Short Courses & Continuing Education

The School of Humanities runs an exciting and expanding range of taught courses for adults in Staffordshire (and south Cheshire) and residential summer schools based on campus at Keele.  These courses are open to all and can be a wonderful way of meeting new people, expanding your interests, learning something new, or preparing for further academic study.  All courses are taught by experts who are friendly and approachable as well as serious about their subjects.  These courses are suitable both for beginners and for those who already have a background in the topic.  If you are interested in finding out more about one of our courses, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Nick Seager (n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk) or individual course tutors.

 

In 2012/13 we are offering:

Transhumance, the movement of livestock to new pastures on a seasonal basis.  The Spanish word transhumancia derives ultimately from the Latin words trans “across” and humus“ground”. In parts of England, this custom was often called “summering” and it was recorded as such in Camden's “Britannia”. 

The focus on this course will be on the evidence for transhumance in England and Scotland. We will examine evidence in Devon, Kent, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Perthshire for the seasonal movement of cattle and the temporary settlement associated with it. We will aim to understand the rules under which such movement took place and how this fitted in to the agricultural year of the communities who practised it.

This is a ten week course beginning Tuesday 3rd September 2013 at 2pm in Uttoxeter Library Meeting Room.

Canon, Anti-Canon, Context, through this module we provide core, cross-period teaching that will be of service and interest to professionals with responsibility for teaching literature in context at advanced level.

Canon, Anti-Canon, Context enables advanced students of literature to explore, at a high level, key questions of literary value and function which are common to literatures of different genres, and from different periods and contexts. The module will ask questions such as: what is a 'literary' text, and in what ways is it different from non-literary texts? How might these texts relate to one another? How does it become 'canonical'? What prevents other texts from being recognised as 'canonical'? How do canonical and non-canonical texts construct and communicate different constructions of identity? How do these texts and identities come to be recovered, and perhaps evaluated differently in different social and intellectual contexts? The module will enable students to identify and evaluate similarities and differences between varieties of literary texts, and moreover provide them with methods for extending this analysis to contexts of practice in which the student may have to work more independently.

The day-school workshops will be held on: Saturday 10 November 2012, Saturday 8 December 2012, Saturday 9 February 2013, Saturday 9 March 2013 and Saturday 23 March 2013 (presentations)

English Place-Names and Surnames, a 10 week course starting on 4 September 2012 at Uttoxeter Library meeting room, which will attempt to unravel the meanings of both major and minor place names in England and look at surnames which derive from places, occupations and nick-names.

Certificate in Local History - 2012, a 2-year course (also with a 1-year option) for those interested in studying Staffordshire’s past in detail.  Certificate in Local History application form available here.

Latin and Palaeography Summer School 2013‌, a week-long residential course based at Keele, which gives students of varying experience the opportunity to access Britain's medieval and early modern documentary heritage.  27 July - 1 August 2013.  Details and application form http://www.keele-conferencemanagement.com/lpss2013