History, Literature and Culture BA(Hons)

International equivalencies

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Why study with us?

• 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.

• You will be designated a personal tutor (normally the same throughout the degree) with whom you will meet regularly to discuss your academic progress.

• You will graduate from the course with the critical, analytical and communicative skills essential to joining society and questioning your world.

• Interdisciplinary work enables you to develop the analytical skills from a variety of disciplines and the capacity to apply these to real-world problems.

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

• The student community is diverse and friendly. You will work with and get to know students from other degrees and there are opportunities for activity outside of the curriculum. These include international conferences with world leading experts; publication in the student blog, and in student publications, and participation in Humanities Society events.

Course structure

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 historical and philosophical inquiry, cultures, democracy, narrative and society

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

Final year
Students complete their year 2 option pathways and undertake a dissertation. 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 our applicant portal.

Year 1

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

Historical Inquiry
This module examines the discipline of history, exploring how historical research and debate can us make more critically engaged members of society. You will consider what historical knowledge is, the ways people remember the past, investigate what causes change and considering how we can interpret sources.

Philosophical Inquiry
This module introduces the discipline of philosophy, exploring what philosophy is and what kinds of question it asks. You will explore how philosophy can help us to address the urgent questions of the contemporary world.

Studying Cultures
What is culture? And what does it mean for something to be ‘cultural’? We consider how you can investigate society and evaluate political theories regarding the relationship between politics, power, communities and individuals through the way people live and the artefacts they produce: from novels and magazines, to films and speeches.

Democracy: From Athens to Baghdad
This module will explore how ‘democracy’ is theorised in political and philosophical traditions including Classical philosophy, republicanism, anarchism, liberalism and Marxism.

Approaching Narrative
This module gives you the analytical skills for the study of narratives and other representational forms which are crucial for engaging critically with the world.

Understanding Society in a Global World
On this module you will explore globalisation, while drawing upon the concepts, theories and methods of social science to ask questions about the nature of society in a global world.

Year 2

In year 2 you will choose two option pathways to follow for the rest of your degree – either two of the specialist pathways from the named degree, or one from your named degree and one from the 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 1 and 2 explore some of the key debates and concepts in history, culture, politics, and philosophy since the Enlightenment.  

Option pathways
Either choose two specialist pathways from:

• Fictions in History
  You'll explore the ways in which literary texts negotiate, reflect or subvert dominant meanings and narratives in relation to key historical moments. You will engage theoretical debates and develop analytical skills required for literary analysis via an exploration of ‘Victorian Gothic Fictions’ particularly in relation to late-nineteenth-century questions of gender, empire, ‘race’, science and technology. You also explore and contextualise key historical shifts in literary form and genre from realism to modernism and postmodernism. 

• Culture and Conflict
  This option explores the cultural politics of representation associated with violent conflict. You will study a variety of cultural forms including fictional and documentary film, literary fictions, and photography. You will develop key analytical and critical skills by focusing on representations of the Vietnam War, ‘9/11’, and the Iraq Wars. You will also debate the ethics, aesthetics and politics of representation in context of racialised violence, colonialism and state repression.

• Philosophy and Literature
  How do literary texts – fiction, drama and poetry – ‘do’ philosophy? In what ways do philosophical works engage with literature? Focusing on the 17th century to the early 19th century, you critically explore these questions in relation to shifting concepts of the individual in relation to ideas of reason, faith and freedom, liberty, transgression and expression.  

Find out more about the Culture and Conflict pathway

Find out more about the Fictions in History pathway

Or one specialist pathway, and one from the wider humanities programme: 

• Politics, History and Ideology
• 'Race' and Resistance
• Self and Society
• War, Terror and Democracy
• Terror and Terrorism
• Globalisation, History and Identity
• Global Politics
• Critical Theory and Radical Politics
• Morality, Politics and the Good Life
• Politics of the Past
• Radical Histories
• Global Society

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

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.

Location

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Grand Parade campus map