BA History and Modern Languages
About this course
BA in History and Modern Languages, a Modern Languages and History degree centred on historical investigation and linguistic proficiency across global cultures. Core topics include Research Methods, Historical Research, Communication & Writing, Critical & Analytical Thinking, Language & Translation, and Global & Comparative Perspective. The course includes an optional third year spent studying or working abroad in a country matching the chosen language. The first year introduces fundamental concepts and linguistic skills through compulsory modules such as Becoming a Historian: Core, Understanding Modern History, and French Language. Students also choose from various optional modules covering specialized historical periods and cultural topics, such as Sources and Skills: Modern or The Making of Modern France. The second year continues language development and historical inquiry with compulsory modules like French Language, Written and Oral, alongside numerous optional choices exploring diverse regional histories and literary traditions. Throughout the course, students build advanced translation and analytical capabilities.
Modules
- Becoming a Historian: Core
- Understanding Medieval and Early Modern History
- Understanding Modern History
- French Language
- French Language for Beginners
- German Language
- German Language for Beginners
- Italian Language
- Italian Language for Beginners
- Beginners Chinese
- Portuguese Language for Beginners
- Contemporary Russian Written and Oral
- Russian Language for Beginners
- Spanish Language
- Spanish Language for Beginners
- Climate Emergency! An Introduction to Environmental Arts and Humanities
- Sources and Skills: Modern
- Sources and Skills: Early Modern
- Sources and Skills: Medieval
- The Making of Modern France
- The Devil is in the Detail: An Introduction to the Short Story in French
- The French Language, Present and Past
- An Introduction to French Thought
- A Nation Remembers: Issues in German Cultural Memory
- Turning Points in German History 1200 - 2000
- Chinese Art and the Art of Living
- Introduction to Asian Philosophy
- Italy Inside Out: Popular Visual Narratives about Italy
- A Thousand Faces: Cultures and History in 19th-Century Italy
- Comparative Literatures and Cultures: Theories and Approaches
- Reading Comparatively
- Introduction to Film
- Language, Culture, International Relations
- An Introduction to the Hispanic World: Texts in Context
- The Making of Modern Latin America: History Through Literature and Culture
- An Introduction to the Literature and Film of Spain
- French Language, Written and Oral
- Intermediate French
- German Language, Written and Oral
- Intermediate German
- Italian Language, Written and Oral
- Italian Language
- Intermediate Chinese (One)
- Intermediate Portuguese
- Contemporary Russian Written and Oral I
- Intermediate Russian
- Spanish Language, Written and Oral
- Spanish Language (ex-beginners)
- Adventures in Environmental Arts and Humanities
- Forgetting Fascism, Remembering Communism: Memory in Modern Europe
- Deviants and Dissenters in Early Modern England
- From Gallows to ASBOs: Crime, Punishment, and Society in Britain and Ireland
- Strategy and Success in the Second World War
- Vikings and Other Invaders: Europe under Siege in in the Tenth Century
- Beyond Bridgerton: A Peoples' History of Britain, 1688-1834
- Creating an American Empire: From Westward Expansion to Colonial Empire
- Hunger Games: Poverty, Famine, and Environment
- Russia’s Empires: Societies, Peoples and Cultures
- Beyond the Tudors: Europe’s Worldview Transformed c.1500-1600
- Uses of the Past
- Doing History in the Digital Age
- Chinoiserie and Européenerie: Artistic and Vultural Exchanges between China and Europe
- Digital China: Popular Culture, Technology, and Society
- Revolutions! Art and Society in France, 1770-1830
- Evolution of the French Language
- Intimate Spaces of the French Enlightenment
- Violence and Virtue: Early Modern French Theatre
- Subversive Texts: Baudelaire and Rachilde
- Berlin - Culture, History and Politics
- Gender, Race and Migration in 20th and 21st-century German Literature
- Migrating Texts: Classical Reception, Adaptation, Translation
- Research Skills in Languages and Cultures
- Contemporary Latin American Cinema
- Multilingualism in Society
- Tales of Freedom, Necessity and Providence
- From Page to Screen: Female Detectives in Literature, Film, and Television
- Exploring Revolution: The Making of Soviet Society and Culture in the 1920s
- Apocalypse/Utopia: the Russian Roots of Revolution
- Other Shores: Exile and Emigration in Russian Literature
- Federico Garcia Lorca: Theatre and Poetry
- The Latin American Short Story
- Catalonia Is Not Spain? Modern Catalan Culture in Context
- "What is Love? And Do I Need It?" An Introduction to Spanish Renaissance Love Poetry
- Fiction in Post-War Spain: Voices of Conformity and Subversion