Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

The aims of this module are two-fold:

1. To introduce and immerse the students in critical reflection around the social, cultural, economic and political aspects of alcohol and drinking (and resistance to this) in Britain, Ireland and the British colonial context from the eighteenth century to the present.

2. To support students to better identify then develop their skills, including those traditionally associated with History teaching (independent research and study; critical and reflective thinking; information literacy; written expression), and broader skills associated with employability (oral and personal presentation; team work; managing different audiences).

Both aims are addressed in the teaching content and methods and in the assessment types. The module also aims to support the wider progression of the students and what is expected from them at Stage 2, building on their foundational Stage 1 year and preparing them for Stage 3.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module will feature several History colleagues who specialise in different fields, but will have a grounding in the nineteenth century.

The module will take a thematic (rather than chronological) approach to ‘drinking histories’, with a broad syllabus which may include:

Alcohol and the city;

The rise of connoisseurship in the c21st (case study: whisky politics);
Alcohol and travel
Cafe culture
Chocolate and society
Combatting alcohol – temperance, prohibition, alternatives
Drinking and class – alcohol as a regulator of power
Alcohol and the industrial revolution – from artisan to mass production: the economic and business history of alcohol production (case studies: Stu Brew + Scottish & Newcastle; Wylam);
Drinking and crime;
Gender and alcohol;
Alcohol and creativity – literature, poetry, the creative arts;
Drinking and alcohol in the imperial context;
Alcoholism – from nuisance to disease: the evolution of its treatment.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Knowledge and understanding:

1. That students should be able to use multiple types of sources and media to understand the complexities of British and Irish society’s interaction with alcohol in the modern period including government records, fiction and poetry, art, business records, newspapers, film and TV.

2. That students should be able to critically understand and address the work of historians, sociologists, criminologists, medics and other related disciplines of alcohol and drinking cultures as well as the key secondary debates in the field.

3. That students should be able to understand the key patterns of social, economic, cultural and political aspects of alcohol and drinking in Britain, Ireland and the British empire. This will include a sense of the history of alcohol production business and entrepreneurialism into the present day. That students should be able to think critically about the contemporary issues and legacies presented by alcohol.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Overall this module aims to ensure a defined progression for students from Stage 1 to Stage 2 and to prepare them for Stage 3. This is driven primarily to defined work on key skills (outlined below), as well as the content and approaches taken in the teaching and independent study elements of the module described above.

Practical skills

•       to use and critically evaluate primary sources
•       to identify and retrieve information from a wide variety of sources
•       to construct a reasoned defence of an interpretation of an event or aspect of society in the past
•       to work in small teams to produce work, written and verbal/presentational

Key skills

•       to achieve effective oral and written communication
•       to show initiative, self-discipline and self-direction in learning
•       to improve performance through reflection, self-assessment and using feedback from the tutor effectively
•       to respond flexibly to a wide range of challenges

Cognitive (thinking) skills

•       To critically evaluate, analyse and discuss a wide range of source materials.
•       To construct extended written and oral arguments supported by relevant historical evidence.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

As a Stage 2 module, aside from an in-depth understanding of the content of the module, the teaching methods, which focus on small group work, team work, lecture delivery and independent research and writing, relate to the core learning outcomes of supporting students in developing sophisticated research skills across a wide range of sources, being able to synthesise the information they collect and form convincing and coherent arguments.

Independent learning is essential to this module: students are expected to develop skills of source evaluation, critical reading and note-taking in an independent and effective manner. Seminar teaching complements these skills by allowing students the opportunity to share and debate information gathered independently. Moreover, a significant part of seminar teaching will test the development of primary source analysis and problem solving.

Small group teaching will allow the students to explore ideas and patterns together in a structured way, and great emphasis will be placed on primary sources and their interpretation.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

This module (1) supports and assesses student progression into Stage 2 and (2) endeavours to support their skills development, including academic and employability.

The independent research element requires students to set their own deadlines and goals, plan their work and incorporate formative feedback. Organisational and time management skills are to the fore here. The research essay emphasises independent thinking and learning (supported by the Module Team), research literacy and finding skills, writing and structuring skills and working to deadlines.

This will be assessed mid-term with a short research case study (worth 25% of the module mark: summative) and then to support the formative research essay directly, a formative assessment, the research proposal, forms a means of determining student progress. Submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing.

General Notes

N/A