Curriculum Information

Beliefs, ideas and ideologies have changed the world.  The way in which people have conceived of a different way of life or society and pursued their vision has been a key driver of history.  This module considers how people have understood their situations, apprehended their problems, organised with others, and challenged the status quo.  From pre-modern religious beliefs and fears, reimagining of practices and relationships, to movements such as liberalism, feminism and anti-imperialism, these ideas have often been controversial and contested.  As a final-year students, you'll avoid binary narratives of heroes who advance progress and villains who hinder it, exploring instead a nuanced and rigorous exploration of a selected case study to arrive at an in-depth and balanced evaluations.  This is a great opportunity for you to practise rigorous evidence-gathering and applying robust questioning and multiperspectival approaches to arrive at reasoned and reasonable judgements.  Case studies could include: Apocalypse and the End of the World in Sixteenth Century Europe; The Campaign for Votes for Women in Britain, 1865-1928; The Women’s Liberation Movement; The Lavender Scare: Queering the Cold War.