Module Directory

This module helps you to develop the critical mindset needed to analyse historical arguments wherever you find them, but also the constructive skills essential to researching and writing your own histories.

The module combines lectures and seminars exploring how history "works" in different contexts with archive visits and library workshops that expose you to the raw materials of History.

The aims of this module are:

• To communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether verbally or in writing, in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.


• To understand historical arguments as presented in secondary scholarship and diverse public contexts.


• To identify and analyse different types of primary sources.


• To formulate and justify arguments and conclusions about a range of issues, and present appropriate supporting evidence.


• To think critically and challenge assumptions.


• To modify as well as to defend their own position.


• To use a range of resources to assist with information retrieval and assignment presentation.


• To manage their time effectively and independently organise their workloads.


• To work effectively with others as part of a team in seminar discussions, group meetings, and group assessments.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to read and understand historical arguments.


2. Locate different types of historical evidence, including primary sources.


3. Demonstrate some understanding of the distinctive features of different types of historical evidence.


4. Show insight into how and why ‘myths’ about the past are formed and gain purchase, and how historical research can challenge such myths.


5. Present, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, in written or oral form, their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions.


6. Organise their time to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.

'The past is never dead. It's not even past'. In a world of conspiracy theories, toppling statues, and 'culture wars', the novelist William Faulkner's most famous line resonates more than ever.

Across the globe, History is co-opted to multiple causes and used to justify contradictory positions. Such uses of History often rely on myths, stereotypes, and misunderstandings. How can we separate political belief, personal opinion, and false information about the past from historical knowledge and understanding?

Rebellious Pasts looks at the creation, consolidation, and operation of historical myths and stereotypes – and at how we, as historians, can use the tools of our trade to identify and challenge misleading representations of the past, replacing them with richer forms of understanding.

On this module, you will undertake self-directed research drawing upon digitized collections, archives, and heritage sector institutions, and translate your findings into accessible public history artefacts. At its heart, History is the refusal to accept easy assumptions and the insistence on negotiating with evidence, no matter how tricky that is. By the end of the module, you will understand why History is a rebellious discipline – and how to harness its unruly powers.

Indicative syllabus

Lectures - Autumn Term

• Introduction: Rebellious Pasts.


• What is History?


• Writing and Rewriting History.


• Public History.


• Archive Visit I.


• Researching and Writing History.


• Using Secondary Sources.


• History, Memory, and "Myth".


• Archive Visit II.


• Making History: the Group Project.

Lectures - Spring Term

• 11. Archive Visit 3.


• Getting the Project Off the Ground.


• Independent Group Meeting I.


• Thinking about Primary Sources.


• Independent Group Meeting II.


• Library Workshop Day I.


• Historical Debate in the Project.


• Independent Group Meeting III.


• Communicating Research.


• Library Workshop Day II.

Seminars & Group Meetings - Autumn Term

• Introduction.


• Historians and "Facts".


• Rebellious Histories Case Study I.1: Introduction.


• Rebellious Histories Case Study I.2: Historical Debate.


• Archive Visit I.


• Rebellious Histories Case Study 1.3: Public History.


• Assessment I: Tutorials.


• Marking an Essay.


• Archive Visit II.


• Rebellious Histories Case Study II.

Seminars & Group Meetings - Spring Term

• Archive Visit 3.


• Guided Group Meeting I.


• Independent Meeting I.


• Guided Group Meeting II.


• Independent Group Meeting II.


• Library Workshop Day I.


• Guided Group Meeting III.


• Independent Group Meeting III.


• Guided Group Meeting IV.


• Library Workshop Day II.

Seminars & Group Meetings - Summer Term

• Guided Group Meeting V.


• Independent Group Meeting V.


• Independent Group Meeting VI.


• Independent Group Meeting VII.


• Student Conference.

This module will be delivered via:

• A combination of lectures, seminars, archive visits, library workshops, guided group meetings (meetings at which a seminar tutor is present to guide discussion and respond to questions), and independent group meetings (student-led meetings with no seminar tutor presence).

Lectures, seminars, guided group meetings, and independent group meetings are all 50 minutes long. Archive visits and library workshops are half-day or full-day events. All Module information will be available via Moodle. Key readings will be digitised an available on Talis Aspire.

The range of learning and teaching methods, and the provision of full information and materials on Moodle, ensure that diverse groups of students will be supported to learn to the best of their abilities, to excel in areas of existing strength, and to further develop skills in areas where this is required.