M.A. in History Student Handbook 2011-2012

issues arising.
Taught: Lent Term.
Assessment: 5000 word essay (100%).
Introductory Reading:
Mitchell Dean, Critical and Effective Histories: Foucault’s Method and Historical Sociology
(London: Routledge, 1994).
HIST412: Approaches to Political History
Module Convenor: Dr Sandy Grand and Dr Thomas Rohkramer
Teaching: Lent Term
Assessment: written project of c. 4,000 words (80%) and associated oral presentation (20%).
This module discusses the relative merits of ways in which historians can, and have written about the
exercise of power within societies including the narrative approach, the study of 'great' men and
women, constitutional history, prosopography, local, regional and national studies, international
comparisons, the relationship between politics and economics, and post-modernism. It is essentially
historiographical, focusing on key works, but encourages students to apply ideas and approaches
discussed in the seminars to their own areas of specialist interest.
Introductory Reading:
• Balogh, Brian, 'The State of the State among Historians', Social Science History, 27 (2003),
455-463;
• Hoppit, Julian (ed.), Parliaments, nations and identities in Britain and Ireland, 1660-1850
(Manchester, 2003).
HIST414: Approaches to Cultural History
Module Conveyor: Professor Mercedes Camino
Teaching: Lent Term
This is not a module in the history of culture, as such. It will rather introduce students to sources,
methods and theories pertinent to cultural analysis, in a practical way which will benefit their own
historical researches. The module will explore a variety of approaches to cultural history, whether it
be Marxist, structuralist, feminist, queer theory, postcolonial or poststructuralist. Topics will vary
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