BA History

Title:

Journeys through History 1:Power and People

Code:

HS1JH1

Convenor:

DR Daniel Renshaw

Summary:

This module offers an introduction to the political and social history of Europe and the world in the last millennium. The module is compulsory for all Part 1 History students on both single subject and joint honours programmes.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Journeys through History 2: Culture and Concepts'

Code:

HS1JH2

Convenor:

PROF Anne Lawrence

Summary:

This module offers an introduction to the cultural history of Europe and the world in the last millennium, and to important concepts used by historians. The module is compulsory for all Part 1 History students on both single subject and joint honours programmes.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Set exercise 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Research Skills and Opportunities in History

Code:

HS1RSO

Convenor:

DR Ruth Salter

Summary:

This module provides you with the opportunity to develop and hone your skills as a historian, making sure you feel prepared for your academic journey with us in History, and helping to support progress in employability. The module is compulsory for all Part 1 History students on both single subject and joint honours programmes.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 25%, Set exercise 25%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Arriving in Britain: a History of Immigration, 1685-2004

Code:

HS1ABR

Convenor:

DR Daniel Renshaw

Summary:

This module examines immigration to Britain from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, considering the experiences of different groups of immigrants, and the ways in which immigration has been perceived from several historical perspectives. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Antisemitism: Medieval Christian-Jewish Relations and the Concept of ‘Antisemitism’

Code:

HS1ANS

Convenor:

PROF Rebecca Rist

Summary:

This module examines the modern concept of antisemitism in historical context by exploring Christian-Jewish relations during the High Middle Ages (1095-1291). This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Childhood and Family Life in the C19th & early 20th

Code:

HS1CFL

Convenor:

DR Jacqui Turner

Summary:

This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Chivalry: the Emergence and Impact of a Medieval Ethos

Code:

HS1CHI

Convenor:

DR Elizabeth Matthew

Summary:

Chivalry emerged in the eleventh to twelfth centuries as the code and culture of the warrior elite, the second of the ‘three orders’ of medieval society. This module investigates the development of the theory and practice of chivalry across the high and later middle ages, assessing both male and female roles in chivalric culture, and chivalry’s post-medieval survival and legacy. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Doomsday Dystopias: Nuclear Disaster in the Cold War Imagination

Code:

HS1DDD

Convenor:

PROF Patrick Major

Summary:

The module will consider episodes of nuclear war and disaster across the second half of the twentieth century, and examine how those episodes have shaped popular culture across various media including films, science fiction writing, and computer games. It will compare evidence from both sides of the Iron Curtain to explore the cultural impact of the nuclear age from multiple international perspectives. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Demons and Demonologists: Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Code:

HS1DDW

Convenor:

PROF Helen Parish

Summary:

This module will examine the ways in which the figure of the witch shaped and was shaped by the religious, social, cultural and political context of early modern Europe. We will engage with the key questions that inform research and writing on this topic, and use a wide range of primary source materials to examine the multiple voices that are present in narratives of witchcraft in this period. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

'Broken-Hearted': Medicine, Emotion, and the Body in Early Modern England, 1570-1730

Code:

HS1MEM

Convenor:

MS Amie Bolissian McRae

Summary:

It was possible to die from a broken heart in seventeenth-century England. Any extreme emotion – including joy – was considered potentially fatal in the early modern period. This module investigates the medical beliefs and personal experiences that lay behind such assumptions. Through hands-on analysis of rare and fascinating sources such as personal diaries and doctors’ casebooks, students will reach a deep understanding of the perceived link between the body, health, and the ‘passions’ in this period. It will also explore thinking about the impact of a person’s gender, age, and race on their physiology and emotions. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Merlin the Magician

Code:

HS1MER

Convenor:

PROF Anne Lawrence

Summary:

This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Monks, Moors and Magic: Patterns of Belief in Medieval Europe

Code:

HS1MMM

Convenor:

MS Harriet Mahood

Summary:

This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Western Imaginaries of the Middle East

Code:

HS1OWI

Convenor:

DR Dina Rezk

Summary:

This module examines how Western culture has ‘imagined’ and depicted the Middle East, drawing on the influential work of Edward Said, and particularly his theory of ‘Orientalism’. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Everyday Life in a Medieval Town: Reading, 1100-1500

Code:

HS1RDG

Convenor:

DR Ruth Salter

Summary:

Explore the origins of Reading and discover the town’s fascinating medieval past from c. 1100-1500. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Rape in the United States: from Colonisation to Civil Rights

Code:

HS1RUS

Convenor:

MISS Liz Barnes

Summary:

This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Rwanda Genocide of 1994

Code:

HS1TRG

Convenor:

DR Heike Schmidt

Summary:

This module introduces students to the definition and historical problem of genocide through a detailed examination of the causes, course, and effects of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

War, White Heat, and the Winds of Change: Britain's Twentieth Century

Code:

HS1WWH

Convenor:

DR Natalie Thomlinson

Summary:

It examines British history between 1919 and 1997 through a variety of lenses. The objective will be to study British history from both ‘above’ and ‘below’, examining how social change impacted on politics and society, and how socio-economic developments helped transform culture and politics. Throughout, the module will explore the contested nature of British history, highlighting competing narratives and interpretations. This module is optional for SINGLE HONOURS STUDENTS ONLY.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Marketing

Code:

AP1EM1

Convenor:

MR Nick Walker

Summary:

Gain fundamental knowledge of the key concepts of marketing and relate these critically to contemporary practice. Examine traditional approaches to marketing such as strategic marketing, segmentation, targeting and positioning, as well as the marketing mix, and discuss issues arising within marketing theory and practice, which bring into question some of the foundational principles of the discipline. Through lectures, readings, and the analysis of case studies, address the latest thinking within the marketing discipline.

Assessment Method:

Class test 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Early Empires: Mesopotamia, Egypt & Rome [10 credits]

Code:

AR1EMP10

Convenor:

PROF Roger Matthews

Summary:

This module introduces the archaeology and historical context of the world’s early empires, dating from 2500 BC to AD 395. We focus on the great empires of ancient Mesopotamia (Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria), Egypt, the Persian Achaemenid Empire and the Roman Empire. We will review other imperial entities of the world, including examples from China and the Far East, and the Americas. We will examine special themes relevant to the topic of empires, including ideology, imperial cult, trade, urbanisation, warfare, agriculture and the everyday lives of imperial subjects. You will study the rise and fall of some of the greatest, and the most fearsome, socio-political entities to have existed on our planet.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Contemporary world cultures: an introduction to social anthropology

Code:

AR1SOC

Convenor:

DR Alanna Cant

Summary:

