Newcastle University > Undergraduate > Find a Degree > Module

• Offered for Year: 2020/21

• Module Leader(s): Dr Bruce Baker

• Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Aims

The module aims:

•       To examine the development of New Orleans over time in relation to its natural and built environment.
•       To explain how the social and political structures of New Orleans evolved and how the legacies of earlier social and political structures affected that evolution.
•       To consider how the culture of New Orleans changed over time and the relationship between external and indigenous influences on the culture.
•       To examine the economic and business history of New Orleans, with a particular emphasis on its relationship to national and transnational economies.

Outline Of Syllabus

The Accidental City
Colonial New Orleans
The Americanisation of New Orleans
Slavery and Antebellum Trade
The Sinews of an Expanding City
Civil War and Reconstruction
New Orleans in the Global Economy of the Late Nineteenth Century
Jazz in a Modernising City
Twentieth-Century New Orleans
This City Won’t Wash Away: Katrina and the Twenty-First Century

Teaching Methods

Please note that module leaders are reviewing the module teaching and assessment methods for Semester 2 modules, in light of the Covid-19 restrictions. There may also be a few further changes to Semester 1 modules. Final information will be available by the end of August 2020 in for Semester 1 modules and the end of October 2020 for Semester 2 modules.

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lecture materials are designed to introduce students to concepts, ideas, debates, interpretations and arguments that are unfamiliar to them, and to provide students with core knowledge about the subjects and themes explored in the module. The lecture materials will also provide a framework upon which students can build their own knowledge and understanding. PowerPoint presentations and a variety of sources (visual and textual) will help guide students in their independent study of recommended reading, and critical evaluation of source material.

Seminars are intended to complement lecture materials, but also allow students an opportunity to explore challenging subjects through the discussion of recommended reading. Preparation for seminars will promote critical skills and independent research, while the seminars themselves will foster oral presentation, interpersonal communication, discussion and debate, and critical skills, and will give students the confidence to develop their own arguments and interpretation in response to secondary and primary sources.

Assessment Methods

Please note that module leaders are reviewing the module teaching and assessment methods for Semester 2 modules, in light of the Covid-19 restrictions. There may also be a few further changes to Semester 1 modules. Final information will be available by the end of August 2020 in for Semester 1 modules and the end of October 2020 for Semester 2 modules.

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Since the module is a history of a specific city, basic geographical orientation is necessary, which will be tested by a brief quiz due in the first two weeks of the module. Quizzes will cover the reading and other material assigned as background for the lectures, and these will be due prior to the lecture to ensure students get the most out of the lecture materials. Following the lectures, students will be required to write a response paper to one of each week’s lectures. The “bibliography” assignment will be an annotated bibliography and research proposal for a larger research project. Working on this requires students to synthesise material learned through lectures, further reading, and independent study; to demonstrate a grasp of the relevant scholarship; to present their ideas in the form of a tentative thesis; and to formulate a plan for carrying out a research project. All of these skills will build towards the requirements of the third year of the degree, especially the dissertation.

All Erasmus students at Newcastle University are expected to do the same assessment as students registered for a degree.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. This will take the form of an alternative assessment, as outlined in the formats below:

Modules assessed by Coursework and Exam -
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be one essay in addition to the other coursework assessment (the length of the essay should be adjusted in order to comply with the assessment tariff); to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Exam only -
The normal alternative form of assessment for all semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be two 2,000 word written exercises; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

Modules assessed by Coursework only -
All semester 1 non-EU study abroad students will be expected to complete the standard assessment for the module; to be submitted no later than 12pm Friday of week 12. The essays should be set so as to assure coverage of the course content to date.

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.

Reading Lists

• HIS2170's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• HIS2170's Timetable