This course introduces students to the theory and practice of ‘cultural history’. In recent decades, interdisciplinary scholarship has transformed the study and practice of European history. Initially, this scholarship reoriented historians away from the ‘hard’ social sciences (quantitative sociology, economics, demography, econometrics) towards interpretive fields (cultural anthropology, art history, material culture studies, literary theory). More recently, historians have ventured into areas as diverse as biology and environment in reconstructing the past on longer temporal scales (‘deep’ history). This course explores how such approaches have enriched the understanding of history.
This course engages students collectively in productive (and sometimes provocative) areas of scholarship. Topics may include bodily histories, visual and material culture, history of emotions, belief systems, agency and identity, and environmental history. The chronological scope of the course extends from the early modern period to the present, but the class offers students considerable flexibility to customise topics to suit students' interest. It provides a solid foundation in the study of European cultural history and a calibrated introduction to interdisciplinary scholarship across the humanities.