Principal Module Aims

This module aims to further students knowledge and understanding of gender and political culture in the age of Italian Unification through the lens of British women who were active in the movement. Students will consider the multiple ways in which women interacted with the Risorgimento via art, literature, journalism and travel writing and the impact this had on their own identities as political subjects both in Britain and in Italy. The module will draw on a range of source material to interrogate these relationships. The module will encourage students to consider the role of historians and other scholars in debates on Britain's relationship with Itay, and will allow students to articulate their findings in a range of ways, including through class participation, social media and blogs, in order to develop their transferable skills.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the role of British women and the struggle for Italian Unification.
• Develop a basic knowledge of approaches to the study of women, gender and political culture.
• Communicate ideas and findings through oral and written discussion, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
• Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material, showing an appreciation of the possibilities and limitations of analysing primary sources relating to women and Italian Unification.
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship, drawing upon scholarship from art history, literature and politics.
• Act with limited supervision and direction to explore topics and themes of interest within defined guidelines in order to develop individual research skills, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.