Unit information: Making History Public in 2012/13

Unit name	Making History Public
Unit code	HISTM2016
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Coates
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	none
Co-requisites	none
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit examines the relationship between academic research and history in the public sphere. It combines seminar-based teaching addressing the relationship between the academy, heritage and public history with tutorial-based teaching working with one of the academic team. Making History Public enables students to engage in depth with an area of academic history that interests them, and consider the relationship between research in this areas, and the ways in which it is represented in the public sphere.

Aims:

This unit aims to deepen understanding of debates about public history and its relationship to the practices and products of academic history. It seeks: to familiarise students with issues surrounding the pursuit, application, promotion and communication of historical knowledge beyond the traditional confines of academia; to increase understanding of the value of differing modes of representing the past; and to enhance appreciation of fundamental issues about the nature of history, and the role of public engagement.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will have developed a critical understanding of debates about the pursuit, application, promotion and communication of historical knowledge beyond the traditional confines of academia. Students will be able to interrogate the relationship between the production of historical knowledge within the academy, and the circulation of knowledge about the past in public discourse. Students will be able to think critically about the techniques whereby academic history is produced, and the challenges posed by the public engagement agenda.

Teaching Information

The unit will be taught through a combination of seminars and tutorials, guided reading and independent study.

Assessment Information

The unit will be assessed on the basis of two assignments: the first a 3 000 word essay weighted at 50%; the second EITHER a website OR a project proposal (exhibition or documentary). The latter is also weighted at 50%.

Reading and References

• M. Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft & Meaning of Oral and Public History (1990)

• D. Boswell & J. Evans eds., Representing the nation: a reader: histories, heritage and museum (1999)

• D. Cannadine ed., History and the media (2004)

• R. Samuel, Theatres of memory: past and present in contemporary culture (1994)

• S. Benson et al, Presenting the Past: Essays on History and the Public (1986)