BA Modern Languages and History

Compulsory modules

Language modules in French, German, Italian and/or Spanish, depending on your chosen core language(s)

Ideas of Frenchness (if French is a core language)

The Making of Contemporary Germany (if German is a core language) 

Making Italians: A Journey in the History and Culture of Modern Italy (if Italian is a core language)

Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture (if Spanish is a core language)

Researching History

Perspectives in History

Gain a geographically and chronologically broad study of history, discovering the potential pathways available to you throughout your degree. You’ll not only examine specific historical contexts, but also the historiographies, methodologies and theories that have shaped historians’ perspectives.  

Optional modules

Rape in the United States: From Colonisation to Civil Rights

Become familiarised with the changing social and legal understandings of rape in the US. Apply your skills to reflect critically upon the historical basis of contemporary ideas surrounding sexual violence, gender and race. 

Warfare in Early Modern Europe, c.1500-1715

Consider the relationship between warfare, and its ‘badges, battles and buttons’, with the wider social, economic and political contexts. You’ll be introduced to war and warfare in early modern Europe and study the consequences of war and the historical basis of our contemporary ideas on war. 

Doomsday Dystopias: Nuclear Disaster in the Cold War Imagination

Examine four real Cold War nuclear episodes and the impacts these events had on fictional imagination of disaster: the 1945 Hiroshima/Nagasaki A-bombings which ushered in civil defence in 1950s America; 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis; 1983’s ‘Able Archer’ NATO exercise that almost triggered war, and 1986’s Chernobyl disaster in the USSR. 

US Environmental Diplomacy from Nixon to Obama

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

Examine the experiences of migrant groups in Britain from the early modern period to the early twenty-first century. Consider the different reasons for migration, forms of persecution and economic motivations, the positive and negative reception to migrants, and how migrants have shaped Britain.

'After Malthus': Sex, Society Sustainability and the Politics of Population in the Long Nineteenth Century

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

Language modules in French, German, Italian and/or Spanish, depending on your chosen core language(s)

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s), for example

How to Think in French (if French is a core language)

Cinema of Germany (if German is a core language)

Fictions of Italy: Themes and Genres (if Italian is a core language)

Literature and Society in the Modern Hispanic World (if Spanish is a core language)

Optional modules

Science, Perversion and Dream in Global Fantastic Literature

Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Global Ecologies: Discourse, Environment and Society

Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future 

Explore public interpretations of the past and how history has been presented in the world outside of academia. You’ll work collaboratively with external partners on a group project which will challenge you to deal with ‘difficult’ history and conflicting narratives as you engage with wider audiences. 

People, Power and Revolution: Political Culture in Seventeenth-Century England

Explore the turbulence of the political landscape in the seventeenth century as you study events such as Charles I’s execution and Oliver Cromwell’s rise to power. You’ll consider the extent ordinary people knew of, or were involved in, politics, what events led to revolution, and how politics compared from the beginning to the end of the century.

Hollywood Histories: Film and the Past

Tackle film aesthetics and off-camera censorship and reception as you study historical films evoking a different past from the present in which they were made. Ranging from silence to epic, to television to slow-burn docudramas, you’ll question how films reflect or shape popular notions of the past. 

Europe in the Twentieth Century

Explore the geopolitical dynamics of modern European history from the formation of the German nation state in 1971 to the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. You'll consider why twentieth-century Europe was so violent, how warfare has evolved, and how Europe’s role has changed in a contemporary sense.

Medieval Medicine

'The Brightest Jewel in the British Crown': The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947

Discover the role of South Asia in international politics and globalisation, exploring key themes in the making of modern South Asia during the period of British colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent and its impact on the wider imperial world. 

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

Reform and Revolt in the Modern Middle East: Egypt from Ataturk to the 'Arab Spring'

Examine the key events, individuals and themes that shaped the Middle East in the 20th century, with a particular focus on Egypt. You’ll explore the origins and impact of Arab nationalism, outline the key Arab-Israeli wars and their consequences, and critically appraise the presidencies of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.

