University undergraduate student studying in Nightingale Hall accommodation's library, University Park

History and East European Cultural Studies BA

University Park Campus, Nottingham, UK

Course overview

If you are interested in combining your interests in history with a focus on Eastern Europe, and in particular the vibrant and dynamic cultures of Russia and South East Europe, then this degree course is for you.

In History you will be able to choose from an extensive range of modules, including options in Russian and Eastern European history. In the East European cultural studies part of your degree you will study the societies, histories, politics and cultures of the territory of Eastern Europe and Russia from the Byzantine period to the 21st century, beginning with modules that approach study of these cultures at introductory level, and specialising as your studies progress.

Optional modules include topics in the literature, cinema, popular culture and history of Russia and South-East Europe, with a particular focus on the region that was formerly Yugoslavia. If you wish, you may learn a Slavonic language: Russian and Serbian/Croatian are both offered from beginners’ level. Language study is optional and this degree does not include a year abroad.

 

Indicative modules

Mandatory

Year 1

Learning History

Optional

Year 1

Making of Modern Asia

Optional

Year 1

Making the Middle Ages 500-1500

Optional

Year 1

Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945

Optional

Year 1

Roads to Modernity: An Introduction to Modern History 1750-1945 (Part 2)

Optional

Year 1

The Contemporary World since 1945

Optional

Year 1

The Contemporary World Since 1945 (Part 2)

Optional

Year 1

History of Philosophy: Ancient to Modern

Optional

Year 1

Themes in Early Modern European History c.1500-1789

Optional

Year 1

Russian 1: Beginners

Optional

Year 1

The Clash of Empires: History of the Balkans from Alexander the Great to Napoleon

Optional

Year 1

From Tsarism to Communism: Introduction to Russian History and Culture

Optional

Year 1

Serbian / Croatian 1: Beginners

Optional

Year 1

The Soviet Experiment

Optional

Year 2

Consumers & Citizens: Society & Culture in 18th Century England

Optional

Year 2

British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the World Wars, 1895-1939

Optional

Year 2

The Victorians: Life, Thought and Culture

Optional

Year 2

The Second World War and Social Change in Britain, 1939-1951: Went The Day Well?

Optional

Year 2

The Rise of Modern China

Optional

Year 2

Liberating Africa: Decolonisation, Development and the Cold War, 1919-1994

Optional

Year 2

Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages

Optional

Year 2

The Stranger Next Door: Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages

Optional

Year 2

Sex, Lies and Gossip? Women of Medieval England

Optional

Year 2

International History of the Middle East and North Africa 1918-1995

Optional

Year 2

Germany and Europe in the Short 20th Century, 1918-1990

Optional

Year 2

Imagining 'Britain': Decolonising Tolkien et al

Optional

Year 2

Kingship in Crisis: Politics, People and Power in Late-medieval England

Optional

Year 2

Sexuality in Early Medieval Europe

Optional

Year 2

Environmental History: Nature and the Western World, 1800-2000

Optional

Year 2

Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914

Optional

Year 2

Soviet State and Society

Optional

Year 2

The Venetian Republic, 1450-1575

Optional

Year 2

European Fascisms, 1900-1945

Optional

Year 2

De-industrialisation: A Social and Cultural History, c.1970-1990

Optional

Year 2

The British Empire from Emancipation to the Boer War

Optional

Year 2

'Slaves of the Devil' and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 2

Rule and Resistance in Colonial India, c.1757-1857

Optional

Year 2

Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930

Optional

Year 2

Travel and Adventure in the Medieval World

Optional

Year 2

African American History and Culture

Optional

Year 2

Business in American Culture

Optional

Year 2

America's Borders: Culture at the Limits

Optional

Year 2

Serbian / Croatian 1: Beginners

Optional

Year 2

Serbian / Croatian 2

Optional

Year 2

Russian 1: Beginners

Optional

Year 2

Russian 2 - Beginners

Optional

Year 2

Long Essay in Russian and Slavonic Studies

Optional

Year 2

Gulag Archipelago: Stalin’s Prison Camps

Optional

Year 2

Germany and Europe in the Short 20th Century 1918-1990

Optional

Year 2

Central European History: From Revolution to War, 1848-1914

Optional

Year 2

"Slaves of the Devil" and Other Witches: A History of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Optional