This module provides a general introduction to social anthropology, the study of human societies and cultures. It will introduce you to major themes in the discipline of anthropology through focused study on topics that may include: kinship and marriage, gender and sexuality, the roles of religion, ritual and witchcraft in modern life, the concepts of ethnicity and race, and contemporary hunting and gathering societies. The module will also consider how anthropology can help us understand key issues in today’s world, such as ethnicity, race and decolonisation, and the role that work and consumption play in forming identities. Teaching is focused on real-world case studies from different cultures and regions around the globe, including the research expertise of the lecturer(s). 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Set exercise 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Contemporary world cultures: an introduction to social anthropology [10 credits]

Code:

AR1SOC10

Convenor:

DR Alanna Cant

Summary:

This module provides a general introduction to social anthropology, the study of human societies and cultures. It will introduce you to major themes in the discipline of anthropology through focused study on topics that may include: kinship and marriage, gender and sexuality, the roles of religion, ritual and witchcraft in modern life, the concepts of ethnicity and race, and contemporary hunting and gathering societies. The module will also consider how anthropology can help us understand key issues in today’s world, such as ethnicity, race and decolonisation, and the role that work and consumption play in forming identities. Teaching is focused on real-world case studies from different cultures and regions around the globe, including the research expertise of the lecturer(s). 

Assessment Method:

Set exercise 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ancient Greek 1

Code:

CL1G1

Convenor:

PROF Amy Smith

Summary:

This module aims to teach students some elements of the Ancient Greek language and give them skills to read Ancient Greek at an elementary level.

Assessment Method:

Class test 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Greek History: war, society, and change in the Archaic Age

Code:

CL1GH

Convenor:

PROF Amy Smith

Summary:

This module will introduce students to a period of Greek history too often neglected in first-year study, one which established the foundations of the Classical World and saw the emergence of political and social forms still influential today. Starting in the eighth century BC and ending with the Persian invasions of Greece in the early fifth, the module tracks the upheavals, innovations and conflicts of the age, across Greece and beyond.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Class test 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Latin 1 (C)

Code:

CL1L1

Convenor:

MRS Jackie Baines

Summary:

This module aims to teach students some elements of the Latin language and give them skills to read Latin at an elementary level.

Assessment Method:

Class test 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Texts, Readers, and Writers

Code:

CL1TR

Convenor:

PROF Eleanor Dickey

Summary:

This module explores the history of texts, reading, and writing in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. We shall look at literature, papyri, inscriptions, letters, Linear B, etc. Attention will also be given to the invention of the alphabet and to ancient writing materials and technologies. No knowledge of Latin, ancient Greek, or the ancient world more generally is required.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 50%, Set exercise 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Approaches to Film

Code:

FT1ATF

Convenor:

DR Adam O'Brien

Summary:

How do films tell stories, make meanings, and contribute to our culture? What questions can, and should, we ask of a film?

This module includes a mix of cinema screenings, seminars and lectures, exploring a range of fiction and non-fiction films. Class discussions and assignments will challenge you to explore the meanings and cultural significance of moving images, across the 20th and 21st centuries.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Analysing Theatre and Performance

Code:

FT1ATP

Convenor:

DR Matt McFrederick

Summary:

How do theatrical stories allow us to examine and reimagine our impression of the world today?  What practical qualities do theatre makers return to - or reinvent - in creating meaning in performance?

In this introduction to theatre and performance, you will share your interpretations and expand the ways you see and think about theatre in relation to the world today. You will learn how to be a confident spectator and reader of theatre through a range of diverse and topical performances in local or in London-based venues - previous trips have included the National Theatre, RSC Live, Peking Opera, the West End and smaller, innovative fringe venues.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Comedy on Stage and Screen

Code:

FT1CSS

Convenor:

DR Simone Knox

Summary:

This module gives you the opportunity to study comedy on stage and screen, encompassing film, television, theatre and stand-up comedy. You will engage with the relevant critical vocabulary and contextual knowledge to explore how humour is created, consumed and debated, across a range of genres and practices. Case studies may include classic and contemporary film comedies (e.g. screwball comedy, black comedy); musical comedies (e.g. The Book of Mormon); stand-up comedy (e.g. Ali Wong, Hannah Gadsby); sitcoms (e.g. Friends); or the work of specific creative practitioners (e.g. Joe Orton). 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intercultural Competence and Communication

Code:

IL1GICC

Convenor:

MS Joan McCormack

Summary:

In this module students develop skills and understanding needed for working in the multi-cultural global workplace. In the Autumn term it will consider intercultural competence and communication from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, education, inclusivity, business, language and discourse. In the Spring term students will apply their knowledge to define and explain a defined a real-world issue.

The module will be delivered at the University of Reading Whiteknights campus

Assessment Method:

Oral 10%, Portfolio 30%, Project 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

English Language and Society

Code:

LS1ELS

Convenor:

DR Christiana Themistocleous

Summary:

The course aims to provide a broad introduction to English Language and Society, and a basis for further in-depth study of the field in parts two and three of the degree in English Language and Linguistics.

Assessment Method:

Exam 60%, Assignment 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Museum History, Policy and Ethics

Code:

MC1HPE

Convenor:

DR Rhi Smith

Summary:

This module explores and critically analyses the historical, political and ethical factors which influence contemporary museum practice. It investigates topics such as the origins of museums, collecting histories, social justice, repatriation, hidden voices, decolonisation, inclusivity, and the role of different audiences in curation. Case studies and museological theory are used to debate the role of museums in modern society. Students take part in lectures, seminars and museum visits and work is assessed through one coursework essay and a groupwork online resource.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Linguistics

Code:

ML1IL

Convenor:

MR Federico Faloppa

Summary:

This module aims to familiarise students with principles in general linguistics, and to give students an overall picture of what a language is, how it works, and what its main structures are, with a particular focus on French, German, Italian and Spanish. It will also provide useful meta-linguistic competence which can be applied to the study of any other language.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 20%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Student Enterprise

Code:

MM1F10

Convenor:

DR Lebene Soga

Summary:

This is a dynamic module introducing students to key concepts of business start-up. Students work in a team to identify and develop a new business opportunity, and then seek to test their idea through ‘lean start-up’ experiments. Students will be introduced to key concepts of entrepreneurial management including design thinking, business model creation, entrepreneurial finance and marketing. This is a highly interactive and practical module, with a focus on experiential learning.

Assessment Method:

Project 60%, Class test 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

War and Warfare

Code:

PO1WAR

Convenor:

DR Vladimir Rauta

Summary:

This is an introductory module for students seeking foundational knowledge of war in international relations. The emphasis will be on concepts and types of war, their causes, and how they relate to real world issues in international relations and international security. By thinking through and examining a subset of wars and types of warfare the ultimate objective is to have students embrace a range of theoretical arguments about both historical and contemporary examples, to apply these insights to current debates about war in international relations and to prepare students for future scholarly research and security/strategy-focused analysis. The module draws on the department’s international longstanding reputation and robust intellectual tradition in the study of war, strategy and the uses of military force, and embeds in its teaching the department’s links with the British security and defence establishment, evidenced by the links with the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Global Justice

Code:

PP1GJ

Convenor:

DR Shalini Sinha

Summary:

Global traditions of philosophy  from the Buddha and Confucius to Simone Weil, Frantz Fanon, Martin Luther King Jr., and African and Native American thinkers advocate ideas of justice and freedom that extend far beyond contemporary conceptions. This course shows how these thinkers question our  ideas of justice, and  transform how we approach injustice and freedom in the  context of race and colonialism, nature and  indigenous communities, identity  and sexuality, family and polity, through radically different conceptions of freedom and violence,  love, equality and harmony.

