| Module | Credits | Compulsory/optional |
|---|
| Close Encounters: Natives and Settlers in Colonial America, 1600-1780 | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module explores the relationship between English settlers and indigenous peoples in Colonial America. When the first English colonists arrived in America in the early seventeenth century, they found themselves living alongside native groups whose languages, belief systems, and cultures were entirely different to their own. This module examines how both parties responded to the sudden presence of an unfamiliar 'other' in their midst. The module will interrogate English efforts to conquer and convert indigenous peoples, and instances of co-existence and cross-cultural exchange. |
| Eighteenth Century Bodies | 15 Credits | Optional |
| Gender and sexuality have histories; this module will explore some of the ways in which they were constructed in the shifting social contexts of the long eighteenth century and their intertwining with concepts of power, class, nation and ethnicity. By examining a generically broad range of textual materials - plays, poems, novels, medical and religious discourses, advice books - this module will analyse a variety of models of sexual behaviour and male and female identities, paying close attention to the historical moment in which the text was written. Possible topics for study include: Restoration libertinism as represented in the works of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, Aphra Behn and William Wycherley; bourgeois sexuality as in Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela' and Henry Fielding's 'Shamela'; prostitution and the commodification of sexuality as in Defoe's 'Roxana', John Gay's 'The Beggar's Opera' and John Cleveland's infamous pornographic novel, 'Fanny Hill; or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'; the psycho-sexual anxieties of Gothic novels, for example William Beckford's 'Vathek' and Jane Austen's 'Northanger Abbey'. |
| Literature Project | 30 Credits | Optional |
| The Literature Project is intended to give you the opportunity to carry out a substantial up-to-date research project based on a topic or author of particular interest. As well as enabling you to follow up particular enthusiasms, the module aims to further develop skills in planning, research, time-management and presentation. The module is taught via a programme of one-to-one tutorials with a designated supervisor. You may choose a topic from any area of literary studies but the choice of a topic must be agreed with the module leader before the end of Semester B preceding the next academic year in which the work will be undertaken. |
| Between the Acts: Late Victorian and Edwardian Literature 1890-1920 | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module studies texts written between 1890 and 1920 in order to consider the period of transition between the end of the Victorian age and the end of the First World War. Students will be invited to consider ways in which the set texts (and recent adaptations of them on screen and stage) challenge Victorian ideas of stability and respectability as well as their engagement with such concepts as heroism, the `monstrous, suburbia, marriage and sexuality, trauma, class and nationhood. The texts studied will include a range of different genres and styles, from the so-called `problem play of the 1890s and 1900s, to the horror story; from the best-selling exotic romance to the literature of World War One. Authors studied may include Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Robbins, E.M. Forster, Ford Madox Ford, Rebecca West, Henry James, Elinor Glyn and Rudyard Kipling. |
| Children's Literature:Growing up in Books | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module critically analyses works of children's literature published since 1950. Primary texts will range from picture books designed for very young children to works of cross-over fiction which aim to bridge the gap between the child and the adult reader. This will enable us to consider the ways in which children's literature works on the page and in culture to mediate and interpret the process of 'growing up' in modern society.
We will engage in close critical analysis of the primary material (considering, for example, questions of genre, narrative conventions and the relationship between words and illustrations) - and this will be linked at every stage to a consideration of the ways in which literature for children interacts with wider cultural and historical contexts. You will be expected to engage with key theoretical and critical debates around children's literature.
