BA Modern Languages and History

Compulsory modules

Perspectives in History

Gain a geographically and chronologically broad study of history, discovering the potential pathways available to you throughout your degree. You’ll not only examine specific historical contexts, but also the historiographies, methodologies and theories that have shaped historians’ perspectives.  

Making History and You: Practices and Possibilities

Embark on your own research project to refine the transferable skills required for studying, and producing, history at university level. You’ll be guided through the process of effective reading, understanding historiographical debate, and how to write in a concise and convincing manner. 

You'll also take at least one of the following:

Beginners French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have no experience of the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll learn the basics and gain the proficiency needed to undertake a degree in or involving the language. 

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have a good GCSE grade or AS level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to B1 of the Common European Framework for Reference. You’ll learn the speaking and writing skills required to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

If you’ve achieved an A level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level. 

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s), for example:

Ideas of Frenchness 1

Gain a foundation in the history, culture, literature and ideas of France and the Francophone world, helping you to understand key ideas and developments that shaped the concept and perception of ‘Frenchness’. 

The Making of Contemporary Germany

You’ll analyse and assess social and political developments in Germany since 1945, interacting films, official documents, media discourse, documentaries, national symbols, and song lyrics to identify themes of the historical period. 

Making Italians: A Journey in the History and Culture of Modern Italy

Explore the history and culture of modern Italy, from unification to the present. You’ll consider what and who contributed to the birth of Italy, including how they shaped the political landscape of the Fascist regime and the Republic.   

The Making of Modern Spain and Latin America

Discover the factors that contributed to the development of modern Spain and Latin America from 1492 to the present day. You’ll gain a broad overview from the days of Spanish empire to its decline through revolutions, experiences of dictatorship and globalisation. 

Optional modules

Rape in the United States: From Colonisation to Civil Rights

Become familiarised with the changing social and legal understandings of rape in the US. Apply your skills to reflect critically upon the historical basis of contemporary ideas surrounding sexual violence, gender and race. 

Warfare in Early Modern Europe, c.1500-1715

Consider the relationship between warfare, and its ‘badges, battles and buttons’, with the wider social, economic and political contexts. You’ll be introduced to war and warfare in early modern Europe and study the consequences of war and the historical basis of our contemporary ideas on war. 

Doomsday Dystopias: Nuclear Disaster in the Cold War Imagination

Examine four real Cold War nuclear episodes and the impacts these events had on fictional imagination of disaster: the 1945 Hiroshima/Nagasaki A-bombings which ushered in civil defence in 1950s America; 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis; 1983’s ‘Able Archer’ NATO exercise that almost triggered war, and 1986’s Chernobyl disaster in the USSR. 

US Environmental Diplomacy from Nixon to Obama

Explore the evolution of US foreign policy on environmental issues from the Nixon administration to the Obama administration. You’ll be introduced to key ideas and debates on the role of the environment in US foreign policy and learn to reflect critically upon the historical basis of contemporary ideas about global environmental change.

Arriving in Britain: A History of Immigration, 1685-2004

Examine the experiences of migrant groups in Britain from the early modern period to the early twenty-first century. Consider the different reasons for migration, forms of persecution and economic motivations, the positive and negative reception to migrants, and how migrants have shaped Britain.

'After Malthus': Sex, Society Sustainability and the Politics of Population in the Long Nineteenth Century

Discover the legacy of Thomas Malthus’ ‘population principle’ in shaping a series of debates across the long nineteenth century and its influence upon ideas of birth control, natural selection, ‘Social Darwinism’, and environmental sustainability.  

Merlin the Magician

Explore the rise and transformations of the figure of Merlin and its influence upon ideas of magic, prophecy, natural philosophy and power. Examine a period stretching from the twelfth to the twentieth century to develop an understanding of long-term patterns of historical change. 

Ideas of Frenchness 2

Build on your existing knowledge of ‘Frenchness’ by critically assessing cultural, historical, and literary materials, texts, and artefacts. Concepts covered include war, colonisation, decolonisation and changing conditions for women.

Belonging in Germany

Examine the changing ideas that address national belonging and exclusion in Germany. Using various media, you’ll gain insight into the question of how ‘belonging’ has been defined in different periods of German history.

Introduction to Linguistics (for students of Italian)

Investigate human language including aspects of acquisition, multilingualism, and non-verbal communication. Focusing on Italian, you’ll consider the phonological, morphological, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic features of the language.

Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture

Using short stories, poetry, documentaries, films, and popular music from Spain and Latin America, you’ll analyse culture in the Hispanophone world, identifying themes of national identity, resistance, cultural and social revolution, power, and religion.

Liberty and Empire in the Making of the Modern World

Consider how the modern world was shaped by liberty and empire. You’ll examine the movements for democracy and national independence globally, the rise of a new European imperialism in Africa and Asia, and how these affect the lives of ordinary people. 

What is Comparative Literature?

