History 4495: Britain in the Twentieth Century War and Society
September 2006-April 2007
Nipissing University, Department of History
Lecture Time: Friday 8.30-11.30 a.m
Location: A226
Instructor: Dr. A. Clendinning
Office: H310;
Ext: 4405;
Email: annec@nipissingu.ca
Scheduled Office Hours: Monday 4.30-6 pm.,
Or by Appointment
474-3461 ext: 4405
annec@nipissingu.ca
'Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends.' In the Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fusell reminds readers that a political assassination sparked a war where eight million people died. Twenty years later, a war to ensure the independance of Poland resulted in the country's total humiliation and bondage. Air bombardment, intended to shorten the war, actually prolonged it by hardening the resolve of governments and civilians. (Fussell, 7-8).
In terms of the loss of human life, the resulting devastation to property and the environment, and the dislocations of entire societies, war exacts a heavy toll.
War is also a powerful catalyst and historians often consider military conflict as a source of social, cultural and economic change. This course focuses on the history of Britain during roughly the first fifty years of the twentieth century. Through assigned readings, in-class discussions, film screenings and written assignments, this course will reflect on the impact of the two world wars on British society, culture, social policies and gender relations. This is not a military history course in the traditional sense and we will not be studying battlefield tactics, technology and diplomacy. The focus of this course is the home front and the domestic response to the First World War, interwar reconstruction and the peace movement, the Second World War and Britain in the immediate post-war era. We will consider debates about the impact of the world wars on class relations and constructions of gender; the ‘lost generation’ and commemorating the war; and the political implications of the wars in terms of social policy and the evolution of the welfare state and multi-racial Britain Course readings have been selected to address a particular theme for each week.
Richard van Emden and Steve Humphries eds., All Quiet on the Home Front: an oral history of life in Britain during the First World War (London: Headline Book Publishing: 2003). Available on amazon.com or in the Campus bookshop.
Helen D. Millgate, Mr. Brown’s War: a diary of the Second World War (Sutton Publishing: Phoenix Mill, 2003). Available on amazon.com or in the Campus bookshop.
History 4495: Britain in the 20th century: war and society Courseware Package. Selected readings for fall and winter terms are available in the Campus Shop. The courseware for the Fall term is available in September 2006. The courseware materials for the winter term will be in the bookstore in December 2006.
Any general text book that covers Britain in the 20th century, such as:
Peter Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-1990 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1997).
Walter Arnstein, Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present (Boston and NewYork: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).
Clayton Roberts, David Roberts and Douglas R. Bisson, A History of England: 1688 to the Present (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2002).
We will not have assigned reading from a general text but please acquire one for background material, especially if this is your first course in British history.
Modern History Source book
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html: This is an excellent site with numerous primary sources, links and references to secondary sources. A general site that covers different time periods and regions, it has several headings of specific relevance to Great Britain, such as the 20c century, WWI and WWII. Check it out.
Spartacus
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ From past experience, a favourite with students for quick reference, but be warned. The information presented here is often of a very general nature and is actually designed for primary and secondary school teachers and students in Britain. From what I know of the site, the information appears to be reliable, although the source is not given, which is problematic. In terms of research, this site is a good beginning point for general information. However, Spartacus is best for excerpts from primary sources. E.g. the testimonials on child labour make fascinating reading and are taken from documented Victorian sources.
Encyclopedia Britannica
www.britannica.com Like Spartacus, this is a good general reference guide to get you started but don't rely on it as a source for your research papers. In general, encyclopedia references are not recommended for academic papers at the post secondary level.
Imperial War Museum
www.iwm.org.uk A fascinating museum with a wonderful collection, the IWM site includes some primary sources and many images. An excellent research resource and just plain interesting to browse. Also check out the online collections at www.iwmcollections.org.uk
Museum of London
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/ Another great museum with some online exhibitions and image collections. The information presented here is reliable and a great resource for those interested in the history of London.
BBC
In addition to the usual news, sports, weather etc., the BBC site has a history section, which is very good. Again, a great place for images, timelines, primary sources and general information. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/history.
www.firstworldwar.com A commercial site, but it has a very large collection of photos, propaganda posters, letters and other primary sources.
