Liberal Arts

Global Literature and the Climate Emergency

The module will explore the capacity of different literary forms, to represent, explore and address climate change and the ‘slow violence’ of the environmental crisis and examine representations of climate, biodiversity and environmental crises across a range of periods, genres, and geographies. We will compare texts by writers of different ethnicities from multiple regions. Reading these texts, we will concentrate on certain key questions, such as:

• What capacity do literary texts have to imagine alternative futures or relations to nature?

• How might narratives help provide a framework for how we think about real-world environmental issues?

• How does literature represent and critique relationships between species, races, classes, and genders with the climate crises and their consequences?

• In what way are social and environmental justice intertwined?

Inventing the Future

You will explore the concepts of Future and Anticipation studies. You will do this by investigating different approaches to imagining the future as a concept in:

• philosophy
• literature
• culture.

You'll have the support to advance your debating skills. Then you'll take part in theoretical and philosophical debates while conceptualising the future.

Cultural Competence for the World of Work

This module provides an introduction to organisations, their structure and culture, and the behaviour of individuals and groups within them. This module incorporates elements which will enable you to understand your personal tendencies and will significantly contribute to your further professional success.

European Societies

In this module, you’ll investigate European societies. You’ll apply classic concepts in studying societies as you look at European villages and urban neighbourhoods. You’ll then explore broader contemporary issues, including:

• identity
• nationalism
• racism
• how we use history
• ceremonial issues
• tourism
• the EU

Creative Writing 2: Exploring Genre, Form and Style

In this module, you’ll develop your talent and range as a creative writer. You’ll build on the skills you gained in your Creative Writing (Introduction) module in Year 1. You’ll experiment with a number of forms and prose styles, including:

• crime writing

• travel writing

• science fiction

You'll also explore techniques of writing poetry through forms such as the sonnet. You’ll increase your creativity, and reflect on your creative choices, as you critically examine what you and your fellow students write.

Independent Study Module 1

This module provides you with the opportunity to explore a specific academic topic to greater depth or breadth. You’ll undertake a literary review on an agreed topic, adopting an interdisciplinary approach using at least two disciplines. This is a great opportunity to delve into the subject area that you’re most passionate about as you'll have the freedom to investigate any aspect of your agreed topic.

The Making of Modern Britain: Culture, Community and Family in Britain 1660-1918

How have families interacted over time? And how have they related to their communities? And governments?

In this module, you'll explore the social and cultural history of the family. You'll consider how gender, class, age and sexuality have affected our home lives. You'll look at what has made up a family over the years. You'll unpick how they marked births, marriage and deaths. And you'll discover how families coped with people who didn't fit with their norms. 

You'll delve into:

• Making marriages
• Family rituals and material culture
• Sex and family planning
• Divorce, bigamy and illegitimacy
• Family secrets and shame.

Students must study one module option related to The Making of Modern Britain.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

The Making of Modern Britain: Politics, Society and Culture in Modern Britain, c. 1815-1997

How has British politics changed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars? How has industrialisation, immigration and the growth of cities changed our lives? And how are views on gender, race and citizenship changing? In this module, you'll explore:

• changing party politics - and the rise of the Labour Party
• ideas on empire, citizenship and 'the nation' 
• the changing role of women in British society
• the emergence of Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalism
• sport, leisure and what we do in our spare time.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

Language and Reality

How did language - the centre of our culture, family ties and business transactions -  develop? In this module, you’ll get to grips with fascinating debates around language, and why philosophers have been so drawn to it throughout history. You’ll gain core critical skills, as you consider questions around: 

• what language is 
• whether we can study it scientifically
• the relationship between language and thought.  

Language Options 2

Choose from French or Spanish modules at post-beginner or advanced levels, and further your communication skills essential for working in a multicultural environment.

Oxford Buildings

In this module, you’ll explore Oxford’s famous buildings first-hand. You’ll gain valuable analytical skills for studying the History of Art, as you explore the buildings in their social, environmental and architectural contexts. You’ll benefit from studying buildings directly, and visiting their sites. You’ll visit a diverse range of buildings in Oxford, from the renowned Oxford colleges to the Bodleian Library and the Sheldonian Theatre.

