Curriculum Information

Conflict seems to be an enduring part of the human experience.  Whether in the form of organised warfare between states, or rebellions mounted by non-state actors such as armed groups or social movements, conflicts have left their mark on communities.  Communities can be geographical places, or based on shared beliefs, identities, or interests.  This module explores conflict through the lens of the people who experienced it.  Through selected in-depth case studies, you will examine the origins, course and resolution of particular flashpoints, crises or confrontations to consider their ramifications and implications for the present day (recognising that these can sometimes be relativistic, rather than absolutist, in nature).  In doing so, students will practise perspective taking, empathy for contending convictions, assessing debates, weighing up evidence, moral reasoning and ethical judgement.  Case studies could include: Antisemitism in Sixteenth Century Germany; Histories of Hate in Premodern Europe; The Miners’ Strike, 1984-85; Intergenerational Conflict in Postwar Britain; Oral Histories of Conflict: Veterans, Families and Communities.  Our interactive classes will introduce learners to specialist documentary sources and non-textual sources to facilitate practise in their interrogation and interpretation.