Themes in Modern European History

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse critically a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources that relate to this problem
• structure your ideas and research findings into well-ordered essays
• engage with secondary literature on modern European history, and contribute to the debates on how a wider history of modern European might be conceptualised through engagement with this historiography

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• locate and use effective textual, visual and material culture sources in the library and on-line, synthesising this material in order to develop cogent arguments
• utilise and develop your time-management skills
• research historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in written essays

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The multifaceted nature of modern European history
• Ways of interrogating source material in the field
• Approaches taken by historians to the selected themes

What does it mean to write modern European history in the early C21st? On the one hand, traditional master narratives, conceived at a time when the ‘national’ was regarded as a natural frame, have lost much of their purchase. On the other, optimistic teleologies of post-national integration appear increasingly unpersuasive. Yet with the turn to global history, and the attendant ‘provincialisation’ of Europe, the question of what histories this region has in common, and how those histories might be written, remains as pressing as ever. This module pursues these questions via a series of themes, such as colonialism and decolonisation, violence, urbanity, gender, migration, citizenship, consumerism, hierarchy and subalternity.

Teaching and learning methods

The current intention is to deliver teaching for this module online. If circumstances allow, some form of blended delivery methods, including seminars, workshops, or individual tutorials may be introduced if it is safe for all concerned to do so. However, delivery will remain entirely online if face to face teaching is not possible or advisable.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.