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2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue

MA Social and Cultural History

Programme code:MA-SC/HISTUCAS code:
Duration:12 Months Method of Attendance: Full Time
Programme manager:Dr Pete Maw Contact address:p.maw@leeds.ac.uk

Total credits: 180

Entry requirements:

Good Honours degree or equivalent in an appropriate subject.

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

The School of History

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

The School of History

Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups:

History

Programme specification:

At the end of the programme students should: be able to:
- demonstrate a critical understanding of the development of social history and cultural history as related historical disciplines, across a broad chronological and thematic range;
- debate and interrogate key theorists, approaches and schools of thought that have shaped the methodology and practice of social and cultural history, showing the ability to analyse individual theorists / practitioners and set up a debate between competing approaches and schools of thought within a core historiography;
- exhibit advanced skills of source analysis and textual critique in relation to case-studies in social and cultural history, showing an ability to argue from these case-studies with rigorous contextual understanding and a critical empathy to the historical conditions in which they are played out;
- communicate the complexity of past cultures, social movements and discourses whilst showing the ability to define and emphasise key events, texts and ideas within those movements;
- show a sophisticated awareness of the range of research techniques and resources available to pursue social and cultural history, including archival opportunities, bibliographic methods, oral history and electronic resources;
- formulate and argue hypotheses relating to questions and controversies in social and cultural history, and be able to communicate these to peer and academic audiences, through high standards of oral and written presentation;
- take a proactive, independent and self-reflective role in their research, as well as responding dynamically to the provision of tutors and the contributions of peers within their MA cohort.

The Leeds MA in Social and Cultural History is a thematically focused programme of study which involves a wide range of staff and modules in the School of History. The MA in Social and Cultural History aims to provide students with strong research training and understanding of the theoretical approaches required for doctoral study, alongside the breadth and depth of knowledge of social and cultural history in a wide range of chronological, geographical and thematic contexts.

The programme has a strong conceptual core, but with a unique and wide range of focused studies of particular historical processes and contexts. The programmes comprises two core modules: a research methods course core taken by all students enrolled in MA programmes in the School of History, and a 'Concepts and debates in Social and Cultural history' core which will provide a broad conceptual introduction to research shaped by these approaches in a wide range of geographical and chronological contexts.

In addition to two core modules, students on the programme will choose two optional modules from an extensive number on offer such as:
- Women, Work and Family
- Lifecycles: birth, death and illness in the Middle Ages
- Patriotic Protest
- New Consumer Society
- Gender and Power in Early Modern Europe
- The European Minorities Problem
- Nationalism in Colonial Africa.

Recent appointments in the School of History in the fields of early modern British history, twentieth-century Russian history, and modern South Asian history will provide scope for expansion.

Students will also complete a 15,000 word dissertation. The University of Leeds has considerable research expertise in this area, and outstanding resources available in the Brotherton Library, encompassing extensive holdings of rare books and manuscripts in Special Collections, and strong print collections of works in English and many foreign languages. Electronic resources include access to EEBO, ECCO, The Making of the Modern World and numerous databases of early journals and newspapers.

Students in the programme will also have access to a wide range of regular and well attended research seminars, including the Eighteenth Century Seminar, the Interdisciplinary Renaissance and Early Modern Seminar and the Modern Social a nd Economic History Seminar. Conferences hosted by the School attract international scholars in the fields of social and cultural history.

The School of History plans to participate in the University's application for an ESRC-accredited Doctoral Training Centre, which would enhance the opportunities for students on this programme through funding opportunities. All these factors make the University of Leeds a unique and exciting place at which to be pursuing MA studies in the area of Social and Cultural History.


Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

HIST5000MResearch Methodology in History30 creditsSemester 1 (Sep to Jan)
HIST5650MDissertation (Social and Cultural)60 credits1 Oct to 30 Sep (12mth)
HIST5850MConcepts and Debates in Social and Cultural History30 creditsSemester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Optional modules:

Candidates will be required to study 60 credits from the following optional modules:

Students are required to study 60 credits from the list below.

Not all optional modules will necessarily be on offer in any given year. The School will not normally expect to run modules with fewer than two students.

HIST5020MMaking History: Archive Collaborations30 creditsSemesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
HIST5029MGender, Sex, and Love: Byzantium and the West, 900-120030 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5032MReformation(s): Belief and Culture in Early Modern Europe30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5231MMedicine and Warfare in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5540MDefending the Nation: Britain during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793 to 181530 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5841MIndia since 1947: Community, Caste and Political Violence30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5844MSexuality and Disease in African History30 creditsNot running in 201718
HIST5846MContesting Patriarchy: Debating Gender Justice in Colonial and Post-Colonial India.30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5849MLatin America and the Caribbean from Rebellion to Revolution, 1765-184530 credits 
HIST5865MInsurgency and Counterinsurgency30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5875MLifecycles: Birth, Death and Illness in the Middle Ages30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5961MAnti-Apartheid: Cultures of the Struggle30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)
HIST5964MRace and Second Wave Feminism in the US30 creditsSemester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Last updated: 26/07/2017

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