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. 
 
Power, Belief and Identity: The Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, 500-1789 
In this module you will explore key developments in global societies and the interactions between them in the medieval and early modern world. The value of different approaches to the past is a core part of this module, so you will encounter social, political, religious, economic, and cultural History. You will develop skills in academic reading, learn to communicate to varied audiences, and begin to explore pre-modern primary source material, which will prepare you for later years of your degree. 
 
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. 

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.  

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. 
 
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 (option 1)
 
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. 
 
OR Professional Experience with History (Year 2) (option 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). 

Students must take either Applied History: Working with the Past or Professional Experience with History (Year 2) 

Optional modules

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. 

Reformation and Revolution: Creating Britain and America 
How were Britain and America created? How does the past shape the political and cultural world we now live in? Consolidating the historical skills you began to develop in your first year, you will learn how modern Britain and America were formed, and explore historic reactions to the process of their creation. While studying this module you will enhance your critical thinking, begin to develop independent research skills, and move towards becoming a practising historian. 

Colonial Legacies: The Inconvenient Histories of Individuals, Families, and Communities since 1800 
Modern Britain has been shaped and developed by its empire. This module explores the impact of Britain’s colonial legacy on the lives of individuals, families, and communities since the nineteenth century. This is a history that contradicts conventional, textbook accounts, as you will discover through oral history testimonies, memoirs, life writing, and digital archives. You will also learn about the ‘archival silences’ that mask these histories. This second-year module will enhance your critical thinking ability and develop independent research skills. 

Persecution in Medieval Europe 
Between 1000-1300, minority groups including Jews, heretics, lepers, the disabled,  
homosexuals and prostitutes faced increasing restrictions, persecution and even death. Building on the skills you developed at Level 4, you will explore how these groups were depicted in text and image and assess the reasons for their increasing marginalisation. Through seminar discussions, you will evaluate debates about whether the treatment of minority groups were independent phenomena or whether Medieval Europe became a ‘persecuting society’. 

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. 

Students must take either Applied History: Working with the Past or Professional Experience with History (Year 2) 

Compulsory 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 (option 1)
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, and you will present a poster responding to an industry brief at an end-of-term showcase festival. 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.

OR Professional Experience with History (Year 3) (option 2)
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.

Students must take either Applied History: Working with the Past or Professional Experience with History (Year 3) 

Optional modules

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. 

Christians, Muslims and Crusaders, 1094-1204 
The Crusades were an important phenomenon of the Middle Ages and reveal aspects of cultural relations, popular spirituality, techniques of war and attitudes to violence. In this module you will explore the origins of the crusades, the campaigns in the Middle East between 1095-1204, and the experiences and motivations of crusaders and settlers. You will consider the interaction between Christians and Muslims beyond war, analysing translated primary sources and critically comparing different viewpoints on the same issues. 

Sites of Sexual Conflict in South Asia 
This module explores the sites where sexuality has been constructed, defined and debated in the Indian sub-continent across the ages. Through film, art, literature, and cartoons, you will investigate how ancient sexual images have been used historically, and consider how contemporary Indians deal with nudity. You will discover the power dynamics of ‘space’ in gendered terms in the harem, the zenana, the brothel, and the home, and explore the politics of sexual conflict through obscenity trials and laws against homosexuality. 

Killing the King: The English Revolution, 1640-49 
This final-year module explores some of the most dramatic events in English history: civil wars, the execution of Charles I, and the declaration of a republic. These amount in many scholars’ estimation to a revolution, not just in politics but in cultural and religious life. Through exploring turbulence and both short-term and far-reaching change, you will develop and consolidate your skills in using primary sources, the evaluation of conflicting arguments, as well as the ability to explain ideas to others. 

Social History of Medicine, 1710-1860 
This final-year module debates the social history of medicine in England. Through examining different types of patient, practitioner, illness and medical institutions in depth, you will analyse the evolving relationships between doctors and their clients as the practice of medicine developed from the early-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. You will apply specialist historical knowledge and advanced research skills to communicate history via different media. 

Gender and Sexuality in Britain since 1700 
This module explores the history of sexuality and gender in Britain from the Enlightenment to contemporary debates over LGBTQ+ rights and trans inclusion. Using a rich variety of source material from texts to paintings, films and online resources you will be encouraged to view Britain in its wider imperial, European and global context by engaging with intersecting issues of class, race and culture.  

The 'Information Revolution' in the Early Modern World 
Information was created and circulated in increasingly diverse ways in the early modern world, through printed newspapers, in coffee-house conversations, and in letters, education, and ballads. The ‘information revolution’ revolutionised the exchange of information, but what did this mean for society? Through exploring and comparing different methods of information exchange you will form your own answer to this complex question, while consolidating your skills in independent historical research, critical analysis, and communication to broad audiences. 

Slavery and Abolition in America since 1619 
Clashes over slavery in civic and political society defined early America from the settlement of Jamestown to the civil war. In this module, you will examine the social and political history of slavery, both the lived experiences of enslavement and the political conflicts over its expansion and emancipation. Through your exploration of slavery in early America, you will enhance your skills to communicate ideas to others, synthesize information from a range of sources, and create original arguments. 

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. 

Students must take either Applied History: Looking to the Future or Professional Experience with History (Year 3).