Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module will introduce students to ideas and practices of public history, and critically engage with some approaches. Students will begin to develop some of the key skills of public historians, especially in regards to communication and collaboration.

Outline Of Syllabus

•Introduction: What is public history? An international overview
•Publics and counter-publics and why they matter
•The past in the present: historical justice
•Approaches to Public History

      -History for the public: delivery and reception
      -History with the public: history from below and memory activism
      -History in public: heritage, memorialisation and commemoration

Case Studies working across the inter-connected themes of race, war, environment, gender and class.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

At the end of this module, students will have:
•       Understanding that public history is the use of the past in the present.
•       Knowledge of the historiography of public history, including some of the key international debates.
•       Understanding that public history is defined and practiced in different ways in different places around the world.
•       A developing understanding of key theoretical concepts relevant to public history, including public sphere, audience, imagined communities, historical consciousness and historical justice.
•       A developing understanding of the reception of the past by publics.
•       Knowledge of different ways public history is practiced including through popular culture, cultural institutions, legal frameworks and memory activism.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•       Critical thinking and evaluation skills
•       Ability to work collaboratively in small groups
•       Public speaking skills
•       Technical and communication skills for public presentations
•       Online writing skills

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

LECTURES: enable students to gain a wider sense of historical argument and debate.


SEMINARS: weekly 2 hour seminars are an opportunity for students to consolidate their learning. They encourage independent study and promote improvements in oral presentation, interpersonal communication, problem-solving skills, research skills and adaptability. They will also be used to scaffold and allow preparation for assessments.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Summative assessment will be by (1) an individual presentation on an aspect of public history and (2) a final essay problematising public history and its central questions.

The recorded presentation is designed to assess students' skills in presenting personal reflections on a piece of public history. The more traditional essay style format will assess critical thinking, academic reasoning and execution.

The formative assessment will give students the chance to prepare and design their presentations, and to be given feedback.

Submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. Where an exam is present, an alternative form of assessment will be set and where coursework is present, an alternative deadline will be set. Details of the alternative assessment will be provided by the module leader.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending the whole academic year or semester 2 are required to complete the standard assessment as set out in the MOF under all circumstances.

General Notes

N/a