History and Archaeology (BA): 4-year, part-time

COURSE STRUCTURE

This structured course of taught modules is designed to develop historical and archaeological understanding and critical skills.

Our new survey course options range from the ancient to the contemporary world and will introduce you to the key themes you need to know about when studying the past. In keeping with our tradition of teaching an impressive chronological breadth within one department, these modules cover the time from prehistory to the present, moving across continents and cultures.

In parallel with these cutting-edge surveys, we offer a range of compulsory 'How to' modules which bring you together with academic staff to explore the study of the past and develop the skills needed to research and write history. Every year, as you build your studies and progress towards your degree, you will take one of these courses, helping you to develop your own unique perspective on the past.

Both the survey courses and our ‘How to’ courses run annually so that it doesn't matter whether you study part-time or full-time with us - you will be able to make the most of them.

The course consists of 11 modules, making a total of 360 credits.

In Year 1, you take three compulsory modules, including a fieldwork module.

In Year 2, you choose one Level 4 and two Level 5 option modules.

In Year 3, you take one compulsory module, and choose one Level 5 and one Level 6 option module.

In Year 4, you choose one Level 6 option module, and you write a dissertation.

YEAR 1 COMPULSORY MODULES

• Approaching the Past
• Discovering Archaeology: From Field to Finds Room
• Thames through Time: Birkbeck/MOLA Field School

YEAR 3 COMPULSORY MODULE

• Exploring the Past

YEAR 4 COMPULSORY MODULE

• Writing the Past: Dissertation

INDICATIVE LEVEL 4 OPTION MODULES

• The Ancient World
• The Archaeology of Greece and Rome
• The Contemporary World
• The Early Modern World, 1500-1800: Reformations and Revolutions
• The Medieval World: From Constantine to the Khans
• The Modern World

INDICATIVE LEVEL 5 OPTION MODULES

• Archaeology of the Everyday
• Beginnings: The Archaeology of Prehistory
• Crossing Borders: Passports, Bodies and the State, 1600 to Today
• Empires: Conquest and Decolonisation, from 1700 to Brexit
• Italy and the World: Conflict and the Incomplete Nation, 1815-present
• Journeys to the Underworld in Classical Literature and Culture
• London 1600-2000: people and power in the making of a global city
• The Archaeology of a Greek Sanctuary
• The Renaissance in Italy and Europe: From the Black Death to the Reformations (c.1350-1600)

INDICATIVE LEVEL 6 OPTION MODULES

• A sense of space: travellers and maps in the pre-modern world
• Archaeological Landscapes
• Blood and Faith: Violence, Religion and Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
• Crime, Poverty and Protest in England and Beyond, 1500-1800
• Intimate Britain: Family, Society and Culture, 1832-1918
• Late Medieval and Early Modern London: Community, Politics and Religion
• Medicine and Power in Modern Africa
• Stories in Stuff: the medieval and early modern worlds in 20 texts and objects
• The Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain
• The Archaeology of Human Evolution
• The Athenian Empire
• The Colonial Gaze: Western Perceptions of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 1600-1960
• The Empire of Letters: Correspondence in the Roman World
• The Third Reich

Please note that all option modules are an indicative selection only. Except for Level 4 core modules, option modules are usually taught in alternate years, subject to change due to staff departure or temporary leave. Because all modules are rooted in our staff's world-class research, module choices may also change over time to reflect new developments in scholarship and new research directions by individual staff members. Please bear in mind that over the course of an academic year, planning your modules for the following year will become gradually more certain, and you should not consider any options ‘available’ until you are notified of this by the Department via official module choice forms. Even when these have been sent it may be necessary to cancel courses due to circumstances beyond the Department’s control, though this will be avoided wherever possible.

Birkbeck makes all reasonable efforts to deliver educational services, modules and programmes of study as described on our website. In the event that there are material changes to our offering (for example, due to matters beyond our control), we will update applicant and student facing information as quickly as possible and offer alternatives to applicants, offer-holders and current students.