MA Modern History & Culture

Immersing you in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this taught Masters degree provides an advanced insight into modern and contemporary history, with a particular focus on the social and cultural history of the past 200 years. You will deepen your understanding of the modern world, exploring how major historical developments and events have intersected with the lives of normal every-day people, shaping views, attitudes and cultures. Developing an enhanced appreciation of the methods, approaches and concerns that inform social and cultural history, including the use of historical archives, you will gain expertise in the specialist practical skills required of research-active, professional historians. You will also develop other transferable skills and enhance your employability by engaging in real-world public-facing tasks and activities.

What will I study?

The programme enables you to explore a variety of historical and cultural themes. These range from Victorian popular culture and entertainment practices to the material history of traceable human communication and the transformation of US foreign policy.

You can examine the history of antisemitism, investigate the evolution of attitudes towards criminality and criminal justice, or assess the relevance of medieval history to modern thinkers, politics and religious movements.

There is also the opportunity to agree and undertake a historical project of your own design using archive materials.

The core strand of the programme focuses on the practical skills, theoretical approaches
and research methods required for the advanced study of history. The development of these research skills will prepare you for the in-depth and extended study of a strand of history which will culminate in a dissertation.

Career Prospects
What are my career prospects?

Graduates in History with a higher degree find employment in a wide variety of careers such as teaching, arts organisation and management, the heritage industry, publishing, advertising, journalism, libraries and learning centres, and management/administration.

Alternatively, upon successful completion of the programme, you may wish to apply to progress onto a research degree such as an MPhil or PhD.