HST6887: Discovering Rural England
15 credits (semester 2)
Module Leader: Dr. Clare Griffiths
| Module Summary |
This module looks at ways in which the countryside was represented in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Seminars will explore topics such as the countryside in fiction (novels of Thomas Hardy), images of the countryside in painting and photography, the attempts to preserve a folk culture in England (Cecil Sharp and the English Folk Song movement) and elegies for the decline of a traditional rural society (George Bourne's 'Change in the Village', 1912). The values attached to rural culture, and the supposed significance of the countryside for the nation as a whole, make this topic a crucial one in debates about Englishness' in the period, and the module allows students to engage with a lively secondary literature, whilst also encouraging them to explore these questions through the study of a variety of contemporary responses.
| Teaching |
The module is taught through seminars, based around the discussion of readings and preparation drawn from the secondary and primary sources. The seminars give opportunities to explore the broader historiographical debates, whilst also developing students' confidence in using a variety of types of source material to examine particular topics in depth.
| Assessment |
Students will prepare a short paper (not more than 3000 words).
| Selected Reading |
Forthcoming.
| Intended Learning Outcomes |
By the end of the module, a candidate will be able to demonstrate:
- An appreciation and critical engagement with academic debates on ruralism and national identity, and an ability to place these in the context of the broader historiography on the history of England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
- Confidence in exploring the questions raised by the secondary literature in seminar discussion and in written argument.
- Familiarity with a variety of different types of primary source material, and the ability to offer a critical discussion of these sources.
- An advanced ability in researching a topic for discussion and formulating an academic argument, expressing this in fluent, scholarly prose, with the support of appropriate referencing and bibliography.