the key historical debates surrounding, for example, the relative impact of regional and international factors and begin to work with some primary documentary material relating to political and diplomatic developments. They will also be encouraged to use primary source material from the region and to consider the role which historical events have played in framing current problems in the Middle East and North Africa.
Have you ever wondered what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ king?
We investigate late medieval kingship, the dynamics of politics and power, and the reasons why royal authority was challenged.
You will examine the history of late-medieval England, from the mid-13th to late-15th century, when a series of political crises rocked the English monarchy.
We focus on the political events of the period, especially the times of crisis when the monarchy faced opposition or even usurpation. This includes:
England didn’t exist in isolation, however. You’ll also explore its relations with Scotland and Wales, considering how English power was imposed on subject populations, and how they resisted. Case studies include Robert Bruce and Own Glyn Dwr.
This module is worth 20 credits.
The purpose of this module is to examine current debates in the historiography about the end of the European empires in African and the emergence of a new political system of independent states. Topics which will feature particularly strongly are
This module explores the role of the poverty, disease and disability in shaping lives between 1795 and 1930, and how these intersected with ideas of and attitudes to health and welfare. It also examines representations of poverty, disease and disability in museums and on TV.
Themes include:
This module introduces the history of the British imperial expansion in India from the mid eighteenth century, through to the Rebellion in 1857. It covers:
Later medieval England was a patriarchal society. Women were considered of great importance because of their roles as mothers. However, medieval women were also considered to be more passionate and sexual than men; they were considered wile and guileful and it was thought that they spent much of their time gossiping. Using a wide range of translated medieval sources this course will pose questions about how English women overcame and operated within these stereotypical preconceptions. It will examine women in terms of progression through their life cycle from daughters under the protection of their fathers, to the work available to single women, to married women and the law – mothers under the ‘protection’ of their husbands – and then to widows and the increased opportunities available to these women. In doing so, it will examine a number of aspects of medieval women’s lives from female piety to women and work, medieval attitudes to women and sex and the gendered medieval understanding of power and authority. The course will allow students to recover much of the essence of medieval life. Were later medieval English women merely disadvantaged or were they actively downtrodden within a patriarchal society? Further, it considers the extent to which the foundations of modern gender inequalities were established in the middle ages.
This module deals with an important, but long neglected, aspect of life in the early medieval West - sexual behaviour and attitudes to human sexuality. Key issues include:
The module offers an overview of the history of witchcraft and covers a wide geographical area spreading from Scotland to the Italian peninsula and from Spain to Russia. Such breadth of reference is of vital importance because, in contrast to the uniform theology-based approach to witch persecution in Western and Central Europe, the world of Eastern Orthodox Christianity represented a very different system of beliefs that challenged western perceptions of witchcraft as a gendered crime and lacked their preoccupation with the diabolical aspect of sorcery. The module’s geographical breadth is complemented by thematic depth across a range of primary sources and case studies exploring the issues of religion, politics, and social structure.
This module examines political, social and economic transformations in the Soviet Union from the October Revolution of 1917 to Gorbachev’s attempted reforms and the collapse of the state in 1991. You will look at Russia both from the top down (state-building strategies; leadership and regime change; economic and social policy formulation and implementation) and from the bottom up (societal developments and the changing structures and practices of everyday life). You will usually spend three hours in lectures and seminars each week.
This module examines the history of the British Empire from the end of the slave trade in 1833-4 to the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899-1902. The module is divided into three major geographic and chronological sections. In the first part of the course, we will discuss the British Caribbean, with a particular focus on the transition from slavery and the period of instability in the decades that followed. In the second part, we will focus on India and the changeover from East India Company rule to the direct administration by the British government in the wake of the Indian Mutiny (aka “the Sepoy Rebellion”). In the final section, we will discuss Britain’s participation in the “Scramble for Africa” and the rise of “popular imperialism” with the 2nd Anglo-Boer War. The final, pre-revision class meeting will also discuss the metropolitan aspects of empire, examining London’s status as “the Imperial Metropolis.
This module covers the history of China from the 1840s, through to the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. It looks at social, cultural, political and economic developments in this period from a variety of angles and approaches.
The module focuses in particular on the ways in which Chinese society responded to the arrival of 'modernity' in the form of the Western powers and Japan throughout the period in question, but also how different groups in China tried to remould or redefine China as a 'modern' nation-state and society.
This module surveys and analyses social change in Britain during and after the Second World War, up to the end of the Attlee’s Labour government in 1951. Key issues include:
This module explores the nature of the Venetian Republic in the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It examines the constitution, and administrative and judicial system, its imperial and military organisation, but will above all focus on the city and its inhabitants. The module will examine the enormous cultural dynamism of the city (especially the visual arts from the Bellini to Tintoretto and Veronese), changing urban fabric, the role of ritual and ceremony, the position of the Church, and class and gender.
The module mixes intellectual, cultural and social history to produce an overview of cultural trends in Britain between c. 1830 and 1901. Key themes include:
The module looks at peoples and places in the period c.1150-c.1250 from the perspective of travel. It shifts the focus of Christian/Muslim/Jewish/Mongol interactions from the more traditional medieval narratives of conflict, crusade and conquest, to those of Trade, Pilgrimage, Exploration and Mission. The introductory classes look at medieval travel and what people in the world with the Mediterranean at its centre knew, and thought they knew, about the rest of the World, including far-flung places that only a few people had ever ‘seen’. The lecture and seminar topics include introduce Travel Writing, Monsters, Maps, Crusades, Merchants, Pilgrims, Explorers, Envoys, Missionaries, and Assassins. Examples are drawn from Jewish, Muslim and Christian experience.
