The core modules for the MA in Public History will provide students with an advanced level examination of many of the key issues that are involved in the production of history in the public domain. The modules are taught by a range of historical practitioners from the University of York and from a number of external organisations. Core Module 1 examines the diverse ways in which historical knowledge and understanding are generated in public settings, and the contribution of this knowledge and understanding to politics, society and cultural values. It should provide students with a thorough theoretical grounding in the discipline and practice of public history.
Module will run
Occurrence
Teaching period
A
Autumn Term 2021-22
Module aims
This module aims to:
introduce students to a broad range of conceptual and methodological frameworks for understanding the relationship between the past and its manifestations in contemporary society
explore examples of how the past is represented, constructed, debated and contested in the public sphere
encourage critical and theoretical evaluations of media strategies and cultural heritage public policy, married with concrete case studies
allow the student to marry academic knowledge with a rigorous understanding of specific case-study examples of public policy or representation, obtained through reading and discussion of policy documentation and other source materials
ensure that students are exposed to a broad range of research into media strategy and public heritage.
Module learning outcomes
After successfully completing this module students should:
possess an understanding of theoretical models for relating the past and the present
be able to assess their relationship to particular and specific examples in the arenas of policy or media
demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between theory and practice in Public History
Module content
Teaching Programme:
Students will attend eight weekly two-hour seminars in weeks 2-9.
Key themes likely to be addressed include:
The Past in the Present: What is Public History?
Guides, Brands and Publics: Guidebooks as a Case Study
Whose Past is It: Politics, Culture and Identity
Difficult Pasts
Family History
Commemoration and Public Memory
History, historians and visual media
Museums and the Past: Engagement, Explanation and Education
Assessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Essay/coursework 4000 Word Essay
N/A
100
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Students will complete a 2,000 word essay for formative assessment, due in week 6, for which they will receive an individual tutorial.
Students taking the module as a core module will submit a 4,000 word assessed essay in week 10 of the autumn term. For those taking the module as an option module, a 4,000 word assessed essay will be due in week 2 of the spring term.
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback consisting of comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission. They will also receive verbal feedback at an individual tutorial. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. Supervisors are available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment for Taught Postgraduate Programmes.
Indicative reading
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
Cauvin, Thomas. Public History: A Textbook of Practice. Abigdon: Routledge, 2016.
Ashton, Paul and Hilda Kean (eds.). People and their Pasts: Public History Today. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
De Groot, Jerome. Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.
Gray, Ann and Erin Bell. History on Television. London: Routledge, 2013.
Kean, Hilda and Paul Martin (eds.). The Public History Reader. London: Routledge, 2013.
Macdonald, Sharon (ed.). A Companion to Museum Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Macmillan, Margaret. The Uses and Abuses of History. London: Profile, 2010.
Rosenzweig, Roy. Clio Wired: The Future of the Past in the Digital Age. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.