English and History - U6UENGHS

On this module you will learn about the nature of language, and how to analyse it for a broad range of purposes. It aims to prepare you for conducting your own language research across your degree.

The accompanying weekly workshops will explore levels of language analysis and description – from the sounds and structure of language, through to meaning and discourse. These can be applied to all areas of English study, and will prepare you for your future modules.

In your lectures, you will see how our staff put these skills of analysis and description to use in their own research. This covers the study of language in relation to the mind, literature, culture, society, and more. Your seminars then give you a chance to think about and discuss these topics further.

This module introduces the core skills for literary studies, including skills in reading, writing, researching and presentation. Topics covered include:

• close reading
• constructing an argument
• handling critical material
• introducing you to key critical questions about literary form, production and reception

You will put these new skills into practice through reading specific literary texts. These are focused on poetry and prose selected from the full range of the modern literary period (1500 to the present).

Across the year, you will learn about different interpretive approaches and concepts, and will examine literary-historical movements and transitions.

What was the earliest literature in English like? Where does English come from? What does ‘English’ really mean, anyway?

On this module, we’ll explore a range of English and Scandinavian literature from the medieval period. You'll also meet themes and characters who are at once familiar and strange: heroes and heroines, monster-slayers, saints, exiles, tricksters, lovers, a bear, and more.

From Tolkien to Marvel, the medieval past has been an inspiration for fantasy fiction and modern myth. As well as introducing you to stories and poetry which is exciting, inspiring and sometimes plain weird, we’ll also be looking at some of the challenges of the modern world.

Thinking about the past, means thinking about how it is used in the present day. The idea of a 'beginning' of English language and literature often gets incorporated into modern beliefs about national, ethnic and racial identity. On this module, we’ll begin the necessary work of challenging these ideas and building a better understanding of the medieval past and why it still matters.

Who makes theatre? Where does performance happen, and who is in the audience? How is society represented on stage?

These questions are at the heart of this module, and we will explore the extraordinary variety of drama in the Western dramatic tradition. You will examine dramatic texts in relation to their historical context, spanning:

• ancient Greek tragedy
• medieval English drama
• Shakespeare and his contemporaries
• the Restoration stage
• 19th century naturalism
• political theatre of Brecht
• drama and performance, for example the West End hit Emilia by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (2018), a celebration of women’s voices and history, inspired by the life of the trailblazing 17th century poet and feminist Emilia Bassano

Alongside texts, you'll also consider the extra-textual features of drama, including the performance styles of actors, the significance of performance space and place, and the composition of various audiences.

You will study selected plays in workshops, seminars and lectures, where we will explore adaptation and interpretation of the texts through different media resources. You can also take part in practical theatre-making, exploring extracts from the selected play-texts in short, student-directed scenes in response to key questions about performance.

What shaped the medieval world, and how did it evolve over a thousand years? 

This module invites you to dive into the rich and complex history of the medieval period, from political upheavals to cultural and social transformations. We will explore:

• major political structures and how they developed over time
• the social and economic fabric of medieval life, including the daily experiences of people across different classes and communities
• religious and cultural movements that influenced societies and shaped identities
• themes of race, gender, and minority experiences within medieval contexts
• interactions between Europe, the Islamic world, and the Far East

You’ll engage with both primary evidence and the various ways historians have interpreted this era, gaining critical insights and a strong foundation in medieval history. This module sets the stage for understanding the themes and concepts you'll encounter throughout your degree.

This module is worth 20 credits

How did the early modern world transform politically, socially, and culturally between 1500 and 1800?  

This module explores major shifts that reshaped societies in Europe and across the globe, examining themes such as:

• the emergence of new imperial formations and their global impact
• religious conflict and how it redefined cultural and political landscapes
• the nature of warfare and its consequences for rulers, subjects, and political elites
• socio-economic trends and their influence on everyday life and broader societal structures
• the experiences and histories of marginalised groups during this transformative era

You’ll engage with primary evidence and critically evaluate how historians have interpreted these sources, gaining a comprehensive understanding of early modern history and developing key historical skills for your degree.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Gain the skills you need to thrive in your first year as a historian.

This module is designed to support your transition to university-level history by helping you reflect on your progress and connect ideas across your studies. We will:

• help you identify connections between different areas of your History degree, encouraging a deeper appreciation of the discipline and how it all fits together

• guide you in thinking critically about what it means to study history and how to approach historical research 

• support you in developing essential academic skills

Through a learner journal and a series of tasks, you’ll track your growth, set goals for improvement, and prepare for more advanced work in your second semester and beyond.

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module supports your journey as a historian during the second semester of your first year, focusing on critical reflection and skill development. You will explore:

• connections between themes and concepts from your History modules
• how your understanding of history as a discipline has evolved from school or college to university
• the value of history and how it informs contemporary issues and ideas

Working with a personal tutor, you will complete a learner journal and portfolio that encourage self-assessment and independent thinking. The module aims to foster self-directed learning, enhance your ability to interpret historical sources, and prepare you for more advanced work in Year 2 and beyond.

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module will introduce you to the Vikings and their time as they shaped the history of Europe, along with their culture, myths and stories. A primary focus of this module is the impact of the Viking expansion, especially on the British Isles and the East Midlands. Key themes include:

·         knowledge of migration and identity in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic during the early Middle Ages

·         analysis of historical documents and literary texts from the early medieval Viking world

·         interdisciplinary research methodologies specific to medieval literature and language history

You will learn concepts such as diasporic settlements and identity. During the module, you’ll become familiar with various ways of evaluating sources from the Viking Age and beyond (such as literary sagas, historical sources and material culture).

This module introduces you to a range of texts, including those associated with Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, but also those from much farther afield. It asks you to consider how they engage with landscape, with the literary and socio-political heritage of their area, and how they employ other distinctive cultural elements such as dialect. The module will allow you to reflect on recent theoretical developments in the field of literary geography, while also equipping you to read and appreciate literary works through a focus on their construction and exploration of place, employing methods from across the sub-disciplines of English studies.

How do we change our language for the workplace? What is the effect of the digital workplace on language? This module provides comprehensive knowledge of professional communication applied to a series of different workplace contexts. You will engage with a range of innovative approaches to analysing talk at work, including discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. You will respond to and critically engage with contemporary real-world workplace communication to be able to identify effective communication and troubleshoot miscommunication and conflict. 

Topics may include:

• digital workplace communication

• language and the law 

• health communication

• corporate communication

• political communication and intercultural communication across continents.

How can the arts help us think about health and cope with illness?  What can the arts contribute to healthcare practice and policy?

You will explore big questions like these, looking at how the arts can engage with the crucial issues in health today and build a better vision of health for the future.

