Contemporary Britain in Historical Perspective (HI2G7)

Module Convenor: Jack Bowman

 

This module explores how history can inform our understanding of contemporary Britain. It focuses on three main inter-related issues:

1. the history of Brexit (including the slow post-war move to join the EEC, the Referendum of 1975, historical explanations for the patterns of voting in the 2016 Referendum, and how history can inform understanding of subsequent political battles over delivering Brexit)
2. the history of the ‘break-up’ of Britain and the challenges of post-colonial national identity (including the long history of the making of the United Kingdom, the challenges of a four-nation history, the history of nationalism and devolution, and the legacies of imperial history)
3. the history of the National Health Service as a symbol of national identity (including the history of the creation of the NHS, evidence on evolving popular attitudes, the history of its representation, and the place of the NHS in the politics of Brexit and Coronavirus).

Students work together to design and run a conference on these themes and each present a paper based on original research.

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the historical underpinnings of recent debate about Brexit, the break-up of Britain and impact of end of Empire, and the NHS
• Formulate a focused research question that shows how history can inform contemporary debate
• Demonstrate cooperation, ability to provide peer feedback, initiative, responsibility, and leadership in working in a small group
• Generate historical arguments through analysis of primary source material
• Communicate an historical analysis clearly and cogently through presentation in a conference setting
• Ask and respond to questions in a way that constructively builds group discussion
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship about the history of modern Britain

 

Indicative Reading List

David Edgerton, The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth Century History (2018)

Robert Saunders, Yes to Europe! The 1975 Referendum and Seventies Britain (2018)

David Edgerton, ‘Brexit is a Necessary Crisis’, Guardian (9 October 2019)

Stuart Ward and Astrid Rasch (eds), Embers of Empire in Brexit Britain (2019)

Ross McKibbin, ‘In the Shadows of the Referendum’, Political Quarterly (2017)

Linda Colley, ‘Britishness and Otherness: An Argument’, Journal of British Studies, 31 (1992) 309-29

Tom Nairn, The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-Nationalism (1981)

Thomas Martin Devine, ‘The Break-Up of Britain? Scotland and the End of Empire’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 6th series, 16 (2006) 163-80

Andrew Seaton, ‘Against the 'Sacred Cow': NHS Opposition and the Fellowship for Freedom in Medicine, 1948–72’, 20th Century British History, 26.3 (2015) 424-449

Martin Gorsky, ‘The British National Health Service 1948–2008: A Review of the Historiography’, Social History of Medicine, 21.3 (2008) 437-60

Nick Hayes, ‘Did We Really Want a National Health Service? Hospitals, Patients and Public Opinions before 1948’, English Historical Review, 127 (2012), 566-591

Mathew Thomson, ‘Representing the NHS in the Arts and Popular Culture’

David Edgerton, ‘British Exceptionalism: Where Brexit and Our Coronavirus Response Collide’, New European (3 May 2020)

James Meek, ‘NHS SOS’, London Review of Books, (April 2018)

John Furse, ‘The NHS Dismantled’, London Review of Books, (November, 2019)

 

Assessment

• Conference Paper (60%)

  • A paper that shows how historical research can add to our understanding of one of the contemporary themes. This will be presented orally and can be accompanied by powerpoint presentation. It will also involve response to questions from the audience

• Seminar Contribution (15%)

  • Evaluation of individual student contribution in seminars and the final conference. This will involve demonstration of preparation and underlying knowledge and understanding, answering and posing questions

• Workshop Contribution (15%)

  • Evaluation of your contribution to the effective running of your workshop groups and the development of a cohesive, well-designed, and well-managed and presented conference panel

• Presentation Plan (10%)

  • You will submit a brief plan of your presentation for feedback midway through the module. This will assist you in preparation of the final presentation. The plan will set out your question, the research you hope to undertake (including potential sources), and a hypothesis about your argument