HS1S035 - Germany: Memory, Identity and Public History 22 Jun 2022 - 31 Aug 2027 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: HS1S035
Module Title: Germany: Memory, Identity and Public History
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Culture and Animation
Faculty Sub Group: Culture
Module Leader: Rachel Lock-Lewis
Module Team: Ruth Atherton
First Intended Intake: SEP 2022 Final Year of Intake:
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 4
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100302 - history
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 22 Jun 2022
Valid To 31 Aug 2027

Module Aims

The module aims to introduce students to the key ideas and experiences that have shaped contested versions of German cultural or national identity in the modern period (c.1500 to the present), especially through the interpretation and representation of history in German public historical settings, such as museums, heritage sites, public spaces, monuments and digital resources.

The module also aims to develop digital literacy and fluency through the use of digital mapping techniques and podcasting.

Content Summary

The module focuses on how different concepts of Germany and what it means to be ‘German’ have drawn on shared or contested understandings of the past. Students will investigate how changing narratives of German identity have been reflected in museums, heritage sites, public spaces, and digital resources. They will explore these concepts, understandings and narratives through such topics as the Jews in German history (from blood libels to the Holocaust), warfare and militarisation, German relations with the rest of Europe, and reactions to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 12
Seminar 20
Practical classes and workshops 8
Independent Study 72
Directed Study 80
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 8
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Identify and discuss the relationship between history, identity, and representation?with reference to German historical issues.
LO2 Identify and assess primary sources?and?secondary material?related to the representation of German history and identity.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Project Output 1 Podcast?(plus bibliography)?analysing the public memorialisation, commemoration or representation of an event in German history (1806-the present) 0 N/A 40 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Portfolio 1 The Portfolio consists of three elements in the preparation and production of a?digital?map of?key events in?the development of German national?or cultural identities?(c.1500-1806):?? 1. critical analysis of an existing historical map 2. proposal for a digital map 3. production of a digital historical map, using appropriate digital mapping tools 0 N/A 60 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Project Output 1
Portfolio 1

Reading List

P. Ashton and H. Kean, People and Their Pasts: Public History Today (2012)

Peter J. Beck, Presenting History: Past and Present (2012)

Philip Dean Bell, Jewish Identity in Early Modern Germany: Memory, Power and Community (2007)

Stefan Berger, The Search for Normality: National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany since 1800 (1997)

John Breuilly, Nineteenth-Century Germany: Politics, Culture and Society 1780-1918 (2nd ed., 2020)

Thomas Cauvin, Public History: A Textbook in Practice (2016)

Robert Evans and Peter Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806: A European Perspective (2012)

Thomas A. Kohut, A German Generation: An Experiential History of the Twentieth Century (2012)

Websites:

Europeana (https://www.europeana.eu/en)

Hypotheses, International Federation for Public History (https://ifph.hypotheses.org/)

London Centre for Public History and Heritage (https://www.londoncphh.org/)

National Council on Public History (https://ncph.org/)