We will cover major themes including:

• Representing health - look critically at representations of good and poor health, found in politics, religion, art, film, literature, and philosophy.
• Mental health - explore what mental health is, and how it differs from physical health. You’ll look critically at themes such as the marketisation of mental health, the history of mental health institutions, and the ethics of psychiatry.
• Communicating health - how health is communicated in personal, public, and professional settings. We’ll explore questions such as why it is so important that patient voices are heard in communicating about health.
• Health inequalities - look critically at striking inequalities in health, including patterns of gender, race, class, sexuality and economic differences in health and access to healthcare.

From treatment, information, care, and outreach, understanding the health humanities provides career opportunities for the next century.

This module is worth 10 credits.

We live in a data-driven society. Information is used for everything from predicting our shopping habits, to understanding global weather patterns, and has radically changed our world.

From the development of Artificial Intelligence to robotics and the use of ‘big data’, the capture and use of information is essential in modern society. To make sure these developments help solve problems, and are not used for harm, we need the arts and humanities to set boundaries and ask questions.

You will:

• Explore topics such as privacy, surveillance, power and representation
• Learn how modern technology can replicate historical biases and ignore contemporary struggles
• Gain the background and context to contemporary issues on data and society
• Question the limits we place on technology in our world
• Explore how the arts and humanities shape, direct and protect against the way data is used

This module is worth 10 credits.

The digitisation of records and texts has revolutionised academic study. The ability to efficiently and confidently use data is a valuable skill for both your course and future career.

On this module, you will:

• Learn the basics of data and ‘text mining’ (using search terms to explore large amounts of information)
• Develop your skills and apply them to case studies
• See how your work can highlight issues and solve problems
• Understand how data analysis allows us to create narratives that inspire and drive change

We will use examples and case studies from across the faculty, where data and text analysis have been used by arts and humanities researchers within their work.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Learn the basics of creating and editing audio and visual material.

From podcasting, photo editing, photography, video editing and sound editing, you can work on how your digital skills can be used to communicate and inspire.

You will be guided through a series of tutorials and examples where you can develop your skills and produce your own content.

This work will be developed through examples and case studies from across the faculty, where audio and visual materials have been used by researchers within their work.

Examples include:

• Virtual reality renditions of historical photographs
•  Immersive museum experiences
• Audio installations to share stories about migration and sustainability
• Interactive events to inspire young people about languages and cultures past and present

This module is worth 10 credits.

Epidemics and infectious illnesses have shaped our world. Most recently, the Coronavirus pandemic dramatically changed the way we work and socialise, with lasting effect.

We will explore the past and present of infectious disease, including how cultures, religions, literature and art have been shaped by the interaction between humans and disease.

You will learn about:

• The variety of human responses to sickness
• How ideas about illness are expressed across the world
• Drug resistant bacteria and mutations of viruses
• How the arts help societies to process the impact of disease - it is often through music, literature, philosophy and media that suffering is expressed and issues raised

This module is worth 10 credits.

Our digital revolution has been led by the arts and humanities.

From mobile apps to learn languages, to video tutorials on how to play an instrument, the use of digital platforms has transformed our disciplines.

In an age defined by ecological issues, technological change and political upheaval across the world, it is the arts and humanities which provide vital links between the past, present and future. It is now more important than ever that we connect communities, challenge structures of power and address inequality.

You will examine how the digital arts changed the world, using examples from a range of mediums from across the globe. This could be a community walking app, that has brought hidden histories to light, a crowd-sourced projects that have given a platform to new voices, or social media forums that link music, philosophy and literature to contemporary debates.

This module is worth 10 credits.

We are in a state of climate emergency. Sustainability and climate change is on both political and personal agendas like never before.

On this module, you will:

• Examine the idea of ‘sustainability’ - looking at the social, cultural, political, economic and environmental challenges that sustainability aims to address
• Link issues of climate change, and our responses to them, to shifting ideas about nature and its distinctness from culture, the scientific and industrial revolutions, and the emergence of the Western world
• Examine Western culture’s way of defining the ‘environment’ and our relationship with nature
• Look at the diverse ways in which different cultures imagine nature

The arts and humanities do not offer quick fixes to our problems, but ways of thinking that can change the world. We do this through understanding context, process and change.

We show how the arts and humanities sheds light on the history of the present and directs us towards the future.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore how the arts and humanities contribute to sustainability.

From stories, to images and representation, the ways we understand the world also shape how we understand sustainability.

With a focus on globalisation, and the accelerating pace of climate change in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, we will think about the problems raised by the climate crisis. 

You will:

• Learn about debates around the Anthropocene, the era of humanity’s marked impact on the environment
• Examine the controversies and disputes that have emerged about our relationship with nature
• Explore how we can tell stories about climate change – for example through the literature and music of marginalised groups across the world, who feel the impact of climate change first

By considering how everyday life choices are linked to the environment, the module offers an imaginative way to explore the challenges of sustainable living.  You will gain the tools to challenge opinion and identify how local ideas can offer a solution to global problems.

This module is worth 10 credits.

From filters to fake news, we are exposed to a huge amount of information in our day-to-day lives.

Whether through advertising, promotion, policies or the media, the (mis)information we are exposed to is intended to influence us, change our minds, or maybe even censor and withhold information about important issues.

To challenge this, we need to think critically about data. This module will give you the skills to do just that.

You’ll gain the critical skills to observe, question, and act when the facts do not support what’s being represented. We will also introduce approaches you can use to question visual, textual, quantitative and qualitative information. This could include:

• Causality
• Statistics
• Bias
• Content analysis
• Language

Critical analysis is an important skill, not only so we can preserve our freedoms and protect from harm caused by misinformation, but in the workplace too. The ability to make judgements that are based on logic is a key transferable skill.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Writing inspires change. From the academic textbook that demonstrates a new concept, to a blog post that influences habits, writing can change the world.

On this module, you will learn to think critically about yourself and society, through reflecting on how you write.

Writing lets us occupy different spaces and identities. You can write to develop your sense of self, to enlighten others, or to build connections. Writing skills are more than just how to write an academic essay. Writing can give you an insight into who you are, your values and future direction.

During your studies, you will use writing to develop analytical approaches which can enhance your work and prepare you for your future career. Focusing on the diversity of experiences and backgrounds, interests and motivations, we show how meaningful writing can lead, inspire and transform. 

This module is worth 10 credits.

The gods, heroes and events of Norse mythology are well-known: Odin the one-eyed god of poetry and war, Thor who protects both gods and humans by crushing giants with his hammer, Freya the goddess of beauty who drives a chariot pulled by cats, the final destruction of the world in the ice and fire of Ragnarök; and human heroes like Sigurd the Serpent-Slayer. In this module you will study and analyse the key texts of Old Norse myth and legend from which these familiar stories come, alongside other media, such as depictions in art. The module will explore the development of Norse myth and legend from the Viking Age to medieval Christian Iceland where these texts were recorded.