This module provides an account of the main events and characteristics that defined the Spanish Empire from 1450 to 1850, when it was arguably the world’s leading political and economic power. Particularly, we will consider the different ways in which this far-flung polity was ruled and kept united for over three centuries and how myriad peoples were included and excluded from the imperial project. Thus, we will examine the nature and limits of imperial power to see how it was built, defended, expanded, and challenged.
Moreover, this module highlights the global connections and imaginings triggered by the establishment of Iberians in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Therefore, students will learn of the many linkages that took place in different places across the world—from Manila, to Naples, Mexico City, Goa, or Madrid. This perspective challenges the “center-periphery” paradigm and previous assumptions of one-way-only imperial dynamics. This early modern global empire was built upon the extensive movement of people, goods, and ideas worldwide.
This module explores the causes of political and religious instability in England in the century before the Civil War, with a particular focus on the problematic creation of a national identity. We begin by looking at the troubled political and religious legacy inherited by Queen Elizabeth. We then examine some of the forces that united and divided English men and women during the period:
Areas for consideration include:
The early modern period witnessed the birth of commodity culture and the transformation of the relationship between people and their material world.
Expanding global trade networks and early colonial encounters brought a range of exotic products into early modern homes, including spices, sugar, tea, tobacco, cotton, porcelain and mahogany, while the rise of capitalism and industrialisation revolutionised the manufacture and availability of necessities and luxuries across the social spectrum.
The richness of this ‘new world of goods’ had profound consequences, transforming patterns of consumption, introducing new understandings of scientific knowledge and cultural production, and reshaping social identities and relationships based on class, gender and race.
This module takes advantage of a sweep of new interdisciplinary perspectives across a range of subject areas, including social, economic and cultural history, archaeology, anthropology and art history, which have focused on the role and significance of early modern ‘things’.
You will gain a grounding of central themes in early modern history, as well as a deeper understanding of the importance of looking at early modern Europe as part of a globalising world. You will explore a range of textual sources including wills and inventories, account books, letters and diaries which tell us about expanding global connections, what people consumed and how they thought about their objects.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module will survey and analyse how perceptions of law and order, and attitudes to crime and punishment changed in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – ostensibly in response to huge increase in criminal activity. The module will discuss the wider background factors behind these changes, as well as relevant historiographical debates about them. The major topics to be explored include:
This module covers France and the French colonial Empire from the end of the Napoleonic era in 1814-15 through to the outbreak of the First World War: a century in which French society underwent a series of major upheavals, and during which French imperial control was dramatically and violently expanded to multiple parts of the globe.
It covers France’s struggle to find a form of government that could square the competing demands of radical democrats and conservative traditionalists, as monarchies, Republics and a further Napoleonic Empire came and went.
It looks at how industrialisation and cultural developments changed the face of France and enabled further phases of imperial expansion: from Algeria in 1830, to Mexico in the 1860s, and then Indochina and sub-Saharan Africa from the 1880s onwards.
Amongst all of this, France suffered a devastating defeat to Prussia/Germany in 1870-71, with profound social and political effects that shaped the period leading up to World War I.
The module introduces students to the study of modern German history from 1888 (the year that Wilhelm II ascended the imperial throne of Germany) to 1933 (the year Adolf Hitler seized power and suspended parliamentary rule).
It balances accounts of Imperial and Republican Germany and presents the students with a combination of historiographical approaches to German history and its place in the globalized modern world: social history, cultural history, intellectual history, political history and gender history.
To effectuate the wide lens view of modern German history before 1933, the module has a thematic rather than chronological structure. The learning objective is to grant the students knowledge of Germany’s global role in the late 19th and early 20th century. The module has a focus on primary sources.
Discover the history of people whose lives, bodies and identities cannot be neatly fitted into the categories of ‘male’ or ‘female’ that are predominant in the world today.
The module explores how European imperial expansion impacted societies that were not structured around a binary model of gender. Examples of these societies include the ‘hijra’ in India, ‘fa'afāfine’ in Samoa, and ‘niizh manidoowag’, ‘winkt’ and ‘nàdleehé’ (often referred to collectively as ‘two spirit’) in North America, as well as European people who lived lives outside of the gender binary.
We will focus on the period between 1750 and 1870, offering a contextual overview of the regions under study, their interconnections, and the theoretical and methodological problems of thinking about gender history in global and imperial contexts and in relationship to ideas of sex, sexuality and gender.
Across the twentieth century, Poland’s rulers, borders, and inhabitants have undergone significant changes. Poland was colonised by Empires, divided and occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, reconfigured by democracies, and fundamentally shaped by life behind the Iron Curtain under communist rule. Today, as right-wing populism surges, Poland is undergoing another dramatic change. Close to one million Polish-born citizens live in the UK today, the largest overseas-born group, yet few in Britain know anything about Poland and its rich, vibrant, and tumultuous history.
A history of Poland, and the people(s) inhabiting Polish lands, will help students to understand this rising economic power in the heart of Europe. Placing it in relation to its neighbours to the east and west will emphasise how Poland, in its current form, is a product of both sides and the long shadows of partition, independence, war, occupation, and communism.
