BA Single Honours History

This module explores current approaches to history, from the skills required by researchers to methods of historical analysis. At its centre it invites us to consider concepts of memory, as historians have learned to be interdisciplinary, understand meaning as well as fact. Using a number of case studies, we delve into how myths are formed and what makes them so powerful across a range of societies, from ancient Rome to the infamous ‘stab in the back’ at the centre of the Nazis’ appeal in Weimar German.

This module will introduce you to global history. It covers the formation of civilizations across time and space, a world without borders in which our lives are intertwined, not lived in isolation. Historians have increasingly abandoned the rise and rule of the nation state as a primary focus in the age of the world wide web, replacing it with interconnection and interaction. The module is interdisciplinary and draws on social, cultural and political approaches to history, inviting you to reimagine the world we live in.

This module will offer students an opportunity to gain valuable interdisciplinary skills by analysing the way stories are used in history, fictional and creative literature, philosophy, and theology. Through a consideration of some of the most pertinent narratives relative to the contemporary world, such as stories around empire and decolonization, technology, nationalism, and the environment, students will have an opportunity to think about how stories have been told through history, literature, and theology, and how they shape understanding, create meaning, and foster shared community.

In this module, students will study up to four case studies drawn from different time periods across global history. This module provides space for students to make connections and comparisons across regions and time periods. Beginning each year with a theme (chosen and developed by research active academics), this module will systematically deconstruct our global story. Themes could include slavery and forced labour throughout history, gender and sexuality, or the life course. The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of human progress. It will equip students with an overview of world history and allow them to identify and explore the common patterns which emerge across chronology and cultures. Rather than simply replicating traditional grand narratives, this module will encourage academics and students to work in partnership as they discover the diversity of human experience through apparently tangential material which responds to student interests and explores strange, foreign and unfamiliar issues alongside well-established historical topics.

This year our module will develop further your understanding of global history, covering the formation of civilizations across time and space, in a world without borders in which our lives are intertwined, not lived in isolation. Historians have increasingly abandoned the rise and rule of the nation state as a primary focus in the age of the world wide web, replacing it with interconnection and interaction. The module is interdisciplinary and draws on social, cultural and political approaches to history, inviting you to reimagine the world we live in.

In this module, students will study up to four case studies drawn from different time periods across global history. This module provides space for students to make connections and comparisons across regions and time periods. Beginning each year with a theme (chosen and developed by research active academics), this module will systematically deconstruct our global story. Themes could include slavery and forced labour throughout history, gender and sexuality, or the life course. The content of this module will challenge a limited and exclusive vision of human progress. It will equip students with an overview of world history and allow them to identify and explore the common patterns which emerge across chronology and cultures. Rather than simply replicating traditional grand narratives, this module will encourage academics and students to work in partnership as they discover the diversity of human experience through apparently tangential material which responds to student interests and explores strange, foreign and unfamiliar issues alongside well-established historical topics.

This module is about you and your graduate career. It explores a wider range of possible careers for History graduates, from marketing and management to teaching, from law conversion to post-graduate study tailored to, for example, a career in museums. Our module is co-created with and for you as the professionals of tomorrow. We study how to approach and understand application forms, and what to expect in interviews. We also benefit from collaboration with the University’s specialist careers team, who offer one-to-one coaching from study to salary.

This module enables you to prepare and plan for your own choice of an in-depth research project in your final year of study. You explore how historians turn their research into a body of writing, from identifying the relevant documents to assessing how your topic has been understood by earlier generations of historians. Each year, Birmingham Newman students cover a wide range of topics, from Roman and Greek culture, through the upheavals of early modern England, to the Third Reich and the Holocaust.

This module begins in October 1917, the year that changed everything and ushered in the ‘short’ twentieth century as an age of extremes. Firstly, the module raises questions about the aspiration for total control over modern societies – or ‘totalitarianism’ – as well as the social movements that brought Stalin, Mao and Hitler to power. Secondly, we look at the global forces that produced the new, decolonized word across the Global South, ending 500 years of western domination. As well as the high politics of what these regimes aimed to do, we cover society and culture as experience by ordinary citizens.

In this module you will study the myth, religious practices, and superstitions of ancient Greece and Rome. In the first semester we will focus on ancient Greece, and in the second we will look at the ancient Roman world from Britain to North Africa. Topics studied will include ancient Greek and Roman witchcraft, afterlife belief, atheism, and the worship of the gods, as well as the early history of Christianity.

This module covers the entire year and allows you to turn the topic you chose in the Dissertation Preparation module into a depth study of your own. Do you want to specialise in ancient blood scarifies, witchcraft or the tragedy of the Holocaust in the heart of Europe. The passion for history also provides the real-world skills demanded by employers: excellence in communication, independence of thought and a proactive approach to tasks. The dissertation is your opportunity to work together with a subject specialist to produce your first detailed piece of research, and to demonstrate your graduate skillset.