What can given names, surnames and nicknames tell us about people in the past? What determines the choice of a name for a child? Where does our hereditary surname system come from? How have place, class and gender impacted upon naming through time? This module will help you answer all these questions and more. Interactive lectures and seminars, and a project based on primary material tailored to each participant, will introduce you to the many and varied, fascinating and extraordinary types of personal name and their origins.

Theatre makers in the long 20th century have been dealing with a series of pressing artistic and social issues, many of which still concern us today.

These issues include:

• What makes a play worth watching?
• Why do audiences enjoy watching bad things happening?
• How are minority groups represented on the stage?
• How might the stage advance the cause of gender or sexual equality?
• What role does social class or nationality play in the workings of theatrical culture?
• How can we talk accurately about an art form like performed theatre, that is so fleeting and transitory?

In order to answer such questions, this module gives an overview of key plays and performances from the 1890s to the present. You will study these key texts in their original political, social, and cultural contexts. You will also:

• consider their reception and afterlife
• focus on the textual and performance effects created
• place the texts alongside the work of relevant theorists and practitioners

This module is worth 20 credits.

All literature is written in language, so understanding how language and the mind work will make us better readers and critics of literary works.

This module brings together the literary and linguistic parts of your degree. It gives you the power to explore any text from any period by any author.

You will study how:

• Literature can feel rich, or pacy, or suspenseful, or beautiful
• Texts can make you laugh, cry, feel afraid, excited, or nostalgic
• Fictional people like characters can be imagined
• We can get inside the thoughts, feelings, and hear the speech of characters, narrators and authors
• Imagined worlds are built, and how their atmosphere is brought to life
• You as a reader are manipulated or connect actively with literary worlds and people

This module is worth 20 credits.

Are you interested in languages and the multilingual world? Have you ever wondered how our brains process learning a second language? Would you like to teach English overseas one day? If so, this module could be for you.

Drawing on current theories of second language acquisition, we will consider:

• How globalisation has increased bilingualism in the world
• How languages are learnt
• How students differ from each other in their mastery of languages
• How the psychology of the classroom environment impacts the effectiveness of learning
• How to motivate students and create good learner groups

You will spend three hours per week on this module, split equally between a lecture and follow-up seminar.

This module is worth 20 credits.

You’ll explore how English is learnt from making sounds as an infant through to adulthood. Topics relating to early speech development include: the biological foundations of language development, the stages of language acquisition and the influence of environment on development. Further topics which take into account later stages of development include humour and joke telling abilities, story-telling and conversational skills and bilingualism.

When we study language, we learn about how society works. Why do some people have more noticeable accents than others? Why are some people taken seriously when they talk, while others aren’t? How do those with power use language to manipulate us into thinking a certain way?

On this module, these are the sorts of questions you’ll be thinking about. We focus on how people use language, how language varies between different speakers, and how language is used to represent different social groups. We consider:

• The way that language is used by people online to create communities
• How the mainstream media uses language to represent particular groups, such as immigrants or gay people
• The ways that language is used in particular contexts, such as the workplace
• How advertisers use language to persuade us that we need their products
• The relationship between language, gender and sexuality
• How language can be used to signal a person’s race or ethnicity

You’ll learn how to conduct a sociolinguistic study which explores topics such as these. You will also spend time each week analysing original language data.

The module is worth 20 credits.

This module will enable students to explore the wide variety of Victorian and fin-de-siècle literature, with examples from fiction (novels, novellas and short stories), poetry (long poems and sonnets) and critical essays. It will examine changes in literary forms and genres over this period, paying some attention to the contested transition between Victorianism and Modernism. The module is organised in terms of a number of interrelated themes, which may include: empire and race, class and crime, identity and social mobility, politics and social problems, gender and sexuality, aestheticism and consumerism. Students are encouraged to make connections between the ways these themes are represented and explored in specific literary works, and larger changes in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social, political, intellectual and publishing culture.

This module introduces different kinds of literature, written between 1700-1830. This was a dramatic time in literary history, resulting in the Romantic period. It involved many areas of great contemporary relevance, such as class, poverty, sexuality, and slavery.

We will examine:

• utopian literature (through Gulliver’s Travels)
• the developing novel (such as Moll Flanders and Pride and Prejudice)
• how irony works
• what is self-expression
• how the emergent genre of autobiography can be either manipulated, or used as part of a larger cause

As part of this module, you will explore novels, poems, and prose works that bring to life the intellectual, social and cultural contexts of the period.

This module is worth 20 credits.

‘On or about December 1910 human character changed’: so wrote Virginia Woolf in 1924. ‘And when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics and literature.’ This module will familiarize students with relevant aesthetic, generic, and literary-historical strategies for tracing formal and thematic transformations in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature. Moving between genres, the module will unfold chronologically from modernism, through the inter-war years, and into the ‘contemporary scene’ (as notionally defined for literature since 1970) up to the present day. Lectures and seminars will address some key phases of creative transition, while also particularizing the work of representative novelists, essayists, short-story writers and poets. This combination of overview and textual scrutiny will encourage students to explore influences and affinities between writers working in different modes and periods. Weekly topics will primarily be concerned with mapping literary formations and innovations within the artistic and cultural contexts from which they emerge, while also addressing the wider aesthetic and ideological significances of issues such as class, gender, sexuality and race.

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.

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 Victorians, An Overview
• Religion: Sin and Redemption
• Poverty
• Cities
• Sanitation
• Sexuality
• Consumerism and the Mass Market
• Entertainment
• Evolution

This module provides a history of Jewish life in continental Europe and Mandatory Palestine from the genesis of Zionism to the establishment of the state of Israel.

It focuses on perceptions and receptions of Judaism within modern Jewish culture. The module illustrates the intersection of modern Jewish history with the religious culture and thought of Judaism in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries.

We’ll explore Central-, German-speaking Europe and follow the German-speaking Jewish peoples, many of whom emigrated to mandatory Palestine. The module sets out to explain how the contexts of fin de siècle and interwar Central-Europe shaped the history of both diasporic and Israeli Jewish peoples.

Furthermore, through its focus on Jewish religious culture, the module instils an understanding of how historical context influences interpretations of sacred texts. Conversely, it also explicates how forms of religious traditions and belongings impact secular politics and culture.

Finally, the module informs the students as to how Jewish history fits into the broader tapestry of modern global history. We’ll explore this using cultural, social and intellectual history across a range of topics related to modern Jewish history through the lens of religious culture, such as: Zionism; Antisemitism; the German-Jewish artistic and intellectual renaissance of the Weimar and Austrian Republics. It also provides an insight into the history of the Holocaust and its impact.

In 600, the Middle East was divided between two historic empires, Rome and Persia. By 700, however, this longstanding political order had been overthrown by the armies of the new Islamic caliphate. The Islamic conquests had profound and transformative consequences for Middle Eastern society (and beyond).

