Medical Experience in the Countryside, c. 1500-1789 - P68566 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Timothy J. McHugh,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module will examine various comparative themes in the social history of medicine as it pertains to rural Europe during the Early Modern Period (defined as between 1500 to c. 1789). Students will be given the opportunity to study the fundamental issues that have been explored by historians of rural society and the social history of medicine.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Patients and Practitioners, 1700-1850 - P68563 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Peter Jones,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This course breaks neatly into two parts. In part one we will be dealing with the general theoretical and source issues that underpin an understanding of the doctor-patient relationship. We will also understand the early history of doctoring and doctor-patient relationships. In part two, we will move on to consider various aspects of the doctor- patient relationship, including the supply of doctors, patient networks, the role of institutions, doctoring as an art and regional differences in the strength and character of doctor-patient relationships.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Science Magic and Religion - P68505 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Professor Waltraud Ernst,

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

This module is intended to introduce students to history of science based theories on the social construction of knowledge systems and alert them to the boundary issues involved in the construction of science, magic and religion. Science, magic and religion will also be looked at as cultural systems and implicated in the establishment of cultural and political hegemony. A further focus will be the historical specificity of the definitions of the boundaries between science, magic and religion. The second part of the course focuses on methodological issues, in particular primary source selection and interpretation.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

From Pills and Potions, to Penicillin and Prozac - P68504 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Viviane Quirke,

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

Barely a week goes by without news of a medical breakthrough, and this often refers to a drug promising either a treatment for a disease previously unresponsive to medical intervention, or else a significant improvement over existing treatments. On the other hand, some times one also hears about disasters or abuses involving the testing, administering, or taking of drugs. On these occasions, the clinical researchers who test the drugs, the doctors who prescribe them, but more often the pharmaceutical companies who make them, are transformed in the public eye from heroes into villains, and become the subject of controversy, some times even legal prosecution. The objective of this module is therefore double: 1) to help students to make sense of this complex picture by placing it in a wider historical context; 2) to explain how drugs have come to occupy such an important place in our society, by examining their evolution not only in terms of scientific and medical progress, but also in terms of a complex, changing inter-relationship between consumers, producers, the medical profession, and the state.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Engineering Society: Eugenics and Biopolitics in Europe, 1800-1945 - P68503 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Marius Turda,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module will examine various comparative themes in the history of eugenics, genetics, biopolitics, anthropology and modernity from 1800 to 1945. Students will be given the opportunity to study the fundamental issues that have pre-occupied historians of biology, science and modernity since the 1800s and combine these with specific case studies from a wide range of European countries.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Ethics and Ideas: from the Hippocratic Oath to Informed Consent - P68502 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Professor Paul Weindling,

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

Students will be given the opportunity to study the fundamental issues that have pre-occupied historians of medical malpractice and clinical research. This module will examine various comparative themes in the history of medical ethics from Hippocrates to the present.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Key Concepts and Methods in the History of Medicine - P68501 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Timothy J. McHugh,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

This course prepares students for advanced study in the History of Medicine, both in terms of the acquisition of key research skills, and in the development of a critical, reflective engagement with questions of method and interpretation. Seminars will focus on the issues related to historiography and research methods as part of an advanced study of the History of Medicine. All students will receive training in the important practical skills of scholarly presentation, bibliographical searching and information retrieval and management (including IT and web-based research), as well as substantial teaching in the basic concepts of medical history.

Contributes to: History of Medicine

Studying Civil War: Russia, Spain, Greece - P67581 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Erik Landis,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module examines three cases studies in civil conflict in the Twentieth Century. In analyzing a variety of themes from international relations to the dynamics of clan violence, the module introduces students to the practice of comparative history, historical sociology and the analytical study of civil conflict.

Contributes to: History

Body Politics: Health and Modernity in Britain, 1830-1914 - P67502 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Tom Crook,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module examines the political and cultural dynamics of British public health during the period 1830 to 1914. Students will be given the opportunity to engage with the very latest historiography and explore how an ostensibly discrete and humanitarian field of governance raised broader questions about the meaning of urban civilisation, the limits of the state, the scope and organisation of expert authority, and the politics of gender, class and sexuality. It will encourage students to think about these issues in terms of the bigger picture of modernity and the practice and regulation of modern freedom.

This module can also be taken by students in the History of Medicine.

