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15 credits. Semester two
Module leader 2024-25: Kate Davison
Module summary
Module summary
In a world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, social networks seem a distinctly modern phenomenon, but are they only a product of our digital age? This module explores historians' efforts to reconstruct social networks in diverse contexts, from the ancient to the modern world. Drawing upon techniques first developed by social scientists, and increasingly digital methods too, they have found networks of trade and business; religious groups and political exiles; family, friends and much more. This innovative work is revealing how far lives and communities cut across boundaries of time and space - with important consequences for historical debates and issues.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, you will be able to:
Explain the origins and significance of social network analysis, and its use as a historical method
Demonstrate a critical awareness of the uses and limitations of social network analysis in historical research
Demonstrate knowledge of examples of historical research using network approaches
Demonstrate confidence in expressing ideas verbally, both in individual seminar contribution and group work
Advance interpretations and supporting evidence in clear and persuasive prose
Assessment methods
Assessment methods
Assessment type - % of final mark
3,000 word essay - 100%
You will complete a 3,000 word essay on a topic related to one of the module's key themes. You will define your own essay topic in discussion with your tutor.
Additional learning and teaching information
Additional learning and teaching information
Teaching and indicative seminar plan:
The module will be taught in five, two-hour classes. You will also have individual tutorial contact with the module tutor in order to discuss your assessment for this module.
The module uses case studies of historical research to introduce you to how and why historians have sought to reconstruct past social networks: the theories and approaches that have guided their efforts, and the results of their findings. We will look at how social network analysis first developed in the social sciences, before considering how these techniques have been adopted and adapted by historians working in diverse fields and with different source material. We will also consider the new opportunities and challenges presented by historians’ use of digital methods for network visualisation by using software to reconstruct our own networks. The goal of the module is to equip you with the knowledge and techniques to identify and reconstruct social networks in your particular area of historical interest, while also encouraging critical discussion about the uses and limitations of social theory for historians.
Selected reading:
Joanna Innes, ‘‘Networks’ in British History’, East Asian Journal of British History, 5 (March 2016), pp. 51-72
Charles Kadushin, Understanding Social Networks: Theories, Concepts, and Findings (Oxford, 2012)
Charles Wetherell, ‘Historical Social Network Analysis’ in M. van der Linden and L J Griffin (eds), New Methods for Social History (Cambridge, 1999)
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