Module Information

Module Identifier
HY33420
Module Title
History as Myth-Making: the 'Myth of the Blitz'
Academic Year
2014/2015
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Mutually Exclusive
HY33320 Single or Joint Honours History students only
Mutually Exclusive
Mutually Exclusive
Mutually Exclusive
Mutually Exclusive
Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 2 hour sessions
Seminars / Tutorials Individual 10-minute 'feedback tutorial' per written assignment submitted
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Essay 1 - 1 x 1,500 word essay  20%
Semester Assessment Essay 2 - 1 x 1,500 word essay  20%
Semester Assessment 1 x 5,000 word project  60%
Supplementary Assessment Essay 1 - 1 x 1,500 word supplementary (resit) essay  20%
Supplementary Assessment Essay 2 - 1 x 1,500 word supplementary (resit) essay  20%
Supplementary Assessment 1 x 5,000 word supplementary (resit) project  60%

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
a) Demonstrate familiarity with a wide range of knowledge of historical sources and approaches relating to the British `home front? experience in the second world war
b) Demonstrate familiarity with comparative perspectives on the history of the civilian wartime experience.
c) Demonstrate an understanding of a range of approaches to the study of historical narratives, in particular the competing narratives of memory, popular culture and `academic? history.
d) Read, analyse and reflect critically on primary texts (written, audio and visual).
e) Develop the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of particular historical arguments and where necessary challenge them.
f) Gather, sift and critically assess both primary and secondary source materials from a range of archive collections.
g) Work both independently and collaboratively and to participate in group discussion

Brief description

This module provides a close critical study of recent literature on Britain during the Second World War and of the source material on which that work has been based, focusing in particular on the 'mythologising' function of historical writing, and using the example of the so-called 'myth of the Blitz', to consider the nature of 'historical myths', their origins, and the historian's responsibilities when confronting them.

Content

Seminars:
1. Myth-making and history
2. Angus Calder's The Myth of the Blitz
3. Evacuation
4. Dunkirk
5. Project planning
6. Battle of Britain
7. The Blitz
8. Churchill
9. National character
10. The myth today

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6