Globalisation: History, Politics, Culture BA(Hons)

Course structure 

You will be taught in small, participatory seminar groups to foster skills in oral presentation, debating and listening. Every seminar is supported by a preceding lecture.

Your academic work will be supported by workshops that develop your academic and independent research skills.

Year 1
All degrees within the humanities programme area share a first year. Students take six modules that develop the skills central to our courses. These include topics such as global society, historical inquiry, cultures, and democracy.

Year 2 
In year 2, students choose two option pathways to follow for the rest of the degree. Pathways are sets of modules in a specialised area that enable a deep, critical engagement with the subject. 

Final year
Students complete their year 2 option pathways and undertake a dissertation project . Project findings are presented in an oral exam that tests skills of presentation, communication, discussion and debate. 

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through Student View.

Year 1

In year 1 you take six modules that help develop the skills central to your course.

Modules

• Historical Inquiry

  This module will introduce you to the practice of historical inquiry through an exploration of various approaches to the study of crisis and conflict in the mid-twentieth century. You will explore the dilemmas that the study of conflict poses for global and transnational history; the impact of war and crisis on social, gender and race relations, and the international order; and the ways in which memories of this period act in the contemporary world.

• Globalisation, Conflict and the Environment

  This module introduces key concepts, theories and questions in international relations and global studies. You will interrogate and evaluate the political implications of different approaches for the study of key aspects of our contemporary world. You will explore how concepts and theories are applied to contested global issues, such as environmental sustainability and war/conflict. 

• Studying Cultures

  This module introduces fundamental concepts and methods in cultural studies. Through a case study of Britain in the counter-cultural period of 1968–74, you will explore conflicts involving questions of ‘race’, national identity, gender, class and youth. Focusing on the distinction between lived cultures and cultural texts, you will relate the practices and values of everyday life to the workings of ideology within narrative forms including girls’ magazines, a novel by Angela Carter and a James Bond film.

• Democracy

  This module introduces you to the histories and contexts within which the concept and practice of democracy developed. You will study classical, republican, liberal, anarchist, Marxist, communitarian and global conceptualisations of democracy, in each case examining their relevance to our current political circumstances. You will explore the cultural preconditions for democratic freedoms and the representation of democratic values in different social and political movements.

• Philosophical Inquiry

  This module introduces you to key topics in philosophy. Studying moral and political philosophy will enable you to explore questions such as How can I act ethically? and Could a more equal society be built? Philosophy of science and epistemology will empower you to interrogate arguments behind various truth claims encountered today. You will explore Plato, Hume, Kant, Utilitarianism; inquire into the nature of art and freedom; and interrogate philosophy’s historical complicity in sexism and racism.

• The Politics of Representation

  This module introduces you to political, historical and structural approaches to the study of narrative and representation. You will critically reflect upon how the stories we encounter construct particular visions of our world. Focusing on issues of narrative, ideology, language and semiotics, you will explore textual and visual forms, including television and film, news media, the internet, imaginative fiction and photography.

Year 2

In year 2 you will choose two option pathways to follow for the rest of your degree – one specialist pathway from the named degree and one from the wider humanities programme. As well as the pathways, you’ll take core modules and start the research for your final-year dissertation project.

Core modules
Critical Traditions in Western Thought 1 and 2 explore some of the key debates and concepts in history, culture, politics, and philosophy since the Enlightenment.

Option pathways 
Choose one specialist pathway from:

• Globalisation, History and Identity
  What does it mean to think about contemporary globalisation historically? You will be introduced to conceptual, political and cultural debates concerning migration, cultural identity and racism in the contemporary global world. You'll also explore these issues in their links to the longer history of Western imperialism and anticolonial resistance in contexts such as North Africa and the Middle East.

• Global Politics
  You will study key global political processes that shape the world today. You will also develop your understanding of the politics of international development, exploring poverty reduction, fair trade, and the relationship between conflict, international security and development.

• Contemporary Global Challenges
  How do international institutions and social movements respond to global challenges including social justice, climate change, democracy and gender equality? You will explore power inequalities in contemporary international relations, and look at practices of global resistance, drawing on case studies in twenty-first century Brazilian and/or Bolivian, Palestinian and Egyptian politics, as well as transnational feminist movements.

Watch this film about the Globalisation, History and Identity pathway – click on the YouTube logo to watch other films about modules within the Humanities programme area.