This is a seminar class that meets once per week for three hours. Students are expected to come to class for the entire three hours, to have read in advance the assigned material for each week and to be prepared to engage in discussions with their peers. Individual participation will be graded according to the quality and quantity of participation. Beginning in October, pairs of students will act as seminar hosts and lead the seminar discussion on the assigned reading material for that week. In advance, the student seminar hosts will read the assigned material carefully, formulate discussion questions for the class and lead the evening’s discussion. The student seminar hosts must consult with the professor in advance of their class and bring a draft of their discussion questions. When drafting the questions, think about the individual content and significance of the reading selections. What major themes to they address? Are their differences and/or similarities in the approaches of the respective readings? Beginning in March, each student will do a 20-minute presentation on their research paper, to be followed by ten minutes of questions and discussion. See the course outline for further details.
There are no scheduled mid-term or final exams for this course, however, students who require learning accommodations should contact Student Services at ext. 4331
Grading Structure
Term One
Article Responses 15%
Primary Source Document Analysis 15%
Participation 10%
Seminar Host/ Presentations*
(*Pairs of students will act as seminar hosts and lead the discussion on the assigned reading materials for ten class sessions throughout the year. Given the size of the class, some students will complete this component of the course in term one and others in term two. The grade for the seminar hosts will appear in the second term, but will be reported to the students the week following their seminar turn. You will work in pairs and be given the same grade.
Term Two
Seminar Host/Presentations 5%*
Proposal and Bibliography 10%
Essay Presentation 5%
Major Research Paper 30%
Participation 10%
Final Due Date: In Class, October 30 (Total Value 15%)
Students in History 4495 will write reading responses for three scholarly articles selected from our assigned readings in the fall term. The responses must be submitted individually over the first two months of the class. Final due date for all the responses is October 30. Use the opportunity of this flexible timeline to develop your writing skills by submitting an article response well in advance of the final due date. That way, I can grade your response and return it to you before you submit the second and third reviews. This exercise is intended to revive the skills of critical reading and writing that might have atrophied over the summer.
For each article that you select, provide a short summary of the historical argument being presented by the author. This summary of the historian’s argument should be a short version that outlines the essential points of the article. Discuss the debate or debates, which the article addresses and the position adopted by the author. Describe the kinds of evidence and sources that the author uses and how that evidence furthers the historian’s thesis. You may offer you assessment of the article and the validity of the author’s argument. Or you may reflect on how this article contributes to our understanding of a particular issue or question that pertains to the course material in History 4495.
Length: Each response must be 2 pages of text; double-spaced; 1" margins; 12 point typeface. No more, no less. This exercise is intended to develop concise and critical writing. Each student will do three articles. All three must be submitted no later than October 30. Given the flexible deadline for this assignment, responses will not be accepted after this date.
Due November 27, 2006 (Value 15%)
Length: 6 pages; double-spaced, 1-inch margins; 12-point typeface
To a large extent, the reconstruction of the past relies on information that is found in primary source documents. A primary source may be defined as an original source that is contemporary with the event, movement or individuals to which it refers. Historians often consult a wide range of primary source documents when researching a particular subject, and these might include government records, cabinet minutes, official correspondence, newspaper reports, personal letters, diaries, wills, court reports, parish records and census data. In order to produce a historical monograph, a historian may read, study and analyze thousands of documents.
Instructions
For this assignment, students will analyze two primary sources that pertain to the First World War in Great Britain. The type of sources is up to the student: you may use written sources such as war diaries, letters or a memoir. Visual sources are also acceptable and include photographs, posters, propaganda, paintings, drawings or political cartoons. Browse the recommended web sites, especially the Imperial War Museum site and the World War One site, which are rich in visual and written material. Select a primary source of relevance to the First World War in Great Britain.
Ask yourself the following questions. What do the documents reveal about some aspect of the history of WWI? What are the central ideas or key points presented in the documents? In what context were the documents produced? What audience were the documents intended for? What is the perspective of the document's respective authors and how do the documents reflect that perspective? What biases do the documents contain? How do you know? What is the overall historical significance of the documents?
Write clearly. Organize your paper so that it includes an introduction with a thesis statement. Summarize your findings in the conclusion. Proof read your paper for errors that the spell check function will not detect.
