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 |
This unit introduces students to the field of Public History through a multi-layered approach that integrates scholarly reflection with practical engagement (through the medium of external partnerships) to examine various influential areas in the pursuit and application of history beyond the confines of academia (and to introduce students to the increasingly important role of public engagement in the working lives of academic historians): popular history magazines, heritage sites, documentary film, and museums. Meetings alternate between in-house seminars - during which critical concepts and central debates in public history are studied with academic staff - and external sessions with various Bristol-based practitioners of public history: currently, BBC History Magazine, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Icon Films and ss Great Britain. With the editor of Britain's best-selling popular history magazine, students contemplate the challenges of presenting history for a broad readership. With the public engagement manager at Arnos Vale, students learn about the issues involved in interpreting a distinguished Victorian cemetery and managing a large, multiple value/multi-use site. With the creative director of Icon Films, students find out how a programme is conceived, from proposal writing and pitching to commissioning (one of the unit's assignments is the preparation of a proposal for a history documentary based on Icon's guidelines). And with the director of conservation and education at the ss Great Britain, students consider the challenges and opportunities involved in running one of Bristol's most popular visitor attractions, which is also attached to a major research facility, the Brunel Institute. The unit also includes an OPTIONAL Placement element (equivalent to at least 5 full days of work) that attaches students to a project/initiative/activity that one of the unit’s partners (or another local body/heritage site with which the student has taken the initiative in making arrangements) is pursuing and to which students can make a valuable contribution.
10 seminars; 4 led by external partners
This unit is assessed by a 2,000 word TV proposal (marked on a pass/fail basis) and a 3,000 word academic essay (worth 100% of the unit mark)