History

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Ben Marsden

Pre-requisites

Available only at level 5

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to historical research.

Notes

Overview

The course will emphasise historiographic issues, using numerous examples and case studies to illustrate them. The issues will include questions of religion, spatial location, political orientation, reform and reaction, popularisation and professionalisation, and literary representation, and 'trust'. The case studies will include evolution before and after Darwin, the fashioning of scientific 'lives', and the implementation of particular nineteenth-century technologies.

Structure

10 x 2 hour seminars

Assessment

100% continuous assessment (90% - 1 x 5000 word essay; 10% - tutorial participation)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Ralph O'Connor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

The written literatures of mediaeval Iceland and Ireland represent the richest body of textual evidence we have for the beliefs and customs of pre-Christian Europe. This course will explore how mediaeval Irish and Icelandic saga-authors presented and imagined the pagan past from a Christian perspective, looking back several centuries into a world which was both familiar and alien, terrible and admirable. Particular attention will be paid to tales of Otherworld voyages, heathen magic and the conversion to Christianity. The historical functions of these narratives in their authors’ own times will be considered, and the question of cultural exchange between these two bodies of narrative will be addressed.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (one 4,000-word essay – 80%; 1,000-word seminar paper – 20%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

N/A

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 - 20,000 words.

Structure

4 X 1 hour supervision sessions in total.

Assessment

Continuous Assessment - dissertation (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Marjorie Harper

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme year 5

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Notes

Overview

Between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries migrants from Ireland and Scotland settled in a range of different environments in Europe, North America, Australasia, India, South Africa and South America. This course will examine the history of Irish and Scottish overseas settlement in a broad comparative context, providing the opportunity to explore the multiplicity and complexity of the emigrant experience. Theories of ethnicity, diaspora and nationalism will assist in determining whether, and under what conditions, those of Irish and Scottish origin came to see themselves as part of an ethnic “diaspora”. This will lead into a consideration of whether Irish and Scottish overseas communities shared similar experiences of modernity, empire and migration, or whether their experiences were fundamentally different.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

5,000 word essay 90%; tutorial participation 10%

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Ms Patricia Clarke

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course aims to enable students to analyse simple Latin sentences and stories, make effective use of Latin dictionaries and grammars, and apply their grammatical, lexical and analytical skills to translate simple Latin texts and stories.

Structure

One 1-hour and one 2-hour session per week for 12 weeks

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) consisting of 2 language exercises

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr A Mackillop

Pre-requisites

Available only to student in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

Either HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course will examine the nature of Scottish involvement in the Empire of the East India Company. Making use of extensive, unpublished archival material, issues for consideration include the commercial, military and medical activities of Scots in the East India Company; cultural interaction between Scots and the indigenous population; comparisons with English and Irish activity in the Company; and the impact on Scotland of those who returned from India, highlighting their often controversial involvement in local and national politics and their plans for economic development of their Scottish estates.

Structure

1 x 2 hour seminar per week for 10 weeks

Assessment

3,00 word essay (50%); 1,000 word book review (20%); 1,000 word primary source analysis (20%); 500 word comparative review (10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr. William Naphy

Pre-requisites

Available ony to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

Either HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course will consider the impact of the importation of ideas about Christianity from the wider Reformed world and their implementation in early modern Scotland. Particular attention will be given to traditional, pre-Reformation practices relating to healing (relics, holy sites, 'magical' cures, etc.), the transitions of life (birth, marriage, death, burial, and commemoration) and wider ideas about 'the world' (the role, place and power of the demonic, angelic and prophetic). Specific areas for examination may include: James VI and his ideas; the North Berwick witch trials; Aberdeenshire witchcraft; feasting & celebrating. Special attention will be given to popular and elite attitudes to traditional practices, superstition, 'latent' Catholicism (and recusancy) and the 'politics' of implementing the Reformation.

