This module is intended to introduce you to key concepts in historical thought and to provide a theoretical framework for your study of history as a discipline. The module examines five central concepts: class, race, gender, nationalism and imperialism. Each is crucial to an understanding of history in the broadest sense, and together they provide a launch-pad for more detailed study.

The essay will test your understanding of two different key concepts [Learning Outcomes 2,4]
A class test of 1 hour [Learning Outcomes 1,2,3,4 &5]

Alun Munslow, The Routledge Companion to Historical Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 2000)
Alun Munslow, The New History (Harlow: Pearson, 2003)
J. Solomos (ed.) Racism (Oxford: OUP, 1999)
Keith Jenkins and Alun Munslow, The Nature of History Reader (New York and London: Routledge, 2004)
Patrick Joyce, Class (Oxford: OUP, 1995)
Victor Kiernan (ed.) Imperialism and its Contradictions (London and New York: Routledge, 1995)
Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism Since 1870 (Cambridge: CUP, 1990)
Joan W. Scott, Feminism and History (Oxford: OUP, 1996)

Recommended Library Books and Journals

12 hours of lectures which provide the broad framework for the course material and outline the main ideas. 12 hours of seminars which will provide the opportunity to clarify your understanding and to debate the issues, underpinned by independent study.