Some of the claims we will examine include: Justice is freedom from suffering!  Revolutionary violence is cathartic and emancipatory! Political justice  requires mental training! Nature is alive and has rights! Gender and sexual freedom are gained by  dissolving bodily boundaries!  Truth lies in pleasure! Justice is  love! Social justice comes with harmonising differences! 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Reason and Argument

Code:

PP1RA

Convenor:

DR Jumbly Grindrod

Summary:

This module enhances students’ ability to understand and construct complex arguments through the study of logic and the psychology of human reasoning. Reading: A module guide will be available. Recommended: Jamie Carlin Watson and Robert Arp, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury, 2015.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What the font? Making and using typefaces

Code:

TY1WTF

Convenor:

DR Rob Banham

Summary:

You are surrounded by fonts. Social media, text messages, email, branding, advertising, websites, books, magazines … Human (and machine) communication relies extensively on fonts, but what do you really know about them? How and why are new fonts created? And is it ever OK to use comic sans?! This module will introduce you to the world of typeface design, exploring the history, theory, and practice of making and using fonts and giving you the opportunity to design a typeface of your own. No background in design is required.

Assessment Method:

Set exercise 50%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future

Code:

HS2GPP

Convenor:

PROF Kate Williams

Summary:

This module provides students with an opportunity to explore public interpretations of the past beyond academia, to work collaboratively with external partners on a group project which involves researching and communicating about history for public audiences, and to develop key areas of employability. This module is compulsory for all Single Subject History students, and optional for Joint Honours History students.

Assessment Method:

Oral 40%, Portfolio 40%, Report 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Historical Approaches and My Dissertation

Code:

HS2HAD

Convenor:

MISS Liz Barnes

Summary:

This module introduces students to a wide range of primary sources and to the methods and approaches used by historians to analyse those sources, to prepare you to plan, research, and write your final-year dissertation.

This module is compulsory for all Single Subject History students and History with Study Abroad students. It is available as an optional module for students taking a joint degree in History, and strongly recommended for Joint History students wishing to complete their Part 3 Dissertation in History. Joint History students opting to complete their Part 3 Dissertation in History without taking this module will be required to complete (as a formative assessment) the dissertation proposal which forms one element of the summative assessment on this module.

Assessment Method:

Portfolio 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intellectuals and Society in Twentieth Century Italy

Code:

HS2INT

Convenor:

PROF Daniela La Penna

Summary:

The aim of the module is to provide a clear historical overview of the main conflicts between the intellectual class and the state in twentieth-century Italy, focussing specifically on the Fascist period and the Republican years. Through carefully selected case studies, the students will learn about the always dynamic and sometimes openly conflictual relationship between some key Italian intellectuals and institutions such as the State, the Universities and the media. At the end of the module, the students will be able to give cogent, structured, and informed answers to the following questions: what is an intellectual? Who may become a public intellectual and how does one acquire that status? What are intellectuals' responsibilities towards society?

Assessment Method:

Assignment 80%, Oral 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Colonial Experience: Africa, 1879 to 1980

Code:

HS2O10

Convenor:

DR Heike Schmidt

Summary:

This module explores the impact of colonialism in Africa, considering this impact in broad terms but with a particular focus on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and reflects on how historians can understand the colonial past without reproducing a Eurocentric point of view.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Belief and Unbelief in Europe: Religion, Science and the Supernatural c.1400-1800

Code:

HS2O12

Convenor:

PROF Joël Félix

Summary:

This module will explore the ways in which beliefs about God and attitudes towards nature, science and the supernatural changed between c. 1400 and 1800, and how institutions responded to change. We will examine the interactions between religion, science and magic, and explore the relationship between religious orthodoxies, superstition, and atheism across this period.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Rebel Girls: The Influence of Radical Women 1792-1919

Code:

HS2O14

Convenor:

DR Jacqui Turner

Summary:

This module considers changing perceptions of women in Britain from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century, and examines the influence of those women who challenged social stereotypes and the Victorian double standard.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

‘The brightest jewel in the British crown’: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947

Code:

HS2O16

Convenor:

DR Rohan Deb Roy

Summary:

This module introduces students to the history of modern South Asia. Students learn how British colonial rule and anti-colonial Indian nationalism shaped modern South Asia.  

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Europe in the Twentieth Century

Code:

HS2O19

Convenor:

DR Daniel Renshaw

Summary:

This module surveys European history over the course of the twentieth century, a period of dramatic conflicts and social, political, and cultural changes which transformed Europe itself, and European relationships to the wider world.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Utopia: the Quest for a Perfect World

Code:

HS2O21

Convenor:

DR Jeremy Burchardt

Summary:

This module explores one of humanity’s most cherished and long-standing dreams: the quest for a perfect world. After an initial survey of the roots of the utopian tradition, we focus primarily on modern visions and versions of utopia in the period c.1800-c.2000.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

People, power and revolution: political culture in seventeenth-century England

Code:

HS2O3

Convenor:

DR Rachel Foxley

Summary:

The political narrative of seventeenth-century England is eventful: one Stuart monarch, Charles I, was tried and executed by his own subjects in 1649 following two civil wars; another, James II, was ousted and replaced in the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688-9. In the middle of the century England came under republican government and experienced the rise to power of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. In this module we will ask who ruled England in the seventeenth century, why two revolutions occurred, and how different politics was by the end of the century compared to the situation when James I came to the throne in 1603.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The American Civil War

Code:

HS2O53

Convenor:

MISS Liz Barnes

Summary:

In 1861, long-standing divisions over the place of slavery in American life erupted into war. The ensuing conflict between the national government and Southern rebels, to date the United States’ bloodiest war, resulted in significant constitutional changes that expanded the nation’s commitment to liberty and equality. In this module, we will examine the outbreak of hostilities, the course of the war, and the route to peace, examining the ways the conflict reshaped American life. We will also explore the memory of the conflict, considering ongoing debates about Confederate memorialisation across the United States.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

American Century: United States history since 1898

Code:

HS2O55

Convenor:

DR Mara Oliva

Summary:

The module will investigate the impact that US foreign policy had on the development of a modern American state and society since the Spanish-American war of 1898.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Medieval Medicine

Code:

HS2O56

Convenor:

