C.A. Bayly The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons (`Blackwell History of the World' series, Blackwell, Oxford, 2004)
Adam Budd, The Modern Historiography Reader: Western Sources (Routledge, London, December 2008 forthcoming)
Alastair Bonnett The Idea of the West: Culture, Politics, History (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2004)
J. Donald Hughes What is Environmental History? (Polity, Cambridge, 2006)

The lectures will introduce the main themes and arguments of the module content. The seminars will provide for follow-up discussion of the themes from the lectures and some analysis of primary source extracts and guidance on assignment preparation and research. The independent study element should be used for background reading, reading for the seminars, and research and preparation of the written assignments.

The module encourages a critical attitude towards the designation `modern' and to C19 and C20 notions of the primacy of the nation and of progress. It seeks to provide C21 perspectives on the `modern' period from c.1750 onwards in three ways:
1) The `modern' as global and environmental history.
This strand starts with views of the modern as stemming from the industrial and French revolutions and national progress but then considers recent work in global and environmental history that challenges this initial framework.
2) The `modern' as ideological construction.
This strand starts with the historical development of notions of the `West' and the `other', and of a `civilising mission', but then considers more recent perspectives such as cross-cultural interaction and post-colonial hybridity that challenge the initial framework.
3) The `modern' in modern historiography.
This strand focuses on the approaches and writings of historians. It starts with Enlightenment and Romantic notions of progress and national culture and examines the rise of nation-centred historiography, and professional and `scientific' history, and contrasts these with more recent approaches such as subaltern history and contemporary history writing that illustrates the shifts in strands 1 and 2. It concludes with the `modern' as articulated in recent work on heritage, memory, and `forgetfulness'.

Chronology (20%) (500 words approx) [Learning outcomes 1, 3]
Essay (40%) (1000 words) [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
Assignment consisting of take-away unseen sources paper (40%) (1000 words) [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3]

Library books, journals, and electronic resources.
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.