History, literature and culture ba(hons)
Bachelor's degree
In Brighton and Hove
Description
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Type
Bachelor's degree
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Location
Brighton and hove
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Duration
3 Years
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Start date
Different dates available
Are you critical and independent-minded? Do you think that history and literature should challenge political certainties?
This course explores the complex problems of modern societies through a historical, literary and cultural lens. You will consider such questions as: How do novels, poems, autobiographies, memorials, films and television shape our perception of the world? Who decides what counts as history? How do different versions of the past shape how we live today? What role do cultural texts and practices play in negotiating the conflicts that divide so many societies?
In seminars, essays and individual tutorials you will draw on your analytical skills to consider how literary, cultural and historical texts relate to real-world political and philosophical concerns.
We host over 100 guest lectures every academic year, where international scholars, politicians and writers share their knowledge and experiences.
Facilities
Location
Start date
Start date
Reviews
Subjects
- Democracy
- Global
- International
Course programme
Year 1
In year 1 you take six modules that help develop the skills central to your course.
Modules- Historical Inquiry
This module will introduce you to the practice of historical inquiry through an exploration of various approaches to the study of the experience of crisis and conflict in the mid-twentieth century.
- Philosophical Inquiry
This module will introduce you to fundamental concepts and basic methodologies in critical and philosophical theory.
- Studying Cultures
This module will introduce you to fundamental concepts and basic methodologies in cultural studies, focusing on the distinction between ‘lived cultures’ and ‘cultural texts’, grounded in case studies from Britain in the period 1968–74.
- Democracy: From Athens to Baghdad
This module will introduce you to fundamental concepts and basic methodologies in democratic theory.
Democracy as a contested term goes to the heart of debates about the exercise of power in the contemporary world, and is not solely about governance. This module will introduce you to the histories and contexts within which the concept and practice of democracy developed. You will study classical, republican, liberal, anarchist, Marxist, communitarian, and global conceptualisations of democracy. In each case the cultural, political and historical context of these practices of government will be critically discussed and their relevance to current circumstances considered.
The module addresses the cultural preconditions for democratic freedoms and the representation of democratic values in the social and political movements which have fought to establish democratic freedoms. It will also introduce the different forms of inequality that characterise most democracies.
- Understanding Society in a Global World
In this module you will be introduced to interdisciplinary methodologies in the social sciences, explore theories of international relations and globalisation, and apply these to important questions concerning living in a global world.
You will interrogate the claims of social scientists to produce verifiable knowledge about the social world, and evaluate the political implications of different methodological approaches for the study of key aspects of global society. You will explore how concepts and theories are applied to contested aspects of global society, notably environmental sustainability and war/conflict.
- Approaching Narratives
This module will introduce you to key methodologies and concepts in the formal study of narrative, while encouraging you to critically reflect on how narratives construct particular visions of our world.
The module focuses specifically on issues of narrative structure, ideology, language, and semiotics across a range of visual and textual forms including television and film, news media, imaginative fiction, photography, the internet and a psychiatric ‘case study’. You will interrogate the importance of narrative voice, narrative development and closure in the production of meaning, and critically engage with the role of the reader in relation to critical interpretation and understanding.
History, literature and culture ba(hons)