The Crusades, 1095-1291

Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850

Become introduced to the Atlantic World, discovering the impactful connections made between the 14th and 18th century and their turbulent influence on culture, economies and political structures. Explore how these connections have left an important and, at times, unsettling legacy in the modern world.

Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154-1330

Examine continuity and change in English politics from the last twelfth to the early fourteenth century. You’ll learn of the concepts and expectations of kingship (and queenship) and issues, exploring seven reigns spanning the period.

Women and Medieval History

Black Britain: Race and Migration in Post-War Britain

Vampires and Victorians: Dracula and the Modern World

The Colonial Experience: Africa, 1879-1980

Survey the history of British – and also German, Belgian, and French – colonialism with an outlook into its legacy in Africa, South of the Sahara, 1879. Reflect on how the colonial experience relates to gender, age, social status and initiative. 

Noise Annoys: British Youth Culture, Popular Music and Social Change, 1950s-90s

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Study Year Abroad

Compulsory modules

Language modules in French, German, Italian and/or Spanish, depending on your chosen core language(s)

Future Worlds in Film

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

Language and Power

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s), for example

The French Caribbean: Language, Literature and Identity (if French is a core language)

Writers of the Weimar Republic: At Home and in Exile (if German is a core language)

Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present (if Italian is a core language)

Narrating the Colombian Conflict (if Spanish is a core language)

Optional modules

Becoming a Revolutionary: The Old Regime and the French Revolution, 1787-1794

Explore the historiographical debates raised by the French Revolution that ended the Old Regime and the long-term origins and immediate causes of it. In particular, explore how the French became revolutionised and how the process of building a new society promoted a new genre of revolutionaries associated with a new political culture, radicalism and rule of terror. 

Heretics and Popes: Heresy and Persecution in the Medieval World

Gain hands-on experience as you analyse a wide range of primary sources from medieval heresy and heretics. Reflect on the phenomenon of medieval heresy and dissent while considering the ways in which the historiography of medieval heresy has evolved.

Gender in Africa

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

Explore the factors underpinning gender roles from 1918 to the present to develop a wider understanding as to why attitudes of gender, sex and feminism have evolved, considering wider social and academic reasoning.

Slavery in America

Survey the history of slavery in America and reflect on the different perspectives and representations surrounding it. You'll consider the changing ways in which the history of slavery has been understand as you examine a range of primary sources that show it in its wider historical context. 

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

Examine and evaluate primary sources as you survey the history of punk and the 1970s-80s UK punk scene. Reflect on how culture relates to wider political and socio-economic contexts as you use punk culture as a lens into British history. 

The American Civil War

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

Utopia: The Quest for a Perfect World

Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze

Absorb the history of magic as you gain an understanding of medieval practices and theories of magic. You’ll consider the wider social contexts within which they were developed to gain a deeper understanding on why they were welcomed or repressed.

'Battleaxes and Benchwarmers': Early Female MPS, 1919-1931

Assess the aftermath of suffrage and reassess the importance of the 1918 Representation of the People Act on British democracy. You'll examine the impact of the acts in relation to women, and the emergence of female MPs throughout the transformative social, political and economic context of the 1920s. 

Modern Science and the Imperial World, 1750-2000

Axis at War: Life and Death in Fascist Italy Italy and Nazi Germany, 1936-45

Explore Italian and German society during a war which sparked civil war in Italy and sent millions to their deaths in the Holocaust. You'll examine diaries, letters, secret police reports and Allied Intelligent assessments to gain a view of life under fascism and the differing experiences of the Second World War. 

The United States and the Cold War

Witches, Heretics and Social Outcasts: Europe and its Outsiders, c.1250-1550

From Darwin to Death Camps? Evolution and Eugenics in European Society, 1859-1945

Examine the reception of Darwin’s ideas and their influence in shaping social theories. You’ll focus on the shifting perceptions of a desirable social and biological order found in attempts by science, medicine and the State to influence heredity and evolution, regulate sexuality and reproduction, and eradicate disease and defect. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.