Additional sources
Although this is not a traditional research paper, students are expected situate their selected sources within a historical context that may include the description of a particular event, or the actions of an individual or organization. The main purpose of the paper is to focus on the primary source, to identify why it was created or written, what it means, who it was intended for and what the source reveals to us, as historians, about Great Britain during the First World War. Therefore, secondary research is necessary to enable you to better analyze the primary sources that you have selected in order to appreciate their historical meaning. Use only academically sound and reliable web sites for your primary source selections. Web sites that are clearly associated with a university, an archive or research foundation are recommended. See Rampolla for tips on how to evaluate the accuracy of web based information. Secondary research should be from scholarly articles and historical monographs.
Due Date: April 8, 2007 (Total value: 45%)*
*(10% for the proposal and bibliography; 5% for the in-class presentation; 30% for the completed paper)
Students will write a major essay on a topic of their choice that is of relevance to the material presented in this course. Students are invited to explore in greater depth an area of particular interest however the essay topic must pertain to twentieth century Britain and the impact of the wars. Topics in the historiography of Britain and the impact of the world wars on various aspects of Britain’s empire, economy, politics, society and culture are acceptable as are narrative research papers. Students are asked to develop their own research topic and advised to consult the textbooks and the seminar readings and their respective bibliographies to assist with the development of a topic. If you are having difficulties, do not hesitate to ask for guidance.
Due Date: February 5-12, 2007 (Value 10%)
In advance of writing the paper, students must submit a proposal and bibliography. The proposal will outline and describe the topic and should be one page in length. The annotated bibliography will list and briefly describe at least ten secondary and primary sources to be consulted for this research paper. The research proposal and bibliography enables students to develop a series of historical questions, devise a working thesis or historical argument and to identify and describe the sources that will help you find the answers to your questions. Students may also be asked to meet with the instructor to discuss their essay topic and proposed sources. This is not an assignment that can be done quickly, so begin thinking early in the second term of possible essay topics. You may also have to use interlibrary loan materials so allow the available time to order in books as needed.
Scheduled from March 5 to April 2. (Value 5%)
Each student will do a twenty-minute presentation on their research essay topic followed by ten minutes of questions and discussion. The presentation enables the students to share their research and ideas with their peers and the course instructor. Bearing in mind that the papers are still works in progress; the presentation provides a forum for constructive criticism, feed back and problem solving.
Due Monday April 8, 2007. (Value 30%)
The major essay is due one week after our last class. This enables everyone to revise his or her work following the class presentation. Required length: 18-20 pages of text; double-spaced, 1 inch margins; 12 point; plus the bibliography, title page and, where required, illustrations.
Written material must adhere to a formal academic style using footnotes or endnotes. There are several helpful style guides. Recommended are:
Mary Anne Rampolla's, A Pocket Guide To Writing in History (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001).
Richard Marius, A Short Guide to Writing About History (New York: Longman, 1999).
Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide. www. lib.ohio-state.edu/guides/chicagod.html
This site provides quick and easy reference for the Chicago style, used most often by historians, as demonstrated by Rampolla and Marius.
NOTE: Penalties for late work
Late assignments will be deducted 2 % per day, not including weekends, to a maximum penalty of 20%; after which the assignment will not be accepted by the instructor. In circumstances where a student may require an extension for health reasons (or under mitigating circumstances), the student must consult with the instructor as soon as possible, and provide legitimate documentation if requested.
NOTE: Academic dishonesty
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in the scholarly community of Nipissing University. As such, everyone's academic work and behavior are held to high standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication and plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts, are all forms of academic dishonesty. Academic misconduct will result in disciplinary action. Please read the Policy on Academic Dishonesty; see Nipissing University Calendar, 2003-04, under Student Policies, particularly if you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism. Pleading ignorance is no excuse. All references must be properly cited. There is a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism in effect in this course. Any amount of plagiarized work will result in disciplinary action: an automatic zero for the assignment and written notification to the Dean of Arts and Science for a first offence. The office of the Dean of Arts and Science deals with second offences. Written assignments may be checked by plagiarism-detection software.
Throughout the year, pairs of students will be responsible for acting as seminar hosts and leading the discussion on the reading material for that week as indicated in the course outline. Students should be prepared in week two to state which seminar they would like to host. Everyone is responsible for reading all of the assigned material each week, even if someone else is leading the discussion. This is a seminar class and in order for each meeting to be a productive and interesting session, we must all be prepared for class. That means doing the readings and being ready to contribute in a meaningful way to the discussions.
Fall Term: September-December 2006
Introduction and Course Planning
‘The Gilded Age’: class, gender and culture in Britain on the eve of war
Film screening: The Shooting Party
Was Britain on the verge of political and social upheaval before the outbreak of the First World War?
