| Module |
Credits |
Compulsory/optional |
|
Tell It Slant: Writing and Reality
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| Emily Dickinson wrote 'Tell all the truth, but tell it slant'. This module examines many aspects of writing from reality – the methods and reasons for doing so, the ethics involved, and whether or not it forms a 'fourth genre' of writing as has been posited by theorists such as Robert Root and Lee Gutkind. Degrees of 'truth' will be questioned: how much fiction can or should be introduced? Where does one draw the line between fiction and reality? Who has the right to draw this line? Does writing about a community, or writing with a community, alter the obligations of the writer? Authors studied may include James Frey, David Sedaris, Louisa May Alcott, Geraldine Brooks, Sei Shonagan, James Baldwin, Megan Abbott and Robin Soans. |
|
Year Abroad
|
0 Credits |
Compulsory |
| A Study Abroad year is an optional additional year that increases the length of the Honours degree award to a four-year full-time degree. The additional year comprises an agreed programme of study in a partner institution abroad with whom the University of Hertfordshire has an institutional agreement. The programme of study will support, supplement and extend the more usual three-year programme. Success in the third year will be recognised in the title of the award, but does not carry additional credit towards the Honours programme. A student would normally confirm the intention to study abroad during the first ten weeks of study at Level 5. This will enable a place to be negotiated at a host institution and the Study Programme and learning contract to be arranged and agreed. |
|
The Humanities Placement Year
|
0 Credits |
Compulsory |
| The Placement Year provides you with the opportunity to set your academic studies in a broader context and to utilise the intellectual skills you have gained through your degree in the work place. You will also strengthen your time management, organisational and communication skills as well as develop employability skills.
You will gain experience of applying for jobs and of working within a commercial, business or professional environment prior to graduating thus increasing employability skills such as teamwork, communication skills and commercial awareness.
You will gain experience in a field that is often a destination for Humanities students such as PR, marketing, management and research. You will have developed valuable industry skills and experience as well as being able to apply many of the intellectual skills you have learnt through your degree to a real world situation. |
|
Tell It Slant: Writing and Reality
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| Write what you know is often the first instruction given to new writers of fiction. But just how may we do so, and how far may we go? This module examines the aspects, strategies and approaches as well as the ethical quandaries that come from writing fiction from reality from the world and the lives around us. What exactly is the line between fact and fiction and how can they feed one another creatively? What happens when a writer crosses the line, and who decides? Authors studied may include Marcel Proust, Annie Ernaux, JM Coetzee, Rachel Cusk, Marguerite Duras, Awaeke Emezi, Ayad Akhtar, Toni Morrison, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Sheila Heti and Ocean Vuong among others. |
|
Bodies and Sexuality in the Early Modern Period A
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| This course will explore popular and medical ideas about the body and sexuality in the early modern period. The body was fundamental to gender roles, social relationships and experiencing everyday life. Through a series of extended seminars you will examine a diverse range of primary source material and supporting historiography in order to evaluate the assumptions that underpinned early modern notions of normal and abnormal bodies. The course will then move on to consider the importance of sexuality and sexual behaviours to early modern life. Again the course will consider what was considered to be normal and abnormal behaviours and will think about how these activities were monitored and policed. The module will provide experience of researching and using a range of unusual source materials including medical treatises, portraits, jokes and erotic literature. |
|
Creative Writing Project Poetry
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| The Creative Writing Project module is the culmination of your three years of study of the subject. Over two semesters, you will meet in fortnightly intensive three hour workshops to develop and hone your writing. The workshops will, where possible, be genre specific and all workshops will be led by professional writers. Workshops will also cover how to work as a writer professionally, including how to submit your work to competitions, agents, publishers, producers, etc. You will devise, plan and produce an extended piece of creative writing in a genre of particular personal interest. You will finish the module having a substantial piece of writing you can either submit professionally or continue working on after graduation. The module is also an excellent preparation for pursuing an MA in Creative Writing. |
|
Creative Writing Project Prose
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| The Creative Writing Project module is the culmination of your three years of study of the subject. Over two semesters, you will meet for intensive three hour workshops to develop and hone your writing. The workshops will, where possible, be genre specific and all workshops will be led by professional writers. Workshops will also cover how to work as a writer professionally, including how to submit your work to competitions, agents, publishers, producers, etc. You will devise, plan and produce an extended piece of creative writing in a genre of particular personal interest. You will finish the module having a substantial piece of writing you can either submit professionally or continue working on after graduation. The module is also an excellent preparation for pursuing an MA in Creative Writing. |
|
Creative Writing Project Script
