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HI-M01
Historical Methods and Approaches
This module introduces you to a diverse range of methodological approaches that underpin the discipline of history at an advanced level. You will explore how historians construct knowledge about the past, examining key debates around evidence, interpretation, narrative, and the politics of history-writing. You will engage critically with a variety of methods, including archival research, oral history, microhistory, cultural and social history, postcolonial and decolonial approaches, gender analysis, and digital history.
Through seminar discussions and a series of mini projects, you will develop a sophisticated understanding of the strengths, limitations, and ethical implications of different historical methodologies. The module also supports the development of research design skills in preparation for independent dissertation work.
Finally, the module will encourage you to think reflexively about your own role as researchers and to consider how methodological choices shape historical narratives and their relevance to contemporary global challenges.
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HI-M38
Past and Present: Themes in History
This module offers you an in-depth engagement with key debates, theories, and methodological approaches that have shaped the discipline of history from the Enlightenment to the present. It is designed to provide you with a critical understanding of historiography as both a body of scholarly literature and a dynamic, reflexive practice central to historical inquiry. Through a close reading of foundational texts, schools of thought, and recent historiographical interventions, students will interrogate how historians construct arguments, use evidence, and navigate epistemological challenges.
You will engage with topics such as empiricism, Marxism, the Annales School, postmodernism, gender and postcolonial critiques, microhistory, memory studies, and global history. Emphasis will also be placed on the ethical and political dimensions of historical representation and the role of the historian in public discourse.
By the end of the module, you will be expected to demonstrate an advanced conceptual grasp of historical theory, critically assess differing historiographical traditions, and apply these insights to their own research practices. The module fosters independence of thought, originality in interpretation, and methodological self-awareness.
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HI-M39
Managing Historical Research
During this module you will be guided through the process of formulating a viable, original, and academically sound research proposal in the discipline of History. You develop your own research project idea with the guidance and support of your supervisor. Through a combination of seminars, independent research, and supervisory meetings, you will engage with historiography, methodology, source evaluation, and research ethics. By the end of the module, you will have produced a fully developed research proposal suitable for submission to support an MA dissertation.
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HIH237
The Practice of History
The purpose of the module is to encourage you to think more deeply about how historians work and, in particular, about how we as historians can locate and use primary historical sources effectively as a means of interpreting and understanding the past. During the module we will learn about the survival of historical evidence, how it is organised and made accessible to historians to undertake their research, and how to effectively locate and interpret it in your studies. We will consider how the process of doing historical research changes over time, in particular with the impact of recent developments like digitization.
At the core of the module will be the work you undertake with others in your seminar group using a range of primary sources which your seminar tutor will introduce to you. As part of the module assessment you will also undertake your own primary source based research project using items from these collections. The module is designed strengthen your analytical skills and to help prepare you for the more extensive uses of primary evidence which you will encounter in final year special subjects and dissertation.
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HIH3300
History Dissertation
The History dissertation is a free-standing, 40-credit module that runs across both semesters of Level Three. Candidates conduct research upon a subject of their choice, devised in consultation with a member of staff teaching for the degrees in History, and concerning a topic that falls within staff research and teaching interests.
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HIH396
From Machiavelli to Mussolini: Government and Society in Western Political Thought
This module offers a guide to the history of ideas on government and society which continue to influence political thought and action in the 21st century. The lectures will start by looking at the origins of democratic thinking in Athens, 5th Century BC, and will then give a brief account of medieval political thought and the impact of Christian-Muslim encounters. The main part of the course will deal with modern ideas on government as developed by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, the political authors of the Enlightenment and American Revolution, and Marx and Lenin. The final part will focus on the Italian and German national socialists' assault on the liberal state and Western democratic tradition. Students will have the opportunity to read and discuss a representative selection from the 'classics' of Western political thought and reflect on their contemporary political relevance. As will be shown, some of today's best-known early modern texts on the nature of state power were misinterpreted by contemporaries and brought into disrepute by fascist ideologues who claimed them in defence of dictatorship.
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HIY101
From Facts to Fake News: Being a Historian in the Twenty-First Century
What does it mean to be a historian in the Twenty-First Century? From the toppling of statues, to fears about the rise of fascism, reckoning with the legacies of colonialism, observing the anniversaries of past conflicts, or historical comparisons used to support or oppose certain political positions, public discourse is full of discussions of the past. We also live in an age of `fake news¿, where claims to what is or is not true are debated in public, and facts themselves are contested. Whether in the past or the present, historians have always been concerned with the analysis of different forms of evidence to determine the truth of how and why past events happened as they did. This module will equip you with these essential research and critical thinking skills which are crucial to understanding the modern world where, whether in the popular media, political discourse, social media, or artificial intelligence, the truth has never been more contested.
On this module you will learn about how historians approached the study of the past in different ways, focusing in particular on how they have addressed key challenges and controversies in the past. You will consider how the study of history has developed in the past and continues to do so in the present, as well as the many ways in which historians communicate their work to wider audiences. You will also begin developing the key research, writing, and communication skills that are essential to studying history at university. You will build on many of these skills and ideas in the Global Challenges module which runs in the second semester of your first year. This module will equip you for your history journey at Swansea University but it will also help you think critically about the wider world.