Year 2

Race, Rights and Propaganda: The Politics of Race and Identity in the Cold War Era 1945-1990

Optional

Year 2

Politics and Protest: The Last Hundred Years of Music History

Optional

Year 2

Rethinking the Tudors: Monarchy, Society and Religion in England, 1485-1603

Optional

Year 2

Communities, Crime and Punishment in England 1500-1700

Optional

Year 2

The politics of memory in postwar Western Europe

Optional

Year 2

Commodities, Consumption and Connections the Global World of Things 1500-1800

Optional

Year 2

Gender, Empire, Selfhood: Transgender History in Global Context

Optional

Year 2

The American Pop Century

Optional

Year 2

American Radicalism

Optional

Year 2

The US and the World in the American Century: US Foreign Policy 1898-2008

Optional

Year 2

History of American Capitalism

Optional

Year 2

The CIA and US Foreign Policy 1945-2012

Optional

Year 2

Work placement

Optional

Year 3

Culture, Society and Politics in 20th Century Russia

Optional

Year 3

Faith and Fire: Popular Religion in Late Medieval England

Optional

Year 3

The Black Death

Optional

Year 3

Life During Wartime: Crisis, Decline and Transformation in 1970s America

Optional

Year 3

After the Golden Age: The West in the 1970s & 1980s

Optional

Year 3

British Culture in the Age of Mass Production, 1920-1950

Optional

Year 3

The British Civil Wars c.1639-1652

Optional

Year 3

Sexuality and Society in Britain Since 1900

Optional

Year 3

Alternatives to War: Articulating Peace since 1815

Optional

Year 3

Windrush and the (Re)Making of a Nation: Myth and Memory

Optional

Year 3

Early Medieval England in the Age of Bede

Optional

Year 3

From Revelation to ISIS: Apocalyptic Thought from the 1st to 21st Century

Optional

Year 3

Transnationalising Italy: A History of Modern Italy in a Transnational Perspective

Optional

Year 3

The Celtic Fringe: Scotland and Ireland, c.1066-1603

Optional

Year 3

The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism, 1975-1992

Optional

Year 3

The World of Orthodox Sainthood

Optional

Year 3

Dissertation in Russian and Slavonic Studies

Optional

Year 3

Serbian / Croatian 2

Optional

Year 3

Brotherhood and Unity: Yugoslavia on Film

Optional

Year 3

Myths and Memories: Histories of Russia's Second World War

Optional

Year 3

The 1960s and the West, 1958-1974

Optional

Year 3

The Reign of Richard II

Optional

Year 3

Russia in Revolution 1905-21

Optional

Year 3

The African Atlantic and the British Slave Trade c.1600-1897

Optional

Year 3

European Politics and Society 1848-1914

Optional

Year 3

'World wasting itself in blood': Europe and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

Optional

Year 3

Rebels Against Empire: Anticolonialism and British Imperialism in the mid 20th Century

Optional

Year 3

Voices from North Africa: Resistance, Decolonisation and State-Building in the Twentieth Century

Optional

Year 3

From serf to proletarian?: Imperial Russia’s rural population, 1825-1932

Optional

Year 3

US Foreign Policy 1989-2009

Optional

Year 3

Popular Music Cultures and Countercultures

Optional

Year 3

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Drugs for Pleasure and Pain in the History of Medicine

Optional

Year 3

Italy and the Second World War

Optional

Year 3

The Silk Road: Cultural Interactions and Perceptions

Optional

Year 3

Mapping the Humanities

Optional

Year 3

The Turbulent Friar: Martin Luther and the Origins of Protestantism

Optional

Year 3

Recent Queer Writing

Optional

Year 3

Cultures of Power and the Power of Culture in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

Optional

Year 3

Sexuality in American History

Optional

Year 3

Britain in the Later Roman Empire (c. 250-450)

Optional

Year 3

Troubled Empire: The Projection of American Global Power from Pearl Harbor to Covid-19

Optional

Year 3

China from Revolution to Socialism

Optional

Year 3

Heritage and the Media

Optional

Year 3

Saving Europe: Atrocity and Humanitarianism across twentieth century Europe

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About modules

The above is a sample of the typical modules we offer, but is not intended to be construed or relied on as a definitive list of what might be available in any given year. This content was last updated on Tuesday 20 August 2024. Due to timetabling availability, there may be restrictions on some module combinations.

