School of Humanities  
 
 
HIS-10034 Histories of the Extraordinary and the Everyday  
Co-ordinator: Prof Karen Hunt    Room: CBB0.028, Tel:34591  
Teaching Team: Miss Amanda  Roberts, Prof Ann Hughes, Mrs Christine  Edge, Dr Shalini Sharma, Prof Karen Hunt, Miss Jo-Anne  Watts  
Lecture Time: See Timetable...  
Level: 1 Credits: 15 Study Hours: 150  
School Office: Tel: 01782 733147
 
 
 
Programme/Approved Electives for
History Major (Level 1)
Available as a Free Standing Elective
No
Barred Combinations
None
Prerequisites
None
Description

This is a module specifically designed for Single Honours History and History Major students. It will introduce students to new topics of historical inquiry and the different approaches taken by historians when challenged by the vastness of extraordinary events and the minutiae and banality of the everyday. It is a seminar-based module in which students will undertake key readings each week in preparation for detailed analysis and discussion within the class. It is as much about how historians engage with the challenges of writing about the extraordinary and the everyday, as identifying what they have found out, the arguments they make and the conclusions they draw.

The module will consider in alternate weeks a specific example of an extraordinary event or an everyday experience. The idea is not to be bound by chronological periods but to draw examples from a range of different histories. Some of the 'everyday' topics might include: dirt; food; an 'ordinary' life; love; reading; shopping; walking. Some of the 'extraordinary' topics might include: massacre; famine; defeat, the 'hero'; mass deportations; pandemics. The aim is to pair topics, thus food and famine or the 'ordinary life' and the 'hero' or love and massacre or walking and mass deportations.
Aims
To introduce students to new topics of historical inquiry and the different approaches taken by historians when challenged by the vastness of extraordinary events and the minutiae and banality of the everyday.
Intended Learning Outcomes
compare and contrast the approaches taken by historians to past examples of 'the extraordinary' and 'the everyday' will be achieved by assessments: 1,2,3
read closely and critically in order to identify the key arguments of specific historians will be achieved by assessments: 1,3
structure a relevant argument supported by appropriate historical evidence will be achieved by assessments: 1,2,3
use appropriate citations and bibliographic conventions will be achieved by assessments: 2,3
contribute effectively to small group and seminar discussions will be achieved by assessments: 1
make comparisons and draw contrasts across chronological periods will be achieved by assessments: 1,2,3
Study hours
10 x2hour seminars, 40 seminar preparation, 30 research and write reflective diary, 10 research and write essay plan, 50 research and write essay.
Description of Module Assessment
01: Reflective Diary weighted 40%
Reflective diary of seminar learning
Before each seminar the student will be asked to reflect on the key readings for the weekly seminar and to identify key points in response to a specific seminar question. After the seminar they will add a paragraph amending and elaborating their response to the seminar question in the light of the seminar discussion.
02: Essay-Plan weighted 10%
essay plan
The student will devise their own question in negotiation with the tutor, research a bibliography and provide a summary of the overall argument they intend to make.
03: Essay weighted 50%
Essay c.2000 words
The student will read and review a key text from one of the seminar topics reflecting on how successfully the author tackles 'the extraordinary' or 'the everyday' in the light of contextual reading and in comparison with other examples studied in the module.
Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Mar/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.