Contributes to: History

The Theory and Practice of History: An Introduction to Studying History at MA Level - P67501 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Tom Crook,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

This course prepares students for advanced study in history, both in terms of the acquisition of key research skills and in the development of a critical, reflective engagement with questions of historical method and interpretation. All students will receive training in the important practical skills of scholarly presentation, research design, reviewing literature, bibliographical searching and information retrieval and management.

Contributes to: History

Professional Film Cultures - →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr James Caterer,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

At a national level, the term ‘film culture' is a contested one, encapsulating debates around film as art or commerce, media literacy and screen heritage to name but a few. This module invites students to engage with such debates in order to form an understanding of the function and development of the cultural industries. Students can elect either to design and implement a research project which builds on these elements, or undertake a professional placement or short internship within the film industry. Suitable sectors for consideration will include cinema management, festival administration, archives and museums, distribution companies, or local multi-media production houses. The aim of the placement is not to fast-track students into production or technical roles within the industry, but rather to provide an understanding of the many and varied career opportunities which are available within the UK's professional film cultures.

Contributes to: Film Studies

Composition and Sonic Art Practice - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This elective provides an opportunity for students to enhance their technical and analytical skills, building upon their previous experience. Students will work with an appropriate supervisor within the areas of composition and sonic art practice. They will have the opportunity to focus on acoustic composition, electro-acoustic composition and sound art, and will explore the importance of site and context. They will develop their own conceptual concerns and expand their vocabulary of technical skills as they relate to a specific aspect of their creative practice. Students will develop a body of practical research – to include scores and recordings – and reflect upon this through seminar feedback sessions. In addition, students pursue a research topic that explores contemporary practice; for instance through the analytical study of the work of a composer or group of composers, or a detailed consideration of a particular conceptual or technical issue.

Contributes to: Music

Approaches to Popular Music - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This elective is an examination of the methodological issues and traditions in the study of popular music, principally in the academic context. Issues in historiography are implicit throughout, raising the definition of so-called popular music. Although the elective can include reference to any repertory under this capacious heading, including jazz, focus in class will be on the song-based lineages of American country and British folk music, American blues and gospel music, and the trans-national languages of pop, rock, and rap. However, in addition, reference will be made to non-Anglophone repertory. Musicological approaches are practised through active listening to selected recordings and live performances. Finally forms of writing, examined and discussed, in which popular music is positioned as a sub-discipline of various non-musical subject areas: sociology and politics, literary study, cultural and media studies, aesthetics and critical theory. The development of a degree of self-awareness when one of these modes is adopted is an objective during the elective’s set reading.

Contributes to: Music

Approaches to Opera - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This elective explores recent critical thinking about the creation, performance and reception of opera and about operas as dramatic and musical texts. Amongst other topics, it will focus upon debates about the following issues: the social and aesthetic contexts that have shaped operas; the representation of political concerns in opera; gender and sexuality on the operatic stage; operatic institutions and audiences; the staging and interpretation of operas; critical responses to opera; opera’s place in the musical canon; and the role of opera in twenty-first-century society. Other forms of music theatre may also be discussed. The module aims to develop students’ research skills, including literature-searching, close-reading and critical thinking about primary and secondary sources. Sessions will involve group discussion of weekly readings, as well as student presentations on specific operas and themes. The programme of study will include attendance at a live opera and students are encouraged to attend further productions, to watch operas on video and film, and to attend study days. Students will be encouraged to consider ways to extend their ideas through further postgraduate study.

Contributes to: Music

Approaches to Film Music - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This elective takes as a starting point the role of music in film, seeking to explore in detail a number of scholarly and creative perspectives on that role. The purpose of the elective, therefore, is not to trace the history of music in film, but rather to survey recent critical thinking about music in film: how music is thought to clarify, confuse or contradict the expressive or informative content of the image track; how music is understood to generate impressions of time, space, character, mood, scene. Sessions will involve group discussion of weekly readings, as well as student presentations on specific films and themes.

Contributes to: Music

Key Concepts and Methods in Research - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

This module has two aims. Some sessions are dedicated to research techniques, focusing upon both generic and subject-specific skills. Training is provided in the following: the use of bibliographic databases and internet-based resources specific to the study of Music; identifying sources and the use of libraries and archives; writing skills. The module also features a series of sessions devoted to developing students' awareness of recent debates within musical scholarship. Theme based seminars will focus on the following broad topics: Listening; Music and Technology; Space, Site and Context; Canonicity; Music and the New Global Order. The sessions are designed to bring together musicologists and composers in fruitful debate.