In this module, you will examine the remarkable speed and success of the conquests, and consider the conquerors’ approaches to managing their vast new territories. Following recent trends in historical research, it will also examine how the non-Muslim majority of the Middle East, including Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, viewed their new rulers and adjusted to their new situation.

The module will reflect the diversity of the caliphate, drawing upon sources (in English translation) written in languages including Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi, and Armenian, in genres ranging from scholarly Islamic histories to Christian and Jewish apocalyptic accounts.

You’ll also focus on the impressive material culture of the period, including monumental architecture such as the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Desert Palaces, as well as coinage and inscriptions. It will tackle big questions about cultural interaction, religious belief and belonging, conversion and community formation, and ask what had really changed between 600 and 800?

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:

• changing gender roles and expectations
• the experience and impact of rationing, bombing, conscription, voluntary service and direction by central government
• historiographical debates about whether Britain was united against a common enemy
• propaganda, mass communication and the management of information
• planning for a post-war world, including the creation of the National Health Service and the reform of the education system
• post-war reconstruction of cities
• reactions to the Holocaust, atomic weaponry, returning service personnel, returning Prisoners of War
• post-war austerity
• representations of the period and the construction of memory

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 introduces the history of the British imperial expansion in India from the mid eighteenth century, through to the Rebellion in 1857. It covers:

• the rise of trade relations with India
• the growth of territorial rule through war and negotiation with Indian rulers
• resistance to imperial rule through mutiny
• the debate over sati (widow immolation)

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.

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.

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:

• species history and the rewilding debate
• the rise of environmental protection groups
• the role of the state in environmental protection
• the history of pollution and pesticide use
• the National Park movement
• the Nature Reserve and the rise of outdoor leisure and recreation
• the emergence of modern environmentalism and campaigning
• the role of wildlife television and natural history film-making

This module is a must for anyone wanting to pursue a career in the environmental sector.

This module is worth 20 credits

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:

• the nature of fascist ideology
• the use of violence
• fascism and masculinity and femininity

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.

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:

• How did monarchs and local elites seek to justify their authority in this period?
• To what extent were ideas of hierarchy and obedience queried or accepted?
• What impact did such ideas have on daily life?

Areas for consideration include:

• government ideology
• popular beliefs and literacy
• the persecution and toleration of religious minorities
• the politics of the parish
• attitudes towards birth, marriage and death.

Develop your understanding of some of the most influential performance theories and practice, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. 

Building on the ‘Drama, Theatre, Performance’ module, you will deepen your understanding of Stanislavski and Brecht in practice, as well as exploring the work of other influential theorists and practitioners. 

Possible material includes: 

• Konstantin Stanislavski
• Vsevolod Meyerhold
• Bertolt Brecht
• Antonin Artaud
• Jacques Lecoq
• Ensemble physical theatre makers such as DV8, Gecko & Frantic Assembly 

For this module, you’ll have a mix of lectures and practical workshops, totalling three hours a week.

Workshops offer the opportunity for practical drama. You will explore theory in practice, through work with excerpts from canonical theatrical scripts and other performance scripts.

This module is worth 20 credits.

The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard forced historians to re-evaluate Early Medieval England and ask new questions about this crucial formative stage of history. The items discovered are almost exclusively connected to warfare, yet many show evidence of very high levels of craftsmanship, reflecting the fact that this period was one characterised by brutal and relentless fighting whilst at the same time maintaining an extraordinarily rich culture.

The history of this era of conversions, conflicts and cultural renaissances is documented primarily by Bede (c. 673-735), whose career at the monastery at Wearmouth and Jarrow culminated with the production of the first synthetic history of the English (the Ecclesiastical History of the English People). Bede’s writings are complemented by copious archaeological evidence, most famously through artefacts such as the Franks Casket and Sutton Hoo Helmet, monumental stone crosses at Ruthwell and Bewcastle, and fabulous manuscripts like the Lindisfarne, and Lichfield Gospels. Students will utilise these sources, plus a wide variety of other items of textual and non-textual evidence to explore the cultures of the early English kingdoms.

The first semester will focus on the era of conversion documented in the Ecclesiastical History, and the second will consist of a detailed analysis of Bede’s wider body of work. Finally, students will critically evaluate the terminology attached to this period and familiarise themselves with recent debates about the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’.

This module explores key themes in medieval history through the study of individual lives, from kings and warriors to peasants, saints and merchants. 

You will examine a diverse range of figures across different cultures and classes, using various sources such as biographies, literature and legal records.

The module challenges you to consider how we understand medieval life and what it reveals about values, desires and historical significance. Through lectures and student-led seminars, you will delve into the complexities of reconstructing lived experiences in the Middle Ages.

This module examines the crucial role of the Ukrainian Cossack state (1654-1764) in the formation of the Russian Empire. Focusing on the military alliance between Muscovy and the Cossacks, you will explore how the relationship shaped Russia’s westward imperial expansion. 

The module covers the rise of the Romanov dynasty, Ukraine’s transformation into a colony, the development of Russian imperial ideology, and the role of religious discourse in state-building. Through this study, you will gain insights into the intersection of political, cultural and religious forces in early modern empire-making.

The module explores the diversity of ways in which Jews and Christians interacted in middle Ages, seeking to offer alternative views to these of Jews as mere victims in a religious struggle or of economic envy. We will study the complex economic interconnections between the two groups, considering the new approaches to the role of Jewish moneylending and international trade and its connections with structures of power in both communities. The module will also investigate crucial ideas on anti- Semitism and anti-Judaism and will look into case studies of intolerance and conflict between Jews and Christians. Themes to study here are the massacres of Jews in the Rhineland during the First Crusade, the persecution of Jews during the Black Death and the construction of Blood libel and ritual murder accusations. The module will also examine the internal life of the Jewish communities of Western Europe looking at communal organisation and leadership. We will consider differences amongst Jewish communities in different locations of the medieval European landscape in their understanding of Jewish Law and tradition, as well as in their own patterns of interaction with the Christian political and religious authorities in different locations. At the same time, we will explore the common cultural and religious characteristics and the creation of extensive national and supranational Jewish networks. Finally, we will evaluate the historiography on the subject and the changing of perspectives on the history of the Jews in Europe, analysing the debates arisen amongst scholars with their own ideologies, methods and approaches.

This module explores the political, social, cultural and economic dynamics of colonial encounters, from the rise of the Spanish global empire around 1600 to the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa. 

Focusing on interactions between European imperial powers and societies in the Global South, it examines themes such as race, resistance, religion, governance and transoceanic exchanges across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean Worlds.

The module critically engages with non-Western perspectives as primary sources. You will analyse how colonised peoples navigated, contested and reshaped imperial systems, fostering a nuanced understanding of colonialism’s legacies. Ideal for those seeking to interrogate Eurocentric narratives, this module equips you with the tools to dissect power, agency and cultural hybridity in modern history.