Structure

1 x 2 hour seminar per week for 10 weeks

Assessment

100% continuous assessment: seminar paper (50%); critique of papers (20%); book review (10%); comparative review (10%); seminar participation (10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Professor D Dumville and/or Professor J Stevenson

Pre-requisites

Only available to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Notes

Overview

Weeks 1-5: Theory and methods of palaeography
Weeks 6-10: Transcription of a series of script-specimens, with weekly homework exercises

Structure

Two 1 hour classes per week.

Assessment

One 2 hour written examination (40%); continuous assessment (5 transcription exercises) (60%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

TBC

Pre-requisites

Available to student in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

Students will participate in semininars with medievalists currently working in different disciplines within the Schools of History, Divinity & Philosophy and Language and Literature. In each seminar a member of staff will introduce a piece of their own work (that has been pre-circulated), explain the way in which it was developed, the theoretical and methodological techniques applied, the kinds of sources used, and its relationship to more general interpretative traditions. The presenter will then invite students to discuss and critique the work as a group. In this way, students will gain first-hand experience of the writing of different kinds of medieval scholarship.

Structure

10 X 2 hour seminars

Assessment

Continuous Assessment (100%: 1 x 5,000 word essay (90%); and tutorial participation (10%),

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Frederik Pedersen

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5.

Notes

Overview

Through a study of the development of ecclesiastical courts, placing the development of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the wider frame of Western society, analysis will be made of the role of the bishop and the development of officials who assisted him in the care of his diocese and in the dispensation of justice. An integral part of this process will be an investigation of the limits to ecclesiastical justice. The course will also discuss the role of procedure in the conduct of cases before ecclesastical courts and matters with which these courts dealt, with special emphasis on England.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Tony Heywood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

Either HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

Why did the Russian empire succumb to revolution in 1917? This fundamental question of twentieth-century history is explored through analysis of key debates concerning the empire's final crisis. The course makes particular reference to the impacts of the 1905 revolution and the First World War. It encompasses foreign policy as well as the domestic situation, and includes extended discussion of selected prominent individuals such as Tsar Nicholas II and Petr Stolypin (Prime Minister, 1906-11)

Structure

Introductory session, followed by one two-hour tutorial per week for nine weeks.

Assessment

4,000 word essay (80%); 2x500 word book reviews (10%+10%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

TBC.

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Notes

Overview

This course uses a selection of specialised studies of key historical episodes in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Ireland to highlight: (a) the emergence and development of constitutional, cultural and militant nationalism; (b) the emergence and development of constitutional and militant unionism; (c) the changing nature of Anglo-Irish relations.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

Continuous Assessment (100%) 60% - 3,000 word essay; 30% - 1,500 word seminar paper; 10% - 500 word book review

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

TBC.

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

Either HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research or EL5013 Research Methods in Language and Linguistics

Notes

Overview

This course examines developments in Ireland, both North and South of the border, from the outbreak of the Troubles in 1968 until the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. The first half of the course focuses on competing political interpretations (Unionist, Loyalist, Nationalist, Republican and Marxist etc), and the interrelationship between Ireland, Scotland, England, Europe and the US. The second half of the course concentrates on how poets, novelists and visual artists have responded to the Troubles. Focusing on key events (Bloody Sunday, the Hunger Strikes, the Anglo-Irish Agreements), this half of the course looks at the use (and abuse) of history as a representational strategy, identity politics, and the role of the artist in a divided society.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

Continuous Assessment (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Karin Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course introduces level 5 students (both taught MLitt and research students) to the opportunities for historical research in Aberdeen, conventions of historical work, IT, bibliographical tools, text preparation, access to sources, databases and libraries, and prepares them for their own work on their dissertation and archival research. The core of the course is built around contact with several historians and archivists, who introduce students to techniques, tools, and approaches which they can then apply to their own special period, subject area and types of history. Several sessions will concentrate on interdisciplinary approaches which can be profitably combined with historical work, the use of visual sources, useful hints about weights, measures and calendars, the role of material culture and museums, electronic aids and the art of bibliographic construction. Students will learn from each other in groups sessions with presentations and specialist advice on their topics