The Tudor period was one of the most transformative in English history. It began on the battlefield, as Henry VII wrestled the crown from the hands of the much-maligned Richard III, and ended with the death of Elizabeth I, the first queen to successfully rule England without a male counterpart. The intervening period witnessed a break with the papacy that fundamentally altered the religious and political make-up of the realm, and saw royal authority become increasingly absolute under a monarchy who were now also the heads of the church. All this left England a fundamentally different place in 1603 than it had been in 1485. Given the attention the Tudors have received in popular culture, and in the school curriculum, there are few students of English history who know nothing of the period. Thus, this module aims to expand on and challenge this knowledge to bring to life a clearer picture of how monarchy, power and religion operated in sixteenth-century England. Topics include:
1. Introduction to the module and its themes.
2. Henry VII: Forging a Dynasty, 1485-1509.
3. Henry VIII (1): War and Peace, 1509-25.
4. Henry VIII (2): The ‘Great Cause’ and the Break from Rome, 1525-35.
5. Henry VIII (3): The Later years, 1535-47.
6. Edward VI: A Boy for a King, 1547-53.
7. Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen, 1553-58.
8. Elizabeth I (1): The Establishment of a (female) Regime.
9. Elizabeth I (2): A Warrior Queen.
10. Elizabeth I (3): The ‘Second Reign’.
11. Conclusions: Remembering the Tudors.
Why has Germany undergone a process of Denazification while General Franco is still revered by large segments of Spanish society? Why do Portugal’s political elite refuse to engage with the country’s colonial past? Did General Franco single out Catalans for repression after winning the Spanish Civil War? And are Brexiteers (dis)honouring the recent past by establishing parallelisms between resistance to Nazism and Brexit?
This module aims to answer these questions by examining the politicisation of memory and the rise of far-right movements in Europe from a transnational perspective. Students will explore how the past has been manipulated to serve present political purposes by focusing on a number of case studies: the UK, Germany, Spain (including Catalonia), and Portugal. The first three lectures/seminars will familiarise students with relevant theoretical frameworks. Building on this body of knowledge, students will then explore how collective memories of the Second World War have been manipulated to influence the Brexit debate, how a recent narrative of victimhood has emerged in Germany, the reappraisal of General Franco’s regime by Catalan independence movements, the toxic political legacy of Portugal’s difficulty in dealing with its colonial heritage, and Spain’s painful coming to terms with its recent dictatorial past.
White women cut an ambivalent figure in the history of the British Empire. They tend to be remembered as malicious harridans personifying the worst excesses of colonialism, as vacuous fusspots, whose lives were punctuated by frivolous pastimes, or as casualties of patriarchy, constrained by male actions and gendered ideologies. As this course shows, however, the reality of the situation was much more intricate and complex. Taking inspiration from academic literature that has proliferated in the last thirty years or so, Villains or Victims? draws upon case studies from Britain, Canada, India, Australia and southern Africa to examine the lived reality of being a white woman in a colonial setting. Utilising the histories of white women as a prism through which to understood broader issues relating to religion, gender, race, class, domesticity, sexuality and suffrage, this course will also expose students to a range of primary source materials, including diaries, letters, novels and memoirs.
Module description to be confirmed.
This module covers two-and-a-half centuries in Japan during the early modern era when the land was governed by a dynasty of Tokugawa shogun rulers. Often characterized as a period of relative stability, it was also a time of profound social, cultural and intellectual change. Lectures and seminars address some of the historical forces that would combine to transform society and lay the foundations for Japan’s subsequent encounters with modernity. Key themes include: the premises of Tokugawa rule, control mechanisms and relations with daimyo lords; the self-imposed policy of seclusion, trade and external relations; transport networks, class mobility and urbanization; the emergence of ‘the Floating World’ and the growth of popular culture; natural disasters, famine and economic crises; the responses of competing schools of thought drawing on Japanese, Chinese and European texts to address problems within Japanese society; the ‘Opening of Japan’ and the collapse of the Tokugawa World.
Why has Germany undergone a process of Denazification while General Franco is still revered by large segments of Spanish society? Why do Portugal’s political elite refuse to engage with the country’s colonial past? Did General Franco single out Catalans for repression after winning the Spanish Civil War? And are Brexiteers (dis)honouring the recent past by establishing parallelisms between resistance to Nazism and Brexit?
This module aims to answer these questions by examining the politicisation of memory and the rise of far-right movements in Europe from a transnational perspective. Students will explore how the past has been manipulated to serve present political purposes by focusing on a number of case studies: the UK, Germany, Spain (including Catalonia), and Portugal. The first three lectures/seminars will familiarise students with relevant theoretical frameworks. Building on this body of knowledge, students will then explore how collective memories of the Second World War have been manipulated to influence the Brexit debate, how a recent narrative of victimhood has emerged in Germany, the reappraisal of General Franco’s regime by Catalan independence movements, the toxic political legacy of Portugal’s difficulty in dealing with its colonial heritage, and Spain’s painful coming to terms with its recent dictatorial past.
Module description to be confirmed.
The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, has forced historians to re-evaluate the Anglo-Saxon period and ask new questions about this crucial formative stage of English history.
The history of much of this period of conversions, conflicts and cultural renaissances is documented by Bede, a monk from Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria (c. 673–735). In 793, the world described to us by Bede was thrown into chaos by a Viking raid on the island monastery of Lindisfarne, an event that some Anglo-Saxons interpreted in apocalyptic terms. The subsequent settlement of Vikings across Northern and Eastern England profoundly changed the social, cultural and economic structures of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
This course covers the period from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth, ending with the reign of Alfred, the only English king to ever achieve the moniker 'the Great'.
