This core module will introduce students to the history of the discipline of art history, examining a range of texts and theoretical approaches from the discipline’s beginning in the early-nineteenth century to contemporary debates. In exploring questions of theory and method, the module will develop research skills, such as critical reading and evaluating evidence. Throughout the course, students will reflect on their own theoretical commitments, and consider how these will shape their dissertations.
This
module explores urban change in the twentieth century through a close analysis
of the built form of towns and cities of the West Midlands. It gives students
the skills to interpret and trace historical processes in the everyday built
environment. Much of the teaching will be done ‘on the ground’ in places easily
accessible from the University – asking how their architecture and urban form
were responses to intellectual ideas about urban development, as well as being shaped
by more abstract
forces including the welfare state, social polarisation, deindustrialisation,
narratives of crisis, and changing patterns of mobility and energy usage.