DR Ruth Salter

Summary:

This module considers a variety of aspects of medieval medicine, taking a longue durée approach, from classical medical theories through to plague in the fourteenth century. Among the topics to be explored are: classical and religious concepts; the early Middle Ages; transmission of medical knowledge and the medical schools; hospitals and charity; diagnosis and prognosis; women’s health; miraculous cures; leprosy; and the global Black Death. Students will engage with a wide range of written sources as well as material/visual resources. This module aims to challenge negative preconceptions regarding the nature of medieval medicine, and highlights the continuous interest in new ideas and the acquisition of knowledge throughout the Middle Ages.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850

Code:

HS2O57

Convenor:

DR Richard Blakemore

Summary:

This module introduces students to the ‘Atlantic world’, the idea that from the late fourteenth to the late eighteenth century new connections were established around and across this ocean, connections which drove profound and often turbulent changes to cultures, economies, and political structures, and which have left an important and sometimes unsettling legacy for the modern world.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154–1330

Code:

HS2O7

Convenor:

DR Elizabeth Matthew

Summary:

This module investigates continuity and change in English politics from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century. In this era, government was royal government: the prime mover in politics was the king. But kings had concerns outside England. Succession could be problematic. What happened when a king was absent or too young to rule in person? What constrained kings’ freedom of action? What part did queens and subjects play in shaping politics?

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe

Code:

HS2STA

Convenor:

DR Veronica Heath

Summary:

This module aims to provide students with a systematic historical and cross-national understanding of the key ideas, institutions and symbols that have come to constitute and represent modernity in Europe and, at the same time, new conceptions of Europe. This module examines the birth of modern men and women in Europe in the late eighteenth century and the broad intellectual, cultural, economic, political and social conditions which have been shaping and re-shaping them since. The module further shows a) the contributions of different European nations to a common European reaction to and re-evaluation of tradition and modernity; and b) the diffusion of modernity (Westernisation) from Europe to Asia and Africa and its role in the creation of a global world. Finally, it shows how art has played a leading role in the transformations of modernity; not only recording it but also constituting one of its central components.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 80%, Class test 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Code:

HS2UNR

Convenor:

DR Athena Leoussi

Summary:

The aim of this module is to study how two ideas became two of the most important  forces which shaped modern Europe from the 18th century to the present day. These were the idea of the nation and the idea of the European community. With this aim in mind, the module is divided into two thematic sections:

The first section explores the origins of the idea of the nation as it emerged as a revolutionary idea in Enlightenment Europe, remoulding states and peoples across Europe and the rest of the world. The section gives historical depth to current debates on nations and nationalism exploring the development of ideas about the nation, national identity, nationalism and the nation-state, through the study of classic and foundational texts such as Ernest Renan’s famous lecture at the Sorbonne of 1882, ‘What is a nation?’, Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ of 1918, and close examination of a variety of nationalist movements in Europe, from the French Revolution of 1789, through the making of the first German nation-state, to the national revolutions of 1989 in communist Eastern Europe,  and the challenges to established nation-states by the nationalisms of the European regions which have persisted into the 21st century (e.g., Catalan, Flemish, Scottish). 

The relationship between majority, ruling nations and ethnic and national minorities is also examined as an important factor in nation-building. Does the nation-state exclude minorities?  

The second section engages with public debates about European integration and the nature of European identity as these interact with the member states of the EU and with processes of globalisation.  

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 10%, Set exercise 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Forensic Archaeology and Crime Scene Analysis

Code:

AR2F17

Convenor:

PROF Mary Lewis

Summary:

Through lectures, activities, videos and reading students will be able to understand the theory behind certain forensic and archaeological practices, when and why they are used, and shown the process by which these are undertaken.

Assessment Method:

Report 70%, Class test 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Medieval Europe: power, religion and death

Code:

AR2M8

Convenor:

DR Gabor Thomas

Summary:

This single-term module gives students an overview of how archaeology has changed our understanding of European society over the course of the ‘Long Middle Ages’ (5th-16th centuries AD). It comprises 10 weekly sessions involving a combination of teacher-led content with student-led discussions, is assessed by an essay and site interpretation panel and has a field trip to Winchester - one of the richest medieval urban landscapes in southern England.  It will also include a formative assessment in the form of group poster presentations designed to support students in developing essay topics.  

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ancient Epic

Code:

CL2AE

Convenor:

DR Christa Gray

Summary:

This module offers an introduction to Greek and Latin epic, centring around close study of the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, but including discussion of other early Greek hexameter poems such as Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and the Epic Cycle. It may also cover Hellenistic epic, for example Apollonius Rhodius, or other Roman epics like Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Greek History: Persian Wars to Alexander

Code:

CL2CGH

Convenor:

DR Emma Aston

Summary:

Greek History 479-323 BC, from the end of the Persian Wars, through the Peloponnesian War and the fall of Sparta, to the rise of Macedon and the meteoric career of Alexander the Great.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ancient Drama

Code:

CL2DR

Convenor:

PROF Barbara Goff

Summary:

This module examines the ancient genre of drama, with respect to its content, themes and style, and the context of performance culture which surrounded it.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Roman History: From Republic to Empire

Code:

CL2RO

Convenor:

PROF Annalisa Marzano

Summary:

This Roman history module covers the period from the second triumvirate in the last years of the Republic to the reigns of the emperors.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Wildlife Documentary: Ecology and Representation

Code:

FT2WD

Convenor:

DR Adam O'Brien

Summary:

This module gives you the opportunity to study wildlife documentaries and filmmaking addressing ecological issues. You will engage with the relevant critical vocabulary and contextual knowledge to explore how meaning is created and constructed. Case studies may include David Attenborough’s landmark BBC series, nature documentaries such as March of the Penguins and climate change films such as An Inconvenient Truth. There may be a Q&A with a guest speaker from the creative industries.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Oral 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intercultural Competence and Communication

Code:

IL2GICC

Convenor:

MRS Daniela Standen

Summary:

In this module students develop skills and understanding needed for working in the multi-cultural global workplace. In the Autumn term it will consider intercultural competence and communication from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, education, inclusivity, business, language and discourse. In the Spring term students will identify a real-world issue, learning  to analyse and  critically evaluate the issue identified, applying concepts studied on the course.

The module will be delivered at the University of Reading Whiteknights campus

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Modern Britain Society, History and Politics

Code:

IL2GMB

Convenor:

MRS Daniela Standen

Summary:

This module aims to provide an introduction to key aspects of modern British society, politics and history, identifying past and present issues.

Topics explored include the historical and political landscape of Post war Britain, British identities, patterns of inequality, education, religion, and Britain’s relationship with Europe.

In the Summer term students will work independently to identify and research a specific topic from the range taught in Term 1, to develop critical understanding of the underlying concepts and principles and apply these to different contexts.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to English Language Teaching

Code:

LS2LAT

Convenor:

MRS Suzanne Portch

Summary:

The course aims to provide an overview of key aspects of language teaching methodology and practice. 

