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Last modified: 28 Apr 2026 14:46
How have communities and identities formed, changed, and been contested in the Modern World? Through a variety of case studies, this course will help you reflect on how culture and agency shape the formation of communities and collective identities. In addition, the course aims to introduce you to the methodologies of social and cultural history, by fostering the employment of responsible and ethical approaches to research, especially when it involves people and communities.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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The course will introduce students to the study of community making and the formation of collective identities in the modern world, by using a variety of case studies. These examples will concentrate around a specific period of modern history to enable students to make connections between the topics explored in the course.
According to availability, the teaching team will discuss a variety of topics that have led to the formation of communities in the modern world, including nationalism, religion, class, race, gender, sexuality, age, political ideology, and migration. Each lecture will present a different case study, and will help students reflect on questions of agency (institutionalised/grassroots communities), culture (the role of cultural products in the creation of a sense of belonging and in shaping identities), and historical development of these communities. The course interrogates nationalist and Eurocentric framings of modern history by drawing attention to the (frequently colonial) circumstances that gave rise to structures such as nation and gender.
Over the course of six tutorials, students will reflect on ethical and responsible approaches to primary sources produced by members of the community, building on the primary source work initiated in HI1027 (Making History). Topics explored in the tutorials may include:
- Exclusion (how and why do people get excluded from communities?)
- Voice (can ‘subalterns’ speak?)
- Translation (what do we lose in translation to English of texts produced elsewhere?)
- Trauma (sensitive topics and emotions around difficult texts)
- Technology (AI use to analyse sources/inherited bias etc)
- The historians’ positionality relative a primary source (detachment/activist engagement)
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 13 | Feedback Weeks | 16 | |
| Feedback |
Students will produce a 1,000-word reflective report on one of a selection of sources provided by the lecturers. The report should offer a critical overview of the chosen source and discuss its ethical or methodological implications by reference to relevant scholarship. These sources will be similar to those examined in class, but they will not be identical, allowing students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the topic. Feedback will be provided through Blackboard. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Apply | To become acquainted with responsible and ethical research practices, particularly in dealing with sources coming from minoritised communities. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | To improve the ability to reflect on one’s own research process. |
| Reflection | Understand | From an EDI perspective, to understand how ideas around community have historically created forms of discrimination based on gender, sex, race, class, disability, and age. |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 19 | Feedback Weeks | 21 | |
| Feedback |
Students will answer one essay question selected from a series of questions related to the topics covered in the weekly lectures. Lecturers will provide reading lists to support initial research. Feedback on submitted essays will be provided online via Blackboard. |
Word Count | 2500 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Apply | To become acquainted with responsible and ethical research practices, particularly in dealing with sources coming from minoritised communities. |
| Conceptual | Understand | To gain understanding of the dynamics of institutional and grassroots community formation in the modern world, through an intersectional and transnational lens. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | To improve the ability to reflect on one’s own research process. |
| Reflection | Understand | From an EDI perspective, to understand how ideas around community have historically created forms of discrimination based on gender, sex, race, class, disability, and age. |
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Tutorial participation will be based on practical activities and assessed on these grounds. Students are required to participate actively in the in-class activities and contribute to discussion. Marking criteria will be provided at the beginning of the course, and feedback will be provided via Blackboard at the end of the course. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Apply | To become acquainted with responsible and ethical research practices, particularly in dealing with sources coming from minoritised communities. |
| Conceptual | Understand | To gain understanding of the dynamics of institutional and grassroots community formation in the modern world, through an intersectional and transnational lens. |
There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 60 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will answer one essay question selected from a series of questions related to the topics covered in the weekly lectures. Lecturers will provide reading lists to support initial research. Feedback on submitted essays will be provided online via Blackboard. Pass marks are not carried forward in the resit - students are asked to resit both assessments. The change in assessment weighting for the resit is due to the fact that the seminar participation component is not applicable to the resit.
|
Word Count | 2000 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Students will produce a reflective report on one of a selection of sources provided by the lecturers. The report should offer a critical overview of the chosen source and discuss its ethical or methodological implications by reference to relevant scholarship. These sources will be similar to those examined in class, but they will not be identical, allowing students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the topic. Feedback will be provided through Blackboard. Pass marks are not carried forward in the resit - students are asked to resit both assessments. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
|
|
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Conceptual | Understand | To gain understanding of the dynamics of institutional and grassroots community formation in the modern world, through an intersectional and transnational lens. |
| Conceptual | Apply | To become acquainted with responsible and ethical research practices, particularly in dealing with sources coming from minoritised communities. |
| Reflection | Evaluate | To improve the ability to reflect on one’s own research process. |
| Reflection | Understand | From an EDI perspective, to understand how ideas around community have historically created forms of discrimination based on gender, sex, race, class, disability, and age. |
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