The Making of the Modern World: Age of Revolution and Popular Protest

In this module, you’ll study the period of crisis that overtook Western society from the late 19th century to the start of World War II. You’ll look at the sweeping changes, uprisings and political extremism that created a sense of crisis. These include:

• urbanisation and mass politics at the end of the 19th century
• the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its impact 
• the role of nationalism and imperial ambitions between the World Wars
• the rise of extreme political movements in Europe
• the role of consumerism in the 1920s and 1930s

Students must study one module option related to The Making of the Modern World.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

The Making of the Modern World: Brave New Worlds: Evolution and its Discontents

Can we consider the French Revolution as the birth of the modern age? What caused this revolution, which transformed France from a monarchy into a republic?

In this module, you’ll study the origins of the revolution and its impact on the French people. You’ll explore the experiences of ordinary people - and see how they lived under the Jacobin dictatorship and Napoleonic wars. And you’ll investigate how the French Revolution created a new form of politics - that endures today.

Along the way, you’ll learn about:

• the Enlightenment, and changing understanding of freedom
• the shock waves that the French Revolution caused abroad
• the birth of modern democracy, nationalism, and socialism
• the evolution of street protest and the power of the people

Students must study one module option related to The Making of the Modern World.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

The Making of the Modern World: Crisis of the West

How did the theory of evolution develop? And why is it so important in how we understand people? And in how we practise medicine? In this module, you’ll explore the history of evolutionary ideas and how they’re applied - in medicine and society. Studying primary texts and secondary sources, you’ll investigate how evolutionary scientists argued for their theories. And you’ll look at their explosive impact on Victorian public discussion. You’ll also consider more recent controversies - like human cloning, gene therapy and in-vitro fertilisation. 

Students must study one module option related to The Making of the Modern World.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

Dilemmas of Governing

How much did world leaders rely on history to make decisions? In this module, you’ll get to grips with governing strategy - from the 20th Century to the present day. You’ll choose either the British or Soviet states, and analyse how their leaders managed xrises and issues. You’ll also explore the relationship between politics and economics, and apply key approaches to the problems of governing.

Work placement

You will have the opportunity to undertake a work-based learning module as part of your degree. You’ll be responsible for organising your own work placement with the support of our careers services. Travel and associated costs of all work placements are the responsibility of the student, therefore it is advised that you organise your placement with this in mind.

This module gives you the opportunity to:

• Reflect on your interests and career aspirations 
• Approaching potential employers about opportunities in their organisation
• Experience what it is like to be a professional in the chosen area
• Prepare for future employability. 

Study placement

The Placement Year gives you the opportunity to study abroad at a partner university and/or undertake vocational practice and cultural experience in a professional setting. This can be carried out in the UK or abroad, depending on your language skills and programme of study.

During your Placement Year, you’ll practise a broad range of transferable skills. In particular,  you'll enhance your organisational and communication skills as well as develop a greater sense of responsibility and independent learning strategies. For those of you with language skills, you’ll also improve all aspects of your linguistic competence

Constructing Identities

What is identity? How do we express our identities? How do we recognise other identities? This module will incorporate views from linguistics, literature, philosophy, and sociology to help us piece together how identities are constructed and conveyed, and how understanding identities can benefit ourselves and our communities.

Researching cross-cultural experiences

In this module, you’ll analyse and present your experiences of your placement year. You’ll gain core critical skills for your final year, as you analyse your time living in a different culture, and the wider cross-cultural experiences of individuals or groups. You’ll do independent research on an aspect of the country you lived in that fascinates you. You’ll also present the outcomes of your research at an academic conference, giving you vital skills for your future career.

Creative Writing 3: Towards Professionalism and Publication

In this module, you’ll meet literary agents and editors, as you explore the submissions process for publication. You’ll understand how a book works as a whole, developing the skills you gained in your Creative Writing modules in Years 1 and 2. You’ll produce a 6000-word piece of writing on a theme or idea that fascinates you. You’ll also consider how this piece would look within a published work, for example, chapters from a novel, or poems from a proposed full-length collection.