Doing an arts and humanities degree means you’ll gain the skills which are essential for changing the world we live in. Not only that, you are uniquely positioned to understand people, processes and culture.
This module lets you apply that knowledge to solve a real-life problem. The aim is for you to develop your understanding of your degree, and the range of careers open to you.
You will work in an interdisciplinary team on a real project connected to impact, which we define as our ability to ‘make change happen’. These projects have been designed by individuals, groups and organisations that are looking to make a difference to our world. This might be about sustainability, business, equality, culture, politics or society.
Teams will be given a project brief. You will then be guided through how to shape a project, and how to work as a team and deliver results. This will give you the employment skills and experience to show how you can make an impact as an arts and humanities graduate.
This module is worth 20 credits.
This module involves in-depth independent study of a subject in American and Canadian Studies. It encourages both student-centred and student-initiated learning. The topic you choose must be appropriate for your course and must be approved by the module convenor. You are assigned a supervisor with expertise in your chosen area of study.
The completed dissertation should be 5,000-7,000 words in length for the 20 credit module and 10,000-12,000 words in length for the 40 credit module. The 20 credit dissertation is for one semester only and the 40 credit version is year-long.
Recent dissertation titles include:
This module involves the in-depth study of a historical subject from which you will create a 10,000 word dissertation. You will have regular meetings with your supervisor and a weekly one hour lecture to guide you through this task.
Recent dissertation topics have included:
Experiences of and ideas about madness, insanity, and mental illness have varied and changed radically within American history and culture. This module will survey and analyse these changes from the mid-19thcentury to the present. We will consider how and why medical authority, gender, and class have all impacted the way in which mental illness is understood, and consider the significance of changing approaches to treatment. Sources used on this interdisciplinary module range from medical accounts and psychiatric theory to memoir, fiction and film. The aim is to place representations of mental illness in their historical context, and to ask what they reveal about related ideas about identity, conformity, social care and responsibility.
This module will challenge students to critically engage with the period that Henry Luce referred to as the “American Century”. It will cover a range of case studies between Luce’s injunction and the subsequent US entry into World War Two in 1941 and the recent twin-crises marked by the 2008 Great Recession and the Covid-19 global pandemic. In doing so, it will prompt students to consider both the projection of American power on a global scale after 1941 and the considerable challenges that this project faced. Incorporating a series of focused case studies and reflections on the wider contexts relating to them, it will give students first-hand experience of weighing up the practical challenges US policymakers faced and the way that historians have subsequently assessed their efforts and understood their actions.
Explore US foreign policy in the post-Cold War period.
You will examine the historical narratives of American international relations, considering the drivers behind the foreign policies of Presidents George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
More specifically, we will consider:
You'll spend around three hours per week in lectures and seminars on this module.
This module is worth 20 credits
This module examines North American short stories and novels and their film adaptations, paying attention to the contexts in which both the literary and the cinematic texts are produced as well as to the analysis of the texts themselves. In particular, the module takes an interest in literary texts whose film adaptations have been produced in different national contexts to the source material.
What is a film, television or literary classic? How has this term come under pressure and fractured over the past half century or so? In this module you will consider the concept of the mid and late twentieth century American “classic” in a variety of contrasting and overlapping contexts. These contexts will be elaborated on the basis of their formal, generic, period and/or cultural designations that will cover university and exam curricula reading lists, popular opinion and widespread critical consensus (such as the currently prevalent view, for instance, that the early twenty-first century constitutes a ‘golden age’ of US television).
This module will explore, in the broadest sense, politics and visual culture:
We will be looking at different genres, modes, forms and styles to examine how we can understand the interaction of politics and visual culture.
Jazz covers a multitude of styles from trad to free, plus any number of contemporary ‘fusions’.
We'll start by looking at its origins in ragtime and blues and then delve into a wide range of contrasting styles from 1917 to the present day. These might include:
We'll also take a look at jazz film scores.
Throughout the module we'll explore cultural, racial, analytical and aesthetic issues at each stage in jazz's development.
This module is worth 20 credits.
Why did National Prohibition officially begin in the United States in 1920?
What were the goals and intentions of the powerful women's reform movements and religious pressure groups calling for dramatic restrictions on alcohol?
Why was there so much political support for state and national restrictions, particularly during the First World War? Why was prohibition so hard to police during the 1920s?
The restrictions on what and how you could drink reshaped American society, politics, and culture during the 1920s and 1930s. Prohibition transformed alcohol consumption, opened up new leisure activities, and increased bootlegging, smuggling, and other criminal activities. However, popular histories and media representations of the prohibition years are full of myths and stereotypes. On this module, you will challenge these to build a better understanding of an important period in the 20th century United States.
This module is worth 20 credits.
From the Puritans to Playboy, sexuality has been a focal point in the culture, politics, and society of the United States. This module will examine Americans' differing attitudes over time toward sexuality. Representative topics covered may include marriage and adultery, homosexuality and heterosexuality, nudity, abortion, birth control, prostitution, free love, and rape.
