History (Taught)

This Masters offers courses across all periods from medieval to late modern, focusing on Scotland, Britain, Europe and America with increasing global perspective. You’ll study historical skills and methods and produce a research dissertation based on primary sources. History at Glasgow rates joint 4th in the UK for research excellence and impact. Our research directs our postgraduate teaching so that you'll explore cutting-edge topics.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

• Glasgow is an outstanding resource hub for the study of History. On campus, the University Library holds superb printed and manuscript collections from the medieval to the present. You can also use the Baillie Collection of printed medieval and modern sources in Scottish, Irish and English history.

• The University’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery provides access to primary source materials in fields such as fine art, numismatics and ethnography.

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

You’ll take:

• One core course

• Five optional courses

You’ll also produce a dissertation.

Core Course
DOING HISTORY: SOURCES AND SKILLS FOR HISTORIANS

Optional Courses
You can choose courses from within History to suit your own interests:

Semester 1
Semester 1
APPROACHES TO HISTORY (FOR POSTGRADUATES)
ISSUES, IDEOLOGIES AND INSTITUTIONS OF MODERN SCOTLAND
MILITARY SCOTLAND IN THE AGE OF PROTO-GLOBALIZATION, C.1600-C.1800
THE GLOBAL HISTORY OF INEQUALITIES
COMMODITY HISTORIES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH, 1500-2000
THE OTTOMANS IN HISTORY, 1300-1922
SEEKING REFUGE FROM SLAVERY: ENSLAVED RESISTANCE FROM AFRICA TO THE AMERICAS
SIN AND THE COURTS: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONFLICT IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND

Semester 2
SCOTTISH RADICALISM 1848-1950
MEDIEVAL PALAEOGRAPHY: AN INTRODUCTION TO READING MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTS
HERETICS AND INQUISITORS IN EUROPE,800-1600
THE AMERICAN WAY OF WAR
WORKING WITH MANUSCRIPTS AS HISTORIANS
AMERICA'S TWO QUAGMIRES: VIETNAM AND IRAQ
VIOLENCE AND THE COLONIAL ENCOUNTER
THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
THE GLOBAL COLD WAR, 1947-2008
THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1945
GAMES AND GAMING HISTORY
A 'NEW FORM OF SLAVERY'?: INDENTURED LABOUR IN POST-SLAVERY CARIBBEAN SOCIETIES, C. 1836-1917
QUALITATIVE APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE
WESTERN INTELLIGENCE IN AN AGE OF TERRORWith permission, you can also take courses from other subjects in the College of Arts and beyond.

Please note the availability of a particular course depends on student numbers and patterns of staff leave. Not all courses will be available every year.

Summer: April to September
DISSERTATION (MSC HISTORY)

Teaching and Assessment

Teaching is mainly seminar and discussion-based, in small classes.Technical skills are taught through lectures and workshops associated with the core course, while the conceptual foundations for gender history are taught through the weekly seminars. Independent and self-reflective critical work is fostered through written assignments and seminar presentations, culminating in the dissertation.