Module Information

Module Identifier
HY29320
Module Title
Culture, Society and the Victorians
Academic Year
2021/2022
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 2,500 word essay  50%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   2 hour exam  50%
Supplementary Assessment 2,500 word essay  50%
Supplementary Exam 2 Hours   2 hour exam  50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of key themes in the history of Victorian culture.

Demonstrate an understanding of historiographical debates in the history of Victorian culture.

Identify and evaluate a wide range of relevant primary and secondary material.

Demonstrate an ability to analyse and deploy relevant historical evidence to produce appropriate arguments.

Brief description

Who did the Victorians think they were? How did they see themselves and their culture? Victorians of all classes were acutely aware that they lived in a rapidly changing world and spilt a great deal of ink in making sense of their place in it. Often, bodily decorum was bound up in ideas about moral probity and as a result managing bodies played an important part in the efforts of Victorian individuals and groups at self-fashioning: remaking their identities for a modern, industrial and increasingly urban world. This module will look at how the Victorians looked at themselves from a variety of perspectives, ranging from fashion, to manners, medicine and sexuality and using sources ranging from manuals of etiquette to medical textbooks, advertisements and self-help magazines. The module is designed to introduce students to the historical tools and perspectives of the history of Victorian culture, with particular attention to Victorian ideas concerning the relationship between body and self.

Aims

This module introduces students to an important period in modern British history and utilizes a variety of cultural and social methods to consider important aspects of Victorian life. The model complements existing offerings in modern history, the history of medicine, and social and economic history.

Content

Lectures:
1. Revisiting the Victorian Stereotype
2. Reading the Nation
3. Private and Public Life
4. Public Space
5. Death
6. Women
7. Men
8. Sex
9. Self- improvement
10. Bodies and minds
11. Fashion
12. Care of the Body
13. Food
14. Exhibitionism
15. Seeing Themselves
16. Mad, Bad and Foreign
17. Nervousness and Degeneration
18. Looking Back

Seminars
1. Who were the Victorians
2. Essay Preparation
3. Separate Spheres
4. Disciplined Bodies
5. Consuming Culture
6. Looking Back

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number NA
Communication Written communication skills will be developed through the coursework and written examination; skills in oral presentation will be developed in seminars but are not formally assessed.
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will be advised on how to improve research and communication skills through the individual tutorial providing feedback on submitted coursework.
Information Technology Students will be encouraged to locate suitable material on the web and to apply it appropriately to their own work. Students will also be expected to word-process their work and make use of Blackboard. These skills will not be formally assessed.
Personal Development and Career planning Students will develop a range of transferable skills, including time management and communication skills, which may help them identify their personal strengths as they consider potential career paths
Problem solving Students are expected to note and respond to historical problems which arise as part of the study of this subject area and to undertake suitable research for seminars and essays.
Research skills Students will develop their research skills by reading a range of texts and evaluating their usefulness in preparation for the coursework and the written examination
Subject Specific Skills Students will develop knowledge of sources and historical literature relating to the Victorian age.
Team work Students will be expected to play an active part in group activities (e.g. short group presentations in seminars) and to learn to evaluate their own contribution to such activities.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5