Module: HIS7002-30 The Making of Modern Worlds

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Astrid Swenson

Module Tutor Contact Details: a.swenson@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module

This module explores a set of connections that shaped the modern world. It discusses the way in which world history has become 'globalised' during the modern age, and unpacks how events in Europe, Asia, Africa, the America and Oceania impacted on the world as a whole.

It uses recent debates about ‘connections’ and ‘entanglements’ across borders to challenge and complement the regional and national approaches that have traditionally dominated history teaching and writing, and will debate how to develop global history approaches further. By introducing cutting edge research on the movement of people, ideas and objects across the world, the module provides you with a framework through which to rethink familiar themes, and develop exciting new approaches for your own research projects.

2. Outline syllabus

The module starts with a broad thematic introduction to global connections in the Modern era, followed by a discussion of in-depth case studies emerging from current research. As research on global connections is a relatively new and vibrant field, the syllabus will respond to new developments in the research, as well as to the way the memory (or forgetting) of historical connections shape current political and societal debates. Potential themes include:

• Multiple modernities
• Vectors of globalisation
• The ‘Ripple Effect’ in World History
• The making and function of borders and hinterlands
• Imperialism and decolonisation
• Forced and voluntary migration
• The movement of objects and ideas
• The making of the international order
• World environmental events and responses
• Memory and forgetting of cross-cultural histories

3. Teaching and learning activities

• Seminars, presentations, workshops, visits (including self-directed visits), tutorials
• Reading and exploration of core texts; discussion and analysis

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Oral seminar Presentation and précis (20 minutes and 500 words)
• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Critical Essay (3000 words)
• % Weighting: 60%