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HIY101C
O Ffeithiau i Newyddion Ffug: Bod yn Hanesydd yn yr Unfed Ganrif ar Hugain
Beth mae'n ei olygu i fod yn hanesydd yn yr unfed ganrif ar hugain? O ddymchwel cerfluniau, i ofnau am gynnydd ffasgiaeth, trin a thrafod etifeddiaeth gwladychiaeth, arsylwi pen-blwyddi gwrthdaro yn y gorffennol, neu gymariaethau hanesyddol a ddefnyddir i gefnogi neu wrthwynebu rhai safbwyntiau gwleidyddol, mae disgwrs gyhoeddus yn llawn trafodaethau o'r gorffennol. Rydym hefyd yn byw mewn oes o 'newyddion ffug', lle mae honiadau i'r hyn sy'n wir neu nad yw'n wir yn cael eu dadlau yn gyhoeddus, a ffeithiau eu hunain yn cael eu herio. Boed yn y gorffennol neu'r presennol, mae haneswyr bob amser wedi bod yn ymwneud â dadansoddi gwahanol fathau o dystiolaeth i benderfynu ar y gwir sut a pham y digwyddodd digwyddiadau'r gorffennol fel y gwnaethant. Bydd y modiwl hwn yn rhoi i chi¿r sgiliau ymchwil hanfodol a meddwl yn feirniadol sy'n hanfodol i ddeall y byd modern lle mae¿r gwir yn fwy dadleuol nag erioed o¿r blaen, boed yn y cyfryngau poblogaidd, disgwrs wleidyddol, cyfryngau cymdeithasol, neu ddeallusrwydd artiffisial.
Yn y modiwl hwn byddwch yn dysgu am sut mae haneswyr yn mynd i'r afael ag astudio'r gorffennol mewn gwahanol ffyrdd, gan ganolbwyntio'n benodol ar sut maent wedi ymdrin â heriau a dadleuon allweddol yn y gorffennol. Byddwch yn ystyried sut mae astudio hanes wedi datblygu yn y gorffennol ac yn parhau i ddatblygu yn y presennol, yn ogystal â'r nifer o ffyrdd y mae haneswyr yn cyfleu eu gwaith i gynulleidfaoedd ehangach. Byddwch hefyd yn dechrau datblygu'r sgiliau ymchwil, ysgrifennu a chyfathrebu allweddol sy'n hanfodol i astudio hanes yn y brifysgol. Byddwch yn adeiladu ar lawer o'r sgiliau a'r syniadau hyn yn y modiwl Heriau Byd-eang a gynhelir yn ail semester eich blwyddyn gyntaf. Bydd y modiwl hwn yn eich paratoi ar gyfer eich taith hanes ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe ond bydd hefyd yn eich helpu i feddwl yn feirniadol am y byd ehangach.
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HIY105
The Early Modern World, 1500-1800
Across the three centuries of the early modern period, from 1500 to 1800, the globe became increasingly connected as a consequence of what is often referred to as the European overseas expansion. Travellers, traders, missionaries, and colonists found their way from Europe to Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australasia, with profound and often tragic consequences for the native peoples, cultures, and ecosystems with which they came into contact. The lives of non-Europeans and Europeans became more closely intertwined than ever before; a truly global economic system began to emerge; empires rose and fell. In this module, you will explore the processes by which the world was transformed over the course of three centuries, and reflect on the long-term significance of the outcomes, many of which have shaped the world as we experience it today.
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HIY105C
Y Byd Modern Cynnar, 1500-1800
Ar draws tair canrif y cyfnod modern cynnar, o 1500 i 1800, daeth y byd yn fwyfwy cysylltiedig o ganlyniad i'r hyn y cyfeirir ato'n aml fel yr ehangiad tramor Ewropeaidd. Gwnaeth teithwyr, masnachwyr, cenhadwyr a gwladychwyr ddod o hyd i'w ffordd o Ewrop i Affrica, Asia, cyfandiroedd America, ac Awstralasia, gyda chanlyniadau dwys, a oedd yn aml yn drist iawn, i'r bobl, y diwylliannau a'r ecosystemau brodorol y daethant i gysylltiad â nhw. Daeth bywydau pobl nad oeddent yn Ewropeaidd a'r bobl Ewropeaidd yn fwy cydblethedig nag erioed; dechreuodd system economaidd fyd-eang go iawn ddod i'r amlwg; gwelwyd cynnydd a chwymp ymerodraethau. Yn y modiwl hwn, byddwch chi'n archwilio'r prosesau a drawsnewidiodd y byd dros gyfnod o dair canrif, yn ogystal â myfyrio ar arwyddocâd hirdymor y canlyniadau, y mae llawer ohonynt wedi llunio'r byd rydyn ni'n byw ynddo heddiw.
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WS-M95
Experiences of War and Conflict: War, Identity and Society
Throughout history, wars and conflicts have shaped personal and collective experiences and identities. Hot wars have laid waste to cities and entire national economies. Those fighting wars have suffered traumatic experiences, as did non-combatants, including children. Even where no armed conflict took place, preparedness for a potential war led to the militarization of civil societies, including the use of massive economic resources. Or, military planners and strategists gamed likely war scenarios to prepare for the worst case ¿ even the unthinkable that is nuclear war. Likewise, propaganda ¿ both by states and anti-war or peace movements ¿ emerged in response to conflicts (actual and imaginary), contributing to war and conflict becoming part of official government discourse and everyday language. But the legacies of wars have also entered national identity through their memorialization within specific historical and ideological contexts. Popular culture, too, addressed wars and conflicts through films and popular music, thereby disseminating particular interpretations and myths to mass audiences.
This module takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the multifaceted experiences of war and conflict. We will examine how such experiences of violence shape and are in turn shaped by social, economic and cultural forces. In this, we will explore war and conflict as both a catalyst for societal change and a reflection of historical developments. Through critical analysis, the module encourages reflection on how war is represented and the lasting impact it has on personal and collective identities.
