Understanding History and Society

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• formulate and clarify critical questions informed by theoretical approaches pertinent to the study of cities
• apply knowledge, understanding and critical analysis to readings of the city
• define present and exemplify concepts relating to the subject

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• communicate effectively and confidently both orally and in writing
• produce academic writing to required conventions
• work with a range of sources taking accurate notes and keeping records
• set and monitor goals reflecting on your own learning and learning form feedback

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• the ways in which historical and national narratives are told by monumental and representational cultures of cities.
• How key notions such as ‘nation’, ‘class’, ‘race’, ‘gender’ ‘culture’, or ‘history’ are formed, represented and reproduced in a metropolitan context.
• Cities as micro-sites of historical, social political and linguistic developments and conflicts that have national and/or transnational significance.
• How cosmopolitanism and diversity are expressed in urban environments.

The module will introduce you to studying questions of history, society and culture through the prism of the city locally in order to be able to analyse cities at global level. The module will use the example of Southampton and other UK cities for the purposes of the research task and you will be able to apply the relevant theories and approaches to global cities such as Madrid, Paris and Berlin in the essay. The module explores cities as sites of national identity and conflict and of wider transnational and global links. Whilst the weekly lectures focus in the main on Southampton and UK cities, references will be made to cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin and Mexico City and you will have the opportunity to explore those urban centres in more depth through the essay. We will examine linguistic practices, cultural products and sites through which cities are represented and through which issues of urban identity and politics are expressed (e.g. film, photography, monuments, architecture). In addition we will look at metropolitan cultures as subjects of cultural theory and read some key theoretical texts on issues such as the modern city, cities as sites of linguistic diversity, cosmopolitanism, urban cultures, the global city, space, segregation and inequality.

Teaching methods include:

Lectures introducing the key topics

Small group seminars to discuss primary sources and secondary readings

Individual essay tutorials

Learning activities include:

Close analysis of using and evaluating primary and secondary historical texts

Extensive reading of secondary and theoretical literature

Summative

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

Referral

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

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.