This module explores the social history of modern health, examining key themes such as disease, public health, medical knowledge and the evolution of medical practice.  

Through case studies, you will explore topics like nursing, mental health, psychoanalysis, pharmacy and medical consumerism, while considering the impacts of healthcare on marginalised groups.  

Covering the 19th and 20th centuries, you will delve into the development of health professions, the rise of psychiatry and psychology, and the shifting perceptions of illness, gaining insights into how healthcare has shaped and been shaped by society. 

This module explores everyday life in the Russian Empire from 1855 to 1917, focusing on how the Empire was governed and the experiences of its subjects. You will examine the state's management of religious, ethnic and national tensions, as well as the process of modernisation. 

Key themes include the development of social identities and the dynamic between rural and urban spaces during this transformative period leading up to the collapse of the autocracy.

This module explores the ideas that have shaped Britain’s recent history, examining both the political beliefs of leaders and the cultural representations by artists, novelists and filmmakers.  

Each week, you will analyse key events or artifacts within their social and political contexts, engaging in discussions about how identities and ideologies have evolved since the early 1990s. 

How do science fiction and speculative narratives reshape our understanding of Black history?

This module explores the dynamic intersection of history and imagination by examining how prominent Black historical events and figures are reinterpreted in 20th and 21st-century Afro and Black science-fiction literature. From the haunting legacies of Atlantic Slavery and Colonisation to the enduring struggle for civil rights, we’ll dive into how these creative works provide alternative ways to engage with the Black past, filling the emotional and psychological gaps that traditional historical accounts often leave behind.

You’ll analyse how speculative fiction acts as a space for healing, empowerment, and reimagining the possibilities of the Black experience. Through interactive seminars and independent research, you'll develop a deeper understanding of how creative narratives challenge and enrich our historical perspective.

This module is worth 20 credits. 

Explore the novel from the late twentieth century onwards, in Britain and beyond.

We will concentrate on the formal operations and innovations of selected novelists, considering how the contemporary socio-historical context influences these questions of form. Topics considered include:

• an interrogation of the ‘post-consensus novel’
• an exploration of postcolonial texts which represent the transatlantic slave trade
• the cultural politics of late twentieth-century and twenty-first century Scottish literature

Contemporary fiction is focused on writing emerging from Britain and closely-related contexts in the post-war period. This module offers strands structured around a number of political, social and cultural frameworks in Britain. These include:

• formal analysis and literary innovations in Britain
• temporalities and the representation of time
• issues of gender, race and class
• histories of colonialism and slavery
• national traditions and politics of state
• the country and the city
• postmodernism

This module particularly explores the network of relationships between context, content and form, supported by related literary and cultural theory and philosophy.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module offers an in-depth exploration of the historical and theatrical contexts of early modern drama. Drawing on the most innovative and experimental works by Shakespeare and key contemporaries, this module invites you to explore the three-dimensional stagecraft of these writers. You will reflect on issues such as genre, rhetoric, transmission and audience, and how they affect reception, both among contemporaries and in modern responses. You will study:

• the physical environments of the first professional indoor and outdoor theatres
• the political and institutional contexts that shaped dramatic production
• the conditions of performance for which dramatists wrote, recognising early modern playwriting as a vibrant and collaborative process

The genre of dream-vision inspired work by all the major poets of the Middle Ages, including William Langland, the Pearl-Poet, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The course will aim to give you a detailed knowledge of a number of canonical texts in this genre, as well as ranging widely into the alliterative revival, and chronologically into the work of John Skelton in the early sixteenth century. The course will depend upon close, detailed reading of medieval literary texts, as well as focusing on the variety and urgency of issues with which dream poetry is concerned: literary, intellectual, social, religious and political.

This module investigates the many ways historical research is applied and used in today’s society. 

You’ll explore:

• museums and heritage sites

• TV and film representations 

• education, policymaking, and community history

• media portrayals, memory and commemoration, and the political uses of history

By exploring how history is interpreted and presented for different purposes, you’ll get a better sense of why historical research matters and how it makes an impact today. Using case studies from different times and places, you’ll look at how history shapes areas like health and well-being, heritage, and even how it’s turned into a commodity.

You’ll also take on a collaborative research project, working in teams to tackle a real-world brief. Your goal will be to create an engaging piece that translates complex historical research for a professional or public audience. Alongside this, you'll write an individual report, reflecting on your decisions and the steps you took, while tying in relevant academic ideas. 

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module investigates the varied ways in which historical research can be applied to contemporary issues and current events. We will explore:

• how understanding the past influences present-day decision-making and future planning

• the relevance and use of history as an academic discipline in understanding today's world

• case studies from different historical and geographical settings, illustrating how history is used (and sometimes exploited) to address modern challenges 

You’ll work on a collaborative research project, responding to a real-world brief by using historical examples to contextualise contemporary problems. 

Your project will be designed to communicate complex historical research effectively to a professional or non-academic audience. Alongside this, you’ll produce an individual report that critically reflects on the research process, your decisions, and relevant academic literature.

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module is based around a challenge: how do we use the digital humanities?

You are presented with a series of problems about how we can use the arts and humanities to address some of the major issues we face in technology and society.

For example, the acceleration of technology in both private and public life is immense, but this rapid pace of change should not prevent reflection.

In this module, you consider the major contemporary issues of how technology shapes our present and our future. We respond to these concerns using the specific skillset of the arts and humanities, where we ask: what does it mean to be human?

This module is worth 10 credits.

Stand out in your job search with employability skills and hands-on experience.

Learn key skills, from constructing an outstanding CV to practicing interview technique, before completing a part-time placement in the spring. This will be for one day a week, or equivalent, for up to eight weeks.

You can apply for placements in relevant local organisations. The dedicated faculty placement team have an established list of providers, or you can arrange your own placement, subject to approval.

Our placements include a range of sectors, including:

• creative and cultural industries
• media
• marketing
• heritage and museums
• the music industry
• education
• charitable and third-sector organisations

These are subject to change each year.

You will develop a wide range of transferable skills, including:

• communication
• presentation
• organisation
• professionalism
• time management skills

Assessment is through an online portfolio of materials, including application materials, reflective writing and a research report.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Community engagement is important in many careers, from politics and social work to marketing and business.

We do not work in a vacuum - our research and activities are linked to individuals and groups across society. By learning to engage with communities, researchers can reach wide audiences, learn from them and collaboratively make a real contribution to overcoming social problems. 

We need to understand how engagement works in order to work collaboratively, respectfully and sustainability with communities.

