Unit information: Horrible Histories And All That in 2020/21

Unit name	Horrible Histories And All That
Unit code	HIST30119
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Reeks
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

What makes a historian and a history? Many historians have been conscious of the need to tell great and memorable stories: to what extent have they sacrificed their academic credentials to do so? This unit will focus on storytellers and their techniques, from novelists and children’s historians, to ‘Twitterstorians’ and dramatists, and even comic books and video games. Indeed, the impact of new technology and media, combined with the self-consciously public role of the historian, is rapidly increasing the number of forums in which historical discourse might take place. Whether through stage-plays, social media, or television documentary, historians have found new ways to tell their stories, and storytellers have found in history a compelling subject matter. This unit will consider what it means to be a historian in the twenty-first century: does the blurring of the lines between academic and popular cultures amount to a window of opportunity, or a compromise of intellectual values?

This unit aims to:

Provide students with a sense of the range of employment opportunities in sectors adjacent to historical research.

• Develop students’ understanding of how large research and writing projects are conceived and planned.
• Expose students to the range of different creative projects connected to the discipline of history.
• Question the relationship between formal academic history and history in the creative industries.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of different forms and genres of historical discourse, why authors adopt them, and what they are designed to achieve.
2. Critically compare and analyse a range of creative and non-creative historical outputs from within the academy and beyond.
3. Discuss and evaluate the key historiographical debates surrounding the production and consumption of history.
4. Understand and interpret primary sources and select pertinent evidence in order to illustrate specific and more general historical points
5. Present and frame their ideas in a fashion consistent with the conventions of proposals and applications familiar to the academic world and to the creative industries.

Teaching Information

Classes will involve a combination of long- and short-form lectures, class discussion, investigative activities, and practical activities. Students will be expected to engage with readings and participate on a weekly basis. This will be further supported with drop-in sessions and self-directed exercises with tutor and peer feedback.

Assessment Information

1 x 2500-word Mock Proposal (50%) [ILOs 1-5]

1 x Timed Assessment (50%) [ILOs 1-4]

Reading and References

Andrea Grosso Ciponte and Dacia Palmerino, Renegade: Martin Luther: The Graphic Biography (2017)

Terry Deary and Neil Tonge, Horrible Histories: Terrible Tudors (2017)

Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (2017)

Lubaina Hibid, Naming the Money (2004)

http://lubainahimid.uk/portfolio/naming-the-money/

Richard McGuire, Here (2014)

Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr 'Whicher (2008)