The module will examine how history can advance our understanding of four areas of debate in Britain today: Brexit; the ‘Break-Up of Britain’; post-colonial challenges to national identity; and Protection of the NHS. Students will develop an appreciation of the deeper history of these issues and critically reflect on the role of history within public debate. They will work together to design and run a mini conference on the history of contemporary Britain and will each present a paper based on an element of original research that speaks to one of these issues.
Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, always complicated, the relationship between Britain and Germany has been of central importance to the United Kingdom’s relations with continental Europe since the end of the nineteenth century. No other modern European state has inspired such a variety of responses – fear, admiration, envy, and revulsion – or been regarded by turns as such a valued partner or deadly enemy. Nor has any other relationship had such an enduring fascination for historians.
This 30 CATS undergraduate final year module will explore the development of Anglo-German relations between 1871 (the unification of Germany) and 1945 (the end of the Second World War) with the aim of showing why the relationship between Britain and Germany was so important to the histories of both nations. Students will use a wide range of primary sources to survey a variety of Anglo-German encounters and interactions in the political, social and cultural spheres and examine the ways in which personal contact and relationships shaped wider public attitudes and official policy. This will include an examination of travel and tourism, family ties, professional associations and cultural exchange. We will also look at the creation and perpetuation of stereotypes and the role that these played in defining national identities. In this way students will examine the complexity and ambiguity of the Anglo-German relationship as it developed over a period of dramatic political, economic and social change and be encouraged to consider the ways in which it continues to inform British attitudes towards Germany and Europe.
Overview
Gandhi printed his most famous work, Hind Swaraj (1909), in
South Africa. Why? This course takes the history of printing technology
as the starting point for rethinking the history of empire. Beginning
with the East India Company and ending in Qing China, we follow an
unlikely band of printers, publishers, authors and readers. We
re-examine major themes in the global history of empire, from science
and religion to slavery and nationalism. Throughout this course, books
are treated as material objects, something which is easy to forget in
the digital age. Books were written on, cut up, censored and burned.
With this in mind, there is a strong focus on students developing
practical skills. We will learn the techniques of the book historian,
hunting for clues in the margins, examining bindings and illustrations.
And with these skills in place, students will begin to read a selection
of fascinating primary sources in a completely different light. From
scientific journals and legal manuals, to abolitionist papers and
anticolonial pamphlets, the history of empire starts to look very
different from the perspective of the printing press.
PLEASE FOLLOW THIS MODULE VIA THE DEPARTMENTAL WEBPAGE HERE: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi3h7
This module explores mass migration, ideas of belonging and emerging cultures of health and welfare in the era of border control and formal citizenship -- that is, from the late nineteenth through to the twentieth-first century. It will examine the patterns, pathways and outcomes of the continuous large-scale movements of population across the globe so characteristic of the modern period. Through case studies of international, imperial and diasporic migrations, it will assess migrants’ significant and reciprocal impacts on the systems and institutions of the state, including those associated with health and welfare. Finally, we will examine the relationships and intersections between ethnicity, race and migration, and the ways in which close scrutiny of migration can generate new perspectives on gender, sexuality, dis/ability and class. This module will actively engage with present-day issues involving migration, ethnicity and health, such as responses of governments and health care providers to migration ‘crises’; and the (perceived and actual) cultural, social and epidemiological impacts of migrants on host communities and cultures, in light of historical perspective. How do we write and speak about the history of migration during a migration crisis?
In the 2020-2021 academic year, our case studies will include responses to migration in the USA, from Ellis Island to the Borderlands; emigration and immigration in the British Empire; and the experiences of African migrants in Europe and North America.