Cultural History

Introduction

The MLitt in Cultural History is a taught postgraduate degree programme designed around the large number of academic staff in the College of Arts and Social Sciences conducting research in Cultural History. It introduces the various methodologies embraced by cultural history, provides a thorough grounding in research methods and skills, and offers expert research training in a wide range of topics. You will also have the opportunity to conduct a research project of your own, supervised by a member of the cultural history staff. This programme is the best possible introduction to the subject for potential PhD students, but is designed chiefly as a rewarding, stimulating programme in its own right, whether or not you envisage further study.

Aberdeen is an ideal place to study this subject. It is the only university in Britain offering a full undergraduate programme in Cultural History, and this commitment continues at postgraduate level. The University of Aberdeen is internationally renowned as a research centre, boasting some of the finest collections of books, manuscripts, and pamphlets in the English-speaking world. History of science, technology, and medicine is a particular strength, enhanced by extensive collections in the University’s museums. Almost uniquely among British academic institutions, Aberdeen’s impressive collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century periodicals can be browsed on open-access shelves, enabling students to engage directly with key research materials.

The University hosts a thriving interdisciplinary programme of cultural history events. These include talks, seminars, conferences, and field-trips organized by staff or by the student-run Cultural History Society. They enable students to broaden their learning experience and engage and socialize with other members of the academic community.

Syllabus

All students take the core course 'Introduction to Historical Research', which introduces the range of methodologies, research skills and practical tools available to the historian. Students also take a course on which will provide guidance on how to research and plan the dissertation. The rest of the timetable, apart from the dissertation itself, consists of a range of elective courses on different themes in cultural history. Students normally take four of these in order to gain the right number of credits.

A selection of current courses includes:

• Trolls, Druids and the Walking Dead: Imagining the Pagan Past in Medieval Norse and Gaelic Culture
• Writing the History of Science
• Historiography: The Writing of European History from Herodotos to von Ranke
• The Irish and Scottish Diasporas, 1730-1930
• Witchcraft, Traditional Practices and the Rise of a Protestant Culture in Early Modern Scotland
• The Enlightenment in Comparison: Scotland and Central Europe, 1650-1800
• The Invention of Irish Nationalism
• The British Empire and the Orient
• End of Empire: Russia, 1900-1917
• The Image of the North

Assessment

Students must acquire 180 credits (120 for courses + 60 for dissertation). Assessment is based on written work and moderated according to university standards. Every student is assigned a dissertation supervisor based on their research interests.

Duration

12 months, full-time.