HI2109 Europe C. 1700-1815: Culture and Politics

Module Organiser: Dr. Joseph Clarke
Duration: Michaelmas Term
Contact hours: 2 lectures per week and 6 seminars over the course of the term
Weighting: 10 ECTS
Assessment: 20% essay, 80% examination

Description: The ‘long eighteenth-century’ that led from Louis XIV to Napoleon was an age of unprecedented cultural and political change. In order to understand the nature and extent of this change, this course charts the emergence of new ways of thinking about science, society and the self during the Enlightenment and explores how these ideas contributed to reshaping the state during the Revolutionary crisis that convulsed Europe from 1789 on. By examining the evolution of attitudes towards gender, death and family life, the course also explores how European perceptions of private life and popular culture changed over the course of the eighteenth-century.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

• Outline chronologically and explain key developments in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe
• Assess the impact of these developments
• Search for, and critically appraise, relevant literature
• Undertake an extended analysis of select contemporary sources in translation
• Communicate analysis and argument in written and verbal format