A critical module covering global history through the prism of factual and dramatic film-making, often concentrating on the tension between the dramatic...

A critical module covering global history through the prism of factual and dramatic film-making, often concentrating on the tension between the dramatic impulse for narrative and the non-fiction imperative for proximity to well sourced historical analysis.  At one end of the spectrum is the presenter-led animated documentary of China’s Forgotten War with Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford, and the strictly factual adaptation of a primary source such as Solomon Northrup’s memoir of Twelve Years a Slave by Steve McQueen, a graduate of Goldsmiths.  At the other end is The Ministry of Time in which Spain’s most famous contemporary actors travel through time to a number of crucial watershed moments, Lope de Vega sailing with the Armada, Cervantes finishing The Quixote.  This counter factual approach may appear to favour entertainment over sobriety, but can it deliver a greater spirit of the truth? This module is delivered by UCL’s historian film-makers, supported by guests from the film and television industry.  

This module is the core course for the ‘Culture, Ideas, and Identities’ pathway of the MA in History.  In this module, students examine the...

Culture, Ideas and Identities (HIST0844)

This module is the core course for the ‘Culture, Ideas, and Identities’ pathway of the MA in History.  In this module, students examine the theoretical and methodological approaches available for the study of cultures, ideas, and identities in the historical past. The goal of the module is to equip students with a knowledge of key conceptual and historiographical approaches and debates within cultural history, an ability to evaluate them, and an understanding of how they can be applied to particular historical phenomena. The module does not focus on a single period or geographic area, and instead encourages students to read and think broadly across different subfields in order to engage with a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches within cultural history. Students will start to develop their independent historical research topics in this core module by exploring different theoretical and conceptual frameworks that they may wish to develop further in their dissertations, optional modules, and subsequent research.

 