| Unit name | History in Public |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST20089 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Hanna |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit examines the ways in which history is used outside the walls of the university. In particular, it aims to encourage students to think critically about the “uses of history”, how these are shaped by political, cultural, social and economic contexts, and how they change over time. How is history produced for non-academic audiences different, and why? Is public history more or less conservative than academic history? Can academic historians (and those with a degree in History) usefully play a part in these debates?
Content will vary from year to year, but the course will be arranged around four main themes. These may include: heritage; politics and policy; history from the ground up; history and the media; history in schools.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Two 1 hour lectures per week.
One 2-hour exam (100%), which will assess ILOs 1-4
Patrick Wright, On Living in an Old Country: The National Past in Contemporary Britain (Oxford, 2009)
Robert Hewison, The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline (London, 1987)
Robert Lowenthal, The Past is a Foreign Country (Cambridge, 1985)
John Pendlebury, Conservation in an Age of Consensus (Routledge, 2008)
Jerome De Groot, Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture (Routledge 2009)
Robert Dillion, History on British Television (Manchester, 2015
