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30 credits, Semester one
Module leader 2022-23: Siobhan Lambert-Hurley
Module summary
Module summary
This core module introduces students to some of the most important and innovative themes, debates and controversies relating to global history and its linked fields of imperial, international, transnational, transregional and world history. Through discursive seminars students will acquire an informed understanding of global forces, structures and processes that have shaped and reshaped our world, including empires, trade, technology, religion, decolonisation, migration, war, diplomacy, humanitarianism, disease and the environment. Students will thus be enabled to explore connections, comparisons and exchanges across broad geographical and chronological terrain, while also considering relationships between the global, regional and local.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, you will be able to:
Understand crucial themes and trends relating to global history, particularly in terms of interrelationships between different regions and localities and the role of global structures and processes in shaping our world
Distinguish between and critically evaluate important recent historiographical debates in global, world, international, transnational and imperial history, arriving at independent judgements of them through analysis of both primary and secondary sources
Formulate and articulate historical arguments both orally, before the members of the seminar, and in written form in assessed work
Engage in cooperative group learning in seminar discussions of interpretive issues
Explore the historiographical context for practice-based research, and identify and locate suitable sources for independent historical research on a chosen subject
Use bibliographic skills in various media (including electronic sources)
Learning and teaching methods
Learning and teaching methods
This module will be taught in ten two-hour seminar classes. The first will consider definitions of 'global history' as a discrete area of historical enquiry through comparison with related fields, including world, international, transnational, transregional and imperial history (LO 2). Weeks 2-9 will then offer a series of content-specific seminars, looking at a range of historical themes, issues and problems both as an introduction to advanced study of this field and as historical and historiographical context for individual research projects (LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). The final session will provide an opportunity to draw some conclusions by considering problems and methods in the advanced study of global history as they will impact on your assessment for this module and the degree as a whole (LO 1, 2, 4, 5).
You will be set preparatory reading in advance for all seminars and will be expected to share your knowledge of historiographical developments, debate controversial topics and listen and respond to the views of others in a structured environment.
In addition, you will attend regular individual tutorials, in which you will identify topics for written papers, develop your reading around these topics, and discuss the structure and content of your written work (LO 3, 5, 6). Feedback on submitted work is again given in individual tutorials.
Assessment methods
Assessment methods
Assessment type - % of final mark
Essay (4000 words) - 80%
Engagement and participation - 20%
You will complete a 4000 word essay and an engagement and participation exercise based on engagement in the learning activities and environment for the module. The essay will relate to at least one of the key concepts or themes of the module. It should demonstrate an advanced understanding of and critical engagement with current historiography, and advanced skills in the use of sources.
The engagement and participation exercise will be set by the module convenor and may assess your overall participation across the module (for example assessing your preparedness and participation) or may involve specific short tasks (for example presentations, reflective seminar diaries, contributions to discussion forums or collaborative documents).
You will also complete a formative assessment in advance of the final essay (LOs 1-3,5,6).
Additional learning and teaching information
Additional learning and teaching information
Selected reading:
P. K. O'Brien, 'Historiographical traditions and modern imperatives for the restoration of global history', Journal of Global History, 1 (2006), 3–40.
Pamela Kyle Crossley, What is Global History? (Polity, 2008)
Diego Olstein, Thinking History Globally (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (University of California Press, 1998).
Seema Alavi, Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press, 2015)
Antoinette M. Burton, 'Getting Outside the Global: Re-Positioning British Imperialism in World History' in Race, Nation and Empire: Making Histories, 1750 to the Present, ed. Catherine Hall and K. McLelland (Manchester University Press, 2010), pp. 199-216.
Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Meredith Terretta, 'Cameroonian Nationalists Go Global: From Forest Maquis to a Pan-African Accra', Journal of African History 51:2 (2010): 189–212.
Daniel Immerwahr, Thinking Small: The United States and the Lure of Community Development (Harvard University Press, 2015).
Sunil S. Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants (Harvard University Press, 2013).
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