Compulsory modules

Defining Moments in World History, 1000-2000
Were there 'defining moments' in the past? You will debate this question through exploring a series of 'moments' in the last 1000 years of world history, encountering different History staff at Keele and learning about different types of History. As you encounter a range of scholarly writing and primary sources and develop the core skills you will need to study History at university, you will consider the relevance of this History to the world we live in today.

Making Sense of Politics
How do we make sense of studying politics and the changing nature of politics? This module addresses the contestable nature of politics and its relevance in contemporary society. You will explore the concepts of power, democracy and terrorism, applying these concepts to contemporary issues to better understand the political world. You will engage with external actors to reflect on how current national and/or world issues are framed from diverse perspectives and angles, working in small groups to develop your ideas. 

Optional modules

History in Media and Film: The Presentation of the Past in Contemporary Culture
The past is presented in many different ways, including in contemporary film and media. In this module you will consider ‘public history’, examine representations of the past in visual culture, and discuss the importance of these representations to collective memory, constructions of identity, and contemporary politics. Working with students from different subjects, you will begin to develop key skills for Humanities students, including how to evaluate and interpret sources and communicate your arguments to audiences of all backgrounds. 

Modern History: From the Industrial Revolution to the Global Pandemic
As you encounter key ideas, individuals and events in modern history around the world, you will discover how societies changed over time and across place from c.1750 to the present. You will develop fundamental skills including communicating to academic and non-academic audiences, and an awareness of core concepts in modern history. You will also encounter a wide range of primary sources and learn how to analyse them effectively in preparation for your next two years of study.

Applied History: What’s Past is Present
History is ever-present outside of the academic setting in places such as heritage sites, museums, schools, advocacy organizations, newsfeeds and social media. In this module you will grapple with how history is communicated to different groups for different purposes. A field trip will serve as a case study to complement your teaching programme, and you will put your skills into practice by producing and reflecting on your own public history intervention, with guidance from staff.

British Politics: Welfare, Economy and Society
How did we get to the state we're in? This module focuses on the domestic and international dimensions of British politics, presenting an overview of the key debates that have shaped post-WW2 British politics. You will develop an understanding of key events and the importance of ideas such as welfare, decline, immigration, governability and populism. You will enhance your critical reading and analytical skills, developing a better understanding of how the past can help us make sense of the present.

Exploring Political Inequalities
How can we better understand the unequal world around us? This module explores the concept of (in)equality through the lens of political thought, focusing on economics, religion, gender and race. You will be introduced to classic texts and thinkers, developing an understanding of the foundations of political thought. You will critically reflect on your own perspectives relating to economic, religious, gender and racial inequalities through real-world political examples, exploring how these inequalities can be overcome and developing manifestos for change. 

Becoming a Social Scientist
This module transitions you to university scholarship and introduces the employability and professional skills that a social science degree provides through a range of action-focused activities. You will learn vital academic and professional skills and competencies that will allow you to thrive in the first year of your undergraduate studies and throughout your degree.

Please note: You must take one of the following professional development modules: 'Applied History: What’s Past is Present' or 'Becoming a Social Scientist'.

Compulsory modules

Themes, Sources and Debates in History
There are many varied approaches to studying History. This module will consolidate your understanding of these approaches through a lecture series, and you will choose a strand of theme-based seminars. You will be guided to produce your own research project through group workshops and individual supervisions, developing the key research and analytical skills that will be essential for the individual research project that you will embark on in your final year.

Global Democracy under Threat?
In the face of challenges from above, below and within, democracy around the world is under threat. From challenges posed by populism and autocratic leadership to increasing political mistrust and declining levels of participation set against a backdrop of the threat posed by AI and misinformation, global democracies face numerous different threats. You will develop your data handling and analysis skills, exploring whether global democracy is resilient or in retreat and complete diverse assessments designed for an external audience.

Optional modules

History in the Headlines
This second-year module explores the reporting of history in the news across the twenty-first century world. Each week will take a different theme and examine it in a practical workshop: headlines reporting sales or repatriation of national treasures might be examined alongside published criteria for exporting historical artefacts and reports of thefts from the British Museum, for example. Building on your first year, you will further develop skills in evaluating the presentation of history in print, broadcast, and social-media news.

Applied History: Working with the Past
During this module you will make a personal contribution to the world beyond the University, developing and sharing your research, powers of analysis, and communication skills. After initial guidance in composing your CV and talking to employers, you will respond to either an industry brief developed with a partner organization, such as the V&A, or a series of smaller micro-briefs. You will develop a portfolio celebrating your contribution, and learn how to present your skills effectively in the real world.

