Course Catalogue

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LGBTQ+ lives and experiences have been central to the political, social, intellectual and cultural history of the British Isles: from the sodomy laws and gender-crossing 'female husbands' of the early nineteenth century through the development of urban queer communities at the turn of the twentieth century, the policing of gender and sexual deviance in the British Empire, the relationship of queer and trans people to the postwar welfare state, the advent of gay liberation politics, modern equalities legislation, and today's anti-trans backlash. In this course, we will examine how the experiences of queer and trans people living in the British Isles, and the ideas that people used to make sense of gender and sexual diversity, have changed over the last two hundred years; and what that tells us about the wider history of nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century Britain.

One one-hour lecture and one one-hour seminar per week for ten weeks, as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None.

None.

Providing peer feedback on project output in seminar discussions (500 words): 10%

Project output: online museum exhibit based on an independently researched primary source, with annotated bibliography and critical reflection (1500 words): 50%

Time-limited coursework assignment (one-week take-home assignment) (2000 words): 40%

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Develop knowledge and understanding of modern British LGBTQ+ history.

■ Examine the relationship of LGBTQ+ history to wider themes in the history of gender and sexuality and modern British history.

■ Evaluate how factors such as race, class, region, gender, religion, empire, politics and power have shaped the development of British LGBTQ+ history.

■ Analyse a diverse range of primary sources that provide differing perspectives on LGBTQ+ lives and experiences.

■ Relate academic to popular or public-facing conceptions of LGBTQ+ history.

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

■ Debate key developments in modern British LGBTQ+ history.

■ Explain modern British LGBTQ+ history using specialist vocabulary and concepts from the history of gender and sexuality.

■ Assess the close analysis of individual primary sources to larger themes and narratives in modern British LGBTQ+ history.

■ Research topics of independent interest in British LGBTQ+ history.

■ Describe findings effectively through employment of a range of written and oral communication styles.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.