This module examines the role played by American popular music in countercultural movements. We focus on the ways in which marginalised, subordinate or dissenting social groups have used popular music as a vehicle for self-definition and for re-negotiating their relationship to the social, economic and cultural mainstream. We explore how the mainstream has responded to music countercultures in ways that range from repression to co-optation and analyse how the music and the movements have been represented and reflected on in fiction, film, poetry, journalism and theory. Among the key moments examined are the folk revival and the 1930s Popular Front, rock 'n' roll and desegregation in the 1950s, rock music and the 1960s counterculture, and postmodernism and identity politics in the music of the MTV age.
The way we write about art is as changeable as art itself.
Practiced by artists, poets, curators and art historians alike, art writing served a variety of purposes and audiences throughout twentieth-century America.
This module explores how art writing changed, examining it both as the crucial frame to understand twentieth-century American art, as well as an art form in its own right.
Each week you will focus on a different episode that provoked a change in art writing. You will look at key exhibitions (for example the Armory Show of 1913), artworks (for example Jackson Pollock’s first ‘drip’ painting in 1947), and texts (such as Tom Lloyd’s text ‘Black Art Notes’ from 1971).
You will learn about the transformations in the exhibition review, catalogue essay, and artist statement that followed in the wake of these events. We also track the wider socio-political developments that similarly put pressure on the form and content of art writing, ranging from the rise of the Popular Front to the Women’s Movement.
This module is worth 20 credits.
The module offers an overview of the history of witchcraft and covers a wide geographical area spreading from Scotland to the Italian peninsula and from Spain to Russia. Such breadth of reference is of vital importance because, in contrast to the uniform theology-based approach to witch persecution in Western and Central Europe, the world of Eastern Orthodox Christianity represented a very different system of beliefs that challenged western perceptions of witchcraft as a gendered crime and lacked their preoccupation with the diabolical aspect of sorcery. The module’s geographical breadth is complemented by thematic depth across a range of primary sources and case studies exploring the issues of religion, politics, and social structure.
International history is dominated by wars; historians and international relations scholars focus with an almost obsessive zeal on the causes and consequences of conflict. The intermittent periods of peace are rarely scrutinised, other than to assess the imperfections of peace treaties and thus extrapolate the seeds of future wars. This module offers a corrective to this tendency, taking as its focus the multifarious efforts that have been made since 1815 to substitute peace for war. These include diplomatic efforts (e.g. post-war conferences, legalistic mechanisms such as the UN, arms control protocols, etc.), and those advanced by non-state actors (e.g. national and transnational peace movements, anti-war protests, etc.). Taking a broad definition of the term peace , and focusing predominantly (though not exclusively) on Britain, this module revisits some of the pivotal episodes of the 19th and 20th centuries, exposing and interrogating the often complex relationship between war and peace that emerged, and thus arriving at an alternative history of the period.
Module description to be confirmed.
The module explores the cultural transformations in Britain brought on by the shift to a Fordist economy (roughly covering the period 1920-50), and the social and cultural contestations that resulted. It takes chronological and thematic approaches, and topics may include:
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China, banishing the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan, and starting a period of massive social, political and cultural upheaval. Covering the period from the communist take-over of 1949 to the start of reforms in the 1980s – but focusing primarily on the period of Chairman Mao Zedong’s rule (1949 to 1976) – this module charts the massive changes to Chinese society, politics, culture and economics that were experienced in this time. The module introduces students to the key debates about this period from a variety of perspectives (social, history, cultural history, gender history, international relations, etc) and encourages students to engage with the lively field that is now referred to as ‘PRC History’. It does this by encouraging students to work primary sources from the period, from propaganda posters to audio-visual material and accounts of life under Mao available in translation.
Weekly topics which may be covered include:
In the two decades after the First World War, two modern western European countries, Italy and Germany, were transformed from liberal, parliamentary democracies into fascist dictatorships. Historians have offered detailed accounts of the political machinations that made this transition possible. Yet recent historical research has been led by different questions: what reconciled so many ‘ordinary people’ to the anti-democratic, illiberal and increasingly murderous policies upon which these regimes embarked? This course explores how fascism transformed ordinary life, and how culture was employed to translate fascist ideas into lived experience.
What is a human? What characteristics and qualities divide human and non-human animal? What accounts for human variation? Is the orang-utan a human or an animal? Do mermaids exist? Can humans possess both sexes in one body? To what extent do parrots possess intelligence?
During the eighteenth century, these kinds of questions were at the forefront of the minds of Enlightenment philosophers, natural historians, and physicians across Europe. They also played a role in popular interest in ‘curiosities’ and ‘wonders’ that were served by freak shows and reports of the monstrous and aberrant. Although societies across the world have posed similar questions for centuries, in eighteenth-century Europe the answers were directly informed by colonial conquest. European imperial encounter with non-European peoples, animals and environments opened-up new questions and ideas about what it meant to be human and where the boundary between human and non-human lay.
This special subject explores European-imperial debates over the meaning of ‘the human’ and the relationship between humans and their environments in the period of the Enlightenment. The focus is largely on Britain but integrates study of networks of ideas that spanned European and imperial geographies. The module is based on a series of case studies including (but not limited to): mermaids, rhinos, troglodytes, ‘wild’ children, orangutans, intersex people who were displayed as ‘hermaphrodites’, dwarves, and parrots. In many instances, these and other human and non-human spectacles of difference were enslaved, transported, exhibited in freak shows, examined by physicians, and dissected after death. As a history of the entanglement between colonialism and science, this module is as much about violence and power as it is about ideas. By exploring how ideas of the ‘human’ were constituted through colonial encounter, this module draws on studies of race and racism, gender, sexuality and disability. The aim is to consider how the reframing of the boundaries of human during this period of European imperial expansion has impacted our modern relationships to each other, as humans, to non-human animals, and to the environment.
