Family and Community History
Course Convenor: Dr June Balshaw
Course Code: HIST 1018
This course is designed to appeal to students from a range of disciplines and explores the theory and practice of family/community history from a number of perspectives. It starts by asking why is there an increasing desire to trace our roots and how important is knowing about our past in determining our sense of self? There is a strong practical component to this course and students will use the internet as a research tool as well as visiting the National Archives at Kew and the Family Records Centre in London. The emphasis is very much on developing research skills and students will undertake a project as part of their assessment which can look at personal histories or how groups and communities have lived and been represented. You may even decide to research the history of a building. Students will also have the opportunity to visit the war graves of France and Belgium. This course is suitable for any student with an interest in constructing an original narrative based around family and/or community histories. It is also anticipated that students undertaking this course may well identify a suitable dissertation topic which they can pursue at level three.