Structure

10 x two-hour seminars

Assessment

100% continuous assessment

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Karin Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research or CU5004 Approaches to Culture

Notes

Overview

This course examines the emergence and the variations of Enlightenment thinking in Scotland and Central Europe (with particular emphasis on the German and East Central European Enlightenment, to which the Scottish Enlightenment had strong historical links). It emphasises the varieties of the European Enlightenment, against the traditional assumption that the Enlightenment was exclusively 'located' in France. It looks at the definition and the shaping of Enlightenment thought and practice (learned societies, reading clubs, social reform movements, education, freemasonry etc) at the 'peripheries' of an allegedly French-dominated Enlightenment culture (recently re-affirmed by Robert Darnton) by comparing and contrasting various theoretical and practical strands. It invites students to think critically about historiographical debates and to develop skills in using, speaking and writing about theoretical concepts in a clear, comprehensible manner. Seminar topics will focus on major figures and personalities of the Scottish and European Enlightenment, on 'The Catholic Enlightenment', on Enlightenment in practice, 'Enlightenment as Secularisation?', and other themes.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Essay (70%); comparative review (20%); oral presentation (10%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Karen Bek-Pedersen.

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

Content: This course will provide students with an introduction to, overview of, and engagement with, the key methods and generic, transferable, and foundational skills necessary to conduct research at a graduate level in Scandinavian Studies; specialised ‘themed’ work on different chronological periods targeted at the student’s area of interest; presentational skills; editing and writing.

Structure

Teaching: 10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Assessment: continuous assessment 100% (one 5,000-word essay – 100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Clare Downham

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Notes

Overview

This is an interdisciplinary study of the turbulent Viking Age, and of the impact that the aggressive clash as well as the more peaceful contact between cultures had on British and Irish society. The course will be themed by region looking at Vikings' relations with the Anglo-Saxons, Gaels, Britons and Picts up to the reign of Cnut (d.1035). Special attention will be given to the development of Viking colonial identity and the cultural and religious influences which Britain and ireland brought to Scandinavia and Iceland.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

1 x 5,000-word essay (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Tarrin Wills

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

Old Norse is the direct ancestor of modern Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese. It was the lingua franca of Viking-Age Scandinavia, and had a lasting impact on the development of the English language. It was also the primary literary language of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, notably the Icelandic sagas and skaldic and eddic poems. It is, hence, the gateway to a fuller understanding of mediaeval Scandinavia, the “Latin” of the North. This course will provide the basic linguistic tools needed to read Old Norse texts, and some background about the history of the language and its links with other languages. No prior knowledge of Old Norse is assumed.
Mediaeval Scandinavia’s most enduring contribution to world literature is represented by the Icelandic prose sagas and eddic poems. Terse, dramatic and brilliantly imaginative, the sagas tell stirring stories of legendary warriors, the kings of Norway, and events of the Viking Age including the settlement of Iceland and other migrations. The eddic poems, some of which may have been composed in the pre-Christian period, hark back to an earlier age of mythological and legendary history, recounting the Norse creation-myth an heroic exploits. Focusing on key texts in English translation, this course will introduce these various genres; no prior knowledge is assumed. It will also introduce the third major Old Norse literary form, skaldic verse, whose intricate patterns of mythological imagery conceal information about key events in the Viking Age.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (3,000-word essay – 60%; plus eight 10-minute language exercises – 40%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Prof. Mario Biagioli

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course examines some of the many aspects of the so-called “scientific revolution” across disciplines and national boundaries, paying considerable attention to its intellectual, institutional, religious, gender, material, and methodological dimensions. It covers the work of canonical figures such as Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton, but also patronage dynamics, the place of science at court, the relationship between science and humanism, the emergence of museums and academies, the sites of scientific practice, networks of communication, material culture, the role of artisans, women, and instrument makers, and the development of scientific publications.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (5,000-word essay – 100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Gregory Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053: Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course explores why and how the British Government decided to establish a colony in Australia, and it examines the issues of gender and racial formation in colonial society. The course will focus on: the rationale for settlement; convict life; encounters with Aborigines; female workhouses and the 'problem' of prostitution; missionaries; self-government; the Gold Rush and Chinese immigration; the development of Australian nationalism; federation; the 'white Australia policy'.

