Studying at York
Difficult Pasts and Haunted Presents: Memory and its Discontents c. 1945-c. 2010 - HIS00137I
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
The violent, divisive and disruptive history of the twentieth century, with its devastating experiences of war and genocide and mass oppression, has left a legacy of disquiet that recent generations in many different countries have struggled, often painfully and protractedly, to confront and acknowledge, or in some cases to evade, suppress or reinterpret. This module seeks to understand what has been at stake in this politics of the past, and to analyse some of the controversies it has given rise to, especially in the public realm. The examples that will be studied come from the period that is framed by the two great waves of disruptive historical experience that occurred (i) in the 1940s (with the experiences of the Second World War, of Fascist or Nazi rule, of occupation and resistance, of the Holocaust, of the Atom Bomb, and (ii) towards the end of the twentieth century (with the breakdown of Communist regimes in Europe and of apartheid in South Africa). Continuities and shifts in the memory and legacy of historical events and experiences will be traced between these two periods and across the space between them, using material from a range of European, American, Asian and African countries. Themes that will arise in the course of the module include conflict between generations, relationships between public and private memory, the politics of commemoration, the representation of the past in film and in museums, the role of trials and other judicial proceedings in mediating the politics of the past, etc.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To provide students with the opportunity to study particular historical topics in depth
- To develop students’ ability to examine a topic from a range of perspectives and to strengthen their ability to work critically and reflectively with secondary and primary material
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Have acquired a deep knowledge of the specific topic studied
- Have developed their ability to use and synthesise a range of primary and secondary sources
- Be able to evaluate the arguments that historians have made about the topic studied
- Have developed their ability to study independently through seminar-based teaching
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1. Students will then attend a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW) during which there are no seminars. Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour plenaries/lectures and eight 2-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Introduction: concepts and approaches
- The Nazi Past in Postwar Germany
- Memories of collaboration and resistance: Vichy and occupied France remembered
- Holocaust memories in international perspective
- Communism, post-communism and memory in Eastern and Central Europe
- War and its legacies in the Pacific: Japan, the US and East Asia
- South Africa: memories and legacies of apartheid
- Transatlantic slavery: memories and contemporary legacies
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students will complete a referenced 1200 to 1500-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This will be submitted in either the Week 5 or Week 9 RAW week (on the day of the weekly seminar).
For summative assessment, students will complete an Assessed Essay (2000 words, footnoted). This will comprise 100% of the overall module mark.
Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Macdonald, Sharon. Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. 2013.
- Linenthal, Edward T, and Tom Engelhardt (eds.). History Wars: The Enola Gay and other Battles for the american Past. New York: Holt. 1996.
- Murray, Martin. Commemorating and Forgetting: Challenges for the new South Africa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2013.