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Violence - HIS00141H

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  • Department: History
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Stuart Carroll
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module summary

Violence is an inescapable theme in human history. War, violent crime, personal conflict and aggression appear to be constant features of the human condition. But is that really the case? This Comparative module aims to test that assumption, by examining various sorts of violence in various different periods, places and contexts. Among the themes which will be discussed are the extent to which the thresholds of acceptable or legitimate violence have changed over time and place. What may have seemed acceptable behaviour in one time and place may be unacceptable in another. This course will begin with ideas about and practices of violence in classical Rome and Norse civilisations, examine concepts and practice of honour, chivalry and the feud during the medieval and early-modern periods, and will engage with the simultaneous development during the modern period of the ‘civilising process’ and the greatest outbursts of human violence which the world has ever seen. Topics will include not only the conduct of war, violent public behaviour and political violence, but also what may be termed ‘intimate violence’ (rape, wife-battering, child-beating, etc.) and various attempts to control or regulate violence.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

  • To introduce students to the practice of comparative history;
  • To enable students to acquire skills and understanding of that practice by studying a particular topic or theme; and
  • To enable students to reflect on the possibilities and difficulties involved in comparative history

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

  • Grasp the key approaches and challenges involved in comparative history;
  • Understand a range of aspects of the topic or theme which they have studied;
  • Be able to use and evaluate comparative approaches to that topic or theme; and
  • Have learned to discuss and write about comparative history

Module content

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1, then a 1-hour workshop and a 2-hour seminar in each of weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of the semester. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour workshops and eight 2-hour seminars in all.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

  1. What is violence?
  2. Violence as spectacle
  3. Interpersonal violence
  4. Combat
  5. Racial and religious violence
  6. Sexual violence
  7. Controlling violence
  8. The end of violence?

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Violence		 5 hours 100

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment work, students will produce an essay plan relating to the themes and issues of the module.

For summative assessment students will complete an Open Exam in the assessment period.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Violence		 5 hours 100

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback, which may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss their feedback 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 25 working days of the submission. For semester 1 assessments, the tutor will be available during student hours of the following semester for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For semester 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:

  • William Miller, ‘Getting a Fix on Violence’ in Humiliation and other essays on honour, social discomfort and violence (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993).
  • Stuart Carroll, ‘Introduction’ in Cultures of Violence: Interpersonal Violence in Historical Perspective (Palgrave: Basingstoke, 2007).
  • Julius Ruff, Violence in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.