HST6854: Arguments about Eighteenth-century Crime
15 credits (semester 1: 2009-10) (semester 2: 2010-11)
Module Leader: Professor Bob Shoemaker
| Module Summary |
Crime was a topic of considerable debate in the eighteenth century; it has also been the subject of several heated historiographical debates. This module will review recent scholarship on the history of crime and criminal justice and consider potential new methods and topics of investigation, as cultural approaches are introduced. Students will gain a critical understanding of the liveliness and richness of new developments in this field, both in methodology and theory, and will be introduced to relevant primary sources. Topics will include the classic (Marxist) arguments, gendering crime, crime and the public sphere, criminal biographies, and possible approaches to writing a cultural history of crime.
| Teaching |
The module will be taught in five, two-hour classes. Each will focus on a particular theme (Marxist arguments and subsequent responses, gender, the public sphere, criminal lives, and historians' attempts at writing a cultural history of crime) and involve discussion of the primary and secondary historical literature, considered in broad context. Students will use a wide variety of textual and visual primary sources. Critical assessment of different methodological approaches will feed into wider debates in the English-speaking world concerning the nature of historical investigation. Classes will enable students to share knowledge, debate controversial issues and listen and respond to the views of others in a structured environment. Students will, in addition, have an individual tutorial with their own supervisor in which to discuss the work they will write for assessment for this module.
| Assessment |
Students will complete one or more exercises (totalling a maximum of 3000 words) which explore one of the key themes raised by an in-depth study of this topic in early modern history. Students will be expected to demonstrate an ability to handle bibliographical resources, a critical understanding of different methodological approaches and available primary sources, and an independent engagement with current historiographical debate.
| Intended Learning Objectives |
By the end of the unit, a candidate will be able to demonstrate:
- An in depth understanding of recent developments in the study of eighteenth-century crime and criminal justice.
- A knowledge of the main bodies of primary evidence relevant to the study of these issues, and of the problems of their interpretation.
- An ability to engage critically and independently in current historiographical debates on the history of crime and criminal justice.
- An informed and critical awareness of the potential and problems involved in approaching these topics from the perspective of cultural history.
- An ability to elaborate and defend an intellectual position and to present scholarly arguments and historiographical debates both orally and in writing.