This interdisciplinary module draws on topics from across the Humanities, with a focus on the relationship between the literature of the nineteenth century, and the experience of living in a period of rapid and unprecedented change, such as the invention of new technologies (steam locomotion, telegraphy, mass production, anaesthetic), and new structures and institutions (schools & universities, public libraries, newspapers, political parties, the post office, the police, workhouses, hospitals, asylums, sports clubs and mutual improvement societies). The module will also include a field trip to a location in central London, such as the Old Operating Theatre or Hunterian Museum of anatomy and pathology, the Ragged School Museum, the Foundling Museum or Tate Britain.

In this module students will examine how modern Latin America was forged through European invasion and colonization, indigenous resistance and African slavery, and the famous Wars of Liberation. Progressing through the 19^th and 20^th centuries they will examine how power has been challenged and changed hands up to the present day through popular uprisings, military coups, and political transformations.

The module begins with the experiences and voices of the indigenous people, followed by a longue durée analysis of the impact of the horrors of slavery. This leads into a wider examination of the context of Iberian, British and American colonialism, and how indigenous experiences of contact with European peoples changed across time and space. Through this module students will gain expertise in how European colonialism and institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church and European monarchies have shaped South America and the wider Global South. The module also considers how indigenous, indentured, and slave communities continued sustain violent and non-violent strategies of resistance, firstly, against different forms of authoritarianism,  and, secondly, against extractive processes, linked to global capitalism (and liberalism), which have fundamentally altered ecologies and landscapes. The module also engages with the impact and reframing of global political movements within the continent. These range from the incubation and adaption of various strands of fascism, to Latin America’s critical role in sustaining various international communist movements.

The module has contemporary relevance.  Students will familiarize themselves with thinkers, writers, and political figures whose ideas shaped the globe, from Castro and Che Guevera to Garcia Marquez and Borges, and will thus engage with ideas which shape the world of today. Students consider the long-lasting impact of a violent history of revolutions, coups, and warfare across the continent, and the influence of USA upon Latin American politics, extending to the rise of Jair Bolsonaro and Javier Milei in Brazil and Argentina respectively. Through this module students will gain an understanding of the complex history of Latin America, and the role the continent continues to play in world affairs today. 

At level 4 students will in ‘Political Concepts. Ideas in Context’ power, democracy and freedom and hence will be able to apply these models to a Latin American context. The module also had cross-overs with its companion level 5 module, the Politics of Partition. Britain, Ireland and the Middle East’, and to the level 6 module on ‘Boling Points. Crisis and Conflict in the Cold War’.

This module builds on the introduction to studies of both period and genre in HE4 to examine a diverse range of modern and contemporary literature and media. It expands and refines your understanding of modern writing by examining a range of literary texts and media, examining the roots of modernist, postwar and contemporary literature and media in the technological innovations and key political and cultural events from the Great War to the present. The module also focuses on genre fictions, exploring theoretical approaches to the study of a range of different genres (e.g. horror fiction, spy fiction, gothic and horror fiction, social issue fiction, speculative fiction, superhero narratives) across a number of forms (e.g. prose narrative, graphic novel, film). The module examines the ways in which genre is used as a means of literary classification and explores the political ideation behind a number of popular generic forms. The module prepares you for further academic and professional work, emphasising critical analysis, creative thinking, and the ability to engage with complex global issues.

This module examines the origins of contentious the political and ethnic divides in Ireland and the Middle East which continue to shape world affairs. Comparing these regions through the lens of Britain’s changing role, you will also develop an understanding of how conflict overseas impacted British politics and culture domestically. 

Beginning with the Irish War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and the ensuing Irish Civil War, you will examine how partition of the island of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State reflected both historic divisions between Nationalist and Unionist communities and contemporary political manoeuvring in the corridors of power. You will have the opportunity to contrast the experiences of people in post-conflict Ireland in 1923 with the inhabitants of the newly established British Mandatory Palestine, and the issues faced by its communities over the subsequent decades. Exploring the impact of population transfers, religious and political extremism, the Second World War and the Arab-Israeli War and First Nakba, you will gain new insights into a relatively familiar period of the 20th century. Examining writings and other cultural production from sources as varied as IRA guerillas, Jewish migrants who undertook the Third Aliyah, the female organisers of Arab Women’s Congress, and British soldiers who served in both Ireland and Mandatory Palestine, you will engage with a range of perspectives. Reading music, poetry, and philosophy produced by those experiencing political changes will afford you a glimpse into how societies in transition coped with turbulent historical circumstances and the varied roles played by the British government and people in shaping them. As they consider historical attempts at resolving these conflicts, such as the Sunningdale Agreement and the Camp David Accords, you will reflect on the complexities of meditating between different communities, as well as on the continued relevance of such processes in pursuit of peace into the present day. 