Authors studied may include Sendak, Seuss, Dahl, Lewis, Morpurgo, Rowling and Pullman |
| Texts and Screens: Studies in Literary Adaptation | 15 Credits | Optional |
| Literature and film have had a close and complex relationship since the beginning of the twentieth century when silent cinema adopted the novel as a fruitful source for its own stories. The cinema is still one of the most frequent ways by which we first encounter literary texts. By using a number of case studies this module aims to introduce you to some of the key issues involved in adapting literary texts for the cinema, including questions of narrative technique, concepts of genre, questions of representation and notions of fidelity and authorship. As well as close readings of the set texts (both written and cinematic) the module will also engage with recent theoretical approaches to film and literary studies. The texts chosen for study will vary from year to year but might include such notable examples as Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare; Zeffirelli; Lurhmann); Goldfinger (Fleming/Hamilton) and Trainspotting (Welsh/Boyle) |
| Year Abroad | 0 Credits | Optional |
| 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. |
| African-American Literature | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module will introduce you to some key works of African-American literature, from the late nineteenth century onwards. You will study a range of genres, such as fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, and nonfiction. We will trace how a unique African-American literary voice relates to a number of important modes of expression: oral culture, folklore, the visual arts, and music (such as spirituals, blues, jazz, work songs, gospel, and hip hop). We will identify several key themes and preoccupations in the work of African-American writers: freedom, identity, mobility (both geographical and social), and self-expression, amongst others. These will be mapped against historical developments, including slavery and abolition, segregation and the Jim Crow laws, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, the feminist movement, and the election of Barack Obama as President. We will also explore how issues of gender, sexuality, and class specifically inform these works. |
| 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. |
| Generation Dead: Young Adult Fiction and the Gothic | 15 Credits | Optional |
| All over the country in the world of young adult fiction teenagers who die aren't staying dead. This module will interrogate the new high school gothic, exploring the representation of the undead or living dead (werewolves, vampires and zombies) in dark or paranormal romance. Texts range from Twilight, Vampire Diaries and Daniel Waters's zombie trilogy to Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies. We'll also look at examples of werewolf fiction (Shiver) and at the folklore inspired novels of Marcus Sedgwick. Y.A.F. has attracted gifted writers who address these themes as a means of confronting death or discrimination or to engage with faith and embrace the enduring power of love. We will be theorising folklore, investigating the ethics of writing for young adults, and grappling with undead issues such as the notion of free will, damnation and redemption, the sexualisation of early teens, the effects of prejudice and the politics of difference. |
| 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. |
| Twenty-first Century American Writing | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module will survey contemporary American literature from the twenty-first century. We will investigate key literary texts and cultural movements from the period alongside historical contexts and new theoretical frameworks. Examining works of narrative, drama and poetry, we will look at a variety of textual strategies that contemporary authors use to investigate the contemporary world. Structured through six key themes--including 9/11, the transcultural, sexuality and race--the module will provide students with the change to explore new and diverse literary material that attempts to explore America in today's "globalized" world. Texts studied will vary but typically will include novels (Philip Roth's The Human Stain), poetry (Claudia Rankine's Citizen) and drama (Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project). |
| Euro-Crime on Page and Screen | 15 Credits | Optional |
| The twenty-first century has seen a resurgence of interest in crime fiction, films and television dramas ranging from renewed interest in the "who-dunnits" of Agatha Christie to the more explicit violence of contemporary "Nordic Noir". This module examines examples of European crime writing beginning with the popularity of detective fiction in the early 1900s before looking at how successive European writers and film/programme makers have modified the form to suit their times, often using the crime at the centre of their narratives as a jumping off point for exploring questions of national and cultural identities. The written and filmed texts studied will take us to different European countries. Typical examples include, but are not limited to, stories from Britain's "Golden Age" (1920s and 1930s), novels and film adaptations of work by Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret, France), Arnaldur Indriðason (Detective Erlendur, Iceland), Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sweden), and Andrea Camilleri and Giancarlo de Cataldo (Inspector Montalbano and Romanze Criminale, Italy). Works will be read in translation. |
| 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. |
| Placement with Study Abroad | 0 Credits | Compulsory |
| Students on this unique module will have the opportunity to undertake both a semester at a partner university and to undertake a semester of placement, thus both improving their cultural awareness and employability. Students who have been on the Placement Year and Study Abroad Year, both normally undertaken after level 5 and before entering the final year, have reported high levels of satisfaction with both and many have said the Placement or Study Abroad year was one of the highlights of their university career. The Placement Year is offered by only a handful of universities offering Humanities subjects, so this module is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore both aspects of Study Abroad and Placement both here and abroad. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| The Literary Professional | 15 Credits | Optional |
| This module enables you to incorporate practical experience, and critical understanding of the workplace, into your study of English Literature and/or Creative Writing. It focuses on students' understanding of how 'literature' (the writing process, the marketing and retailing of texts, their critical analysis, or literary history) is encountered by a non-academic audience. You must find a suitable work placement by the end of the previous semester, with guidance from the module leader. Placements could range from a school or college to literary heritage sites, literary festivals; publishing companies; a bookshop; arts organisations or theatres. Placements should be for a minimum of 24 accumulated hours. In workshops, you will critically analyse the sector in which your work placement has been undertaken, reflect on your experiences, and develop a broader appreciation of how literature is engaged with outside higher education. Assessment comprises a presentation and a portfolio including the development of a new curriculum vitae.
Please note a) students must source their own work placement with the assistance of the module leader; b) students may not take this module at Level 6 if they have already completed the Level 5 'Literature at Work' module. |
| 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. |