Module content to be confirmed
The need to infuse the present moment with apocalyptic meaning is an important theme in the history of ideas. Concerns about the day of judgement, Antichrist, the millennium and the end of time have a significant impact upon many different individuals and societies throughout history, finding expression in literature, architecture and a wide variety of artistic media. In some cases, apocalyptic anxiety directly influenced the actions of kings, emperors, ecclesiastical leaders and religious communities. Students will uncover systems of belief about the end of history and trace the impact of such traditions upon states, societies and religious institutions.
Module content to be confirmed.
In this module, you’ll explore the basic narrative of Italy’s involvement in international relations and military conflict from 1922, but especially during the Second World War.
Using a range of sources, you will understand, assess and evaluate competing historical interpretations of the experiences of Italians during the Second World War. You will use this critical analysis to form your own independent judgement of this period.
We also look at how popular culture, such as novels and films, has impacted engagement with history and shaped our view of the past.
This module evaluates the ways in which ideas during the Renaissance had an impact on both long-distance exploration and interstate relations. Also, of primary importance will be situating Tudor England in a pan-European context, thereby helping students better understand the rise of this island nation to become a global superpower. Topics covered will include:
This module will investigate the lives and ideas of early to mid-20th century critics of British imperialism. The emphasis will be on critiques that emerged from outside the British isles, with a focus on four regions in particular: the Caribbean, East Africa, the Middle East and India. However, there will also be some investigation of the connections between anti-colonial activism in the British Isles and beyond.
More specific topics include:
With regard to methodology, particular priority will be accorded to primary source material, including philosophical writings, articles, campaigning pamphlets, letters, diaries and memoirs of anticolonial activists.
This module surveys and analyses Russia’s development between the 1905 revolution and the end of the civil war in 1921.
The module focuses on key features of this period, including:
Themes include:
Module convener: Dr Sarah Badcock
This module is an examination of the links between sexuality, intimate life, identity, politics, society, power and the state in Britain since 1900. It will also examine theoretical approaches to the study of sexuality and analyse sexuality as a category of historical analysis. Key themes:
To provide students with an understanding of the principal trends in sexuality and gender in Britain since 1900. To introduce students to competing interpretations of British history through understanding changes in sexuality and gender and to encourage awareness of the relevant historiographical debates in the field in order to assist in the development of the key skills listed below.
Typically this special subject module surveys and analyses social and cultural change in the West during the `long Sixties' from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s.
Key issues include:
This module introduces students to the social and cultural history of drugs, principally in terms of how they were promoted and received within the West, referring mostly to the period since 1900.
It examines not only certain key developments within the history of mainstream pharmacology, but also at the way (now) illegal narcotics originally entered the market place, often as medicines. It focuses upon the way polarised cultural opinions about drugs evolved, with attention particularly paid to the contingencies of geographical location and historical period.
Seminars introduce drug therapies and the controversies surrounding them, with the aim of highlighting wider social interests— including the power of the state, drug companies, religious organisations and the influence of public opinion
This module surveys and analyses political, religious, social, cultural and military changes during the civil wars fought across the British Isles and the British Atlantic between 1639 and 1652. The major topics to be explored include:
Many see medieval Europe as a violent and dangerous place, one in which there was little by way of law and order. A war that lasted over a hundred years (c. 1337-1453) might well be taken as evidence of this. However, this war, which was at its heart about who should sit on the French throne, was far more complex (and interesting) than this would suggest. Indeed, in studying the Hundred Years War, we are able to learn a great deal about the people who lived and died in late-medieval England, France, Germany and Spain:
These are some of the core questions that underpin this module. While this is, then, a module about a war, it is also a module about the society who fought in and experienced this prolonged conflict.
This module examines the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), its underlying causes and legacy for present-day Spain. Commencing with the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931, students will consider the principal historical forces and conditions that gave rise to the outbreak of war in 1936 in Spain. The module is delivered through a series of student-led seminars in which students present their understanding of a specific historical event, theme or ideas through their study of primary and secondary sources, and respective historiographical debates. Thus, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the war through propaganda, myth, revolutionary ideology, anti-clerical and gendered violence, as well as, for example, the significance of Badajoz and Guernica. The conflict is also considered in the wider context of the "European Civil War"; specifically, the role of military interventions on the part of regimes in Italy, Germany, Portugal, and the Soviet Union, and the influence of non-interventions by Britain and France.
The first half of the module is an in-depth chronological survey of the domestic history of England from the Good Parliament of 1376 to the deposition of Richard II in 1399. We will investigate how the royal family and their friends - a colourful and sometimes scandalous group - struggled to rule the country with the aid of such government instruments as show trials, intimidation, legal advice, murder and poll-taxes. The remaining part of the module considers England's relations with its neighbours and the impact of Lollardy on society and the Church in this period.
The purpose of this module is to encourage students to develop a detailed knowledge of primary evidence and recent historical debates in the Thirty- Years’War addressed at three levels: as a war of religion, as a clash of interests between the imperial crown and German territorial princes, and as a human catastrophe of monumental proportions. Although its drama unfolded primarily in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, the war drew in such diverse participants as Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and Spain. In pursuit of self-seeking political goals, they formed unlikely alliances and created obstacles to the conflict’s resolution. However, the outcome of the war was to ensure the survival of Protestantism in Central Europe as well as to provide a stable political and religious status quo that lasted into the modern age. The module discusses the Thirty Years’War by drawing on various historiographical traditions that represent the views of major international players.
