Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | End of Module Assessment 1500 Words | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | End of Module Assessment 1500 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2000 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Critically evaluate a range of theoretical and empirical writings on landscape, modernity and British society.
Discuss how a range of key sites, experiences and subject-positions have been impacted by changes in modern society in the twentieth century.
Critically evaluate the landscapes and life experiences which are effaced or excluded within prevailing discourses of British modernity.
Demonstrate their competence in undertaking independent research, and constructing a written argument through the completion of assessed written work.
Critically evaluate a range of written, visual and aural source materials; discussing the significance of these sources with their peers and communicating their views to the class.
Brief description
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.
Aims
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.
Content
- Introduction: Landscape, modernity and national identity.
- 'Metroland': the Underground and the growth of suburban London.
- Modernism, planning and 'preservation', 1918-1939.
- 'Guide book Britain': leisure, landscape and citizenship, 1918-1970.
- War and reconstruction: from bomb sites to new towns, 1939-1970
- Countering British modernity 1: Teenage radicals, Black Britishness and marginalised citizens
- Countering British modernity 2: 'Anti-modern' and Environmental movements.
- The British landscape, 1970-Now
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Students may draw upon and analyse numerical information in their assessed essays. |
| Communication | The module will help students to develop their written and oral communication skills. Class discussions will enable students to develop their oral communication skills, and the assessed essay and end of module assessment will enable students to practice and enhance their written communication skills. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Student attendance and participation in the lectures, and their undertaking of an assessed essay, will help them to enhance a range of learning skills. The module requires students to undertake sixty hours of self-directed study. |
| Information Technology | The assessed essay and end of module assignment requires students to undertake independent research using bibliographic search-engines and library catalogues. The module will enable students to enhance their research skills and practise their IT skills when writing the essay. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module will help students to develop key transferable skills. An understanding of past policy changes, environmental changes, social change and political change is invaluable for students wishing to pursue a career in environmental policy, planning policy, social policy and transport policy. |
| Problem solving | The module will develop students' problem-solving skills in a number of ways. Students will be required to discuss and analyse a range of visual texts, and to complete small problem-solving exercises during the lectures. Students will also have to address problems associated with research design when undertaking their assessed essay. |
| Research skills | Students are required to undertake independent research for their essay which will draw upon and enhance skills they have developed in previous modules. Further research skills will be developed through class-based discussions and problem-solving exercises and further reading they undertake. |
| Subject Specific Skills | The module will enable students to practice subject-specific skills which they have developed in years one and two, including techniques for analysing historical and cultural texts. Students will develop their analytical skills through class-based discussions and in their assessed essay and end of module assignment. |
| Team work | The lectures will include class-based problem-solving exercises and discussions which will provide opportunities for students to develop team-working skills and discuss their thoughts with the class. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6