Online History 2020-2021

The course provides students with the opportunity to study a broad sweep of Scotland's history in both chronological and thematic terms. Themes offered include: Landscapes and Identities; Government; War and Conflict; Religion; Popular Culture; Mobility; Travel and Tourism; Urban and Rural Life; Highlands and Islands; Scotland and Empire; Education; Housing and Health; National Identities and Imaginations; Environment; Anglo-Scottish Relations; Population; and Literature. 

The course will provide students with an introduction to, overview of, and engagement with, the key skills required to conduct research in archival and library collections at graduate level. It will focus on specific issues especially relevant to the University's Special Collections, the Museum Collection and Aberdeen City and Shire Archives, where students will receive an introduction into the nature of the collections, the way to access online materials relevant to their research, and the principles according to which these archives are structured. It will also address issues relating to overseas archives, and will incorporate an element of training in transcription skills.

The course has a global reach, engaging participants with the motives and experiences of emigrants and sojourners in the Scottish diaspora, and connecting those themes back to Scotland. Topics covered include historiographical debtes; causes and consequences of late eighteenth-century emigration; Highland and Lowland Clearances; the recruitment business; Scots and Native Americans; Religion and Faith in the Diaspora; the Inter-war Exodus; the significance of sojourning; strengths and weaknesses of emigrant testimony as a source; and the diaspora in literature, poetry and popular culture. Depending on students' interests, particular attention may be paid to Scottish settlement and its impact in a particular location, particularly the USA, Canada, New Zealand, or Australia.

This course consists of one-to-one online supervision with a member of staff. It provides students with the opportunity to write an extended, 10,000-word investigation and analysis of a topic selected by the student and approved by the course co-ordinator and supervisor.