Core and Optional modules

This core content module will introduce you to key aspects of France's history, society, politics and culture through the study of a range of important texts and media. It will focus on key historical events, the values and ideas that inform French and francophone society today, giving an historical overview of their development from Louis XIV to Emmanuel Macron.

Through a series of alternating lectures and interactive seminars, you’ll get a vital sense of the complex and turbulent history of this world-defining culture.

As a starting point and common reference, we use Jeremy Black’s France: a Short History (2021) as a thread throughout the year. Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the online version of this text through the Library website – just search ‘Jeremy Black, France’.

This module will introduce students to the history, society, politics, and culture of the German-speaking world. You will focus on the major historical events (such as the building of the Berlin Wall, and the importance of the Greens to contemporary Germany) and key texts and visual material. You will also acquire a theoretical toolkit that will enable you to analyse these major events and cultural forms. The module serves as the solid foundation for more advanced study and specialisation at Level 2 and onwards.

This module gives an overview of Russian and Czech cultures with a focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will critically examine the concepts of statehood, empire, nationalism, totalitarianism and democracy by studying the two nations' different experiences through visual sources, literature and language usage. It introduces students to topics dealt with in greater depth in optional modules at Levels 2 and 3, and helps them to learn how to analyse cultural artefacts and sources of different kinds.

This module examines the historical trajectory of Spain and Portugal, their emergence as states in the Iberian Peninsula, their imperial expansion overseas into Africa, Latin America and beyond, the eventual independence of the colonies and their development and consolidation into the various modern-day states we know today. The module will explore the social, political, linguistic and cultural characteristics of these states and its peoples and highlight the importance of understanding their complex history in the formation of their identities, their languages and their cultural and political values. 

 This module examines the literature and film of modern Spain and modern Spanish-speaking Latin America. In each semester, three cultural products from one of these two areas are studied: including poetry, film, drama and narrative fiction. We will build up a picture of the cultural history of Spain and Latin America, as well as looking at key themes to emerge from their literary and filmic outputs. By focusing on three different genres in each semester, you will be able to explore different types of cultural product and to build up analytical skills gradually by moving from shorter or visual pieces to a larger body of writing. The knowledge and skills acquired here will underpin the optional modules at level 2 and beyond. 

Berlin and Amsterdam: two capitals at the forefront of protest and alternative lifestyles from the early 20th century right up to the present. Where did their radical traditions spring from? What do these protests say about how the cities and nations see themselves? How does creative resistance fuel gentrification and urban tourism? 

This module explores the culture of resistance and protest from the first women's march for the vote and posters and activism against war and fascism, to the creative resistance of the Amsterdam PROVO movement in the 1960s to Black Lives Matter/Kick out Zwarte Piet. 

We will cover concepts such as populism, activism, colonial resistance, feminism, BLM, climate activism. How do these movement use art and image to press their causes?  

Explore Language in a Global Context

In this module, we'll explore the often-overlooked yet critical role language plays in our daily lives. We'll specifically focus on multilingual and intercultural settings, examining how language shapes global relationships between countries, cultures, and individuals.

Learn Through Engagement

You'll have the chance to examine your own evolving language and communication competencies—both foreign and native—through a mix of lectures, interactive seminars, and small-scale practical projects. This will involve hands-on experimentation with various linguistic research methods, designed to deepen your understanding of your language(s) and cross-cultural communication.

Develop Critical Understanding and Cultural Agility

Our main goal is to help you develop a strong critical understanding of your individual language repertoires and communication practices. By exploring language, communication and real-life interaction, you'll not only improve your foreign language learning but also deepen your cultural understanding, ultimately building valuable cultural agility.

Communicate Beyond Academia

A key outcome of this module will be your ability to effectively communicate your academic insights to non-specialist audiences using creative media. This is a highly valuable skill, whether you're explaining complex research to a peer or conveying an idea to a future employer. 

The aim of the module is to introduce students to significant French texts and to illustrate and explore a range of possible critical approaches to them, including cross-media or intermedial reinterpretations. 

This module will focus on two important French texts per semester (with "text" taken in its largest sense of book, film, art work, piece of music, cultural product, etc.). Each text will form the basis for a close reading, followed by analyses using French cultural, historical, literary and critical theory approaches as well as adaptations into other media (such as film, art and music) where appropriate. 

The module will be taught and assessed in English, but the materials will be made available in both French and English, with French students required to use and cite the French materials. 

This module examines the historical trajectory of Spain and Portugal, their emergence as states in the Iberian Peninsula, their imperial expansion overseas into Africa, Latin America and beyond, the eventual independence of the colonies and their development and consolidation into the various modern-day states we know today. The module will explore the social, political, linguistic and cultural characteristics of these states and its peoples and highlight the importance of understanding their complex history in the formation of their identities, their languages and their cultural and political values. 

Berlin and Amsterdam: two capitals at the forefront of protest and alternative lifestyles from the early 20th century right up to the present. Where did their radical traditions spring from? What do these protests say about how the cities and nations see themselves? How does creative resistance fuel gentrification and urban tourism? 

This module explores the culture of resistance and protest from the first women's march for the vote and posters and activism against war and fascism, to the creative resistance of the Amsterdam PROVO movement in the 1960s to Black Lives Matter/Kick out Zwarte Piet. 

We will cover concepts such as populism, activism, colonial resistance, feminism, BLM, climate activism. How do these movement use art and image to press their causes?  

This module is year long and worth 20 credits. We will meet once a week and the teaching and assessment are in English. 

This is what Summer and Lena say about this  module:

"In our first year, we took the module Resist! The Art of Protest in Berlin & Amsterdam. We discussed themes such as national identity, which is vital for truly understanding a language and the people that speak it. Many students enjoy the difference between this more lecture-based learning and the classroom setting found in the language classes. A difference that ultimately adds up to a wonderfully well-rounded learning experience where there is something for everyone and everyone is given the opportunity to explore their spirit of inquiry."

This module provides an overview of the historical changes affected the territories of the former Russian Empire from the Revolutions of 1917. This includes the dramatic economic, political, demographic, institutional and ideological changes that occurred in the period. Attention will also be paid to the multinational dimension of the USSR and to the international context within which the USSR rose and declined as a power. Students will be introduced to some of the various theoretical approaches to the history of the USSR and will be encouraged to develop a critical approach to received categories.  

Taught and Assessed in English