2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

HIST5750M Social Histories of South Africa

30 creditsClass Size: 10

Module manager: Dr Will Jackson
Email: W.Jackson@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Module replaces

HIST 5961M Anti-Apartheid

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

The module is an introduction to social history in southern Africa. Its chronological range is from the mineral revolution in the later nineteenth century to the present day. Its core is a series of sessions each dedicated to some branch of social history. The module imparts the complexity and diversity of human experience in southern Africa in the course of 150 years and it should have a broad appeal – to social and cultural historians, to those with interests in the histories of colonialism and race, and to those interested in African history and twentieth century history.

Objectives

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the field of social history in twentieth century South Africa; to contextualise this field within the history of the continent since the mineral revolution of c.1860s-1880s; to convey to students the complex chronologies, temporalities, and geographies by which the region has been constructed and contested during this period; to consider the relative significance of colonialism as both a productive and disruptive force within southern African history; to consider the history of the twentieth century within local, regional, continental and global frames.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this module students will have:

1. A sophisticated understanding of the material, political, cultural and environmental changes that have shaped southern Africa in the 150 years since the discovery of diamonds in the Northern Cape in 1867.
2. Read the major historians who have contributed to the field of South African social history since the 1970s. They will have a good understanding of how the field has developed in the fifty years since.
3. Approached South African history through a range of different historiographical perspectives. These might include: gender history, medical history, history of war, urban history, religious history, history of sexuality, animal history, history of childhood and youth, mining history, migration history, history of intimacy, histories of development.
4. Read extensively from the leading journals of the region, and from relevant on-line public-facing sources. They will have a good sense of the connections between academic history and public debate.
5. Analysed a range of primary sources.
6. Applied fundamental standards and practices of historical study for research, discussion, and assessed work, both oral and written.

Syllabus

Indicative themes include: gender history, medical history, history of war, urban history, religious history, history of sexuality, animal history, history of childhood and youth, mining history, migration history, history of intimacy, histories of development.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	11	2.00	22.00
Private study hours			278.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

Preparatory reading for seminars (77 hours), further self-directed reading (44 hours), independent research and writing of the essay (50 hours), preparation for the presentation and report (50 hours), blog postings (50 hours), reflection on feedback (7 hours).

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

In advance of the 2,500-word essay, students will be required to submit a 500 word essay plan, for which they will receive written feedback and the option of a feedback meeting. Guidance notes will help students prepare their plan. They will be required to identify which essay title (from a choice of 3) they have chosen, identify the main analytical implications to that question and describe some of the key scholarship they will be drawing from in their essay. They will then need to describe what they think are the 4-6 paragraphs that the essay will be structured around and explain how they relate together. Students will be encouraged to bear in mind that their plan is likely to change in the process of drafting the essay itself.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Presentation	10-minute Presentation	50.00
Essay	2,500 word Essay	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

The resit for the 2,500 word essay would take the same form; the resit for the 10 minute presentation will be a recorded presentation.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 18/10/2024

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