Professional Experience with History (Year 2)
This module offers you the chance to contribute to the world outside the university through completing a work placement, a project for a client (or a series of projects for different clients), or working as a team to deliver a successful festival or event. You will be trained to showcase your creative and collaborative skills and abilities effectively before applying for an opportunity advertised through the module (or you can source your own, subject to it meeting the module’s requirements).

World Wars and the Age of Extremes
Take a journey through the so-called ‘age of extremes’ (1900-1989), marked by whirlwind change but also crisis, conflict, and violence. Explore a world of war and revolution; of competing utopian visions - like socialism and fascism – challenging democracy; of hopes for peace and freedom frustrated, only to rise again. Building on knowledge gained in your first year, you will further develop skills in engaging with key concepts that shaped past and present, analysing documents, and communicating with wider audiences.

Race, The Environment and Struggles for Justice in American History
The United States has a powerful mythology of abundance and independent landownership. But throughout its history, clashes over land use, dispossession, and environmental degradation have undermined access to this dream for many. This module explores clashes over African American and Native American rights, land use, and environmentalism. In this module, you will continue to hone both public-facing and academic writing and communication skills.

Digital Curation and History
Are you interested in learning how to display artefacts online and archive them digitally in order to capture and reveal their historical significance? Taught by historians, digital media specialists, and curators, this module develops your skills in historical interpretation and presentation for public and professional audiences. You’ll acquire techniques for collecting, organising, and preserving information; you’ll experiment with the best formats for storing and retrieving data; and you’ll address the ethics of access and representation in digital archives and websites.

The American South: US Summer School (Level 5)
Study Southern US culture on location! The American South is a distinctive but difficult to define geographical and cultural entity, and attitudes to the South range from celebration to derision. Studying with others from a range of disciplines, you will think through historical and current constructions of the US South through its history, literature, film, and wider culture. You spend four weeks at one of our partner universities taught by Keele staff, shaping your own research project with their support.

Elections, Voters and Public Opinion
This module introduces you to practical political research, through the study of elections, voting and public opinion. You will explore voting behaviour and examine why people vote the way they do. You will also work with elementary numerical political data and learn how to produce and interpret basic descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and cross-tabulations. This module provides you with a wide range of data analysis and report-writing skills necessary for success in a range of private and public-sector careers.

Public Policy and How To Make It
This module provides a grounding in policy analysis in both political and practical terms, equipping you to problem-solve in a range of environments. You will explore the nature of the policy process and the forces that drive it, including many of the main public policy theories. You will learn to evaluate policy and develop skills in policy formulation before delivering a policy recommendation for external audiences. You will engage with external stakeholders, working together to explore solutions to policy problems.

Environmental Politics and Policy
This module introduces some of the key historical, theoretical and practical dimensions of environmental politics and policy. You will explore the political nature, and historical context, of environmental problems and controversies and the roles that countries, political institutions and social groups play in effecting environmental policy change. You will develop the skills you need to become as effective changemaker in society, developing the argumentation and communication skills necessary to analyse contemporary environmental problems critically, and thus respond to them effectively. 

Social Science at Work
This module introduces you to possible careers for social scientists and links to the work you are doing in your subject core and option modules asking the question ‘how can we mobilise academic study into the real world?’ You will also be encouraged to prepare for placement work that you may pursue, alongside reflecting on your social media footprint; developing your personal/professional brand and digital networking platforms.

Work Placement for Social Sciences
This module introduces you to possible careers for social scientists and links to the work you are doing in your subject core and option modules asking the question ‘how can we mobilise academic study into the real world?’ You will also be encouraged to prepare for placement work that you may pursue and reflecting on your social media footprint; developing your personal/professional brand and digital networking platforms.

Please note: You must take one of the following professional development modules: 'Applied History: Working with the Past', 'Professional Experience with History (Year 2)', 'Social Science at Work' or 'Social Sciences Work Placement'.

Optional modules

Final Year History Project
Through this final-year independent research project you will showcase the skills that you have developed over the three years of your degree, and consolidate the type of Historian you have become. Through group workshops and individual supervisions you will work closely with a member of the Keele History team to produce either a dissertation or a digital, public-facing project. Either route will require you to use advanced skills in historical research, scholarly debate, and primary source analysis.

Applied History: Looking to the Future
This module prepares you for life as a History graduate, as you engage with industry experts from a range of professions. You will reflect on your Keele journey and consolidate skills acquired in previous Applied History modules. A series of ‘industry voices’ presentations and conversations with Keele alumni will help you to articulate your achievements and develop the outlines of your path beyond university.

