Century City: London’s Social, Cultural and Public History, 1900-2000

About

This module explores the making of a modern metropolis: London in the 20th century.

Using the city as a classroom, you will take a social and cultural approach to London’s history.

This module attends to differences in the urban space, thinking about the dividing line of the Thames that separates the city north and south and the east–west divide.

You will consider the multiplicity of lives lived in London, shaped by structures including gender, class, race and age.

You will study some of the major events of this period, including suffrage campaigns, two world wars, mass migration and decolonisation.

You will also examine how the public history of the city has been constructed through museums, walking tours, podcasts, documentaries, fiction and film.

As part of the assessment, you will create a short podcast introducing a historic place in London, enabling you to respond imaginatively to the module themes.

Week one
Introduction: Mapping Modern London (Charles Booth and Layers of London)
A Global Metropolis: Europe, Empire and the World
Politics and Protest: from Suffrage to Stop the War
London at War

Week two
Londoners at Home (Visit to the Museum of the Home)
Queer London: Sex in the City
Migrant City (Visit to the Migration Museum)
Workshop: A Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting

Week three
Going Underground: Soundtracks to the City
Electric City: London on the Big Screen
Urban Explorations: Group Walking Tours
Review Seminar and Assessment Workshop

Course leader

Dr Anna Maguire

Course aim

This module aims to:

- Provide a grounding in the history of the city you are living in and develop a critical appreciation of how London has evolved over the last 100 years.
- Introduce concepts and approaches to public history and consider how this history has been communicated.
- Engage with a range of historical sources, including newspapers, photographs, oral histories, films and fiction, to analyse development over time, and make use of the city’s spaces and heritage sites as source material.
- Introduce podcasting as a mode of disseminating historical understanding.
- Deliver learning through a combination of class presentations, seminar discussions, hands-on activities and field trips to engage with the city’s space

Fee info