And one from the wider humanities programme – you will either follow this option for all of year 2 or you can choose the Humanities Placement: Active Citizenship module and study the option pathway for a semester:

• War, Violence and Mass Killing
• Politics of the Past
• Politics, History and Ideology
• Race and Resistance
• Self and Society
• Culture and Conflict
• Terror and Terrorism
• Literature, History and Social Change
• Critical Theory and Radical Politics
• Morality, Politics and the Good Life
• Philosophy and Literature 
• Radical Histories

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Placement

During your second year you can choose to take the Active Citizenship module. This is a 50-hour professional work placement at a not-for-profit organisation.

Your placement could be at a local charity, a non-governmental organisation or a community organisation. Students have taken roles at organisations including Art in Mind, Pathways to Independence and Screen Archive South East.

The university’s Active Student service will help you to find the right placement opportunity, and you will be offered support in putting together your application and your CV and cover letter.

You will have fortnightly academic seminars where you reflect on the links between academic theory and practice, and on the skills you have developed on placement.

Final year

In your final year, you continue studying your option pathways developing and extending the work started in year 2,  inviting deeper engaged reflection through seminar discussion and coursework essays on the broader themes you have examined.

You will also complete and submit a dissertation, drawing on your subject knowledge and research method skills, as you develop your own extended critical response to your chosen topic. You also take part in an oral exam: drawing from a theme in your dissertation, you will prepare and deliver a presentation and take questions. In doing so you demonstrate your presentation, communication, discussion and debate skills.

Specialist option pathways

• Refugees and Forced Migration
  After analysing the significance of nation-state borders, you will investigate the global challenge of refugees and forced migration. Focusing on the post-2015 ‘refugee crisis' in Europe, you will gain a rich understanding of European histories of refugeedom and migration; the global causes of forced migration; the experiences of the recent refugees at different points of the journeys; and political responses to the recent arrivals.

• Globalisation, History and Identity
  You will explore in depth two key historical foundations of modern globalisation. The first is concerned with Atlantic slavery and its impact on African and Caribbean societies. The second analyses the ways in which a European colonial worldview shaped the imagining of a global world structured along intersecting relations of race and gender.
• The Crisis of Global Governance
  You will gain an in depth understanding of two key contemporary global issues: global environmental politics, and human rights and humanitarian intervention. In addition to analysing international action on climate change, you will assess the response of the international community to mass human rights violations in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.

Meet the team

Our staff are widely published experts in global politics, history and cultural studies. You will be designated a personal tutor (normally the same throughout the degree) with whom you will meet regularly to discuss your academic progress.

Dr Deborah Madden, course leader
Deborah is an historian of cultural and intellectual history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Her research focuses on the relationship between religion, medicine and education. She is working on a book that examines medical missions and missionary education across the British Empire, which also explores imperial sites of memory and postcolonial heritage. Read Deborah's full profile.

Dr Robin Dunford
Robin is a leading expert on human rights, contemporary conflict and humanitarian intervention. Robin’s latest book on the international Responsibility to Protect civilians includes analysis of international responses to human rights violations in Libya, Yemen and Syria. He teaches on human rights, humanitarian intervention, and on the links between conflict, security and development. Read Robin's full profile.

Dr Julia Hartviksen works on human rights, conflict and security and Latin American politics. Julia’s fieldwork in Guatemala looked in particular at feminist and decolonial approaches to conflict and insecurity. She teaches on gender and world politics, human rights, resource extraction, and environmental politics.

Dr Christian Hogsbjerg’s teaching relates the history of the African diaspora with respect to how 'slave-powered globalisation' shaped the Caribbean region. He has specialist research interests in the resulting struggles against racism, slavery and colonialism (including the Haitian Revolution) and ideas of ‘black internationalism’. Read Christian's full profile.

Dr Vas Leontitsis’ research areas cover new regionalism, post-development, the European Union and Greek politics. He is currently leading a project on the integration of migrants and refugees in Greece. He teaches global environmental politics, development, and international relations theory. Read Vas's full profile.

Dr Anita Rupprecht’s interdisciplinary teaching and research interests relate to the global histories and legacies of transatlantic enslavement, resistance, piracy and Empire. She is also interested in the politics of cultural memory, reparative justice and colonial and postcolonial Caribbean literatures. Read Anita's full profile.

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Course fees

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The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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