MA Midlands and Local History

Program Overview

The MA/PG Dip/PG Cert in Midlands and Local History is a unique program that focuses on the history of the Midlands region and its people. It explores the region's development, the changing experiences of local people and their communities, and the role that the region has played in shaping national and global history from the early modern period to the present. The program is taught by leading academics and benefits from world-class facilities and collections. It includes field trips to local heritage sites and is delivered part-time through monthly Saturday schools, making it ideal for students who wish to combine academic study with work, caring responsibilities, or other commitments.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The MA/PG Dip/PG Cert in Midlands and Local History is a unique program that focuses on the history of the Midlands region and its people. It explores the region's development, the changing experiences of local people and their communities, and the role that the region has played in shaping national and global history from the early modern period to the present.

Objectives:

• To develop a deep understanding of the history of the Midlands region.
• To examine the role of the Midlands in shaping national and global history.
• To develop advanced research skills in local history.
• To gain experience in communicating history to non-academic audiences.

Program Description:

• The program is taught by leading academics and benefits from world-class facilities and collections, including the Cadbury Research Library and Barber Institute of Fine Arts.
• It includes field trips to local heritage sites where students can put their classroom learning into practice.
• The program is delivered part-time through monthly Saturday schools, making it ideal for students who wish to combine academic study with work, caring responsibilities, or other commitments.

Outline:

• MA: Taught via six modules (three per year over two years) and a supervised dissertation.
• Thematic Modules:
• Introduction to Local History
• Research Skills for Local History
• Making Midlands History
• Chronological Modules:
• Conflict and Community: Life in the Midlands, 1500-1660
• Innovation, Industry, and Ideas: The Transformation of the Region, 1660-1837
• The Making of the Modern Midlands, 1837-present
• PG Dip: Taught via six modules across two years (but without the dissertation element of the full MA).
• PG Cert: A one-year program comprised of three modules.

Module Descriptions:

• Introduction to Local History: Introduces students to the study of local history and the history of the Midlands region.
Explores different approaches to local history and engages in key debates in the field. Focuses on an aspect of the early history of the region (pre-1500). Includes a trip to a local heritage site.
• Research Skills for Local History: Equips students with the skills required to undertake independent research projects in local/Midlands history.
Introduces students to a variety of sources that can be used to study regional history, including archival materials and online databases. Provides experience working with printed, manuscript, and material artefacts. Develops skills in designing and developing research projects.
• Conflict and Community: Life in the Midlands, 1500-1660: Explores the lives and experiences of people who lived in the early modern Midlands.
Interrogates how major national conflicts affected local lives and communities. Considers daily life in both rural and urban communities. Introduces students to sources that can be used to study the lives of ordinary people.
• Innovation, Industry, and Ideas: The Transformation of the Region, 1660-1837: Focuses on major political, intellectual, and economic developments of the long eighteenth century and their impact on the Midlands region.
Introduces students to the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation. Places these processes in their global context, including issues of empire, slavery, and the region's impact on the wider world. Considers aspects of social and political change in the Midlands. Explores the impact of major cultural developments on the lives of men and women.
• The Making of the Modern Midlands, 1837-present: Explores how the Midlands became the place it is today, focusing on key social, economic, and political developments from the Victorian era to the present.
Offers opportunities to engage with a wide range of primary sources, including oral histories.
• Making Midlands History: Reflects on the challenges involved in communicating history to non-academic audiences.
Provides hands-on experience producing historical materials for the wider public. Explores an in-depth case study focused on an aspect of local history. Students produce their own piece of historical interpretation aimed at a non-academic audience.
• Dissertation: For the MA, students conduct a piece of independent research with the support of a supervisor, culminating in a 12,000-word dissertation.

Assessment:

• Introduction to Local History: 3,000-word portfolio.
• Research Skills for Local History: 1 x 1,500-word source analysis (50%) and 1 x 10-minute individual presentation (50%).
• Conflict and Community: Life in the Midlands, 1500-1660: 3,000-word essay.
• Innovation, Industry, and Ideas: The Transformation of the Region, 1660-1837: 3,000-word essay.
• The Making of the Modern Midlands, 1837-present: 3,000-word essay.
• Making Midlands History: Public history output (75%) and 1,500-word reflection on production process/challenges etc (25%).
• Dissertation: 12,000-word dissertation.

Teaching:

• Teaching Methods: Lectures, seminars, small group workshops, and field trips.
• Faculty: Members of staff in the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures have expertise in archaeology, history of art, social science, the history of medicine, education, heritage, and history.
• Unique Approaches: The program is delivered as Saturday schools (three per term), from 10.00am to 5.30pm.
A variety of ways of learning and methods of assessment are used to help students develop the knowledge and study skills needed for success.

Careers:

• Potential Career Paths: Heritage, museums, finance, marketing, teaching, publishing.
The College of Arts and Law has a dedicated careers and employability team.
• Outcomes: History postgraduates develop a broad range of transferable skills that are highly valued by employers, including research methods, information management, writing skills, critical and analytical ability, and argumentation.

Other:

• The program is delivered through the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures, which promotes research into the history of the Midlands, the publication of books, articles, and electronic media, and the sharing of knowledge between academics, independent scholars, and heritage professionals.
• The program is a diverse one, attracting students from a range of different life stages.
• Employers that graduates have gone on to work for include the Royal Air Force, Ministry of Defence, University of Birmingham, Royal Air Force Museum, and University of Oxford.

UK: £5,265 part-time (MA) UK: £3,510 part-time (PG Dip) UK: £3,510 (PG Cert)