| Unit name | Historians and the Boundaries of the Body |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISTM0104 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Andy Flack |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Our MA thematic options introduce students to broad fields of study, asking them to familiarise themselves with the core historiographical debates and themes that constitute the discipline of history, and specialist areas within it. Thematic units focus on students' ability to develop an advanced knowledge through careful study of the sources, approaches, and methods that other historians have used to study the past.Historians and the Body achieves this by inviting students to tackle intersections between the fields of medical history, and gender, sexuality and disability studies.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Thematic options give students a chance to enhance their knowledge of both well-established and emerging topics of historical enquiry. They prepare students to specialise in TB2 by developing their ability to critique the work of other scholars, and to assess how, when, and why historians' have chosen to ask certain types of questions, and study certain types of topics. The aim is to provide all MA students with the core competencies required for their dissertation by developing their ability to identify, analyse and ultimately situate themselves within a chosen sub-field or topic area.
An Overview of Content:
Normal people’ with their 'normal bodies' seem to be everywhere. But notions of what is 'normal' and what is not have always been in flux. In truth, 'normal' is a category, an idea, a fantasy about human identity that has a complex history that runs parallel to the idea of abnormality. Indeed shifting categories and classifications of the body have sat at the core of many of the major historiographical developments of the past half century or so. Not least, medical and feminist historians have devoted significant attention to issues around gender and sexuality. In this unit, students will explore these developments across a range of key contexts in which identities have been created, imposed, tested, and resisted, and where lives have often been at stake. Students will consider categories of natural and unnatural, human, nonhuman, and not-quite-human, as well as abled, disabled, freak and monster. They'll be asked to engage with racialised categories and classifications, and to interrogate the unstable and contested lines between male and female bodies, as well as the politically loaded, culturally contingent distinctions that have been drawn between supposedly normal and abnormal sexualities. The unit will range widely across these bodily contexts, exploring how historians have worked with and challenged the boundaries of the body.
How will you be different as a result of taking this unit?
This unit aims to introduce you to topics, themes and debates within several fields of historical thought, ranging from gender and sexuality to race and disability. It is intended to inspire new areas of interest, or to enhance existing curiosities that will ultimately provide a foundation for further specialist study in TB2.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
This unit will be taught through a combination of weekly seminars and asynchronous activity designed to help support your learning and assessment. The seminar will be based around discussion of key texts, historiographical debates and themes in the field of histories of the human body and how this has been shaped by historians' approaches to sources and methodology.
This will serve both to increase your knowledge of how bodies have been historically considered and to build your confidence in critically engaging with the work of other scholars.
The asynchronous activity will help develop your skills in reading and analysing existing academic scholarship, communicating your ideas in written form, and developing a historiographical argument appropriate for an extended research-based essay.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
One 5000-word Essay (ILOs 1-4) [100%].
When assessment does not go to plan:
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HISTM0104).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
