| Unit name | The Nature of Britain: Environmental Histories of an Atlantic Island |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISTM0103 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Adrian Howkins |
| 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 specialist options allow students to focus on a particular field of history and to develop specialist knowledge through intensive primary source analysis. These units develop your ability to identify suitable primary sources, independently analyse them, and develop sophisticated arguments rooted in core methodologies and historiographies. The Nature of Britain unit achieves this by offering an opportunity to apply approaches and methodologies from the field of environmental history to the analysis of British history. There is considerable scope for students to follow their own research themes and interests (e.g. in terms of time period and geographical location) to engage with existing literature in an innovative manner.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Specialist options take you into much greater detail than your TB1 thematic options, placing a much higher premium on independent primary source analysis. The aim is to provide all MA students with the core competencies required for their dissertation by developing your ability to build historical arguments through and with primary sources, in respect of a particular period, place, or theme.
An Overview of Content:
Starting with early landscape history and moving to contemporary debates over rewilding and net zero carbon, this unit takes an environmental approach to the history of Britain. It asks how the environment has shaped British history, how human activities have altered the environment, and how the environment has been understood differently by different people at different times. Throughout the unit, emphasis will be placed on the intersections of environmental history with political history, economic history, cultural history and social history, and an overriding theme of the class is that an understanding of environment is integral to making sense of the history of Britain. Themes for study will include topics like the history of agriculture, water and islands, overlaps between religion and the environment, the industrial revolution, empire, cities, recreation and the
countryside, nationalism and nature, environmental protest, and nature writing. The unit is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of Britain, environmental history, or innovative approaches to historical scholarship.
How will you be different as a result of taking this unit?
This unit aims to inspire you to conduct your own research into the environmental history of Britain. It will develop your understanding not just of British environmental history, but also of the ways in which historians set about framing appropriate research questions and answering them.
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. HISTM0103).
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.
