Studying Media History at Aberystwyth

Media history is an increasingly popular subject among both students of history looking for new directions of enquiry, and students of media studies who seek further historical context in their studies. The Centre for Media History builds on Aberystwyth’s longstanding tradition of teaching in the field of media history, ranging from school-age to advanced postgraduate level.

  • A-Level study days on the history of the mass media in Britain [please email cmhstaff@aber.ac.uk for details]
  • undergraduate history modules that allow students to specialise in the history of the mass media as part of their History degree
  • BA (Single Honours) degree in History and Media offers interdisciplinary exploration of history and media studies
  • MA in Media History
  • MPhil and PhD supervision in aspects of media history

At Undergraduate Level

Undergraduate modules offered by the Department of History and Welsh History that explore aspects of the history of the mass media include the following:

  • HY37730 Media and Society in 20th Century Britain
  • HY34320 History in Cartoons: Studying Georgian Satirical Prints
  • HY33320 History on Television
  • HY33420 The ‘Myth of the Blitz’
  • HY32320 Studying Cuban History Through Film

The Department of Theatre, Film and Television also offers related undergraduate modules, for instance:

  • MC23020 Media History
  • TF21320 Television History
  • TF33220 The Media in the 1950s
  • TF21920 Classical Hollywood Cinema

Joint honours degrees between the Department of History and Welsh History and Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies have always been available. The two departments now also offer a Single Honours degree scheme in History and Media (VP13: http://courses.aber.ac.uk/undergraduate/history-and-media-degree/) that offers students the specific opportunity to explore history and media studies in both parallel and interdisciplinary contexts, including the opportunity to research an interdisciplinary undergraduate dissertation.

At Postgraduate Level

The Department of History and Welsh History, in association with the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, now offers a taught MA in Media History. This offers students the chance to explore both the theory and history of the mass media, to undertake specialist study in a variety of topics, and to pursue their own dissertation project. Recent MA dissertation projects include the development of the media in China, the critical reception of historical documentary on television, and the media personas of US presidents.

The Department also has a strong record in the supervision of postgraduate research degrees http://www.aber.ac.uk/history/postgraduate/research.html in the field of media history, both at Masters (MPhil) and doctoral (PhD) level. Successful PhDs the department has supervised in this field include studies of Welsh television, of cinema-going and the cinema industry in Wales 1918-1950, and of advertising in Britain in the Second World War.

Recent successful PhDs supervised in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies include studies of early Welsh language television, and the history of historical documentary on UK terrestrial television.