Structure

Ten 2-hour seminars (to be arranged).

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) - 1 x 3,000 word essay (60%), 1 x 2,000 word annotated bibliography (40%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Gregory Smithers

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053: Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course explores why Europeans colonized North America and how Native American peoples responded to different forms of colonialism. The focus of this course will be on: the rationale and types of colonialism in North America; encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples; the meaning of a 'middle ground'; missionaries and Indians; Indian slavery; removal and resistance; the question of genocide; assimilation and acculturation.

Structure

Ten 2-hour seminars (to be arranged).

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) - 1 x 3,000 word essay (60%), 1 x 2,000 word annotated bibliography (40%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Andrew Dilley

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053: Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

After an initial introductory session, the course will involve an examination of both secondary material and, where possible, relevant primary texts. Broadly the first half of the course will focus more upon the period c1850-1914, while the second will move on to consider broader parallels and the interwar years. Weekly reading will focus upon broad themes in Anglo-Dominion relations, while as the course progresses students will develop an increasing appreciation of the ways in which these themes interrelate and evolved, drawing out the full complexity of the processes underlying an important historical relationship.

Structure

Ten 2-hour seminars.

Assessment

Continuous assessment: essay (70%), and comparative review (30%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Andrew Dilley

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053: Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

Through the course, students will focus on a number of key debates or approaches. Each session will focus on a key author, or set of authors. Possible sessions include: 'classical' theories of imperialism, the imperialism of free trade, gentlemanly captialism, orientalism, subaltern studies, new imperial history, agency and resistance, post-colonial theory, and the 'British World'. Normally focusing on particular authors, the emphasis will be on understanding and critiquing the key concepts within each approach, comparing and contrasting these approaches, and considering how they may be applied in practice.

Structure

Ten 2-hour seminars.

Assessment

Continuous assessment - essay (60%), critical review (20%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Karen Bek-Pedersen

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Notes

Overview

What is 'Old Norse Mythology'? this course intriduces students to a range of methodologies and sources through which Vikingg Religion and Mythology can be analysed, focusing primarily on the early medieval manuscript sources. The specific challenges associated with each topic will be discussed, as will the benefits and limitations of particular forms of evidence and the approaches they call for.

Structure

10 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Jackson Armstrong

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Notes

Overview

The lay ruling elite in late medieval England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland was a diverse group numbering well into the tens of thousands, but one which shared a personal stake in the governance of society. They also shared common cultural aspects, chiefly participation in chivalric and courtly life. This course seeks to explore the contours of their elite culture. This includes themes of linguistic and ethnic diversity, education, literacy, personal piety and relations with the church, recreation and patronage of arts, literature and music, and the significance of knighthood, heraldry and pageantry. It also takes in political culture and the different nature of their roles in various parts of the British Isles. It will search for the links among various sub-groups in the Isles, and abroad to Continental Europe.

Structure

10 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Andrew Newby

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053: Introduction to Historical Research.

Notes

Overview

This course explores the history and the historiography of coal miners in Scotland, placing them in a national and international context. An indicative course content would be as follows:

1. Introduction/sources
2. Collier Serfdom: pessimistic vs. optimistic accounts
3. Women and children in the collieries - the Coal Mines Act (1842)
4. Early combination and trade unionism
5. Coal, (im)migration and sectarianism in Scotland
6. Capital and Labour 1888-1926
7. War and nationalisation
8. Decline and fall - 1970s to the present
9. Heritage industry: case study of the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange or another industrial heritage site
10. Mining communities (i) social problems and "regeneration" in post-industrial Scotland
11. Mining communities (ii) global - Modern China/Ukraine/USA etc

Structure

Ten 2-hour seminars (to be arranged).