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| The Creative Writing Project module is the culmination of your three years of study of the subject. Over two semesters, you will meet in fortnightly, one on one tutorials, with your tutor. Tutorials will also cover how to work as a writer professionally, including how to research your work and deliver the appropriate material to producers/production houses or literary agents. You will learn how to re-draft your work and write a one page pitch and logline to accompany your work. You will devise, plan and produce an extended piece of creative writing in theatre or screen. You will finish the module having a substantial piece of writing you can submit professionally to a theatre or production company. The module is also an excellent preparation for pursuing an MA in Creative Writing. |
|
Italy and Fascism
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| In this module you will get to study the history of Fascism in Italy using a variety of primary and secondary sources. All the text-based primary sources – including diary entries, speeches, and policy documents - will be available in English translation. Other sources will include Fascist films, songs and artistic images. The focus of the module will be on understanding Fascist experience in the context of Italy and topics covered will include the legacy of the Risorgimento, the experience of the First World War, the collapse of the Liberal State, the rise of Fascism, the relationship between Duce, Party and Government, the creation of the corporative state, Fascist Ideology economic, social and cultural policy under the regime, racial and colonial policy, public opinion under Fascism, anti-Fascism and resistance, and the enduring influence of Italy's Fascist heritage. |
|
Popular Protest, Riot and Reform in Britain, 1760-1848 B
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| Britain experienced a period of tumultuous social and political upheaval in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This module will examine the development of social and political protest movements, and survey the causes and consequences of popular unrest in Britain, 1760-1848. You will engage with the secondary literature of the subject and with a wide range of primary sources, visual,written and digital. Topics may include the development of ideas of democratic rights through the influence of the American and French revolutions, radical political and social movements in Britain; Luddites and trade unions; Swing rioters and rural unrest; Chartism; anti-New Poor Law Riots. |
|
Everyday Lives: An Intimate History of Twentieth Century Women
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| This module offers an intimate history of the everyday lives of women in America, Britain and Ireland. We will explore the lives, roles, experiences and perceptions of ordinary women during the twentieth century will be explored. Students will be introduced to an array of sources – including popular and visual culture, objects and digital sources, oral testimony and literature (fiction and memoir) – and to what they reveal about the manner in which women were perceived and represented; how women viewed themselves; and how women of different generations experienced, negotiated and reacted to social change. Fashion, consumerism, courtship, sexuality, and advertising are among the areas considered for what they reveal about women and the world around them. Such themes will be analysed within the context of continuity and change across the twentieth century and three geographical perspectives. The module will conclude by questioning the extent to which women's movements were representative of ordinary women. |
|
Final Year History Dissertation
|
30 Credits |
Optional |
| With the dissertation, students have the chance to select their own topic to research, subject to approval. Albeit under supervision, this module requires largely independent study and research based partly on primary sources, with students expected to address historical problems in depth by gathering, sifting, reading, analysing and reflecting critically upon historical sources and advanced secondary literature. Students present their research in a poster or presentation format, and submit a draft chapter followed by a dissertation of c.10,000 words. |
|
Witch-Bottles to Wishing-Wells: The Material Culture of Everyday Ritual
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| If a picture can say a thousand words then what can a physical object tell us? This module will consider this question by engaging with the material culture (the physical objects and spaces that shape cultures) of everyday and calendar rituals, from 1650-present. Few people in Britain, both today and in the early modern period, would claim to regularly participate in rituals. However, ritual activities are in fact a large part of everyday domestic and private lives, ranging from the use of bottles in the 18th century to counteract bewitchment, to the blowing out of birthday candles today. Through a series of extended, interactive workshops we will examine a diverse range of objects. These will be analysed and interpreted as primary source material, in order to consider the prevalence of everyday rituals and the value of material culture.. Artefacts will vary but may include early modern protective charms; votives and offerings; ritual foods; and contemporary seasonal objects. |
|
Writing Serial Drama
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| This is an intensive 12-week module created to enable you to create and write your own pitch and pilot episode for a serial drama. You will learn the craft skills required to create compelling serial drama or comedy and create a pitch document suitable to send to production companies. You will watch episodes and read screenplays from current successful serials, analysing the technique required to create a successful drama series. You will workshop your ideas and pilot scripts under the guidance your module leader. You may write anything from a Netflix serial, continuing BBC Drama or online comedy series for your final submission. |
|
Writing for Popular Fiction Markets
