Public History and Heritage (Taught)

This MA Public History and Heritage offers you the chance to understand public history and heritage and all its dynamism and diversity. You will explore public historians’ shared commitment to making history relevant, beneficial, informative and instructive. This course also equips you with the tools to critically engage with the challenges, controversies and possibilities of the field.

Why choose this course?

• This course is taught by experts in areas such as critical heritage studies, public history and policy, creative public history, community and family history, archaeological heritage, heritage futures, heritage and decolonisation. The impressive scope of this expertise ensures you can study history, from prehistory to the present, from a global and local perspective.

• You will join a vibrant and diverse cohort, studying alongside students who have a range of experience in the public history and heritage sector as well as those from our museum cultures and archaeology and heritage courses.

• You will have the opportunity to undertake a work placement and complete a creative portfolio project alongside your dissertation.

What you will learn

This MA will introduce you to key aspects and issues of the practice. You will also develop the necessary skills to undertake critical assessments of public history projects and intervention, and to create a project of your own.

Its focus on public history in practice will provide you with a wide range of examples of different types and methods of public history, from museums and material culture, to public history in the media, to the role of history in policy making. You will also be able to choose from a wide range of option modules.

How you will learn

You will learn through a mixture of seminars, lectures, workshops and site visits. Classes follow an evening timetable and some modules may offered online as well as on campus.

You will also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement and networking opportunities in one of the most respected heritage sectors in the world.

This course is part of our Birkbeck Flexible Master’s UK, which gives you the choice of studying on campus, online or via flexible learning, which combines both.

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK, you will only be able to apply for the on-campus study option for this course. Online and flexible options will not be available to you because they may affect the conditions of your visa.

Highlights

• Birkbeck is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions for radical and engaged history.

• We are at the heart of academic London with access to unparalleled research resources. Situated very close by are: the Institute of Classical Studies, the British Museum and the British Library.

• Birkbeck was ranked in the top eight universities in the UK for its History research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

• You will join a community of public historians, with many of our alumni meeting up socially every year to network with current students.

• All Master’s students are eligible to apply for our prestigious Eric Hobsbawm Scholarships.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this course, you will have gained transferable skills, including:

• critical research, reading and writing skills

• knowledge of theory, policy and practice in the public history and heritage sector

• the ability to conceive and execute creative portfolio projects, academic research and writing projects

• the ability to support, encourage, develop and execute projects.

Studying this course will prepare you for career paths in a range of fields and professions including:

• historian in academia and other areas

• work in a heritage organisation or institution

• community project manager

• self-employed historical professional

• archivist or librarian

• journalist or writer

• heritage manager.