Contributes to: Music

Electroacoustic and Live Electronic Composition - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

This elective provides an opportunity for students to enhance their technical and analytical skills, building upon their previous experience of composition. Students will have the opportunity to focus on electroacoustic composition and live electronic composition, including interactive computer music. Students develop a body of practical research – which might include recordings, software patches and installations – and reflect upon this through seminar feedback sessions. In addition, students pursue a research topic that explores Electroacoustic or Live-Electronic composition; for instance through the analytical study of the work of a composer or group of composers, or a detailed consideration of a particular conceptual or technical issue.

Contributes to: Music

Dissertation or Major Project (compulsory for the MA) - →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

A major piece of independent study leading either to an extended piece of written work OR a portfolio of practice-based work. The dissertation/project makes use of skills, knowledge and understanding gained during the course, and is conducted under tutorial supervision, with some initial training sessions and work-in-progress seminars.

Contributes to: Music

Creativity, Writing And Textuality: Concepts And Practice - TBA →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Professor Rob Pope,

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Compulsory

This core course is taken by all students at the beginning of the MA and is designed to establish its overall range, emphases, strategies and aims. It encourages an understanding of creativity and writing that is critically and historically aware and informed by contemporary theoretical perspectives.

Further Information on this module available here

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Poetry - TBA →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module focuses on the writing of poetry in a variety of forms and modes and encourages engagement with influential poets and poetic movements, both contemporary and historical. This module explores the issues relating to the writing of poetry including form, language, rhythm, typography, sound and verbal patterning, linguistic devices, personae and voice. Students’ writing practice will be considered alongside critical reflection upon various poetries through literary history.

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Narrative - TBA →

This module takes place during Semester 1 and is Elective

This module focuses on aspects of narrative, story and plot in creative writing in both fiction and non-fiction and encompasses a full range of genres, from the novel or short-story to script or screen writing. This module explores the issues relating to the construction of narrative and story, including plotting, pace, perspective and structure. Consideration of, research into, and critical reflection on various narrative modes through literary history will form the basis for preliminary discussion. Students go on to work on aspects of narrative in their own writing and to discuss it in workshop sessions.

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Creativity, Writing And Textuality: Major Project - TBA →

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Compulsory

This module enables students to complete an extended piece of their own creative writing in any genre, accompanied by a self-evaluating critical commentary: it is the equivalent of a dissertation. The development and writing of the major project and critical commentary will be conducted in group sessions and under the supervision of a member of staff with specialist expertise in the area, through a series of one-to-one tutorials. The Major Project is a piece of work of maximum 20,000 words in length, but minimum word length may vary according to genre and format: the genre, format and length of the Project (including critical commentary) will be decided in consultation with the Module Leader and Supervisor.

Further Information on this module available here

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Writing Place - TBA →

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

This module explores methods for and modes of writing creatively about place, through a wide variety of conceptual and experiential possibilities, such as home, environment, locality, space, displacement, alienation, class, travel, immigration, asylum and nationality. This module will consider the technical and stylistic methods available to establish a sense of place in writing – and treats the word ‘place’ in its broadest and most mobile of sense. Consideration of the construction of and responses to place in various examples from literature will form the basis for preliminary discussion and will ground students for the exploration of place-making in their own creative work. Students go on to follow their own lines of enquiry through research, reflection and writing on ‘place’. Through active workshop sessions and their own written work, students will consider the relation of their own place of writing to the textual construction of space, scene and situation.

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Writing Lives - TBA →

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

This module is principally concerned with the creative construction of written lives: ‘life’ is a complex and ambiguous term, and the module will explore how useful a concept it might be for generating and critiquing the writing of personality, memory, character, narrative personae, individuality and identity. Formally, and through creative writing practice, the module will consider the use of narrative and stylistic options centred on the construction of life, selfhood and identity in both fiction and non-fiction genres of writing.

Contributes to: Creative Writing

Story Development - P64005 →

Module Leader(s)/Tutors: Dr Paolo Russo,

This module takes place during Semester 2 and is Elective

This module focuses on the creative aspects of writing for the screen. Based on tutorials and case studies (with film screenings and through reading and analysing screenplays of popular films), in the first half of the semester the course will offer students the opportunity to learn and master the narrative aspects (themes, plot, structure, sequences and scenes, characters, dialogues, genres) and technical skills (tone, style, dynamics) of scriptwriting, drawing upon both traditional and alternative models; in the second part, students will develop their own scripts, from the original concept, to an effective outline and treatment of a story.

Contributes to: Film Studies | Creative Writing