History study guide 2023/24

History at Bristol

When you become part of the Department of History, you will be on the way to becoming an historian, rather than just a student of history. This means that you will actively engage in exploring and interpreting the past, rather than just storing up historical knowledge. All of our staff regularly publish and since our teaching focuses heavily on research, our interests are reflected in the exceptionally wide range of course units we offer in all years. We also strive to ensure that students get to take the units they are interested in so that, as our students develop and mature as historians, they are able to specialise in the areas that interest them most. Real historians are united by their passion to explore the past, through the writings of other historians (secondary sources) and the material produced by those we study (primary sources). As historians, we know that communicating findings to others is the key to our work, helping us refine our ideas and advance historical debates.

Unit structure

The department offers many classes that are based in a single semester, and can therefore accept unit requests from Study Abroad students who want to join Bristol for just the autumn or spring semester.

Unit levels

The department offers units across all undergraduate levels of study: year 1 (level C/4), year 2 (level I/5), and year 3 (level H/6) units. Postgraduate units are not available.

Unit codes

Unit codes in the Department of History begin with 'HIST'. This is followed by a number indicating the year (1, 2, 3). For example:

HIST10000 = year 1 unit
HIST20000 = year 2 unit
HIST30000 = year 3 unit.

For more information about each unit, check the University's unit catalogue for 2023/24. Applicants on all study abroad programmes must review the unit details on the catalogue before listing unit choices on their application form. This includes checking the format of assessment for each unit. The unit catalogue for 2023/22 is updated by April 2023.

Your unit choices cannot be guaranteed. Some units may not have capacity to accommodate all of the unit requests we receive. Registration on a unit also depends on whether you meet the pre-requisite conditions through prior study at your home university.

Study Abroad (Subject pathway)

If you have been nominated to Bristol on the Study Abroad (Subject pathway), you must take the majority of your credits in this department.

Units available on the study abroad programme in 2023/24

The following units from the Department of History are open to inbound Study Abroad students.

Year 1 (level C/4)

TB1

Approaching the Past (TB1) - HIST13015
Modern Revolutions (TB1) - HIST10067
The American Century (TB1) - HIST10044
The Early Modern World: Europe and the Wider World (TB1) - HIST10065
The Early Modern World: The British Isles (TB1) - HIST10063
War and Society (TB1) - HIST10045

TB2

Decolonise the Future! (TB2) - UNIV10009
Fight the Power': Democracy and Protest (TB2) - HIST10068
Gender and the Modern World (TB2) - HIST10069
Slavery (TB2) - HIST10046
The Medieval World: Europe and the Wider World (TB2) - HIST10066
The Medieval World: The British Isles (TB2) - HIST10064

Year 2 (level I/5)

Special Field units are high intensity research specialist units. These units are held in the spring semester (TB2). Students are strongly advised to only take one per semester due to the workload involved.

Special Field TB2 units:

Aztecs, Incas and Evangelisers (TB2) - HIST20036
Building Modern Ireland, 1850-Present (TB2) – HIST20139
Health and Medicine in African History: Actors, Institutions, Ideas (TB2) – HIST20147
Hong Kong and the World (TB2) - HIST20135
Modern Girls and Women (TB2) – HIST20146
Race, Migration and Diaspora in 19th and 20th Century Britain (TB2) - HIST20136
Rebels, Runaways and Revolts: Agency, Resistance and Slavery in the United States (TB2) - HIST20129
The Age of Revolutions 1776-1848 in Global Context (TB2) - HIST20128
The F Word: Understanding European Fascism Then and Now (TB2) - HIST20137
Under the Covers: Sex and Modern British Print Culture (TB2) - HIST20138

Non-Special Field units:

TB1

Africa in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20141
Asia in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20143
Crusading Cultures (TB1) - HIST20133
Fear and Loathing (TB1) - HIST20117
Outlaws (TB1) - HIST20120
Rethinking History (TB1) - HIST23101
The Americas in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20142

TB2

Decolonisation (TB2) - HIST20116
Disease, Deviance and Disability in Modern Medicine (TB2) - HIST20134
The Making of Contemporary Britain (TB2) - HIST20114
The Politics of the Past (TB2) – HIST20144
The Public Role of the Historian (TB2) – HIST20145

Year 3 (level H/6)

Special Subject units are high intensity research specialist units. These units are held in the autumn semester (TB1). Students are strongly advised to only take one per semester due to the workload involved.

Special Subject TB1 units:

Aftermath: The Wake of War, 1945-1949 (TB1) – HIST30106
Bristol and Slavery (TB1) - HIST30078
Constructing the Other (TB1) – HIST30107
Dark Pasts: Modern Histories of Night in Britain and North America (TB1) - HIST30132
Gender, Race and Colonialism in Early English America (TB1) – HIST30136
Kingship and Crisis during the Wars of the Roses (TB1) - HIST37011
Once Upon a Crime: Law and Popular Cultures in the Age of Empire (TB1) – HIST30137
Race and Resistance in South Africa (TB1) – HIST37010
Rage Against the Machine: Technology and Anti-Technology in Modern Britain (TB1) – HIST30138
Red Power and Beyond: American Indian Activism since 1944 (TB1) - HIST30128
The Age of the Human (TB1) - HIST30103
The Mass Media in Modern Britain (TB1) - HIST30133

Non-Special Subject units:

TB1

Britain's Long Nineteenth Century, 1789-1914 (TB1) - HIST30120
Memory (TB1) - HIST30113
Picturing the Twentieth Century (TB1) - HIST30114

TB2

Capitalism (TB2) - HIST30115
Global Empires (TB2) - HIST30122
Horrible Histories and all That (TB2) - HIST30119
Millennial Britain (TB2) - HIST30125
Race (TB2) - HIST30117
Sexualities (TB2) - HIST30118

Year 4 (level M/7)

None available

Unit combinations

We advise that students take no more than 1 'Special Field' or 'Special Subject' unit per semester. These are high intensity research specialist units which involve a heavy workload. Students interested in taking one of these units may wish to combine them with one of the Department's core outline units:

Africa in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20141
Approaching the Past (TB1) - HIST13015
Asia in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20143
The Americas in Global Context (TB1) – HIST20142
The Politics of the Past (TB2) – HIST20144
The Public Role of the Historian (TB2) – HIST20145
Rethinking History (TB1) - HIST23101

Auditing

Students cannot audit units. Study abroad students are fully registered on units for credit purposes and must attend teaching only for classes that they are registered on.

Application queries

Contact the Centre for Study Abroad inbound team if you have any queries about the application process for the study abroad programmes:

Phone: +44 117 39 40207
Email: cfsa-inbound@bristol.ac.uk