In this module, we will:

• Explore how our staff and students work with communities – from supporting immigrant communities settling into Nottingham, to engaging with schools to promote literacy and career opportunities
• Discuss how activism and advocacy can become part of academic work
• Explore how community engagement is structured and organised and how we can ensure our work within the arts and humanities has relevance and impact for diverse audiences

This module will prepare you for your future career, by focusing on the key skill of the arts and humanities: our ability to support and engage with those around us.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore the histories and legacies of colonisation, alongside the routes to justice through decolonisation.

Using examples from across the globe, we explore the impact of colonisation on society, politics, economics, and culture.

You will consider contemporary examples and a wide range of evidence, sources and perspectives, including from:

• art
• film
• literature
• archive materials and documents
• music and performance

You will also explore the debates around reconciliation, restitution and justice.

Together we will build an interdisciplinary analysis, drawing upon the research of the whole faculty to uncover, assess and deconstruct the practices of colonialism and their implications for our contemporary world.  

This module is worth 10 credits.

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.

Wellbeing, the crisis in mental health care, and clapping for NHS staff during the Covid pandemic are all examples of health humanities. On this module, you will be exploring contemporary challenges in this area.

To build a healthier society, enabling access to healthcare for all, we must consider how people act, behave and build connections.

You will look at:

• how the arts and humanities respond to major issues in health, medicine and wellbeing – i.e. exploring how individuals use art, literature and culture to understand pain and loss, or analysing human behaviour with regard to new medicines and our relationship to health sciences
• topics such as cultural representations of health, places of medical treatment, or the relationship between medicine and emotions

The major challenges in health provision and healthcare can be influenced and directed by the arts and humanities. This module shows you how this field can be a powerful tool for change.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Discover how our world is experienced through language.

We live in a global society, where different languages build our perceptions, ideas and values. In this module, we respect that difference and participate in it.

You will:

• Use multilingualism as a tool to challenge our own thinking and to comprehend the lives of others in society
• Work through etymologies and translations from a wide range of languages, including Russian, Spanish, French and German
• Learn how understanding languages - not just speaking and reading them - can be vital in contributing to our community, enriching your experience, and participating in a global society

No knowledge of any language is needed, as we focus on understanding what it means to live in our multi-lingual world.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore how Nottingham creates ideas, identities, culture and products, alongside how you as a student are also ‘Made in Nottingham’.

This module will help you begin shaping your skills for the career you want, drawing upon the way arts and humanities work has transformed the city.

From the entrepreneurs who have set up businesses or those who have created and enriched charities and social projects, to the writers, artists, musicians and teachers who have all been created in Nottingham. We use their experience, their understanding and their skills to help you define your own path for after university.

You will be able to build your profile through this module, develop your own career narrative to use in your future work as well as engage in the variety of opportunities that are open to you as an arts graduate.

Through this module, we’ll address what it means to be ‘Made in Nottingham’.

This module is worth 10 credits.

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:

• Richard II, William Shakespeare and the Revolution of 1399
• The Image of the Male Witch in Early Modern Iceland
• Lord Salisbury and the Mediterranean Agreements: Revisiting Anglo-German Relations, 1886-1896
• A Re-evaluation of Prince Lichnowsky's Role as the German Ambassador in London in the July 1914 Crisis
• Interwar British Fascist Movements and Race, 1922-1940
• 'No Country, No Home': The Abandonment of the South Vietnamese by the United States after the Vietnam War
• Visions of Loathing and Desire: Representations of Masculinity in Late Soviet Posters

A specialist study of an individual topic in depth. Initial topic or project to be chosen from a range of supervisor research areas, and developed in consultation with the allocated supervisor.

The module employs the study of place-names to illustrate the various languages - British, Latin, French, Norse and English - that have been spoken in England over the last 2000 years. You will learn how place-name evidence can be used as a source for these languages, and also for the histories and landscapes of the country. The module coursework can be directed at a geographical area of particular interest to the student.

Through the exploration of lyric poetry, this module examines cultural and literary change from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. It will consider the rise of ‘named poet’, the interaction of print and manuscript culture, the representation of love, and the use of the female voice. It will develop further students’ confidence in handling formal poetic terminology and reading poetry from this period. It will also enable students to think pragmatically about the transmission of lyric in modern editions, and about how best to represent the form.

The module will explore the unique saga literature of medieval Iceland, with close reference to its historical and cultural contexts, via a selection of set texts. The set texts will be studied in translation but understanding will be enhanced by some study of the Old Norse-Icelandic language. Topics covered may include representations of kinship, gender, health, belief, the supernatural, landscape, emotion, feud and violence within the Old Norse sagas as well as stylistic and literary features of the sagas themselves.

This module focuses on the creative process of making theatre as an ensemble. The first half of the module explores a range of theory-in-practice approaches to performance, such as those of Stanislavski, Lecoq, Laban, Meyerhold, along with approaches to devised, physical theatre influenced by companies such as Frantic Assembly and Gecko. For the second half of the module, students draw on these practical and theoretical models as they develop and rehearse a short, assessed, ensemble piece(s) for public performance. Students are also asked to critically reflect on the process of making performance encountered during workshop, rehearsal and performance on the module.The module builds on the understanding of performance conventions developed through practical workshops begun in the first year 'Drama, Theatre, Performance' module, and the performance theory-through-practice approach of the second year 'From Stanislavski to Contemporary Performance' module.   

This module will consider Irish literature and drama produced in the twentieth century. Taking the Irish Literary Revival as a starting-point we will consider authors in their Irish and European context, such as W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, James Joyce, Seán O'Casey, Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and Marina Carr.

The focus throughout will be upon reading texts in relation to their social, historical, and political contexts, tracking significant literary and cultural responses to Irish experiences of colonial occupation, nationalist uprising and civil war, partition and independence, socio-economic modernisation, and the protracted period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland. Discussion will also seek to highlight a number of recurrent thematic issues, including language, tradition, gender and sexuality, class, place, and memory.

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have seen major changes in the way theatre is financed, produced, and presented, on stage and on screen. This module delves into the fascinating world of theatre production, beginning with late nineteenth-century actor-managers and the development of long-running, commercial productions and moving through subsidised theatre, touring and national theatre companies, processes of remediation (particularly through film), and the advent of the mega-musical.

The module utilises case studies including Shakespeare in production, new plays, revivals and international hits such as Les Miserables and Hamilton, to illustrate how theatre responds to changing contexts and audiences. A portfolio assessment allows students to respond to key subjects and types of theatre explored on the module. 

Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are a complex set of behaviours that are a fundamental part of our daily lives. And yet they remain difficult to fully explain.

When you hear ‘FIRE’, you immediately look for an exit and start moving. Yet all that a speaker has done is produce a string of sounds. Your mind distinguishes these from the murmuring of other voices, feet clomping on the floor, and any background music. Your mind matches the sounds f-i-r-e with a word, retrieves the meaning, and relates them to the current circumstances and responds accordingly.

