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30 credits, Semester one
Module leader 2024-25: Benjamin Ziemann
Module summary
Module summary
This core module introduces students to the challenges of studying modern history at an advanced level. It explores the distinctiveness of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a period, the study of which raises particular questions about perspective and interpretation, about the relationship between academic history and public understandings of the recent past, and about the selection and treatment of sources across a wide range of media. Classes will focus on some of the key themes and developments in recent historiography, including an engagement with the use of interdisciplinary approaches, particularly in the study of contemporary history.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, you will be able to:
Understand the characteristics of ‘modernity’, interrogating the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a distinct period of history, and identifying the forces and experiences that have shaped our understanding of it
Conceptualise an understanding of contemporary history, and so be able to evaluate critically scholarly writing on the very recent past
Demonstrate an awareness of the contribution made by other academic disciplines to our understanding of modern history
Explore the historiographical context for practice-based research, and identify and locate suitable sources for independent historical research on a chosen subject
Distinguish between and critically evaluate different schools of interpretation and historical debate on modern history, with an ability to demonstrate this both orally and in writing
Elaborate and defend an intellectual position to other members of the seminar group, précising complex arguments and methodological debates succinctly and accurately
Engage in group discussions of interpretative issues
Present their conclusions in a fluent written form, demonstrating a mastery of bibliographical materials (including electronic resources) referencing their sources appropriately
Learning and teaching methods
Learning and teaching methods
The module will be taught in ten, two-hour classes. You will also have individual tutorial contact with the module tutor in order to discuss your assessment for this module.
Assessment methods
Assessment methods
Assessment type - % of final mark
Essay (4,000 words) - 80%
Engagement and participation - 20%
You will complete a 4,000 word essay on a topic related to one of the module's key themes. You will define your essay topic in discussion with your tutor. You will also complete a formative assessment to provide you with feedback ahead of completing your final essay.
You will also complete an engagement and participation exercise based on the learning activities and environment for the module. The module leader will set this task but may include activities such as presentations, reflective seminar diaries, contributions to discussion forums or collaborative documents.
Additional learning and teaching information
Additional learning and teaching information
Teaching and indicative seminar plan 2024-25:
The module will be taught in ten, two-hour classes. You will also have individual tutorial contact with the module tutor in order to discuss your assessment for this module.
The first group of six seminars looks at structures of power in the twentieth century and at the ways it has been contested. The modern state has both an ability to generate power and a knowledge of its citizens that was unimaginable in pre-modern times. These seminars examine these different aspects of state power, looking first of all at how to characterise it (seminar 1). Seminar 2 looks at the specific example of revolutions that have transformed both states and societies. The question of coercion, and the extremes of state power and brutality is returned to in seminar 3 on totalitarianism, which looks at how these oppressive systems operate, in seminar 4 on resistance against state power via anarchism and terrorism, and in seminar 5, which deals with genocides. We also look at how states protect and incorporate their citizens (including women and children) in non-coercive ways by taking the example of the welfare state (seminar 6). The following seminars analyse social forces and social phenomena beyond the state. Seminar 7 looks at the historical legacy of colonialism. In seminar 8, we analyse social movements, collective actors who often connect beyond national borders. Seminar 9 is discussing the contentious nature of sexuality or what can be called sexual politics. In the final class we look at forms of memory and ponder the connection between History and Memory.
Selected reading:
For your own preparation, and as an introduction into some of the themes of the module, you can read standard textbooks on twentieth century history. We recommend the following:
Christopher A. Bayly, Remaking the Modern World 1900-2015. Global Connections and Comparisons, New York 2018 (ebook)
Robert Gildea, Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914, Oxford 2003
Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London 1994
Harold James, Europe Reborn. A History, 1914-2000, Harlow 2003 (ebook)
Konrad Jarausch, Out of Ashes. A New History of Europe in the Twentieth Century, Princeton 2015 (ebook) (selected chapters)
Hartmut Kaelble, A Social History of Europe 1945-2000. Recovery and Transformation after Two World Wars, New York 2013
Ian Kershaw, To Hell and Back. Europe 1914-1949, London 2015
Ian Kershaw, Roller-Coaster. Europe 1950-2017, London 2018
Mark Mazower, Dark Continent. Europe’s Twentieth Century, London 1998
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