This module presents you with some of the key concepts used by historians researching and publishing in the field of international history. Some concepts will take us deep into the past and others will lead us right up to the contemporary moment, but we will focus on the modern period. This has affected our choice of concepts.

An appreciation for the ways that concepts have been defined and used over time is crucial for historians, as is their prudent retrospective application to the past. As such, they are a key component of any history MA award. They are perhaps particularly helpful at the level of international history, where historical processes become most abstracted, largest, and more unmanageable in the detail of their origins and the breadth of their impact. Speaking conceptually becomes almost unavoidable. Therein lies both a danger and an opportunity.

In each week the tasks will involve key readings from set texts, supplemented by course chapters or articles and additional research as and when necessary. The aim is to introduce you to the definitions of each concept, the ways in which each concept emerged and has been defined and used over time and finally to apply the concept or concepts to a particular event, area or issue in international history. This last part is key: as ever, we must not lose sight of ‘what happened’.

1. Essay 1 uses prewritten essay questions to assess the student’s understanding of core concepts in the field of International History and to assess their ability to apply these concepts to specific historical case studies, often encouraging students to combine concepts in use [LO 1 and 4]

2. The participation grade ensures students get credit for the work they do on the weekly discussion board. The more they engage, the higher their participation grade will be [LO 1,2,3]

3. Critical Review has students review a short academic publication (a journal article in most instances) and assess it for its evidence base, the quality of its analysis, and its contribution to the field of International History [LO 1 and 2]

4. Essay 2 invites students to devise their own research question which synthesises conceptual analysis and historical knowledge. Students are assessed on every aspect of their learning during the module including their awareness of historiographical trends. (LO 1-4]

The main focus will be on self-instruction, within a tightly structured framework and relying largely (but not exclusively) on materials supplied. Week by week you will work through self-instructional course materials (delivered via blackboard) which provides a framework and focus for reading key texts and papers and undertaking specific tasks as set. This work will be undertaken on an individual basis but at various points you will be expected to interact and share material with other students in your learning group and your tutor (via blackboard).

1. DEMONSTRATE A SYSTEMATIC UNDERSTANDING OF KNOWLEDGE WHICH IS AT THE FOREFRONT OF INTERNATIONAL HISTORY
Knowledge and Understanding

2. DEMONSTRATE A CRITICAL AWARENESS AND EVALUATION OF CURRENT RESEARCH, ADVANCED SCHOLARSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS REGARDING INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND THE CONCEPTS USED WITHIN THAT DISCIPLINE.
Analysis

3. DEMONSTRATE ORIGINALITY IN THE APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE, TOGETHER WITH A PRACTICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW ESTABLISHED AND METHODICAL APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL HISTORY ARE USED
Application

4. DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE RESEARCH, HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS TO SPECIALIST AND NON-SPECIALIST AUDIENCES.
Communication

Blackboard and library access online

Marie-Janine Calic, The Great Cauldron: A History of Southeastern Europe, 2019
Andrea E. Duffy, Nomad’s Land: Pastoralism and French Environmental Policy in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean World, 2019
Ethan Shagan, The Birth of Modern Belief: Faith and Judgment from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, 2018
John Hutchinson, Nationalism and War, 2017
Arndt Brendecke, The Empirical Empire: Spanish Colonial Rule and the Politics of Knowledge, 2016
James R. Akerman, Decolonizing the Map: Cartography from Colony to Nation, 2017

This module introduces you to key concepts in international history, specifically related to the study of international history in the modern and contemporary eras. The module will help you to transcend narrow or regional studies of history and remove some of the limitations inherent in such an approach. The module will consider the problems of definition, the historical background and evolution of each concept and finally the application of the concepts by historians over time.