Readings: Standish Meacham, ' "The Sense of Impending Clash": English Working Class Unrest before the First World War', American Historical Review vol. 77, 5 (December 1972). [J-Stor]
James Joll, 'The Mood of 1914', The Origins of the First World War, pp. 199-233.
[class handout]
The Call to Arms
Richard van Emden and Steve Humphries eds., All Quiet on the Home Front: an oral history of life in Britain during the First World War (London: Headline Book Publishing: 2003); chaps. 1-3.
Nicoletta F. Gullace, 'White Feathers and Wounded Men: Female Patriotism and the Memory of the Great War,' Journal of British Studies, vol. 36, 2 (April 1997), pp. 178-206. [J-Stor]*
Nicoletta F. Gullace, 'Sexual Violence and Family Honour: British Propaganda and International Law During the First World War', American Historical Review, vol 102, 3 (June 1997), pp. 714-747. [J-Stor]*
World War I: Tommy and the Trenches
Richard van Emden and Steve Humphries eds. All Quiet on the Home Front: an oral history of life in Britain during the First World War (London: Headline Book Publishing: 2003); chaps. 4-5.
Paul Fussell, 'The Troglodyte World', The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 36-74. [Courseware]
Colin Veitch, 'Play up! Play up! And Win the War!': Football, the Nation and the First World War, 1914-1915, Journal of Contemporary History (1985), pp. 363-378. [J-Stor]*
David Englander and James Osborne, 'Jack, Tommy and Henry Dubb: The Armed Forces and the Working Class', Historical Journal, vol. 21, 3 (1978), pp. 593-621. [J-Stor]*
Seminar Hosts:
Thanksgiving Holiday and Study Week
Mobilizing the Home front: Women and the War Effort
Angella Woollacott, On Her Their Lives Depend: Munitions Workers in the Great War (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 1-36 [Courseware]
Gail Braybon, Women Workers in the First World War (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), pp. 154-172. [Courseware]
Jenny Gould, ‘Women’s Military Services’, in Behind the Lines: Gender and the Two World Wars, Sonya Michel and Margaret Collins Weitz eds. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987), pp. 114-125 [Courseware]
Phillipa Levine, ' "Walking the Streets in a Way No Decent Woman Should": Women Police in World War I, Journal of Modern History, vol. 66, 1 (March 1994), pp. 34-78. [J-Stor]
Seminar Hosts:
Under Attack? The Impact of War Weariness on the Home Front
Richard van Emden and Steve Humphries eds., All Quiet on the Home Front: an oral history of life in Britain during the First World War (London: Headline Book Publishing: 2003); chaps. 6-8.
George Robb, 'Propaganda and Censorship', British Culture and the First World War (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 96-128. [Courseware]
Nicholas Hiley, ‘Counter Espionage and Security in Great Britain During the First World War’, The English Historical Review, vol. 10, no. 400 (July 1996), p. 635-670.
Writing Assignment 1: all article responses must be submitted by this date
The War to End all Wars: Peace and the Road to Reconstruction
Richard van Emden and Steve Humphries eds., All Quiet on the Home Front: an oral history of life in Britain during the First World War (London: Headline Book Publishing: 2003); chaps. 9-10.
Kenneth Morgan, 'Priorities and Policies: Social Reform', Consensus and Disunity: the Lloyd George Government (Oxford: Clarendon Press), pp. 80-108. [Courseware]
Alison Ravetz, ‘A View From the Interior’, in A View From the Interior: Feminism, Women and Design, Judy Attfield and Pat Kirkham, eds. (London: The Women’s Press, 1989), pp. 187-205
Seminar Hosts:
Commemorating the ‘Lost Generation’ and the Great War
George Robb, 'Remembering and Memorializing the War', British Culture and the First World War (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 208-225. [Courseware]
J. M. Winter, Britain's 'Lost Generation' of the First World War, Population Studies, 31, 3
(1977), pp. 449-466. [Courseware]
Seth Koven, 'Remembering and Dismemberment: Crippled Children, Wounded Soldiers and the Great War in Great Britain, American Historical Review, 99 (October 1994).