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) - 1 x 3,000 word essay (60%), 1 x 2,000 word annotated bibliography (40%).

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Professor Jane Stevenson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

Students will be trained in skills and techniques for reading a range of medieval and early modern manuscripts. Elements of the course will be tailred to the chronological and generic interests of individual students.

Students will become familiar with:

- major developments in script history
- different styles of handwriting
- commonly used abbreviations and contractions
- the terminology used to decribe script forms and styles

They will be able to read a range of vernacular manuscripts relevant to their field of interest.

Session 1: Palaeography: Theory and Method.
Sessions 2 - 20: Transcription of a series of manucripts, with weekly homework exercises.

Structure

2 x 1-hour seminars per week for 10 weeks.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%: 8 transcription exercises, 12.5% each).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Jackson Armstrong

Pre-requisites

Programme year 5 or above.

Notes

Overview

To develop advanced research skills through historical analysis of the nature and exercise lordship, the judicial system, and mechanisms of conflict management in late medieval Scotland, by the evaluation of scholarly debates and the critical examination of primary sources.

The course will contain debate over the extent and role of violent feuding among the nobility, and the relationship between the crown and its magnates, has been fundamental to a generation of scholarship on late medieval Scotland. Focusing especially on the fifteenth century, this course explores the nature and exercise of lordship, changes in and uses of the judicial system, and diverse mechanisms of conflict management, all of which shaped the governance of the realm. evaluating evidence such as bonds of manrent, arbitration and marriage contracts, legal and parliamentary records, and chronicles, the course will examine the roles of law, violence and peacemaking in structuring society. Students will be encouraged to assess the strengths and limits of the existing framework of historical analysis.

Structure

10 two-hour seminars.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) (1x 500-word book review(10%); 1x 1,500 word seminar paper (30%); 1x 3000 word essay (60%)).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Andrew G. Newby

Pre-requisites

Programme Year 5 or above.

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research or CU5001 Approaches to Culture.

Notes

Overview

This course has been developed in collaboration with colleagues at the Centre of Nordic Studies (University of Helsinki) and the Nordeurope-institut (Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin). It employs an innovative module/web-ct based teaching delivery (using web-ct based texts, tailor-made introductory essays and asynchronous discussion threads), with colleagues and students from each of the three participating institutions interacting with each other (through the medium of English). As part of a broader, research-led, examination of the place of Scotland within Scadanavian/Nordic cultural zone, this course examines both internal and external perceptions of 'the North' from Tacitus to the present day, using a selection of readings each week to illustrate broader themes. The outline is as follows:

1. Pre-modern (pre-Rudbech/Scheffer) depictions of 'the North', with particular reference to Tacitus
2. Montesquieu and Climate Theory
3. The impact of Ossian
4. 'The North' in Art, with particular reference to National Romantic movements in Europe
5. J.G. Herder and his followers
6. Travel Literature (Arcebi and afterwards)

Structure

10 one-hour seminars, plus ten one-hour interactive tutorials.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) (1x 4000-word essay (80%); 1x 1000 word book review (20%)).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Thomas Weber

Pre-requisites

Programme Year 5 or above.