How does the mind do this? And what makes our minds so special that we can do this? On this module, we begin to address these questions.

You will consider:

• Is there a language gene?
• What makes human language different from animal communication?
• What is the relationship between thought and language?
• Does everyone talk to themselves? What purpose does our inner voice serve?
• How do we learn language? And does cognition underpin our ability to learn language?
• What do language deficits tell us about language and the brain?
• How do we understand and produce speech, words, and sentences?
• What is the best way to teach children to read?
• How is sign language similar to/different from spoken language?

This module is worth 20 credits.

The module is designed to provide students with an understanding of the process of English Language Teaching (ELT) and of the theoretical underpinnings of this practice. In this module students will learn the principles behind the learning and teaching of key aspects and skills of English, including:

• vocabulary
• grammar
• reading
• writing
• speaking
• listening
• intercultural communicative skills

Students will also learn how to apply these theoretical principles to the development of teaching materials. This module will therefore be of interest to students who want to pursue a teaching career, and in particular to those interested in teaching English as a second or foreign language.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module provides comprehensive knowledge of feminist theory, as applied to a series of language and linguistic contexts.

You will explore a range of analytical approaches to language, including conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, and interactional sociolinguistics. You will also respond to, and critically engage with, contemporary real-world problems associated with gender and sexuality, through the consideration of discourse-based texts.

Topics covered include:

• gender and sexual identity construction in a range of interactive contexts
• sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and heteronormative representations in texts
• feminist theory from the 1970s to the present, with particular focus on contemporary approaches to gender theory

This module is worth 20 credits.

This is a course in advanced stylistic analysis, exploring threads of stylistic patterning across literary and cultural history. Building on your prior knowledge of both linguistic and literary scholarship, the module bridges the gap between literary and linguistics aspects of the BA degrees. The course focuses in particular on aspects of style from a formalist, functionalist, cognitive, social and narratological perspective, as well as adding a historical dimension to the study of style. The module provides you with an understanding of how linguistic techniques contribute to the creation of meaning and literary interpretations. There is also an engagement with the emotional response of readers, as well as the practical application of literary linguistic pedagogy, in accordance with the educational and applied linguistic traditions of the discipline. The module represents an engagement with the professional, scholarly and disciplinary practices of literary stylistics.

This module explores the vital role that discourse plays in various communicative domains in healthcare and workplace settings. Students will explore these domains through a variety of contemporary frameworks for examining discourse and communication, including critical discourse analysis, multi-modal discourse analysis, and interactional sociolinguistics.The module offers the opportunity to analyse and reflect on the discourses of healthcare and the workplace, as two crucially important domains of social and professional life. To this end, professional and healthcare discourses will be investigated through a range of genres and communicative modes, including face-to face communication advertising, media discourse and digital interactions. The module offers a rich resource for discourse-based studies of language in professional and social life and enables students to examine the strategic uses of communicative strategies in specific social settings.

This module focuses on the connections between literary texts, politics, and relevant historical/cultural contexts in gothic texts. You may cover:

• poetry
• novels
• graphic novels
• films

Examples include The Haunting of Hill House (both Shirley Jackson’s novel and the Netflix adaptation), The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez, and Saga of the Swamp Thing by Moore, Bissette and Totleben, and The Visions of the Daughters of Albion by William Blake.

You will explore various critical and theoretical approaches to literature, film, comics, adaptation, and popular culture. The module also seeks to decolonise Gothic Studies, including work by creators from a wide range of backgrounds who identify with a diverse range of subject positions.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module introduces key modern and contemporary poets.

You will build a detailed understanding of how various poetic forms manifest themselves in particular historical moments. Unifying the module is an attention to poets’ responses to the political and ideological upheavals of the 20th century.

The module will include such (primarily) British and Irish poets as:

• W.B. Yeats
• T.S. Eliot
• W. H. Auden
• Dylan Thomas
• Ted Hughes
• Sylvia Plath
• Wislawa Szymborska
• Tony Harrison
• Seamus Heaney
• Derek Mahon
• Adrienne Rich
• Geoffrey Hill
• Jo Shapcott
• Patience Agbabi
• Alice Oswald

Some of the forms examined will include: the elegy, the pastoral (and anti-pastoral), the ode, the sonnet (and sonnet sequence), the ekphrastic poem, the version or retelling, the villanelle, the parable and the sestina.

To develop a more complete perspective on each poet’s engagement with 20-century formal and political problems, we also examine these figures’ writings in other modes. This includes critical essays, manifestos, speeches, and primary archival materials such as letters and manuscript drafts.

Grounding each week will be readings on poetry and the category of the ‘political’ from an international group of critics, including such thinkers as Theodor Adorno, Charles Bernstein, Claudia Rankine, Peter McDonald, Angela Leighton, Christopher Ricks and Marjorie Perloff.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module examines the late twentieth and early twenty-first century globe through its correlates in fiction. The primary materials for the module will be post-war Anglophone works drawn from a wide geographical range across the world. After introducing the history of the idea of world literature, these works will be situated within a series of theoretical ‘worlds’: world literary systems; post-colonial criticism; cosmopolitanism; world ecologies; resource culture; literary translation theory. The module will also attend to critiques of 'world literature’ as a concept.

This module explores writing by, about and for women in the early modern period in the years between the Reformation and Restoration. You'll explore a diverse range of texts, including those written for the stage, within their literary, cultural and political contexts. This will help you understand their textual transmission and reception, as well as the modern critical debates and theories surrounding them, including early modern understandings and presentations of gender. The module may feature texts by male canonical figures such as Shakespeare and Marvell, and more recently recovered and significant women’s voices such as those of Elizabeth Melville, Amelia Lanyer, and Lucy Hutchinson.

This module examines the poetry and prose of Old English: warfare and heroic action, thought and feeling, love and loss, and its place in the invention of national England. You’ll explore this rich and rewarding genre through texts authored by men and women, including poems from the Exeter Book ‘elegies’ like The Wanderer and The Seafarer, or passages from Beowulf in the original language.

This module encourages you to engage in depth with modern writers and texts from canonical modernism. You will also, on occasion, study rival formations from the same historical period by marginalised writers, as well as proto or post-modernist authors. You will focus on the work of one or more writers, allowing you to examine the development of technique and shifts in thematic, political, and theoretical alignment. Through this, you will gain an understanding of literary culture and the changing relationship between the work of a single author, their forebears, and contemporaries.

This module explores a recurring series of connected figures, ideas and texts across centuries. Following the publication of John Milton’s Paradise Lost in 1667, you’ll examine the ways in which Milton’s enormously consequential poem is reimagined by later Romantic writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Mary Shelley. Explore how its mythic archetypes and aspects (the monstrous and Satanic, the Fall, Eve) inspire or recur in later reactions and works such as those by Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Henry James, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Anthony Burgess. Areas of focus may include the Satanic, the myth of Eve, monsters and the monstrous, doppelgangers, free will, the posthuman, the Edenic in literature, creatures and creators.