Module description to be confirmed.
This module is an in-depth study of the impact of the French Revolution on British politics, society and culture between the fall of the Bastille in 1789 and the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803. Through an exploration of primary documents and secondary texts, students will investigate the events of the period and consider the wide range of interpretations that have been applied to these years by contemporaries and historians. Subjects for consideration include:-
This module examines the history of travel to and within Italy in accounts written by British travellers in the period c.1780-c.1914, especially these key topics:
This module surveys the dramatic cultural encounter in the nineteenth century as the world of the samurai was confronted by Western expansion and the Age of Steam. It explores the forces at work in Japan’s rapid transformation from an ‘ancien régime’ under the rule of the Shogun into a ‘modern’ imperial power. Original documents examined in class draw on the growing range of Japanese primary sources available in English translation, together with the extensive works of Victorian diplomats, newspaper correspondents and other foreign residents in the treaty ports. You will have four hours of lectures and seminars each week for this module.
This module explores religious ‘faith’ in England from c. 1215 to the beginning of the Reformation in 1534.
The English church made great efforts in this period to consolidate Christianity amongst the masses through wide-reaching programmes of instruction, regulation and devotion. However, historians disagree as to how successful the church was in its efforts.
The module investigates the relationship between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ religion and examines how the church sought to maintain its authority in matters of faith. It asks how people responded and the degree to which they fashioned their own religious practices and beliefs. It also considers the violent repression by church and crown of those deemed ‘heretics’.
It looks at the condemned teachings of the Oxford academic John Wycliffe and the significance of those who followed his ideas, known as Lollards.
Module convener: Dr Rob Lutton
In 1348 the Black Death arrived in England. By 1350 the disease had killed half of the English population. The module concentrates upon the stories of the epidemics' survivors and what they did to adapt to a world turned upside down by plague. It examines the impact of this unprecedented human disaster upon the society and culture of England between 1348 and 1520. It examines four particular groups of survivors:
The module explores English society through translated medieval sources. Themes include:
By the mid-nineteenth century, Britain controlled one of the largest and most populous empires in history. This module examine some of the major events and dynamics that shaped the character of British imperialism, and the historical debates over them.
Particular attention is paid to the relationship between London, the ‘Imperial Metropolis,’ and India, South Africa, and the British colonies in the Caribbean.
The module interrogates the idea of ‘imperialism’ itself and focuses on post-colonial theory and ‘New Imperial History’ in order to critically re-appraise the operation of imperial systems and to apply an interdisciplinary perspective to their study.
Module convener: Dr Sascha Auerbach
This special subject introduces students to key themes within the medical history of colonialism, particularly examining the implications of the inequitable power relations inherent in any colonial project and how these have specifically contributed to the development of health principles and policies. The module looks at the way in which western medical theories of disease and healing shaped ideas about colonial environments, populations, bodies, and racial differences in the imaginations of colonisers. Medicine is revealed not only as a vital tool of colonial domination, but also as fundamentally limited as a successful mechanism for colonial social control. At the same time, the paradox that some western medical interventions did improve the health of many sectors of the population is addressed.
Given the wide chronological and geographical breadth of the topic, a series of 'snapshots' are offered to give a flavour of important aspects of western medical colonialism. The module principally, but not exclusively, uses historical examples within the British experience in the Americas, Africa and India. Approaches to tackling the health of unfamiliar climates, as well as the way colonial medical polices were conceived and implemented are critically discussed via case studies. Finally, the module examines some of the legacies of these attitudes in the post-colonial world.
This module examines the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), its underlying causes and legacy for present-day Spain. Commencing with the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931, students will consider the principal historical forces and conditions that gave rise to the outbreak of war in 1936 in Spain. The module is delivered through a series of student-led seminars in which students present their understanding of a specific historical event, theme or ideas through their study of primary and secondary sources, and respective historiographical debates. Thus, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the war through propaganda, myth, revolutionary ideology, anti-clerical and gendered violence, as well as, for example, the significance of Badajoz and Guernica. The conflict is also considered in the wider context of the "European Civil War"; specifically, the role of military interventions on the part of regimes in Italy, Germany, Portugal, and the Soviet Union, and the influence of non-interventions by Britain and France.
In 1665, London suffered the worst plague epidemic since the Black Death, killing over 97,000 people. The following year, the Great Fire destroyed four-fifths of the ancient City of London within three days. This module explores the impact of these events and places them within the context of the 1660s and the city’s past and future history. We will investigate how Londoners across the social spectrum responded to natural disasters and crises, the challenges that these presented to community values and group identities and how the spread of news reflected fears over religious difference and terrorist plots. The course also examines the changing character of the city across the period including concerns over health, the environment and the use of green space.
We also investigate:
Primary sources include the lively diaries of Samuel Pepys, letters, England’s first newspapers, pamphlets, sermons, and the capital’s rich visual sources.
The modern world inherited and produced various free and unfree labour regimes—slavery, bonded labour, indentured labour, free-wage labour, child labour, ‘unskilled’ women labour. Race, caste, colonialism, and industrial capitalism shaped and continue to shape working lives, their work culture, and struggles. In this module, we will investigate the conditions of workers by exploring topics such as:
1. Enslaved labourers in the cotton plantations of America,
2. Docks workers at the Mombasa (in Africa) port,
3. Indian indentured labourers in Caribbean colonies,
4. Factory workers (male, female, children) in British and Indian factories,
5. Bonded caste labourers (agrarian slavery) in Indian fields.
The module touches upon key themes, such as free and coerced labour, night-time and sleep of workers, the social reproduction of labour, feminization of the workspace, the emergence of industrial time, etc.