Overview

This course looks at the historical political transformation process towards democracy from the age of the French and American revolutions to the present. Its approach is both comparative and global and it is based on the reading and discussion of classic and modern works. It introduces students to key theories of democratization and tests them against the historical reality.
Weekly sessions will revolve around themes related to these questions: Why did democracy (re-)emerge as such a successful political ideology in the 18th and 19th c. in the West? Why have political regimes changed over time? How did the West, and then 'the rest' democratize? Have industrialization and modernization been the engines of democratization? What have been the social origins of democratization? Through what institutions have democratization been brought about? How do we account for the fact that democratization has sometimes been generated by revolutionary change and other times through a gradual process of reform? How has the process of diffusion of democratization worked? In other words, how has the 'third wave' of democratization learned the lessons of the two previous waves? Is the claim that democracies do not go to war with each other supported by the historical facts? How do we account for the crisis of liberal democracy in the period of the two world wars? What are the parallels of the fall of democracy in Germany and Brazil? What explains the uneven history of democracy within Europe and North America and within the developing world? What has been the relationship between democratization, state building, public policy, and imperialism in the extra-European world? Have Wilsonian ideas provided stability or instability in Europe and the developing world? What has been the link between democratization and humanitarian interventionism? Is there now a global competition between two versions of a modern political economy, one liberal and democratic and the other authoritarian? Is Francis Fukuyama's End of History nigh? The course concludes with a discussion of what the start of the art of political history now is and asks why so much political history has recently been practiced by scholars from disciplines other than history?

Structure

10 two-hour seminars (to be arranged).

Assessment

100% continuous assessment (60% - 3,000 word essay; 30% - three 500 word response papers to weekly readings; 10% - seminar participation).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Caroline Erskine

Pre-requisites

Programme Year 5 or above.

Overview

The purpose of this module is to explore the significance of the Reformation in reshaping the ways in which Protestant Scots, Englishmen and Irishmen perceived themselves, and the extent to which such self-definitions promoted or challenged ideas of British religious unity and integration. It spans the period from the Reformations of the sixteenth century to the partial consolidation of a British Protestant stage in the eighteenth century. Central themes will include the impact of religious identities upon political ideas and developments, and the Stuart monarchy as a force for integration, or the provocation of conflict, over three centuries.

Structure

10 two-hour seminars (to be arranged).

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Professor Allan Macinnes

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

None

Overview

Jacobitism was a major factor in Scottish politics for almost six decades after the deposition of James VII in 1689, yet appears to have diminished in Ireland as a military and political force during the 1690s. However, Ireland retained a cultural vibrancy and optimism with regard to Jacobitism which was viewed increasingly pessimistically, even fatalistically, in Scotland. This course examines the apparent paradox of Jacobitism as a national endeavour in both countries. Use will be made of Gaelic as well as English sources to establish whether Jacobitism attained the status of a movement in Scotland while remaining a cause in Ireland. Particular reference will be made to the rich collection of Jacobite materials in Special Collections and the Library.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Professor D Dumville

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

1. Practical work with script-specimens, with weekly homework exercises
2. Practical work with manuscripts held by Aberdeen University Library, with a physical description to be written
3. Study of script history

Structure

Two 1-hour classes per week.

Assessment

One 2-hour written examination (40%), continuous assessment (10 practical script and manuscript exercises) (60%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Patricia Clark

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course aims to enable students to read and analyse medieval Latin texts, make effective use of Latin dictionaries, and apply their grammatical, lexical and analytical skills to translate medieval Latin. By the end of this course students should be able to translate medieval Latin texts and stories at a level of difficulty corresponding to St John’s Gospel.

Structure

4 hours per week for 7.5 or 8 weeks.

Assessment

3-hour exam (100%)

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Prof David Dumville

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5, with a basic knowledge of Latin

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

Students will be introduced to different styles of handwriting used in the writing of different types of later medieval and early modern documents. They will be trained to identify commonly used abbreviations and contractions. Throughout an emphasis will be placed on practical exercises in transcription. Documents considered will be in Latin.

Structure

1 x 1.5 hour seminar per week for 10 weeks.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) Weekly language exercises

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Dr C Downham

Pre-requisites

Available only to student in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

Medieval Studies Dissertation II: Research and Writing

Notes

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with the member of staff best equipped to advise the student on her / his dissertation topic. It will involve detailed and critical discussion of primary and secondary materials suited to the research interests of the student (as developed over the preceding semester) with the aim of providing the student with the fullest preparation for researching and writing the dissertation in the summer and research beyond.

