Module Identifier HY33420  
Module Title HISTORY AS MYTH-MAKING: THE 'MYTH OF THE BLITZ'  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Sian Nicholas  
Semester Semester 2  
Mutually Exclusive HY33320 Single or Joint Honours History students only, HY33520 , HY33620 , HY33720 , HY33820  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   20 Hours 10 x 2 hours  
Assessment Assignment   1 x 5,000 word project   60%  
  Essay   2 x 1,500 word essays   40%  

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.