HR944-7-SP-CO:
Writing Cold War Lives
2024/25
Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
03 April 2024
Requisites for this module
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The history of Britain’s Cold War is traditionally written from the perspective of the government and the military. The conflict is seen as war conducted by ‘experts’ with narratives concentrating on Whitehall decision-making, diplomacy, and espionage. Yet the Cold War was also a conflict fought and decided by individuals, and the ideological, technological, and military dimensions of the conflict shaped lives in complex and unexpected ways.
This module uses a range of life-story approaches to examine the history of Cold War Britain in all its facets. We will examine biographies, auto-biographies, oral history, and the ‘hostile biographies’ of state surveillance. experience of total war transformed the relationship between citizen and state in twentieth-century Britain. Students will use this material to gain insights into neglected aspects of the Cold War past.
The aims of this module are:
- To understand Britain’s Cold War experiences through using a range of life-story material
- To develop students’ awareness of a range of different life-story material
- To consider how different life-stories are narrated, and how life-story genres help us examine history in different ways.
By the end of the module, students will be expected to:
- Understand how life-stories reveal the complexities of British History during the Cold War.
- Gain a sophisticated awareness of the methodological and conceptual approaches needed to understanding Cold War life stories.
- Demonstrate an ability to analyse a range of life—stories, including biographies, auto-biographies, and other archival material.
Indicative syllabus
- Researching Cold War Life Stories: a practical guide
- Collective Lives: narrating life stories
- Activist memoirs: peace campaigners
- Oral Histories: Cold War memories
- Reading Week
- Auto-History? Raphael Samuel and the ‘Lost World’ of British Communism
- Apostasy: anti-Communist apologies and memoirs
- Hostile Biography: Surveillance Lives
- Fragments: Life-stories from the CPGB Archive
- Assessment Workshop
This module will be delivered via:
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay (5000 words) |
|
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Matthew Grant, email: m.grant@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Matthew Grant
PHAIS Postgraduate Queries
phaispg@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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