European History MA

Program Overview

Students complete compulsory modules in historical research and skills, choose from a wide range of option modules, and write a dissertation. The program is taught in the evenings, making it accessible to working professionals and those with other commitments. Graduates pursue careers in education, research, journalism, and other fields.

Program Outline

Outline:

Modules:

This program requires completing modules totaling 180 credits:

• Two compulsory modules (30 credits):
• Mastering Historical Research: Birkbeck Approaches
• Research Skills for Historians
• Three option modules (90 credits):
• Options are listed in two sections, "Indicative Option Modules" for both the January and October start dates, and "Further Option Modules" specific to the October start date.
• A 15,000-16,000-word dissertation (60 credits).

Course Schedule:

• Classes are typically held in the evenings between 6 pm and 9 pm.
• Some programs may offer daytime classes, as well.
• Timetables are available from September onwards and can be accessed via your My Birkbeck Profile online.
• Class sizes vary depending on the course, module, and teaching method.
• You can expect to spend up to five hours of self-study for each hour of teaching.
• A Continent on the Move: Migration in Europe, 1919 to 2019
• Africa Imagined: Visions of a Continent, 1600-2000
• Antisemitism, Holocaust, Colonialism, Gender: Connecting the Conversation
• Archives and Memory
• Auschwitz in History and Memory
• Barbarians, monsters and other Others: encountering the Other, c.200-1000
• Battleground Spain, 1936-1939
• Britain and Germany: The History of a Relationship, 1815-1990
• Capitalism: Ideas, Systems, Practices
• Civil Society: Ideas, Practices and Dilemmas in the Modern World, 17th Century to the Present
• Contested Past, Troubled Present: Britain and Ireland since 1800 - Religion in Society and Politics
• Crescent of Crisis: The Middle East and the Balkans from the Ottomans to Today
• Cultural History of War in Britain and America between the First World War and the Conflict in Vietnam
• Curating the Nineteenth Century
• Decolonising History/Histories of Decolonisation
• Early Modern London: Society and Culture
• Epidemics and Pandemics in History (Level 7)
• Fascism and Psychoanalysis
• Gender in Britain
• Globalisation and the Rise of the Modern Consumer
• Ideas Transmission History
• Imagined Landscapes of the Middle Ages
• Internationalism and International Organisations in twentieth-century Europe
• Italy and the "New" European Right, 1945-present
• Jews and Antisemitism in Modern Europe: Histories and Approaches
• London and Berlin in the Age of Empire
• Mapping the Middle Ages, from Ptolemy to Planoudes (c. 150-1500)
• Me, Myself and You: Histories of Self and Belonging, 1500 to the 21st Century
• Modern Europe and Its Others: Jews, Muslims, Blacks
• Monastic Lives in Medieval England
• Opposition and Dissent in Early Modern France
• Out of Ashes: Europe, 1945 to the 1960s
• Plots, Conspiracy Theory and Political Culture in Early Modern Britain and France
• Queens and empresses 300-1000
• Race and the Victorians
• Reconstruction of Europe 1943-1956
• Rethinking the Cold War
• Technology, Modernity and the Nation: Britain and Germany, 1880 to 1930
• The Holocaust
• The Making of Modern Societies: Britain and Europe, c.1500-c.1750
• The Modern Mediterranean: From Colonial Sea to Environmental Crisis?
• The Nazi Capture of Power
• The Politics of the Past: Heritage in a Changing World
• The Radical Sixties
• The Science of Progress: Darwin, Evolution and the Making of Modernity
• The Silk Road: Imagining Global Cultures from the Middle Ages to UNESCO and BRI
• The Two Irelands 1911-1998
• The Victorian Communication Revolution
• To See the World in a Grain of Sand: Reading and Writing Microhistories

Further Option Modules (exclusive to October start date):

• The Making of Modern Germany, 1800-1945
• Women's History

Assessment:

The assessment methods on this course are specified below under "Methods of assessment on this course". You will need to allow time to complete coursework and prepare for exams.

• Modules are assessed by coursework and/or an essay.
• You also write a dissertation of 15,000-16,000 words.

Teaching:

• At Birkbeck, most courses are taught in the evening and all of our teaching is designed to support students who are juggling evening study with work and other commitments.
• We actively encourage innovative and engaging ways of teaching, to ensure our students have the best learning experience.
• Teaching may include formal lectures, seminars, and practical classes and tutorials.
• Formal lectures are used in most degree programmes to give an overview of a particular field of study.
They aim to provide the stimulus and the starting point for deeper exploration of the subject during your own personal reading.
• Seminars give you the chance to explore a specific aspect of your subject in depth and to discuss and exchange ideas with fellow students.
They typically require preparatory study.
• Additionally, you will have access to pastoral support via a named Personal Tutor.

Teaching Staff:

• Dr Fred Anscombe
• Professor Joanna Bourke
• Dr Sean Brady
• Professor Matt Cook
• Professor David Feldman
• Dr Benjamin Gray
• Dr Kat Hill
• Dr Simon Huxtable
• Dr Julia Laite
• Professor Julia Lovell
• Dr Carmen Mangion
• Dr Sarah Marks
• Professor Jessica Reinisch
• Professor Jan Rueger
• Dr Hilary Sapire
• Professor Chandak Sengoopta
• Professor Frank Trentmann
• Dr Joseph Viscomi (Course Director)
• Professor Nikolaus Wachsmann
• Dr Brodie Waddell

Careers:

Graduates can pursue career paths in education, the Civil Service, research and journalism, archiving and libraries. Possible professions include:

• teacher
• Civil Service fast-streamer
• researcher
• journalist
• archivist
• museum education officer
• museum curator
• editorial assistant
• politician’s assistant.

Other:

• Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course.
• Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases.

Academic year 2024–25, starting January 2025 Part-time home students: £5,400 per year Full-time home students: £10,800 per year Part-time international students: £9,915 per year Full-time international students: £19,830 per year Academic year 2024–25, starting October 2024 Part-time home students: £5,400 per year Full-time home students: £10,800 per year Part-time international students: £9,915 per year Full-time international students: £19,830 per year