English and History

Please note - This course is currently under review and subject to validation. Please be aware modules may change.

The BA (Hons) English and History, provides you with both subject-specific knowledge and the additional intellectual enrichment that comes from an inter-disciplinary approach. English and History complement one another - history provides a vital framework for understanding literary texts in their contexts while the written word provides a substantial part of the material with which historians work. This course is built upon the strong philosophy of encouraging appreciation of the contemporary relevance of both subjects.

English on this course is designed to represent literature from as wide a range of periods, cultural contexts and global varieties as possible from classical tragedy through to postmodern parody. It balances poetry, prose and drama.

The History on this course is designed to develop your understanding of historical processes through the study of a range of periods and geographical contexts. Content spans the early modern period to the present and embraces three identifiable strands: British Social and Cultural History; Family and Community History; and Comparative European and Imperial History. Over the course of study, you experience key varieties of history with their own distinctive focus, theoretical underpinning and methodological vogues.

Level 4:

Introduction to the Study of Drama

From Cradle to Grave 1560-1720

Reading Poetry

The Pursuit of History

Literature in Contexts

From Machiavelli to Marx; Wollstonecraft to De Beauvoir: Introduction to Political Ideas

Level 5:

Dissertation Preparation

Weird Fiction: Gothic Genre 1818 - 1897

Shaping a Nation Victorian, Society, Culture, and the State

Listening to the Past

Challenging Shakespeare

Late Victorian Writing

Mentalities of Empire 1750-1950

Level 6:

Modernism and the City

Seeing History: Representations of the Spanish Civil War

Writing Rebellion 1956-1970

Family Affairs: Blood, Contract, and Intimacy 1837-2000

Dissertation

There is a range of assessment methodologies which is designed to enable you to explore your chosen discipline and interests.

Assessment methods include both formative and summative submissions.

Formative assessments are designed to develop your critical thinking and subject skills in a regular and directed manner. The tasks also enable you to develop safely, freely and creatively without the pressure of a formal assessment. Informal tutor and peer feedback is usually given within the scheduled learning. You will participate in group discussions, give presentations and jointly explore themes and arguments. Group discussions and debates are aimed at improving your understanding and skills sets rather than the acquisition of knowledge per se and are structured in such a way as to maximise effective participation and engagement. They are normally preceded by a prescribed course of reading and preparatory exercises. These formative assessments will deepen your understanding of the theme or subject and develop communication skills; encourage a critical (but tolerant) self-critical approach to historical and literary discussions and build self-confidence to think quickly on your feet, to communicate articulately and persuasively with others, and to recognise the value of close collaboration and exchange of ideas.

Summative assessments include written assignments in the form of essays and reports; document analysis; literary extract analysis; site study; individual and group presentations as well as time-constrained exams.