Unit information: Themes in Cultural and Intellectual History in 2012/13

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Unit name Themes in Cultural and Intellectual History
Unit code HISTM2014
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director Dr. Holdenried
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

none

Co-requisites

none

School/department Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

To introduce students to key debates about the identity and distinctiveness of intellectual and cultural history. To acquaint students with cutting-edge research within both intellectual and cultural history. To familiarise students with fundamental methodological and philosophical issues inherent in the pursuit of cultural and intellectual history. To assist students in thinking critically about the sources upon which cultural and intellectual historians draw. To prepare students for the in depth case studies provided by the optional units and for dealing with theoretical and methodological issues in their dissertation work.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, the student will have gained a critical understanding of the character of both cultural and intellectual history, and of the relationship between them. Students will be equipped to assess underlying methodological and philosophical issues about cultural and intellectual history. Students will be familiar with key works, recent and not so recent, which have defined these sub-disciplines, and have an in depth understanding of the problems and issues that are central to cultural and intellectual historians. Students will be capable of assessing the particular approaches to sources taken by cultural and intellectual historians, and of relating such issues to their own emerging research.

Teaching Information

10 seminars.

Assessment Information

This unit is assessed by a 2,000 word critical review (worth 25% of the unit mark), and a 3,000 word essay (worth 75% of the unit mark).

Reading and References

  • P. Burke, What is cultural history? (2008)
  • G. Eley, A crooked line: from cultural history to the history of society (2005)
  • L. Hunt ed., The new cultural history (1989)
  • D. La Capra, Rethinking intellectual history: texts, contexts, language (1983)
  • James Tully ed., Meaning and context: Quentin Skinner and his critics (1988)
  • M. Bevir, The logic of the history of ideas (1999)