The module aims to provide students with an understanding and critical analysis of how race, caste, colonialism, and capitalism shaped the lives of working people in the last 300 years. Conceptually, it touches on themes such as industrial time, forced and waged labour, child and women labour, sleep and the night-time of workers. In terms of learning resources, the module focusses on archival primary sources, documentaries, and the cutting-edge research on global labour history.
This module looks at the development of Europe from the rise of Napoleon until the 1848 Revolutions. The German historian Thomas Nipperdey once wrote that ‘in the beginning was Napoleon’. Napoleon broadened and reshaped the dynamics of the French Revolution, war and state reform. He was also a symbol of a new world where an individual from a lower noble family and an obscure island could dominate the continent.
The module takes a chronological view of politics, international affairs, war, personalities and ideas. Coverage will focus on France, the German states, Prussia, Austria, Russia and Northern Italy.
The general structure will be:
Module description to be confirmed.
Module content to be confirmed.
Module content to be confrmed.
You will be taught via a mixture of large-group lectures and smaller, interactive seminars. You might also be taught through tutorials and supervisions. These are one-to-one meetings or discussions with an academic tutor.
This course includes a wide range of learning materials. This could include reading books, online journal articles, e-book chapters, shorter review essays, newspaper and magazine articles. It could also mean watching documentary films, and, on some modules, listening to clips on YouTube or Spotify.
You will also have a personal tutor from the Department of American and Canadian Studies. This is someone who can:
First-year students can benefit from being paired with a 'peer mentor'. This is an existing student from your department who helps you settle in, get to know your peers and advise on student life.
Find out more about the support on offer.
Assessment is based on a combination of coursework, including essays and dissertation projects, seminar participation and oral presentations, and formal examinations. The precise assessments vary from one module to another and across the years of your degree.
Feedback
The opportunity to discuss ideas and coursework with your tutor is an integral part of your studies at Nottingham. Whether by giving feedback on an essay plan, or discussing the results of an assessment, we help you work to the best of your ability. Each tutor offers weekly support and feedback hours, while feedback on coursework is also posted online via our tailored teaching and learning platform.
Assessment methods
You’ll have at least the following hours of timetabled contact a week through lectures, seminars and workshops, tutorials and supervisions.
Your tutors will also be available outside these times to discuss issues and develop your understanding. You will have a personal tutor from the Department of American and Canadian Studies. You will also be allocated a joint honours advisor from the Department of History.
We reduce your contact hours as you work your way through the course. As you progress, we expect you to assume greater responsibility for your studies and work more independently.
Your lecturers will be qualified academic staff. Some of your classes may be run by temporary teaching staff who are also experts in their field.
Class sizes vary depending on topic and type. A weekly lecture on a core module may have 50-60 students attending, while a specialised seminar may only contain 10 students.
As well as scheduled teaching, you’ll carry out extensive self-study such as independent reading and research. As a guide, 20 credits (a typical module) is approximately 200 hours of work (combined teaching and self-study) per semester. Each 20-credit module typically involves between three and four hours of lectures and seminars per week. You would ideally spend 8-10 hours doing preparation work a week.
As a Politics and American Studies graduate, you will have gained valuable transferable skills, including:
Read our American and Canadian Studies student and alumni profiles and find out more about the range of skills you will gain, as well as the careers which our graduates go into.
You can also learn more about subject-related careers opportunities from our Careers and Employability Service:
78.8% of undergraduates from the Faculty of Arts secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual starting salary for these graduates was £23,974.
HESA Graduate Outcomes (2017 to 2021 cohorts). The Graduate Outcomes % is calculated using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.
Studying for a degree at the University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take.
Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.
Have a look at our careers page for an overview of all the employability support and opportunities that we provide to current students.
The University of Nottingham is consistently named as one of the most targeted universities by Britain’s leading graduate employers (Ranked in the top ten in The Graduate Market in 2013-2020, High Fliers Research).
University Park Campus covers 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.
University Park Campus covers 300 acres, with green spaces, wildlife, period buildings and modern facilities. It is one of the UK's most beautiful and sustainable campuses, winning a national Green Flag award every year since 2003.
Faculty of Arts
4 years full-time
Qualification
BA Hons
Entry requirements
ABB
UCAS code
T704
Faculty of Arts
3 years full-time (or 4 years with optional year abroad)
Qualification
BA Jt Hons
Entry requirements
AAB
UCAS code
TL72
Faculty of Arts
3 years full-time (or 4 years with optional year abroad)
Qualification
BA Jt Hons
Entry requirements
ABB
UCAS code
QT37
Faculty of Arts
4 years full-time
Qualification
BA Hons
Entry requirements
BCC
UCAS code
Y14F
Faculty of Arts
3 or 4 years full-time depending on language or placement choices
Qualification
BA Hons
Entry requirements
AAA
UCAS code
Y002
If you’re looking for more information, please head to our help and support hub, where you can find frequently asked questions or details of how to make an enquiry.
If you’re looking for more information, please head to our help and support hub, where you can find frequently asked questions or details of how to make an enquiry.