Structure

6 X 1 hour supervision sessions per fortnight

Assessment

Continuous assessment - annotated bibliography (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Ben Marsden

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Overview

This course will provide students with an introduction to, overview of, and engagement with, the key skills necessary to conduct research at a graduate level in the history and philosophy of science. In particular the course will focus on specific issues especially relevant for writing generally and dissertation preparation specifically: historiography; source-handling; analysis; construction of arguments; synthesis of ideas.

Structure

One two-hour seminar per week for 10 weeks.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) comprising:
(a) topic proposal and schedule, c. 1000 words (20%);
(b) dissertation and review, c. 1250 words (25%);
(c) historiographical and methodological review, c. 1250 words (25%);
(d) dissertation outline, c 1500 words (30%).

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Aly Macdonald

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

none

Notes

Overview

This course seeks to examine, by the use of a range of source materials, the relationship between war and society in medieval Scotland. Students will be invited to consider whether war acted as a significant agent of change in medieval Scotland and what the organisation and conduct of warfare tells us about the nature of Scottish government. The relationship between war and senses of identity will be explored, as will the impact of frequent war in the Scottish borders. Martial and chivalric culture will be examined; so will the impact of war on normally non-combatant groups such as women and the clergy. These themes will be considered in the light of recent international research into medieval war and society.

Structure

10 x 2 hour seminars

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (3,000 word essay 60%; 1,000 word book review 20%; 1,000 word primary source evaluation 20%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Prof. Robert Frost

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

HI 5053

Notes

Overview

This course will examine a social group long condemned as declining and decaying in the modern age but which recent research has increasingly revealed as a dynamic force in Europe throughout the early modern period and long after the French Revolution. The landed elites of Europe faced new challenges in the early modern period, from above in the shape of the state, and from below in the shape of challenges from new and larger urban elites, and from an increasingly diversified rural society. Yet across the continent, nobilities and nobles adjusted with some success to the challenges of the period, and the eighteenth century was something of a golden age. This course will examine concepts of nobility and the social position of the British and European landowning elites of the early modern period, beginning with the refinement of the nature of nobility in the Renaissance, and ending with the fundamental changes unleashed by the Enlightenment and French Revolution. It looks at an order which, across the continent, differed widely in composition and juridical position, and is conceived as thematic and comparative. It will explore the great diversity of the landed and noble elites of Europe, looking at their economic base, their corporate identity and self-image, their ideology and political activity, their cultural life and their interaction with other social groups.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (one 5,000-word essay – 100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Michael Brown

Pre-requisites

none

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Notes

Overview

This course examines the origins of Irish nationalism, culminating in the Young Irelanders of the 1840s. It uncovers how the Enlightenment relates to the age of ideologies, and how nationalist movements emerged in the 19th century. It provides a case study of emergent European nationalist ideologies and interrogates the validity of theoretical models for nationalism. It invites students to think critically about historiographical debates and concepts. Seminar topics include 'Colonial nationalism', Jonathan Swift, the antiquarian movement and the 1798 Rebellion. Underpinning these are current theoretical debates conducted by Benedict Anderson, Ernst Gellner, Adrian Hastings and Anthony D. Smith, among others.

Structure

10 x 2-hour seminars

Assessment

1 x 5,000-word essay (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Prof David Dumville

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Notes

Overview

This course focuses on the changing nature (in genre and approach) of historiography over time and the culturally specific nature of the activity. It looks at the very different kinds of evidence presented by historical writing, and the different types of qustions asked in historical writing.

Structure

20 x 1-hour seminars (2 per week for 10 weeks)

Assessment

1 x 5000-word essay (100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

TBC.