When you begin studying at university, you will probably find that you cover material much more quickly than you did while studying for your A levels. The key to success is preparing well for classes and then taking the ideas you encounter further in your own time.

Lectures – provide an overview of what you are studying, using a variety of audio and visual materials to support your learning.

Seminars and workshops – give you the chance to explore and interact with the material presented in lectures in a friendly and informal environment. You will be taught in a smaller group of students, with discussion focusing on a text or topic you've previously prepared.

Workshops are more practical, perhaps through exploring texts, working with digital materials, or developing presentations.

Tutorials – individual and small-group tutorials let you explore your work with your module tutor, perhaps discussing plans for an essay or presentation, or following up on an area of a module which has interested you.

eLearning – our virtual-learning system, Moodle, offers 24-hour access to teaching materials and resources.

Peer mentoring

All new undergraduate students can opt into our peer mentoring scheme. Your peer mentor will help you settle into life at Nottingham, provide advice on the transition to university-level study and help you access support if needed.  

 

If you choose to study a language on this degree programme, much of the teaching will be led by native speakers.

Class sizes vary depending on topic and type. A weekly lecture on a core module may have 50-60 students attending while a specialised seminar may only contain 10 students.

Teaching quality

Our staff know that studying complex subjects can sometimes seem challenging (they've all been where you are!). Their contributions to high quality teaching and learning are recognised through our annual Lord Dearing Awards. View the full list of recipients.

Teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Seminars
  • Tutorials
  • Workshops

You will be assessed by a wide variety of methods, consisting mainly of coursework and exams, but you may also be tasked with commentaries, dissertations, group work, in-class tests, portfolios and presentations.

Each module has its own methods of assessment and we strive to make these as varied as possible so that everyone can perform to the best of their abilities. When choosing optional modules, you will be able to see how the module is assessed in advance.

Assessment methods

  • Dissertation
  • EssayIn-class test
  • Oral exam
  • Presentation
  • Written exam
  • Commentary

As well as scheduled teaching you’ll carry out extensive independent reading and research. A typical 20 credit module involves between three and four hours of lectures and seminars per week. You would ideally spend 8-10 hours doing preparation work.

By the end of this course you will have developed a variety of transferable skills including the ability to communicate effectively, study independently, and to develop a coherent argument. You will have both broad and specialist understanding of Russian and Eastern European histories, cultures and societies. If you have chosen to study a Slavonic language, you will have achieved a foundation knowledge, desirable to employers. You will have a sound understanding of the theories and techniques used by historians and will have experience of undertaking in-depth work with primary sources.

Find out more about skills gained and career destinations of History and East European Studies students.

Average starting salary and career progression

78.8% of undergraduates from the Faculty of Arts secured graduate level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual starting salary for these graduates was £23,974.

HESA Graduate Outcomes (2017 to 2021 cohorts). The Graduate Outcomes % is calculated using The Guardian University Guide methodology. The average annual salary is based on graduates working full-time within the UK.

Studying for a degree at the University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take.

Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.

Have a look at our careers page for an overview of all the employability support and opportunities that we provide to current students.

The University of Nottingham is consistently named as one of the most targeted universities by Britain’s leading graduate employers (Ranked in the top ten in The Graduate Market in 2013-2020, High Fliers Research).

I felt a History single honours may have been too intense and too broad for my preferences, so I began looking into joint honours courses. I was really intrigued by the concept of East European Cultural Studies, as it was a subject area that hadn’t been offered to me before. I also enjoy learning about the social and cultural elements of history, and this course allowed me to focus on those elements more closely.

Francesca Hawkeswood

History and East European Cultural Studies BA

Course data

Open Day June 2022