History (3 Years) [BA]

The course aims to:

• provide a supportive environment for all students, free of bias or discrimination;
• stimulate critical study of the past;to develop and extend students' powers of critical and analytical thought and logical argument by applying them to historical interpretation of both primary and secondary sources;
• extend students' powers of critical analysis and logical argument by applying them to historical interpretation, and to develop their capacity to communicate and present ideas orally and in writing;
• advance the ability of students to work independently and to organise effectively their own schedules of personal study;
• provide a broadly based and challenging curriculum, based upon the study of diverse historical periods and cultures;
• develop appreciation of a variety of theoretical approaches and methodologies with reference to particular Historical courses and periods;
• provide the staff expertise and learning resources necessary to enable students to engage effectively with their studies;
• produce graduates possessing the transferable skills of self-management and independence essential for employment, postgraduate study, or further training;
• offer those students who wish to take the Medieval Studies option the opportunity to develop an appreciation of a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to particular historical, literary and aesthetic issues of the medieval period.

Students may apply to spend one semester studying abroad during the second year of their degree. Exchange partners are offered through the Erasmus Exchange scheme (in Europe) and the Worldwide Exchange scheme (eg. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore). For more information about the Study Abroad Programme please consult the following: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/studyabroad/

Compulsory:

1. History in Practice (core course)

2. Long Essay (linked to History in Practice)

Optional:

3-5. Three courses chosen from :

• Constructing Archaic Greek History
• Introduction to Roman History, Society and Culture, 200  BC - AD 14
• The Making of Europe, 400-1500
• Communities and States in Early Modern Europe
• Cities and Citizens: Foundations of Modern British History
• Modern China: Opium War to the Post-Mao Era
• State, Nation and Nationalism c1750 - c1920
• Origins of British Industrialisation: British Economic & Social History 1660-1850
• Globalisation in Historical Perspective

6. Free Choice Option (a module from a subject other than History)

Compulsory

1. Long Essay

Optional

2-5 Four Course Units chosen from the following:

• Rome's Golden Age
• Politics and Society in Classical Greece, 450- 322 BC
• From Catastrophe to Crusade: Europe in the Aftermath of the Vikings
• European Reformations
• War and Society in Early Modern Europe
• The Making of the Modern Mind: European Thought from the Enlightenment to the First World War
• From Jesuits to Capitalists: Late Imperial China, 1580-1800
• Winds of Change: Politics, Society and Culture in Britain, 1899-1990
• War, Conflict and Culture, 1914 to the present
• Crisis and Prosperity in 20th Century Europe
• Colonial Encounters: Violence, Race and the Making of the Modern World
• Who do you think you are? Identity and selfhood in Modern Britain

PLUS

Optional: Free Choice option (a module from a subject other than History)

NB In the first two years, students are required to take at least ONE unit from each of the following three areas: (i) ancient and medieval history; (ii) modern history; (iii) economic and social history.

Please note that the following list is intended to be a guide only - course content or availability may change slightly as we aim to improve and update our courses yearly.

1-2 Compulsory - Thesis (double-weighted)

3-6 Optional - Four units chosen from a range of options; only a sample is shown below. Students may replace ONE History course unit with an option chosen from any other subject area within the Faculty of Humanities or the School of Life Sciences (History of Science, Technology and Medicine).

• Slavery in the Ancient Greek World
• Pagans, Priests And Power: The English Conversion To AD 670
• The Transformation of Europe, 870-1100
• `An extreme of madness': the Friars and European Society after 1200
• Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy
• Church, Society and Religion in Seventeenth-Century France
• Child Labour In British Society, 1700-1870
• Gender in English Society, 1750-1850
• The French Revolution And Political Thought
• Cities of Dreadful Delight: Gender, Race and Sexuality in the Americas 1800-1950
• Death in Britain: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1830 to the present
• London and Modernity 1880-1960
• The Second World War and British Society
• America, Europe and the Cold War, 1944-1960
• China and the West: From the Opium War to the Japanese War
• Crisis and Recovery: Britain, 1919-1939
• The Contours of Power in 18th C. Britain
• A Nation in the Making: India 1800-1947
• East Asian Empires: China, Japan, and the Eastern Soviet Union
• Power, Culture and the Modern European City, 1830-1940
• Immigration and Ethnicity in England and France
• Empire, Masculinity and British Heroes from 1885 to the Present
• Refugees in Modern World History
• Gender and Sexuality in Modern Africa
• The People's Continent: Protest and Politics in Europe, 1945-89

The skills you acquire as an historian are particularly valued by employers. Graduates enter the media, national politics, law and accountancy, commerce, business and industry, the Civil Service, local government, teaching and numerous other areas. Many undertake postgraduate study or further training.

'The best thing about studying History is the enthusiasm and passion the lecturers show for their subject'. (Christopher Douglas, BA History)  'An excellent level of teaching and opportunities for many societies and clubs'. (Shilpa Bellliappa, BA History)