[J-Stor]
Seminar Hosts:
'Back to Home and Duty'? Assessing the Impact of the Great War on Gender and Class Relations
Deirdre Beddoe, ‘Employment’, Back to Home and Duty: women between the wars, 1918-1939 (London: Pandora/Harper Collins, 1989), pp. 48-88. [Courseware]
Susan Kingsley Kent, ‘Gender Reconstruction After the First World War’, in Harold Smith ed. British Feminism in the Twentieth Century (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1990), pp. 66-83 [Courseware]
Martin Petter, 'Temporary Gentlemen' in the Aftermath of the Great War: Rank, Status and the Ex-officer Problem, Historical Journal, 37, 1 (1994), 127-152. [J-stor]
Seminar Hosts:
Home Rule and the Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921)
W J Lowe, "The War Against the RIC, 1919-21," Eire/Ireland XXXVII (Fall/Winter 2002): 79-117 [on reserve]
Peter Hart, "Operations Abroad: The IRA in Britain," in The IRA at War, 1916-23 (Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 141-177.
David Leeson, "'The Scum of London's Underworld'? British Recruits for the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1920-21," Contemporary British History XVII No. 1 (Spring 2003): 1-38.
[EBSCOhost]
Louise Ryan, ‘Drunken Tans’: Representations of Sex and Violence in the Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921), Feminist Review, no. 66, Political Currents (Autumn 2000), pp. 73-94. [J-stor]
Seminar Hosts:
Assignment 2: Due in Class
Britain and the Slump: Responses from the Left and the Right
David Clay Large, ‘Red Ellen’ Wilkinson and the Jarrow Crusade: Great Britain in the Great Slump, in Between Two Fires: Europe in the 1930s (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), pp. 180-222 [Courseware]
George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, chapters 12 and 13, pp. 173-215. [class hand out]
John Stevenson and Chris Cook, ‘The Fascist Challenge’, in Britain in the Depression: Society and Politics, 1929-1939 (London and New York: Longman, 1994), chapter 11, pp 257-269 [Courseware]
Martin Durham, 'Gender and the British Union of Fascists', Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 27, 3 (July 1992), pp. 513-529. [J-Stor]
Seminar Hosts:
No readings scheduled for this week. Relax, enjoy but bear in mind the themes of relevance to our course.
Film Screening: The Remains of the Day Emma Thompson and Anthony Perkins star in this film about an aristocratic household in the late 1930sas Britain prepares for the possibility of another war with Germany.
Helen D. Millgate, Mr. Brown’s War. Read this book over the Christmas break. We will be referring to themes from this work in our discussions in the Second Term.
*Courseware for Term 2 will be in a separate volume. Readings listed here for Term 2 may be subject to slight change, but the volume of assigned reading will not change.
The Road to War: The Peace Movement and Appeasement
David C. Lukowitz, ‘British Pacifists and Appeasement: The Peace Pledge Union’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 9, 1 (January 1974), pp. 115-127. [J-stor]
Mark Gilbert, ‘Pacifist Attitudes to Nazi Germany, 1936-45’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 27, 3 (July 1992), pp. 493-511. [J-stor]
Eleanor Rathbone, War Can Be Averted: the achievability of collective security (London: Victor Gollancz, 1938), chapters 7-8, pp. 154-193. [class handout, available November 27 and on reserve in the library]
David Reynolds, 'No War, 1919-40', in Britannia Overruled: British Policy and World Power in the Twentieth Century (London and New York: Longman, 1991), pp. 114-145.
[Courseware]
Seminar Hosts:
Britain and 1940: The Battle and the Blitz
Helen D. Millgate, Mr. Brown’s War: a diary of the Second World War (Sutton Publishing: Phoenix Mill, 2003); available in the bookstore
Arthur Marwick, The Homefront: the British and the Second World War (London: Thames & London, 1976), chap. 3. [Courseware]
Malcolm Smith, 'The Blitz', in Britain and 1940: history, myth and popular memory (London and New York: Routledge: 2000), pp. 70-110. [Courseware]
‘Make Do and Mend’: Women on the Home Front
Ina Zweiniger-Bargeilowska, ‘Popular Attitudes’, and Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption 1939-1955 (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), chap. 2, pp. 60-98.
Penny Summerfield, ‘Mobilisation’, Women Workers in the Second World War: production and patriarchy in conflict (London and New York:
Routledge, 1989), chap. 3, pp. 29-66.