Assessment Method:

Portfolio 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Language and New Media

Code:

LS2LNM

Convenor:

PROF Rodney Jones

Summary:

In this module, students will explore the ways digital media are changing the way people use language. Students will be introduced to a range of theories from sociolinguistics, media studies and discourse analysis and will learn to apply these theories to analysing authentic texts and interactions. Among the topics covered in the module are genres and registers of mediated communication, social networking and online identity, multimodal and multimedia communication, mobile communication and wearable computers, and online tracking and surveillance.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 25%, Oral 25%, Portfolio 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Science, perversion, and dream in global fantastic literature

Code:

ML2GF

Convenor:

DR Alice Christensen

Summary:

This module will explore a number of key literary texts that engage the Fantastic mode of literary representation. The module aims to promote critical awareness of the ways in which French, Hispanic, Italian and German literary traditions adapted and transformed the Fantastic narrative so that it spoke to a number of specific issues such as the advances in science and technology, the changing roles of women, the pressures of modernisation, the impact of psychoanalysis, and fears related to changes brought about by colonisation, the political structure of the Nation-state, and the economy. Texts will be read in the original language if the student is taking that language to degree level, and in English translation if not.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe

Code:

ML2STA

Convenor:

DR Veronica Heath

Summary:

This module aims to provide students with a systematic historical and cross-national understanding of the key ideas, institutions and symbols that have come to constitute and represent modernity, in its original cradle in Europe and the rest of the world. The module examines the birth of modern men and women in Europe in the late eighteenth century, in the fulcrum of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and the broad intellectual, cultural, economic, political and social conditions which have been shaping and re-shaping them since. The module further shows a) the contributions of different European nations to a common European reaction to and re-evaluation of tradition and innovation and b) the diffusion of modernity (Westernisation) from Europe to Asia and Africa and its role in the creation of a global world. Finally, it shows how art has played a leading role in the transformations of modernity - not only recording it but also constituting one of its central components.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 80%, Class test 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Founder Dilemmas

Code:

MM2101

Convenor:

DR Norbert Morawetz

Summary:

This is a dynamic and experiential module aiming to give students a strong understanding of key dilemmas likely to be faced by first time entrepreneurs. The module develops student's entrepreneurial skill and confidence to put plans into action. Students gain understanding of the practice of entrepreneurship as informed by theory, role play and guest lectures. This will include exposure to the experience of successful entrepreneurs. Students are given a solid understanding of the realities of business start-up.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Science of Climate Change

Code:

MT2CC

Convenor:

PROF Nigel Arnell

Summary:

This module provides an introduction to the science of climate change, aimed at students who do not necessarily have a scientific background.

Assessment Method:

Exam 70%, Assignment 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

American Government and Politics

Code:

PO2AMG

Convenor:

DR Graham O'Dwyer

Summary:

This module examines the historical, ideological and constitutional frameworks of American Government and Politics. It analyses the relationship between ideas and values (such as liberty and individualism) and the ways in which these condition the expression of the American political system; it looks at intermediate institutions that connect the public to the federal government (such as elections, the media, and interest groups); it explores the central institutions in Washington (such as the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court), and assesses important policy areas (such as gun control).

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Report 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Global Politics and History

Code:

PO2GPH

Convenor:

DR Kerry Goettlich

Summary:

From the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Brexit, and from the rise of China to the ‘Clash of Civilizations’, contemporary debates in world politics, and often the practice of world politics itself, depend on particular understandings of history. Indeed, it is impossible to study politics without relying on knowledge about the past. But how accurate or convincing are the historical narratives and assumptions that underlie contemporary debates? Is it ‘natural’ for politics to be organised into nation-states? Is empire a thing of the past? Where did democracy come from? When did globalisation start? Was decolonization a success or failure? Students will come away from this module with both the historical knowledge and the analytical skills to be able to answer such questions.

Assessment Method:

Exam 40%, Assignment 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Modern International Relations

Code:

PO2MIR

Convenor:

DR Joseph O' Mahoney

Summary:

This module provides an advanced analysis of some theoretical approaches to international politics, including models of interstate bargaining, international order, and collective action.  Students will also learn about some of the most important  global issues, including the causes of war, globalisation, US hegemony, international cooperation to combat climate chaos, nuclear weapons, cyberwar, and terrorism. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 45%, Set exercise 5%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Politics of the Welfare State

Code:

PO2PWS

Convenor:

DR Christoph Arndt

Summary:

The course is an introduction to the politics of welfare states in the developed economies of OECD countries with a particular focus on Western Europe. It focuses on the interaction between political and economic factors in explaining the emergence and evolution of welfare states and their various forms across countries. Students learn the major theoretical approaches in the study of the welfare state and apply them to contemporary debates about the welfare state as well as the politics of welfare state reform.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 40%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Political Thinking

Code:

PO2THI

Convenor:

DR Alice Baderin

Summary:

Module in applied political theory. The course investigates the ethical issues that lie behind some important contemporary policy debates. 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ethical Argument 1: Philosophy and How to Live

Code:

PP2EA1

Convenor:

DR Luke Elson

Summary:

This module introduces students to longstanding methods, issues and arguments in moral philosophy.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Global Philosophy 1

Code:

PP2GP1

Convenor:

DR Shalini Sinha

Summary:

This module introduces some key thinkers and issues in global philosophy, the philosophy of gender and race, the ethics of resistance and the epistemology of terrorism. Some of the claims we will examine include: Gender is an illusion, male and female ‘sex’ attributes are social constructions!  Race categories are racist, they should be abolished! Persons are ‘processes’; self and identity are conceptual fictions!  Self-immolation is an ethical form of political protest! Gandhi and Islamist suicide bombing share an ethics of sacrificial dying! Debt is founded on violence! We should undertake dying with full awareness, by meditative fasting!