This level 5 autumn module will enable you to deploy their understanding of themes such as citizenship, democracy and nationhood explored in the previous year’s level 4 smodule ‘Political Concepts’ in a relevant historical context.  Engagement with the history of civil rights, especially in the USA in the late 20^th century developed in level 4, is also built upon by examining the specific contexts of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement and the struggle for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine. You will extend their understandings of debates over fundamental rights to new geographical and historical contexts. Specific and detailed engagement with the Troubles, and Irish history more broadly in the 20^th century, will expand on familiarity acquired during Week 9 of Level 4 module Britain from Blitz to Brexit addressing the Troubles up to the Good Friday Agreement, affording you earlier historical context and a more nuanced understanding of the global scope of the conflict. The module makes connections with international solidarity efforts between various self-identified ‘liberation struggles’ in the complimentary level 5 on ‘Revolutions and Authoritarianism in Modern Latin America’, and particularly the example provided by the Cuban Revolution to Irish and Palestinian revolutionaries. This will acquaint you with a key aspect of the level 5 module ‘Revolutions and Authoritarianism in Latin America’. The module also lays the groundwork for level 6 modules ‘Boiling Points. Crisis and Conflict in the Cold War” and ‘After Auschwitz: Representing the Holocaust’: in the former case by exploring a key Cold War ‘boiling points’ such as the Suez Crisis and the Arab-Israeli Wars, in the latter case by directly addressing the role of the Holocaust in the birth of the Israeli state and the subsequent historiography and legacy of the Shoah in Israel.

This module explores the history of the Cold War through an exploration of its most tense moments, as well as its legacies which still affect global relations today. Traditionally understood as an ideological conflict between two superpowers, the Cold War became an all-encompassing battle for the ‘hearts and minds’ of people around the world, permeating everyday life in the second-half of the twentieth century.  While each week of this module is organised around ‘watershed’ moments or themes that constitute our understanding of the Cold War, in-class source work highlights alternative readings of the history of this conflict. Through these activities, we ask ‘what constitutes a crisis or a conflict’ in the context of the Cold War. In doing so, you are encouraged to think about the social and cultural impact of these events – and their lingering after-effects.

This module situates literature within the rapidly evolving twentieth and twenty-first century media and popular culture ecologies. It explores how literary texts intersect with visual, digital, and multimedia forms, mapping the trajectory from early cinematic influences on literature to the pervasive role of digital media and artificial intelligence in shaping contemporary narratives. By engaging with diverse forms and themes, you will develop a nuanced understanding of the interconnectedness between literature, media, and culture. Through interdisciplinary exploration and creative application, this module prepares you for academic and professional success in an increasingly interconnected and media-driven world.

This module aims to make Shakespeare fresh, exciting and accessible to students of all backgrounds, providing them with the cultural capital that Shakespeare still represents, whilst also enabling them to explore pressing global issues, including inequalities of gender, race and sexual identity, the threat to democracy posed by far-right groups and tyrannical leaders, environmental catastrophe and climate change through Shakespeare’s works.

The module focuses on five core texts which you who progress onto PGCEs to pursue careers in teaching are likely to require knowledge of: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and The Tempest. The discussion of each play will be split across two weeks, with the first offering a detailed textual engagement with the play’s themes, in the context of its early modern performance and historical moment, before the second class opens it up to more explicitly presentist concerns, with reference to texts which adapt, reinterpret or challenge the original. These might include modern theatrical performances, films, cartoons, advertising campaigns, novels and short stories, computer games and gallery exhibits. You will be encouraged to seek out your own texts which respond to Shakespeare and to shape your own syllabus in the response week and for the first part of the assessment. Through this means, you will become adept at understanding the ways in which Shakespeare is used to engage with particular narratives and debates in the present moment, whilst being encouraged to reshape Shakespeare to tell your own stories and explore your own perspectives.   

Module overview:

The final year Capstone Project consolidates and develops the advanced skills you have learned at HE4 and HE5 in planning work, interpreting texts, developing theoretical and critical approaches, and in pursuing individual study and research. It fosters independence of thought, project-planning and organisation skills, and allows you to develop your own particular research and/or creative interests and to enhance your academic and skills expertise. The module will also offer you the opportunity to plan and develop a non-traditional output which is equivalent to a dissertation (eg creative project, website, digital object, film essay).