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New Approaches to History

Module description

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce you to the way the discipline of history has developed since the eighteenth century, and where the discipline is today. You will gain insight into the various methods and approaches historians employ when they seek to understand and write about the past. The module specifically asks you to consider the significance, as well as the difficulties of cross-disciplinary studies that place historical understanding at the centre. You will consider current and pressing issues of, for example: social and environmental injustice; state violence and colonialism; narrative politics and knowledge-making; and interactions of place, memory and emotion in identity formation. By the end of the module, you will be  expected to have a good general understanding of the theories, methods, and approaches that are open to you as a historian in tackling key issues and challenges of the twenty-first century.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key themes, trends and significances of historical scholarship in relation to other disciplines.
• 2. Identify, describe, and discuss the ways historians have approached the past, and how and why, these have changed over time.
• 3. Critically reflect on the uses of historical research in cutting-edge interdisciplinary work dealing with the challenges we face today, across local, global and planetary scales.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Identify and discuss multiple and competing interpretations
• 5. Make connections between social, cultural, and political currents and the effect these have on historical work
• 6. Engage reflexively in debates about the usefulness and relevance of historical research in dealing with questions more typically associated with other disciplines, including the social and environmental sciences.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument in writing
• 8. Prepare, take part in, and lead discussion with peers
• 9. Work together with others to prepare and deliver your work in the form of an oral presentation

Syllabus plan

The module is formed around sessions devoted to exploring different approaches to studying the past. It will begin with an introduction to history as a subject in higher education today. The main thrust of the module will be on examining the ways historians research the past to better understand and act upon current and future-oriented questions and challenges. We will consider the importance of historical methods and approaches in advancing our understanding of, for example, society, culture, economy, environment, violence, and politics. We will explore the development of key subject areas in historical work in relation to other disciplines including archaeology, anthropology, literature, sociology, geography, politics, law, and the sciences.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Bourke, R., & Skinner, Q. (Eds.). (2022). History in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (various editions, first ed. 1946)

L.J. Jordanova, History in Practice (various editions)

M. Bentley, Modern Historiography (various editions)

D.R. Woolf (ed), A Global History of History (2011)

L. Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (2022)

L. Faire, Research Methods for History (2022)

M. Dobson, B. Ziemann (ed), Reading Primary Sources (2009)

S. Handley, R. McWilliams, L. Noakes, New Directions in Social and Cultural History (2018)

Key words search

History, historical research, uses of the past, interdisciplinary, new approaches and methodologies