We will engage in philosophical conversations with (i) contemporary feminist and race theorists such as Judith Butler, Sally Haslanger and Naomi Zack on performativist,  constructionist and essentialist approaches to gender and race; (ii) Buddhist philosophers on the metaphysics of self and identity; (iii) Buddhist, Gandhian and Islamic ethics of sacrificial dying and political resistance; (iv) interdisciplinary perspectives on the nature and origins of debt and money; (v) Jaina conceptions of meditative dying, suicide and euthanasia; (vi) the epistemology of terrorism and Islamic approaches to non-violence.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Hume, Kant, and Wittgenstein 1

Code:

PP2HKW1

Convenor:

DR Severin Schroeder

Summary:

This module introduces students to the ideas of three great philosophers: David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, focussing especially on their respective conceptions of philosophy.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ignorance, Doubt, and Relativism 1

Code:

PP2IDR1

Convenor:

DR Jumbly Grindrod

Summary:

This module introduces students to a core area of philosophy – epistemology (the theory of knowledge), makes them familiar with key stances on the extent and nature of human knowledge (modal theories, reliabilist theories, virtue theories etc.), and requires them to evaluate such stances and find their place on the epistemological map. They will also be introduced to the social aspect of epistemology, by considering what role knowledge plays within a society, how we gain knowledge from others, and how we may be harmed specifically as knowers.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Meaning and the Mind 1

Code:

PP2MM1

Convenor:

DR Jumbly Grindrod

Summary:

This module introduces students to core philosophical issues about meaning and the mind, and to central connections between these issues. How could there be minds in a physical world? Are states of consciousness physical states? How do our thoughts and words come to represent the world around us? These questions are intimately related. The capacity to represent the world is a central, problematic feature of the mind. Moreover, to assess what minds are, we must pay careful attention to what our words for mental states mean, and to how they come to mean what they do. We will investigate these questions by reading and discussing recent work in the philosophy of mind and language, by authors such as David Chalmers, Hilary Putnam and John Searle, as well as classic texts by authors such as Gottlob Frege and Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Oppression, Inequality, and the Enemies of Democracy 1

Code:

PP2OID1

Convenor:

DR Charlotte Newey

Summary:

In this wide-ranging module, with an emphasis on contemporary political philosophy, we will explore some of the most important concerns for society. We will ask questions such as: Do existing accounts of justice need to be amended to acknowledge, explicitly, the concerns arising from race, gender, and disability? How should political philosophy respond to intersecting oppressions? What aspects of modern life threaten democracy? What is the best method by which to develop theories of justice? Is justice a local or global concern? How should we balance loyalty to our own state with concerns for global justice?

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Dissertation in History

Code:

HS3HLD

Convenor:

DR Heike Schmidt

Summary:

This module leads to the completion of a dissertation of 10,000 words, excluding title page, contents page, references, tables, illustrations and their captions, appendices, and bibliography. It allows for an extended in-depth examination of a historical topic, based on guided independent research.

Assessment Method:

Oral 10%, Dissertation 90%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present

Code:

HS3CCO

Convenor:

PROF Daniela La Penna

Summary:

The module focuses on defining episodes of Italian history from 1968 to the present day, and it will shed light on how each of the selected themes and events have contributed to change the physiognomy of contemporary Italian society. 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Discovering Archives and Collections

Code:

HS3DAC

Convenor:

DR Jacqui Turner

Summary:

This module will enable students to test and develop their interest in careers in the archives sector through 10-day placements based internally, at the university’s Special Collections, or externally, at the Berkshire Record Office or another participating repository. These 10-day placements will give students the opportunity to gain and reflect on the type of practical work experience required for successful applications for postgraduate training in archives and records management. The placements will also develop skills in research, oral and written communication, professionalism and adaptability in the workplace, and attention to detail, readily transferable to, and highly valued in, other areas of postgraduate employment. Offered as an alternative to a Topic module, Discovering Archives and Collections will increase choice and enhance personal career-development opportunities within the Part 3 History degree programme.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 30%, Practical 10%, Oral 20%, Report 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

History Education

Code:

HS3HED

Convenor:

DR Elizabeth Matthew

Summary:

This module enables students to test and develop their interest in careers in teaching by applying their skills and communicating their knowledge in local schools. Two-week placements in secondary-school history departments, with pre-placement training and post-placement assessments at the university, give students the opportunity to gain, and reflect on, the practical work experience required for successful applications for postgraduate teacher-training.

Assessment Method:

Practical 10%, Oral 20%, Portfolio 35%, Report 35%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Anarchy in the UK: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture in Britain, 1976-84

Code:

HS3SAU

Convenor:

PROF Matthew Worley

Summary:

This module examines the relationship between youth cultures and politics in Britain between the period 1976 and 1984. These were turbulent times, during which the steady improvements in living standards that helped facilitate the emergence of recognisable youth cultures in the years following World War Two gave way to economic downturn and political instability. Punk, it seemed, was the soundtrack to social, political and cultural change.

Assessment Method:

Exam 40%, Assignment 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Cold War Berlin: Politics and Culture in a Divided City, 1945-89

Code:

HS3SCW

Convenor:

PROF Patrick Major

Summary:

This Special Subject uses recently declassified documents made available since the end of the Cold War to explore the politics of liberation in 1945, the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49, the 17 June 1953 insurrection in East Germany, as well as the mass exodus of the 1950s which ultimately led to the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 as well as its fall in 1989. Besides superpower politics and intelligence operations - Berlin was after all 'spy city' - the module will cover everyday life in extraordinary circumstances, including the problem of mass rapes, the black market, reconstruction and denazification. Popular opinion from below will be furnished through situation reports collected by the western military governments and the East German party and Stasi. We also touch on the student movement in West Berlin in the sixties, and the birth of terrorism in the seventies. The module will, moreover, consider the cultural representation of division through propaganda films and literature, including the spy thrillers of Ian Fleming, John le Carré and Philip Kerr, who described Cold War Berlin as ‘perhaps the most atmospheric city on earth’.

Assessment Method:

Exam 40%, Assignment 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Eugenics from 1865 to the Present Day

Code:

HS3SEU

Convenor:

PROF David Stack

Summary:

This module explores the history of eugenics from 1865 through to the present day. Eugenics is one of the most important, but least well understood, movements of the modern era. At its heart lay a desire to evaluate humans by dividing them into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ stock, but the specific forms this took varied over time and by nation. The module will explore these differences and provide a comparative perspective on the history of eugenics.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Heretics and Popes: Heresy and Persecution in the Medieval World

Code:

HS3SHP

Convenor:

PROF Rebecca Rist

Summary:

This module will focus on the growth of heresy during the Middle Ages (eleventh to fifteenth centuries), the persecution of heretics by the Church and secular authorities, the status of heretics as a minority group, and the concept of the ‘Other’. Different types of heresy will be explored: theological, political, popular, those stemming from grass-roots disaffection and those from intellectual and philosophical traditions. Seminars will examine the origins of the concept of heresy, different types of heretics, the papacy’s response to heresy, the growth of Church legislation and jurisdiction against heretics, and the establishment of the Inquisition. Students will be able to access a range of sources in translation including the writings of heretics themselves, contemporary chronicles, papal letters, sermons, theological treatises, conciliar legislation and canon law. The course will also examine the construction of heresy and orthodoxy, Max Weber’s famous distinction between Sect and Church, and recent trends in the historiography of heresy, including Emmanuel le Roy Ladurie’s Montaillou and Robert Moore’s The Formation of a Persecuting Society and its critics.   