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| The module will explore a selection of different popular fiction genres (e.g. romance, historical, crime, fantasy, horror) which illustrate the development of their specific market. The examples will be taken from book texts but also film and television in the various genres covered. You will learn how an analysis of the features and narratives used in these can be used to inform writing practice. Practice at writing for popular genres will be central to the module's syllabus. You will be encouraged to contextualise your own work within the popular genres we consider and gain awareness of commercial positioning and opportunity. Authors whose work we explore typically may include Agatha Christie, Colson Whitehead, Margaret Atwood, Patricia Highsmith, Octavia Butler, HG Wells, Ted Chiang, Audrey Niffeneger. TV shows may include Dexter, Game of Thrones, Poldark; Films may include Doctor Zhivago, Blade Runner and Let the Right One In. |
|
Boom Cities and New Towns in the 20th Century A
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| This module explores the rise of 'boom cities' and new towns in Britain and across the world in the 20th century. Hertfordshire was the central county of experiments in urban planning, from garden cities to new towns. You will study the utopian visions of urban planners and postwar governments, and how these ideas were exchanged in new towns across the world, including Poland, India, the USA and Australia. The module also examines the social history of planned settlements. Who moved to new towns and what was everyday life like there? Did 'new town blues' really exist? You will develop your skills in analysis of a wide range of primary sources, including plans, correspondence and oral histories from planned settlements in Britain. |
|
Pacific Histories: Colonisation, Conflict and Connections
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| What is the Pacific? Whose histories does it encompass? How have the places and peoples of this vast region been connected since the 18th century? This module embraces recent transnational, global and oceanic approaches to examine histories of the Pacific. We'll go beyond the tourist image to trace key themes including navigation, colonialism, collecting, migration, trade, the rushes for gold, conflict and resistance throughout the long 19th and early 20th century. Pacific histories connect Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, the Americas and Russia, and empires including the French, British, Spanish and Dutch. It is a region where 'worlds meet and pulse together' and where a rich source base awaits the curious historian. |
|
Sinners, Scoundrels & Deviants: Non-Conformity in the Atlantic World A
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| How do societies decide what constitutes 'deviant' behaviour, and who is responsible for making that distinction? This module challenges students to rethink societal definitions of 'deviant' behaviour. It will explore why certain groups and certain behaviours were deemed to be deviant at particular points in time. Focusing on the Atlantic World, the module charts changing perceptions of deviant and traditional behaviour amidst a period of immense social, cultural and political change. Drawing on a diverse range of primary source materials, we will explore how the church, state and community responded to differences in sexuality, lifestyle, religion and race, to create acceptable standards of behaviour. Possible 'deviant' behaviours to be explored include incest, alcohol misuse, bigamy, fist-fights, same-sex and inter-racial relationships. |
|
Cold War Film and Propaganda
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| The Cold War between 1945 and 1991 saw one of the most intense propaganda conflicts in history. Popular culture played a vital role in the icy stand-off between the East and West. Through media such as popular film, each side promoted the virtues of their respective systems, while simultaneously demonising their opponents. This module uses feature films and documentaries to analyse different aspects of the battle for hearts and minds in the Cold War. Some films will be used to help illustrate the key propaganda themes of the Cold War; others will be viewed as primary source documents--i.e. they will be discussed and analysed in the context of when they were produced and what they tell us about the mindset of Americans and Russians at the time. Combined with in-class discussion and analysis of primary documents, examining Cold War films provides students with an engaging way of exploring the relationship between history, propaganda and entertainment. |
|
The Middle East in turmoil: The Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| The Arab-Israeli conflict stands as one of the most enduring and, some claim, most intractable political issues in the modern Middle East, if not the whole world. This module offers a detailed examination of this ongoing conflict from its beginnings in the First World War until the present day. It explores the growth of the Zionist movement, the emergence of Palestinian nationalism, the impact of the critical years of 1948 and 1967 that saw the birth and consolidation of the state of Israel and the continuing dispossession of the Palestinians, and the ongoing attempts of forging a political solution since that time. The module is broadly chronological in shape, but uses primary and secondary sources to explore a range of issues including Israeli state and society, European and American intervention in the Middle East, terrorism and war, religion, and efforts to bring peace. |
|
Delivering British Justice? Law in the British Empire, 1760-1965
|
15 Credits |
Optional |
| What does justice look like in an unequal world? Is the law ever truly neutral or objective? Does law shape society and culture, or the other way around? In this module we will explore the multiple and contested ways in which law was created, resisted, and understood in the British Empire between 1760 and 1965. The perception both at the time, and one often still referred to in the 21st Century that the British Empire was fairer than other European colonial powers was an extremely important one for justification of the imperial project both at home and abroad. The ways in which law was imposed, negotiated and resisted in the empire was fundamental to this belief, often framed as delivering British justice to colonial subjects. Exploring a range of themes and case studies from across the globe, we will use law as a window into understanding politics and society. |