Explore the impact and complexities of empires throughout history.

This module examines how empires have shaped human politics, culture, society, and economics. We will focus on:

• different forms and structures of empires across a range of geographical and chronological contexts

• the tension between empires and other forms of organisation like kingdoms and nation-states 

• the interplay between imperial power and various identities, from "imperial subjects" to the experiences of the enslaved

Using a variety of primary sources, you’ll analyse how empires have catalysed both collaboration and resistance, and how these dynamics have been interpreted by historians. This module will develop your skills in source analysis, critical thinking, and independent historical research.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Examine the complexities and impact of empires throughout history.

This module continues to explore the role of empires in shaping human politics, culture, society, and economics. We will focus on:

• the tension between empires and other forms of organisation, such as kingdoms and nation-states

• the diverse forms and structures empires have taken across different geographical and chronological contexts 

• the intricate relationships between imperial power, identity, authority, and resistance

Using a wide range of primary sources, you’ll investigate empires from a specific historical, geographical, or methodological perspective. The module will develop your ability to interpret and critically evaluate primary sources, relate them to historical debates, and think conceptually about the issues at hand. Although this module covers themes similar to Empires 1, it provides a fresh perspective and does not require prior completion of Part 1.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Ideas shape how societies understand the world and make decisions about their future. This module explores:

• how different societies develop and challenge their "ideological road maps"

• the origins of ideas, their rise and fall in influence, and their movement across time, space, languages, and cultures

• the relationship between ideas and concepts like identity and community 

Using a variety of sources, such as speeches, books, and images, you’ll learn to study ideas in their historical context. You’ll think critically about how these ideas are created, contested, and reinterpreted. Although Ideas and Ideologies 1 shares themes with Part 2, it offers a unique perspective and does not need to be taken alongside Part 2.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Ideas function like road maps, guiding societies on where they are and where they might go. This module examines:

• how different societies create and reshape their "ideological road maps" over time

• the origins and evolution of ideas, their influence, and how they move across different historical and cultural contexts

• the interplay between ideas and concepts such as identity and community 

We will explore how these ideas are contested, mediated, and reinterpreted using a variety of sources like speeches, books, and images. This approach will help you think critically about the ideologies shaping the past and present. Ideas and Ideologies 2 covers themes similar to Part 1 but from a distinct historical, geographical, and methodological perspective, and does not need to be taken with Part 1.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Whose history gets told? This module dives into the stories and experiences of groups whose voices have often been overlooked or marginalised throughout history. We will explore:

• how individuals and communities on the fringes of power interacted with the state and broader society

• perspectives on marginalisation, including religious practices, sexual orientation, gender, and race or ethnicity

• the choices historians make regarding sources, methodologies, and approaches to bring these voices into the historical narrative - or sometimes push them back out 

You’ll engage with various primary sources and consider how marginalised voices have been represented or omitted in historical accounts. While Voices in the Margins 1 shares themes with Part 2, it provides a unique perspective and does not need to be taken alongside Part 2.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Whose history gets told? This module explores the stories and experiences of groups whose voices have often been overlooked or marginalised throughout history. We will focus on:

• how individuals and communities on the fringes of power interacted with the state and broader society

• various perspectives on marginalisation, including religious practices, sexual orientation, gender, and race or ethnicity

• the decisions historians make about sources, evidence, and methodologies to bring these voices into or out of historical narratives 

You’ll work with a variety of primary sources, exploring how different groups have been represented - or omitted - in historical accounts. While Voices in the Margins 2 covers themes similar to Part 1, it offers a unique perspective and does not need to be taken alongside Part 1.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Module description to be confirmed.

Module description to be confirmed.

How has warfare shaped the world we live in today?

This module dives into the complex history of conflict, exploring:

• the causes, consequences, and lasting memories of wars through different lenses: military, political, social, cultural, and imperial

• how factors like age, gender, class, race, and sexuality shape individual experiences of war 

• the lived reality of conflict, its humanitarian impact, and how societies rebuild and remember

We’ll analyse a variety of sources - from government records to personal diaries and striking visuals, to understand the human side of war. You'll also examine how different groups and individuals, from states to grassroots movements, have resisted or reimagined conflict. 

We’ll explore the deep questions that surround peace and war, giving you a nuanced understanding of why wars occur, why they inspire both support and opposition, and how their legacies continue to influence us today. Peace and Conflict 1 is a standalone module that pairs well with Part 2 but can be taken on its own.

This module is worth 20 credits. 

Explore how warfare has shaped societies throughout history.

This module investigates:

• the causes, consequences, experiences, and memories of conflict using diverse approaches: military, political, social, cultural, and imperial

• the impact of factors like age, gender, class, race, and sexuality on the experience of war 

• the humanitarian consequences of conflict and the processes of reconstruction, remembrance, and commemoration

Using a range of sources - from official records to personal accounts and visual media. You’ll uncover the lived experiences of war. We will also consider how various actors, from social movements to individuals and states, have resisted or reimagined conflict. 

This module encourages critical thinking about the philosophical and ideological debates that surround war and peace. Peace and Conflict 2 addresses themes similar to Part 1 but from a new perspective and does not require prior completion of Part 1.

This module is worth 20 credits. 

What happens when societies face moments that change everything?

This module dives into the transformative power of crises, revolutions, and ruptures in history. You'll explore:

• dramatic shifts that break ties with the past, from political upheavals and cultural transformations to economic collapses and public health emergencies

• the dual nature of these periods, where destruction is often paired with hope and new possibilities emerge 

• critical points in time when familiar hierarchies, customs, and beliefs are challenged, and entirely new futures become imaginable

Through analysing a variety of primary sources, you’ll uncover how both everyday people and elites experienced these turbulent times. You'll tackle big questions about change and continuity, identity and memory, and how history is made. Crisis, Revolution, and Rupture 1 can be taken on its own or alongside Part 2, each offering unique perspectives on upheaval.

This module is worth 20 credits.

How do moments of upheaval reshape the world?

In this module, you’ll dive into the intense periods of crisis, revolution, and rupture that have accelerated change throughout history. You’ll explore:

• the forces that cause societies to break from the past and envision new futures

• the paradoxes of crisis moments, where despair can give way to hope and reconstruction 

• how established orders, beliefs, and hierarchies crumble under pressure, making room for new possibilities

Using diverse primary sources and different historical approaches, you’ll analyse the impact of these transformative events on political, cultural, and social structures. You'll grapple with questions of change and continuity, identity and memory, and the long-term consequences of upheaval.

Crisis, Revolution, and Rupture 2 offers a unique perspective on these themes, distinct from Part 1, and can be taken on its own.

This module is worth 20 credits.