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Being Human: History and the History of Ideas

  • Module code: TBA
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 3
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

Throughout time, people have drawn on history and on ideas to explore, question and record the experience of being human.

This module provides an introduction to the study of that experience, in all its variety. It considers how people, events and ideas, past and present, shape our thinking about society, politics, race, gender, art, culture - and life. It enables students to learn how knowledge and awareness of the past is formed and shaped; how it changes and yet in some ways also remains the same. Students debate and reflect critically on the nature of historical knowledge and how 'history' may differ from 'the past', and they consider the ways in which contemporary cultures and societies are shaped by histories of ideas.

The module draws on a rich store of experience, knowledge and expertise relating to history, philosophy and the history of ideas. It asks students to consider how history relates to memory and how history is used, and mis-used. History is personal and also communal. It is national, international and global. How are all those histories linked? How did people in the past experience things in terms of equality and inequality, in terms of gender, sexuality and race? Why and how was that experience documented, if at all? What can we learn from it?

Artists, writers, historians, philosophers, musicians, filmmakers and journalists: all have responded to those and other questions. For this module we introduce students to a range of texts and other representations, using history and the history of ideas to explore and debate what it means to be human.

Aims

  • To encourage and develop students' knowledge of and interest in philosophy, history and the history of ideas.
  • To enable students' appreciation of interdisciplinary approaches to study of history and the history of ideas.
  • To develop students' interpretative analytical and critical skills through study of texts, representations and other sources.
  • To emphasise to students the importance and value of history and the history of ideas in terms of personal and social knowledge and understanding.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate capacity for independent, reflective and critical learning individually and as part of a group.
  • Describe, explain and communicate orally and in writing knowledge of history and the history of ideas.
  • Display proficiency in locating, researching and using a range of source materials, printed, digital and online.
  • Devise and complete a history and history of ideas personal project in written, practical or other form.

Curriculum content

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate capacity for independent, reflective and critical learning individually and as part of a group.
  • Describe, explain and communicate orally and in writing knowledge of history and the history of ideas.
  • Display proficiency in locating, researching and using a range of source materials, printed, digital and online.
  • Devise and complete a history and history of ideas personal project in written, practical or other form.

Teaching and learning strategy

The module is delivered through weekly two-hour interactive workshops.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Weekly two-hour interactive workshops 44
Guided independent study Guided independent study 256
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

The assessment strategy for the module is designed to test your subject specific skills in both history and philosophy, alongside generic skills in critical reading and writing, handling source material, essay development, and presentation skills. You will complete a short essay of 1500 words in each subject area, and alongside this will undertake a group project that will develop across the course, culmimating in a group presentation. Your activity for this project will be mapped by a critical learning journal of 1000 words which will be completed weekly, supported by the virtual learning environment. Opportunities for formative feedback will be provided regularly in the form of both tutor and peer feedback, both in workshops and during the personal tutorial hour.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
1. Demonstrate capacity for independent, reflective and critical learning individually and as part of a group. Assessed formatively in weekly interactive workshops and summatively through: weekly personal project learning journal (including presentation) and essays.
2. Describe, explain and communicate orally and in writing knowledge of and ideas about history and the history of ideas Assessed formatively in weekly interactive workshops and summatively through: weekly personal project learning journal (including presentation) and essays.
3. Display proficiency in locating, researching and using a range of source materials, printed, digital and online. Assessed formatively in weekly interactive workshops and summatively through: weekly personal project learning journal (including presentation) and essays.
4. Devise and complete a history and history of ideas personal project learning journal. Assessed formatively and summatively through personal project learning journal and presentation.

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Weekly personal project learning journal (including presentation) Coursework 20
Essay Coursework 40
Essay Coursework 40
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

John Tosh, The Pursuit of History, 6th edition (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015).

Bibliography recommended reading

Peter Beck, Presenting History: Past and Present (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

Jeremy Black and Donald M. MacRaild, Studying History, 3rd edition (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Simon Blackburn, Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge I: From Gutenberg to Diderot (Cambridge: Polity, 2000).

Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge II: From the Encyclopaedia to Wikipedia (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2013).

Kurt Danziger, Marking the Mind: A History of Memory (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Mark Donnelly and Claire Norton, Doing History (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011).

Karen Harvey, History and Material Culture: A Student's Guide to Approaching Alternative Sources (Hoboken, NJ: Taylor & Francis, 2013).

Lauren Rabinovitz and Abraham Geil (eds.), Memory Bytes: History, Memory, and Digital Culture (Durham, NC:Duke University Press, 2004).

Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins, A Short History of Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2006).

John Tosh, Why History Matters (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

Karen J. Warren (ed.), An Unconventional History of Western Philosophy: Conversations between Men and Women Philosophers (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).

Katherine Watson (ed.). Assaulting the Past: Violence and Civilization in Historical Context (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2007).

Merry E. Wiesner Hanks (ed.), Gender History: Global Perspectives (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010).

Naomi Zack (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race (Oxford University Press, 2017).

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