Unit name | Revels and Riots: Popular Culture in Early Modern England (Level I Lecture Response Unit) |
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Unit code | HIST20021 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Austin |
Open unit status | Open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit adopts an unapologetic focus on the lives and culture of those early modern Englishwomen and Englishmen who were neither powerful or wealthy—the vast majority of the population in fact. It explores what ordinary people in the period thought about issues such as religion, sex, work, and leisure, and investigates how they engaged in political activity in a pre-democratic society in which all but an elite few were formally excluded from the political process. Studying the culture and politics of ordinary people in the early modern period is far from straightforward, and students will need to grapple with a number of crucial historiographical issues: do we have the necessary sources to access the world of the humble farmer or ale-selling widow? Did ‘ordinary people’ really have a uniform culture distinct from that of ‘elites’? Is it really possible, necessary, or legitimate, to study ‘popular culture’ at all?
Weekly 2-hour interactive lecture sessions
Tutorial feedback on essay
Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in consultation hours
A 3000 word essay (50%) and 2-hour unseen written examination (50%) will assess the student’s understanding of the ways in which historians have interpreted developments in the field; test the student’s ability to think critically and develop their own views and interpretations; and test the student’s understanding of early-modern popular culture in England.
Tim Harris (ed.), Popular Culture in England, c1500-1850 (Basingstoke, 1995).
Barry Reay, Popular Cultures in England, 1550-1750 (London, 1998).
David Undersown, Revel, Riot and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England, 1603-1660 (Oxford, 1985).
John Walter, Crowds and Popular Politics in Early Modern England (Manchester, 2006).
Keith Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (London, 1982; 2003).
Andy Wood, Riot, Rebellion and Popular Politics in Early Modern England (Basingstoke, 2002).