Making History Part 1

Module overview

History has a life which stretches far beyond the ivory tower of academia and university study. This module encourages you to reflect on how historians translate academic knowledge into public history. It introduces you to the many different audiences for history and invites you to consider some of the ways in which history is produced for and delivered to these audiences. By considering a range of public history outcomes – such as popular publications, museum displays, exhibitions, podcasts, films, and even video games – you will explore the major strategies and current debates around the practice of public history. And you will also confront some of the practical challenges and ethical dilemmas around the creation of public history. The module will provoke you to think about the relationship between history and its various public(s) in order to understand the complex nature of these audiences. Throughout the module, you will have the opportunity to draw on your own specific historical interests, considering how these topics are presented to a broad range of audiences.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

analyse critically a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources and understand how to present these in an engaging manner.
communicate your understanding of an historical subject to a wide range of audiences.
engage with secondary literature on an historical subject, and contribute to the debates relating to the historiography of that subject in an accessible way.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

select textual, visual and material culture sources as appropriate and use them effectively to explore and explain an historical subject.
explain complex historical questions to a variety of audiences.
utilise and further develop your time-management skills.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

key primary sources relating to an historical subject.
key secondary source material relating to an historical subject.
the history of an historical subject, in particular the way in which such history is conceived by historians.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include lectures and workshops.

Learning methods include close analysis of a range of primary sources and discussion of key themes and ideas.

Study time
Type	Hours
Practical classes and workshops	6
Completion of assessment task	50
Wider reading or practice	32
Preparation for scheduled sessions	50
Lecture	12
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Hilda Kean and Paul Ashton, (eds) (2008). People and Their Pasts: Public History Today. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hilda Kean, Paul Martin, and Sally J. Morgan (eds) (2000). Seeing History: Public History in Britain Now. London: Francis Boutle.

Lowenthal, David (1998). The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. Cambridge: CUP.

Jerome De Groot (2009). Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture. London: Routledge.

Lowenthal, David (1985). The Past is a Foreign Country. Cambridge: CUP.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	60%
Written assignment	40%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	60%
Written assignment	40%