Language Options 3

Choose from French or Spanish modules at post-beginner or advanced levels, and further your communication skills essential for working in a multicultural environment.

Thought and Consciousness

In this module, you’ll get to know one of the liveliest areas of current research: contemporary philosophy of mind. You will explore issues such as:

• What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?
• How are our thoughts capable of being about phenomena that exist outside of the mind?
• Where is the mind located? Is it in our skulls or does it stretch beyond the outer surfaces of our bodies?
• Is consciousness a mystery or can it be explained from a scientific perspective?

Laws, Empires, and Revolutions

In this module, you’ll get to grips with capitalism today. You’ll explore colonialism. And you’ll find out what the modern world can teach us about its laws and events. You’ll discover an alternative history of international relations - as you explore modern sovereign states. 

Each week, you’ll take a crucial world event and analyse it. You’ll look at issues like:

• the Arab Spring
• struggles for human rights
• cross-border protests
• migrants and refugees

You’ll contrast these events with historical events which involved tension and legal debate, like:

• colonial trading companies
• slave revolutions
• capitulations
• the Treaties of Westphalia
• the Ottoman empire 

Social, Cultural and Medical History: Life in Renaissance Italy

What was life like for ordinary people in Renaissance Florence, Venice and Rome? Millions of tourists flock to these cities every year. But in this module, you'll explore beyond the piazzas and palaces. You'll  discover what life in 15th and 16th century Italy was really like. You'll examine:

• how age, gender and ethnicity affected urban life
• the impact of warfare, disease, natural disasters and climate change
• the stories of people on the margins - like sex workers and the homeless

You'll emerge understanding the rich and complex history of this fascinating period.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

Social, Cultural and Medical History: Religion and Magic in Everyday Life

How does belief in magic affect our everyday lives? And how can religious beliefs shape our ideas and opinions? In this module, you'll explore beliefs - beyond the boundaries of religious institutions. You'll delve into the rituals, superstitions - and even cults - that have shaped our world view from the Middle Ages to the 19th Century. You'll examine:

• the cult of saints and relics
• angels and demons
• ghosts and fairies
• vampires
• folk magic and divination
• witchcraft and witch hunts.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

Social, Cultural and Medical History: The History of Food, Politics and Society

Is it true that you are what you eat? And how does your experience of food shape who you are?

This module puts history on plate. You'll reflect on diet, food habits and material culture - and what this tells us about society. You'll explore how food has been used as a political tool, and as a political control. And you'll examine how food relates to our identities and how we socialise.  You'll never look at what you eat the same way again! 

You'll consider topics like:

• Food and famine
• Migration and globalisation
• Food as culture
• Material culture
• Gender and the body.

This module option is subject to availability in any given academic year.

Ethics, Power and World Politics

What can world leaders do, and what should they do? How much power should countries give each other? And how should states and individuals behave towards each other? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the key questions in world politics. You’ll explore:

• how we determine rights and duties
• how we both enable and restrict dominance
• how issues of race, gender and class interact

in relation to world politics. You’ll choose one of three topics that focus on international ethics and power - human rights, migration and immigration, or postcolonial perspectives.

Critical Citizenship

You will focus your attention on your critical skills and love of literature. Including how this can help guide you throughout your life. You will also look at how this relates to broader concerns with being a citizen. In its fullest social, political, cultural, embodied, and located sense. 

On this module you will:

• Interrogate what we understand by the term ‘citizen’ and clarify its contested meanings in a complex and changing world.
• Explore how critical thinking can challenge assumptions about citizenship, and to forge new social and cultural ways of thinking.
• Assess how a knowledge of literature and literary culture might allow us to operate as critical citizens
• Consider the value and usefulness of literature in understanding and addressing the global challenges of the 21st century.

Independent Study Module 2

This module provides you with the opportunity to explore a specific academic topic to greater depth or breadth. You’ll undertake a literary review on an agreed topic, adopting an interdisciplinary approach using at least two disciplines. This is a great opportunity to delve into the subject area that you’re most passionate about as you'll have the freedom to investigate any aspect of your agreed topic.