Professional Experience with History (Year 3)
In your final year we offer you another opportunity to complete a work placement, a project for a client (or a series of clients), or work as part of a team to deliver a successful festival or event. Completed during the final stages of your degree, the module gives you cutting-edge experience of the sector you wish to enter following graduation as well as valuable employer contacts, thereby providing you with an effective career launchpad.

Age of Migration in a Global Perspective
Drawing on sources by and about migrants, in this module you will explore the Age of Migration through four core themes: gender, disability, race, and place, using a range of global examples from Africa, Australasia, the Americas, and Britain. You will critically analyse sources, learn about 'archival silences', and consider how digitisation, identity politics, and postcolonialism affect the histories that we tell. You will also reflect on how the complex histories of migration continue to shape modern societies.

The Apocalypse will be Televised: Extinction on Film since 1945
Since 1945, we have been fascinated and horrified by the threat of our own extinction, whether real or imaginary. And since the moment of the first nuclear bomb, those fears have been captured on film. In this module, we will focus on film as historical source to guide us through the debates and complexities of environmental crises, extinction panics, and cold war fears that have defined recent history, and their relationship to the real crises of our times.

The Twisted Road to Hitler
The module will explore key themes in German history before the Third Reich. You will gain a new perspective on the topic, moving away from the usual emphasis on fascism in the interwar period. We will focus on several areas that preoccupied Germans at the time, including mental health, sexual politics, urban sprawl, racial hygiene, and national belonging. Based on your previous studies you will further develop skills in analysing visual and written documents and communicating to broad audiences.

The American South: US Summer School (Level 6)
Study Southern US culture on location! The American South is a distinctive but difficult to define geographical and cultural entity, and attitudes to the South range from celebration to derision. Studying with others from a range of disciplines, you will think through historical and current constructions of the US South through its history, literature, film, and wider culture. You spend four weeks at one of our partner universities taught by Keele staff, shaping your own research project with their support.

Dissertation in Politics and International Relations
This module provides guidance in researching and writing a dissertation. You will develop your ability to work independently and enhance your research skills, including identifying a suitable research topic; developing appropriate research questions; identifying, assessing and analysing relevant literature and evidence; reflecting on the ethical implications of conducting research and structuring and writing up your work clearly and effectively. You can choose to conduct a desk-based project or undertake a fieldwork-based project that may involve working with an external partner.

The Dark Side of Politics
The global political landscape is increasingly dominated by self-interest, violence, corruption, distrust, alienation, deception, polarisation and institutional failure. As citizens feel increasingly alienated from the political process, trust with political elites and satisfaction with democracy around the world, particularly in the face of technological advances such as AI, is in decline. In this module, you will focus on the dark side of politics, exploring issues such as polarisation, corruption and anti-politics from a global perspective, developing your critical analytical skills. 

Building a Better Future
How do we build a better future? And what is our role in leading and shaping the changes we want to see in the world? This module empowers you to become global, active citizens, reflecting on how we can shape the future. The module explores the importance of leadership in a changing world and how we can move towards a more just, sustainable future, as you take part in simulations to develop and reflect on your own leadership skills.

Engaged Social Science
Moving on from the previous skills modules, you will further consider how your degree can link to a range of life skills and careers through engagement with community groups, activists and people working in public and private sectors. You will be supported in your next steps either through transition to the workplace or postgraduate study.

Parliamentary Studies
This module provides an in-depth knowledge of how the UK Parliament works in both theory and practice. Taught in conjunction with staff from the Westminster Parliament, the module examines Parliament’s increasing prominence as a policy-making actor in the twenty-first century, particularly in the context of Brexit. The module gives you the tools to critically evaluate the role of Parliament in shaping policy and politics. You will engage with Parliamentary practitioners, visit Parliament and complete assessments set by Parliamentary staff.

Work Placement for Final Year Social Sciences
This module is designed to give you the opportunity to contribute to the world beyond the university. The chosen workplace may be, for example, with the local borough council, other government-related institutions, as well as other UK-based public or private sectors (e.g., businesses, risk analysis, PR, Journalism, charity, radio). While on the placement, you will produce a portfolio that they can draw on in future applications and interviews, reflecting on and giving evidence of the activities/outputs completed at their chosen workplace. 

Please note: You must choose at least one of the project/dissertation options – ‘Dissertation in Politics and International Relations’ and/or ‘Final Year History Project’. You can choose to do both if you wish.

You must take one of the following professional development modules: 'Applied History: Looking to the Future', 'Professional Experience with History (Year 3)', 'Engaged Social Science' or 'Social Sciences Work Placement'.