The seminars will explore: Heresy and orthodoxy in medieval society; the concept of heresy; heresy and ‘the Other’; the construction of heresy; political heresy; popular heresy; intellectual heresy; women and heresy; Cathars; Waldensians; Lollards; Hussites; the persecution of heretics; the Albigensian Crusade; the Inquisition; heretics and other minority groups; the historiography of heresy.  

Assessment Method:

Exam 40%, Assignment 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Sexual Politics: Gender, Sex, and Feminism in Britain after 1918

Code:

HS3T100

Convenor:

DR Natalie Thomlinson

Summary:

Sexual Politics examines histories of gender, sex and sexuality, and feminism, in Britain since 1918, when the vote was first won for women (albeit only over the age of 30). A mixture of social, cultural and political history, it challenges students to ask why our understandings of these concepts have changed so much over the last 100 years.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Empire, Slavery, and Society, 1550-1750

Code:

HS3T101

Convenor:

DR Richard Blakemore

Summary:

In this course we will examine the question of piracy in terms of its popular connotations, legal definition, social dimensions, and its importance for the growth of early modern empires, with specific reference to the Caribbean from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Melancholy Medicine: Healing the Body and Mind in Early Modern England, 1570-1730

Code:

HS3T102

Convenor:

MS Amie Bolissian McRae

Summary:

Melancholy might lead to madness, and fear could cause the plague in early modern understandings of health and medicine in England. This module explores these sorts of beliefs about emotions, health, and the body, and the physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and lay healers who provided medical treatment. By examining a wide range of primary sources, such as handwritten diaries, medicinal recipe books, and surgeon’s casebooks, key questions will be asked about who treated diseases, how they thought bodies worked, and what patients felt about being sick - during a period which treated sadness with sneezing powder, and fear with leeches. Particular attention will be paid to how bodily health and emotional temperament was thought to differ according to gender, age, race, and disability.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze

Code:

HS3T25

Convenor:

PROF Anne Lawrence

Summary:

The period from c.1100 to c.1500 saw important and influential changes in the conception and practices of magic; and yet, despite modern perceptions, this period did not experience a witch craze.  For much of the period, magical practice was dominated by learned men, most of whom were clerics.  This module looks in detail at the forms of magic which they attempted, and traces the gradual changes in attitudes towards magic.  We also look at historical debates about the causes of the early-modern witch craze, and study the evidence provided by late-medieval documents on questions such as the role of the Inquisition.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Romantic Revolution: Culture, Environment and Society in England, c.1790-c.1900

Code:

HS3T88

Convenor:

DR Jeremy Burchardt

Summary:

The Romantic Revolution was the third of the great revolutions that shaped the modern world, alongside the French and Industrial Revolutions.  It transformed culture in a way that was comparable to the effect of the French Revolution on politics and the Industrial Revolution on the economy.  While less easy to define than the other two revolutions, the Romantic Revolution had, in the view of scholars such as Isaiah Berlin and Tim Blanning, still greater consequences for the way we think and perhaps even feel about the world.  This module looks at Romanticism in England from its origins in the eighteenth century through to its nineteenth-century apogee. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Africa from European Settlement to Nelson Mandela

Code:

HS3T89

Convenor:

DR Heike Schmidt

Summary:

Part 3 Options involve the study of specific periods, subjects or types of history.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Poor Law to Hostile Environment: Repatriation, Deportation and Exclusion from Britain 1800-2016

Code:

HS3T90

Convenor:

DR Daniel Renshaw

Summary:

This module will examine the fraught and often controversial language and policy based around concepts of repatriation and expulsion of migrant and minority groups in modern Britain. Beginning in the early nineteenth century and concluding in the twenty-first century, it will consider concepts of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, what constitutes ‘foreignness’ and ‘home’, attitudes towards migration, and the relationship between voluntary and forced forms of repatriation.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Politics and Popular Culture: Post-Arab Spring Egypt

Code:

HS3T91

Convenor:

DR Dina Rezk

Summary:

This module examines the relationship between politics and popular culture through an examination of post-Arab Spring Egypt as a case study. As well as providing a historical overview of events in Egypt since 2011, we explore various forms of Egyptian popular culture to understand how ordinary people voiced and thereby gave shape to key revolutionary themes including resistance, repression and struggles over the meaning of the revolution.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Policing the United States

Code:

HS3T92

Convenor:

MISS Liz Barnes

Summary:

This module traces the evolution of policing in the United States, from the use of watchmen and militias in colonial North America to the militarised forces we see today. We will examine the role that policing plays in society, particularly in crafting ideas of ‘otherness’ and maintaining established hierarchies of class, race, and gender. We will think about the place that police forces occupy in the American imagination and in American culture, and use what we have learned about the past to reflect on recent calls to defund or abolish the police.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Anthropology of Heritage and Cultural Property

Code:

AR3HCP

Convenor:

DR Alanna Cant

Summary:

This module focuses on the concepts, institutions, politics, and legal claims of heritage and cultural property in the contemporary world. You will learn about the historical development of these concepts and the national and global institutions, such as English Heritage and UNESCO, through which they are promoted. You will develop a critical understanding of the political, economic, social and environmental effects of these processes. You will also develop your understanding of how heritage has become an important global industry premised on economies of tourism and heritage site conservation. By looking at different cases of heritage and cultural property, you will investigate such questions as: What is the relationship between heritage, identity and the nation-state? What happens when culture becomes a resource? Can the concept of cultural property afford the protections that indigenous and minority groups seek? What are the consequences of natural and human made threats to heritage sites? Course materials will primarily be academic texts and documentary films about specific cases from all over the world. The module will be delivered through a series of lectures, seminar sessions (small groups and general discussions), and documentary films. It will also include presentations by guest speakers who work in the heritage industries.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Archaeology of Crusading

Code:

AR3M7

Convenor:

DR Aleks Pluskowski

Summary:

This module reviews the archaeological approaches to the crusading movement and the related processes of colonisation, religious conversion and inter-cultural exchange at the fringes of medieval Christian Europe - covering the years AD1095-1492. It is taught through lectures and seminars, and is examined through an assessed essay, seminar performance and a focused report.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Oral 10%, Report 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Lifestyle, Nutrigenetics and Personalised Nutrition

Code:

FB3LNPA

Convenor:

DR Vimal Karani

Summary:

The module deals with human nutrition during the life cycle in health and disease and links this to nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, epigenetics and personalised nutrition. Throughout the module you will study a selection of current issues in nutrition which impinge on lifestyle (diet and physical activity), health, genetic susceptibility and disease and matters relevant to the interface between human nutrition and food science.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Climate Change

Code:

GV3CC

Convenor:

PROF Maria Shahgedanova

Summary:

This course examines natural and human-induced climate change with reference to examples from different parts of the world. By the end of the module, students will gain knowledge about forcings driving climate change (e.g. greenhouse gases, solar variability, volcanic eruptions, desert dust and black carbon aerosol), impacts of climate change on natural and managed systems, methods of climate change assessment and projection, and adaptation to climate change. The course combines the science of climate change (e.g. climatic variability with emphasis on El Nino Southern Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation, conceptual understanding of climate modelling) with its application (e.g. investigation of impacts of climate change on glaciated environments, water resources, urban areas). It addresses interactions between climatic changes and conditions of economies and communities focusing on vulnerabilities to climate change, development of adaptation strategies and techniques, and assessments of barriers to adaptation. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Report 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ecosystems Modelling

Code:

GV3ESM

Convenor:

DR Shovonlal Roy

Summary:

This module concentrates on modelling ecological dynamics with emphasis to ecosystems on land and in the ocean, which are relevant to a range of global issues, from environmental changes to food security, including the earth’s primary production, oxygen generation, and carbon fixation. The module will cover techniques and aspects required for in-depth understanding the ecosystems function and dynamics. As such this module has got some mathematical contents which is higher than usual in typical Geography modules. Lecture materials and recommended reading includebasic calculus, differential equations, logarithms and algebraic manipulations, however, these are not included in theassessments. The content, both technical and general, is suitable for  thefinal year undergraduate students with little or no experience in ecosystem modelling, but those who are interested in learning the building blocks of modelling, and applying it to the stat-of-the-art environmental and ecological systems.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 30%, Oral 10%, Report 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Tropical Rainforests, Climate & Lost Civilisations

Code:

GV3TRC

Convenor:

PROF Frank Mayle

Summary:

This module is delivered at the University of Reading.  It aims to unravel the long-term (multi-millennial scale) history of tropical forests and human-environment interactions using a range of complimentary approaches.  This inter-disciplinary perspective integrates physical and human geography, ecology, and archaeology.  The module focuses largely on tropical South America (in particular, Amazonia) and focuses on several key questions: 1) What have been the interrelationships between climate change, human land use, and tropical forest ecosystems through the Holocene, i.e. the last ca. 12,000 years?  2) How was Amazonia transformed from a pristine wilderness into a domesticated landscape?  3) How did ancient human societies achieve long-term environmental and socio-economic sustainability, and why did they eventually collapse?  4) What are the implications of this historical perspective for today’s global challenges of sustainable living and tropical forest conservation against the backdrop of global warming?

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Report 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intercultural Communications

Code:

LS3IC

Convenor:

DR Erhan Aslan

Summary:

In this module, students will explore how people of different discourse systems or groups communicate with one another in various face-to-face and digitally-mediated contexts. Specifically, students will gain an understanding of how assumptions and values that have been constructed or adopted within a specific culture group influence the ways in which people successfully communicate with each other as well as experience miscommunication. Students will become familiar with a variety of topics in intercultural communication as they engage in hands-on analyses of intercultural encounters.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Set exercise 10%, Project 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Criminology

Code:

LW3CRY

Convenor:

PROFESSOR Jo Phoenix

Summary:

Criminology is a lecture-led module examining the nature of crime as a social phenomenon, theoretical explanations of criminal behaviour, and official responses to crime. The module will incorporate tutorial classes and a piece of assessed coursework.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

Code:

ML3IC

Convenor:

DR Athena Leoussi

Summary:

This module focuses on identity and conflict in modern Europe. By examining race, gender, warfare, revolution and immigration, it explores the evolution of modern conceptions of the self, of what it is to be human. The module further examines a) the ways in which  modern identities have been pursued and realised in different European contexts, for example, through social movements and national and international legislation; b) the conflicts which new and modern visions of the self have generated and in which they have been shaped; and c) cultural expressions of identity and conflict in paintings, sculptures, monuments and films.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 30%, Oral 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Language and Power

Code:

ML3LP

Convenor:

MR Federico Faloppa

Summary:

This module aims to familiarise students with the linguistic means by which a whole range of persuasive texts can be analysed. We will also be considering the use of language (and of a language in general) as a powerful tool in itself. We will investigate a range of discourse types and theoretical approaches, and we will for instance look at stylistic and rhetorical features, linguistic creativity and language “play”, techniques for revealing a text’s underlying ideological stance and bias, power relationships and their effect on language.

Assessment Method:

Oral 25%, Project 75%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Entrepreneurial Project

Code:

MM302

Convenor:

MR Keith Heron

Summary:

New venture start-up involves more than generating a creative idea…it involves starting-up or taking action.  

In this module we expect a student to have done something to test out their start-up hypothesis, in order to build their own and potential investor confidence, prior to venture launch. 

This module will NOT require a Business Plan but it will require students to design ‘test and learn’ cycles of their Value Proposition thinking as an integral part of their progress towards start-up.

Assessment Method:

Project 40%, Report 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Feminism and Political Theory

Code:

PO3FPT

Convenor:

DR Sarah Goff

Summary:

This module explores the contributions of feminism to contemporary political theory. It begins by examining theoretical controversies surrounding the definition, subject matter, and aims of feminism. It then brings these theoretical insights to bear on a range of pressing issues in feminist politics, such as abortion, surrogacy, pornography, marriage and sexist language.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Gender and Politics

Code:

PO3GAP

Convenor:

DR Rose De Geus

Summary:

Why do women remain under-represented in politics? Are voters sexist? And do women make for better political leaders? These are examples of the types of questions that we will consider in this module. Over the course of ten two-hour seminars we will explore how gender shapes politics. Throughout this we will also consider how gender intersects with other identities of race, ethnicity and sexuality. In the module we will look at many real-world examples and students are encouraged to bring their own examples for discussion. The module also exposes students to a variety of different research methods that are used in the field of gender and politics. The course is taught through ten two-hour seminars which require active participation and preparatory work from students. 

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

International Political Economy

Code:

PO3IPE

Convenor:

DR Jonathan Golub

Summary:

The course is an introduction to International Political Economy (IPE), which focuses on the interaction between states and markets at the domestic and international levels. It covers the major theoretical approaches to IPE and applies them to study international trade, development, financial crises, and economic sanctions. It also considers the relationship between globalisation and the welfare state as well as the environment.

Assessment Method:

Exam 40%, Assignment 40%, Oral 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

US Foreign and Defence Policy since 1950

Code:

PO3USF

Convenor:

DR Graham O'Dwyer

Summary:

American foreign policy matters. As the most powerful, wealthiest, and influential state in the contemporary international system what Washington thinks and does is important to understand. But how did the US come to be in such a dominant position? This module explores this question and a set of integrated ones that flow from this concerning the American foreign policy tradition, the growth of presidential power in foreign policy making since 1945, and a number of case studies that explore key events and policies across time. By exploring historical and contemporary cases, students will analyse how foreign policy decisions are made, who influences them, and how this has evolved overtime. Drawing on primary and secondary sources students will gain an understanding of crucial events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, US foreign policy in Latin America, and the response to 9/11. Finally, the course will explore salient challenges faced by US foreign policymakers today.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Report 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.