Pat Kirkham, ‘Beauty and Duty: Keeping Up the (Home) Front’, in War Culture: Social Change and Changing Experience in World War Two, Pat Kirkham and David Thomis, eds. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1995), pp. 13-28 [Courseware]
Seminar Hosts:
We will also watch selections from the film Mrs. Miniver (1942). A sentimental and patriotic look at one family's war experiences on the home front, the film was intended to persuade Americans that the British people needed help fighting Hitler. Directed by the William Wylder, Mrs. Miniver won seven Academy Awards including best picture.
Growing Up Fast: Kids and Youth Culture in WWII
Arthur Marwick, The Home front: the British and the Second World War (London: Thames & London, 1976), selections [Courseware]
John Muncie, ‘The Trouble with Kids Today’: Youth Culture and Crime in Post War Britain, selections
John Welshman, ‘Evacuation, Hygiene and Social Policy: the Our Towns Report of 1943’, Historical Journal, 42, no. 3 (1999), pp. 781-807. [J-stor]
M. E. Bathurst, ‘Juvenile Delinquency in Britain during the War’, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951), vol. 34, no. 5 (January 1944), pp. 291-302. [J-stor]
We will also watch selections from John Boorman’s Hope and Glory (1987), a film that presents WWII from the perspective of a young English boy. The story was based on the filmmaker’s memories and experiences of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain.
Class and national identities: did the Second World War create a 'social consensus' in Britain?
Sonya Rose, 'Sex, Citizenship and the Nation in World War II', American Historical Review, vol. 103, 41 (October 1998), pp. 1147-1176. [J-Stor]
Steven Fielding, 'What did 'the People' Want? the Meaning of the 1945 General Election, The Historical Journal, 35, 2 (1992), pp. 623-639. [J-stor]
Sian Nicholas, ‘The People’s Radio: The BBC and its Audience, 1939-1945’, in ‘Millions Like Us’? British Culture in the Second World War, eds. Nick Hayes and Jeff Hill (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999), pp. 62-92. [Courseware]
John Baxendale, ‘You and I—All of Us Ordinary People’: Renegotiating ‘Britishness’ in Wartime, in British Culture in the Second World War, eds. Nick Hayes and Jeff Hill (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999), pp. 295-322. [Courseware]
Seminar Hosts
Essay Proposals and Bibliography may be submitted.
Race and Gender in post-war Britain
Ian Spencer, World War Two and the Making of Multiracial Britain, in War Culture: Social Change and Changing Experience in World War Two, Pat Kirkham and David Thomis, eds. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1995), pp. 209-218. [Courseware]
Chris Waters, '"Dark Strangers" in Our Midst: Discourses on Race and Nation in Britain, 1947-1963', Journal of British Studies, 36 (April, 1997), pp. 207-238. [J-stor]
Catherine Blackford, ‘Wives and Citizens and Watchdogs of Equality: Post-War British Feminists, in Labour’s Promised Land? Culture and Society in Labour Britain, 1945-51, Jim Fyrth, ed (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1995), pp. 58-72.
Martin Pugh, ‘The Nadir of British Feminism, 1945-1959, in Women and the Women's Movement, 1914-1959 (London: Macmillan, 1992), 284-311.
Seminar Hosts:
Study Week: Work on your essays!
A New Society?
Becky Conekin, Frank Mort, and Chris Waters, ‘Here is the Modern World Itself’, in Moments of Modernity: Reconstructing Britain 1945-1965 (London and New York: River Oram, 1999), chaps. 12, pp. 228-246.
Rodney Lowe, ‘Riches, Poverty and Progress’, in The British Isles, 1901-1951 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 196-226.
To compliment our readings, we will also watch the film Vera Drake (2004). Based on the true story of a middle-aged working-class woman who lives in London in the early 1950s, this film examines issues of class and gender inequality in a sensitive and engaging manner. Actress Imelda Stanton received an Oscar nomination for her moving performance.
Essay Presentations (4)
Each student will do an oral presentation on his or her essay. We will have four weeks of four presentations, with five presentations on one class. The fifth may be added to where demand is highest. Students are graded for the presentation (5%).
Each student presentation will be followed by a short question and answer session. Attendance at the presentations is mandatory, as is respectful attention to your peers.
Essay Presentations (4)
Essay Presentations (4)
Essay Presentations (4)
Essay Presentations (4)
Major Papers Due: Monday April 9, 2005
Please submit the final versions of your essay by this date. Value 35%