This final year module examines and compares the experience of the British people during the Second World War, the myth-making that was a part of this experience, and the shifting cultural memory of the war in Britain from 1945 to the present day. It makes extensive use of the Mass Observation Online Archive (available online via the Albert Sloman library) to examine the British experience of war and to consider how people represented the war themselves. It is a full year Module that, in the first term, focuses on the war years, introducing students to the history of the war, to Mass Observation, and to the processes by which wartime culture created the enduring myths of Dunkirk, the Blitz, the Battle of Britain and the People's War. The module uses Mass Observation alongside other primary sources to consider which stories became a part of these myths, and which were excluded or marginalised. In the second term the focus turns to the cultural memory of the war in Britain since 1945. Students are introduced to concepts and theories of cultural memory that they will go on to apply to representations of the war that are studied. The memory of the war is traced from 1945 to the current day, with themes examined including the popularity of the war film, the mobilisation of the Second World War in Britain's subsequent wars, the growth of the wartime anniversary, museums and memorials, and the 'memory wars' that have been a central aspect of the Brexit debate since 2016.

Britain faced an uncertain world after 1945. Successive governments sought to maintain the nation's global power in the face of economic decline, the end of empire, and the rise of the superpowers. At the same time, it took an active role in 'fighting' the Cold War, aiming to limit the influence of the Soviet Union and global communism. Fighting the Cold War involved a variety of activities, which we will examine on the module: how the Cold War was understood as a conflict; diplomatic and political plans to tackles crises; the military need to provide a significant 'deterrent' to future war; and the mass mobilisation of the public opinion in favour of the conflict. We also examine opposition to the Cold War. Each seminar will focus on a key topic using primary sources to deepen our knowledge of these important events.

The majority of the 12 million enslaved Africans deported to the Americas during the 16th to the 19th centuries ended up working on plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean. Sugar, cacao, indigo, tobacco, cotton and coffee were the main commodities produced for the rapidly expanding European markets. Slavery in the Americas contributed to the making of the modern world. You’ll examine the different plantation societies in Brazil, British Jamaica, the French Caribbean, and the Spanish colonies (Venezuela and Cuba).

The Mao era was a period of momentous changes in Chinese society. This module explores the history of the first 50 years of the People's Republic of China (the PRC) from the Communist Liberation in 1949 to the aftermath of June 4th 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. It begins with the date when the Communist Party of China established state power under the leadership of Mao Zedong, and ends with Deng Xiaoping's 'southern tour' in 1992, which signalled the full-scale rejection of Mao's economic strategy by embracing the global market. It places this history within the context of China's international relations, to examine the international influences and ideological premises moulding the government's changing political and economic strategies.