Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

In this course students will examine the entanglement of landscape, culture and society in twentieth century Britain, focussing on how key changes in the landscape and people's experiences of landscape mirrored key changes in culture and society. Drawing upon work on the cultural and historical geographies of Britain, the course focuses on the expansion of suburbia and attitudes to suburban life, the links between countryside preservation and modern planning between the wars, the expansion of leisure and the discovery of the British landscape, the impact of the blitz on urban landscapes during World War Two, the reconstruction of post-war Britain, and the importance of landscape to Welsh nationalism. The module aims to show how particular understandings of Britishness and changes in the British landscape have been continually challenged and resisted in different periods through the cultural activities of environmental campaigners, conservationists, heritage campaigners, and Welsh nationalists. The module will examine the emergence of both modern and 'anti-modern' sentiments, and it will examine the experiences of groups who are frequently excluded from hegemonic accounts of Britishness - such as ethnic minority groups, the young, homosexuals, new age travellers, political radicals, and subjects of empire. The final lecture will examine the geographies of 'sites' and 'sensibilities' which have frequently been associated with placeless and postmodern landscapes, including motorways, airports, shopping centres and spaces of deindustrialisation and heritage.

This module is designed to widen the range of option modules available to geography and sociology students at Level 3. The module reflects the current research interests of Peter Merriman. It also reflects the broader research and teaching themes of other members of the Historical and Cultural Geography Research Group.