Undergraduate Course: Britons at War: The Construction of Identities in the Two World Wars (HIST10507)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | Using primary sources including archived oral testimonies, news reels, art, literature, life-writing, photographs, documentary and fictional films, this course explores the construction of identities in Britain and Ireland during the two world wars. It takes a detailed and critical look at the interplay between national, ethnic, class and gender identities at times of conflict, adopting a four-nation approach. It highlights the centrality of gender to the analysis of wartime experience in twentieth century Britain and explores how gender identities are socially, culturally and historically shaped. Particular attention is paid to the connections between the construction of national identities and the memorialisation of conflict: the ways in which the First and Second World Wars have been narrated, remembered and commemorated within British and Irish societies. |
| Course description |
Wars are occasions when ideas about national identity become highly visible and questions of inclusion and belonging particularly acute. Societal understandings of gender roles are also foregrounded. This course takes a detailed and critical look at the interplay between national, ethnic, class and gender identities at times of conflict, adopting a four-nation approach. It explores the formation of identities in Britain and Ireland during the two world wars and the relationship between the two nations. It highlights the centrality of gender to the analysis of wartime experience in twentieth century Britain and explores how gender identities are socially, culturally and historically shaped. It examines the public construction of gender roles in wartime and considers the ways in which norms of masculinity and femininity were promoted and utilised by the government to mobilise the British population at war. Particular attention is paid to the connections between the construction of national identities and the memorialisation of conflict: the ways in which the First and Second World Wars have been narrated, remembered and commemorated. Using primary sources including archived oral testimonies, news reels, art, literature, life-writing, photographs, documentary and fictional films, the course will encourage students to enhance their written and oral communication skills through group presentations and to improve their knowledge of interpreting primary source materials.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: racial violence and hostility, sexual violence, discriminatory attitudes, wartime prejudice. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand the complexities of wartime identity formation in twentieth century Britain and Ireland;
- analyse and utilise relevant primary sources to support historical arguments;
- plan and execute a substantial written analysis of twentieth century British or Irish wartime history;
- create and participate in group oral presentations;
- produce effective syntheses of secondary literature.
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Reading List
Matthew Cragoe and Chris Williams (eds), Wales and War: Society, Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2007)
Martin Francis, The Flyer: British Culture and the Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (2008)
Richard Grayson and Fearghal McGarry, Remembering 1916. The Easter Rising, The Somme and the Politics of Memory in Ireland (2016)
Nicoletta Gullace, The Blood of Our Sons. Men, Women and the Renegotiation of British Citizenship During the Great War (2002)
Jacqueline Jenkinson, Black 1919: riots, racism and resistance in imperial Britain (2009)
Bernard Kelly, Returning Home: Irish Ex-Servicemen After the Second World War (2012)
Juliette Pattinson, Arthur McIvor and Linsey Robb, Men in Reserve: British Civilian Masculinity in the Second World War (2016)
Sonya O Rose, Which People's War? National identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain 1939-1945 (2003)
Wendy Ugolini and Juliette Pattinson (eds) Fighting for Britain? Negotiating Identities in Britain During the Second World War (2015)
Wendy Ugolini, Experiencing War as the 'Enemy Other'. Italian Scottish Experience in World War II (2011)
Emma Vickers, Queen and Country. Same-Sex Desire in the British Armed Forces, 1939-45 (2017)
Wendy Webster, Mixing It: Diversity in World War Two Britain (2018) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Analytical and critical thinking skills
Oral communication skills, through seminar participation and presentations
Ability to work in a group, as part of seminar presentations
Written communication skills
Ability to critically interpret primary source materials and to synthesize secondary literature |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Wendy Ugolini
Tel: (0131 6)50 3766
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Ksenia Gorlatova
Tel: (0131 6)50 8349
Email: |
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