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course will provide students with an introduction to, overview of, and engagement with, the key skills necessary to conduct historical research at a graduate level. In particular the course will focus on certain specific issues especially relevant for writing generally and dissertation preparation specifically: historiography; source-handling; analysis; construction of arguments; synthesis of ideas.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100%.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Heywood

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course will provide students with an introduction to, overview of, and engagement with, the key skills necessary to conduct historical research at a graduate level. In particular the course will focus on certain specific issues especially relevant for writing generally and dissertation preparation specifically: historiography; source-handling; analysis; construction of arguments; synthesis of ideas.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100%.

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Prof. Stefan Brink

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

The Germanic languages have an obvious common background, which can be seen by the runic inscription in the Germanic (Old) Futhark. The course will discuss the development and the splitting up of the Proto-Germanic language into the West-, East- and North Germanic dialects. The comparative method will be discussed, and also the role of etymology, for our understanding and reconstruction of an earlier past.

Structure

Five 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (two language exercises)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr Tarrin Wills

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This course provides students with a basic knowledge of two sources that are very important for early Scandinavia, namely the runes and the place names. They are important because we more or less lack written sources. Students will gain a basic insight into runology and toponymy, and will be presented with the latest positions in research in these fields.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (one 5,000-word essay – 100%)

Credit Points

10

Course Coordinator

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with the member of staff best equipped to advise you on your dissertation topic. It will involve detailed and critical discussion of primary and secondary materials suited to your research interests (as developed over the preceding semester) with the aim of providing the fullest preparation for researching and writing the dissertation in the summer and research beyond.

Structure

One-to-one supervision (no scheduled classes)

Assessment

Continuous assessment – 100% (annotated bibliography – 100%)

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

TBC.

Pre-requisites

HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research

Co-requisites

None

Notes

Overview

This module explores the theoretical and methodological implications of varying historical approaches to studying the people of the past. It introduces students to the changing fortunes of the historical actor within the historical project, and to key historiographical debates, such as the value of a materialist or a discursive approach to historical enquiry. It examines the consequences of a growing emphasis on subjectivity, identities, and the psyche, and questions whether there is a danger that the actual men and women of history become sidelined in the shift towards discourse and mentalities. Social, cultural, quantitative and psycho-historical approaches to history will be amongst those assessed, with the strengths, limitations and implications of each being explored. Questions will include: what makes each approach distinctive? What are its sources? How might this influence the framing of research questions? How does an emphasis on representation or experience change or challenge interpretation? Can or should these approaches be combined in a more holistic fashion? Seminar topics will include: the position of historical actors in research, the rise of social history, the place of quantitative history, the challenge of cultural history, the emergence of identity-based histories of race, class and gender, the development of psychohistory and the possibilities of holistic history. The course invites students to critically engage with historiographical debates and to consider how differing approaches might shape the way that they approach primary sources, the questions they ask, and the kind of historians they become.

Structure

10 x 2-hour classes

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100% (4,000-word essay – 80%; plus two 500-word book reviews – 20%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 who have successfully completed required level 5 taught courses

Co-requisites

HI5529 Medieval Studies Dissertation I: Sources and Source Criticism

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

4 X 1 hour supervision sessions in total.

Assessment

Continuous Assessment - dissertation (100%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 who have successfully completed required level 5 taught courses.

Co-requisites

HI5567 Researching in the Early Modern

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

4 x 1 hour supervision sessions in total

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) -dissertation

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 who have successfully completed required level 5 taught courses

Co-requisites

HI5568 Researching in Modern History

Overview

The course consists of one to one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

Assessment

Continuous assessment 100%(Dissertation - 100%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr K Friedrich

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 who have successfully completed required taught level 5 courses

Co-requisites

HI5579 Scandinavian Studies I: Sources and Source Criticism

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

4 X 1 hour supervision sessions in total.

Assessment

Continuous Assessment - 100%: dissertation (100%)

Credit Points

60

Course Coordinator

Dr Ben Marsden

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 5 or above.

Overview

The course consists of one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. Students will be expected to produce a dissertation of 15,000 words.

Structure

Four 1-hour supervisions.

Assessment

Continuous assessment (100%) - 15,000 word dissertation.