Learn about the major critical and theoretical issues in the study of Comparative Literature, as well as the important methodologies for studying literature in a comparative context. Approach a cluster of texts from different cultural and historical traditions, you'll be be encouraged to reflect on the practices and consequences of reading transnationally.

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

Learn about the current thinking on translation by exploring some specific case studies. The historical approach to translation will allow you to develop a critical awareness of the role played by: genres, readership, institutional influences, market constraints, gender attitudes and discourses, purpose. In seminars, you will explore the challenges facing translators when dealing with literary, scientific, philosophical and political texts.

Greats of European Cinema

Explore some of the main developments and key achievements of European cinema. Through analysing a selection of major films from Germany, France, Italy and Spain, you’ll develop an understanding of the broader cultural contexts in which these films were produced. 

Introduction to Linguistics

Investigate the origin, development, and characteristics of human language. You’ll focus on topics such as language endangerment, bilingualism and multilingualism in childhood, and non-verbal communication. You’ll also explore different linguistics aspects of modern European Languages. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

You'll take at least one of the following:

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

Develop your language skills and advance your proficiency to undertake your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll have achieved the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Develop your language skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Further develop your speaking and writing skills to achieve the language level required to your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s), for example:

The First World War: Then and Now

To understand the French experience of the First World War and its wider impact on twentieth-century France, you’ll analyse experiences and responses to the conflict and consider representations and memory of the war. 

Cinema of Germany

Cinema has become a site of identity discourse for many Germans. You’ll analyse and assess films produced between the First World War and unification, relating these to changing political regimes and the wider cultural context of Germany. 

'Apocalittici e integrati': Intellectuals and Society in Twentieth Century Italy

Gain insight into the conflicts between the intellectual class and state in Fascist and Republican Italy. Exploring case studies will reveal the relationships between key Italian intellectuals and institutions such as the state, universities, media, and the Mafia. 

Transatlantic Exchanges: Latin America in the Global Nineteenth Century

Explore how Latin America faced challenges in the nineteenth century such as wars of independence and the abolition of slavery, and how the period has left its political and cultural mark on the region today. 

Culture and Revolution in Modern Latin America

Explore key moments of revolution and cultural policy in Latin America. You’ll examine how these events have been represented in different media, while developing an understanding of the various interactions and relationships between radical political change and culture.

How to Think in French

Strengthen the links between the linguistic and cultural study of French language and achieve ‘thinking in French’. You’ll focus on French rhetoric and style and how writing and thinking are taught within the French education system. You’ll also explore the way ideas about the French have developed and have been debated over time.

Children’s Books in France

Discover some of the important texts, authors and themes in the study of children’s literature in modern France.

Glorification, Denial and Contempt – Reconstructing Austria's Past

Critically examine discourses about Austrian identity and culture, while discussing key events and turning points in Austrian history. You’ll closely examines the commemoration, evaluation, and potential reinterpretation of these events by different generations or political groups. 

One Country, Many Languages: Linguistic Variety and Society in Contemporary Italy

Prepare for your year abroad in Italy and explore the linguistic complexity of the Peninsula, focussing on the socio-historical events that contributed to the spread of Italian as a standard language and to the survival of regional dialects and minority languages. You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods, familiarising yourself with techniques of oral assessment and independent study that you’ll use while preparing for exams in the Italian universities.

Modern and Contemporary Spanish Narratives

Discover pivotal narrative trends in modern and contemporary Spanish culture, including realism, the uncanny, the fantastic, metafiction, and symbolic representation. You’ll study various fictional works, including short stories, novels, and films from the late 19th century, exploring narrative devices and situating the texts within their intellectual and socio-cultural contexts. 

Optional modules

Science, Perversion and Dream in Global Fantastic Literature

You’ll examine how French, Hispanic, Italian, and German literary traditions have impacted global fantastic literature, considering the usage of Gothic, grotesque, supernatural and uncanny elements in selected key texts. 

Going Public: Presenting the Past, Planning the Future 

Explore public interpretations of the past and how history has been presented in the world outside of academia. You’ll work collaboratively with external partners on a group project which will challenge you to deal with ‘difficult’ history and conflicting narratives as you engage with wider audiences. 

People, Power and Revolution: Political Culture in Seventeenth-Century England

Explore the turbulence of the political landscape in the seventeenth century as you study events such as Charles I’s execution and Oliver Cromwell’s rise to power. You’ll consider the extent ordinary people knew of, or were involved in, politics, what events led to revolution, and how politics compared from the beginning to the end of the century.

Hollywood Histories: Film and the Past

Tackle film aesthetics and off-camera censorship and reception as you study historical films evoking a different past from the present in which they were made. Ranging from silence to epic, to television to slow-burn docudramas, you’ll question how films reflect or shape popular notions of the past. 

Europe in the Twentieth Century

Explore the geopolitical dynamics of modern European history from the formation of the German nation state in 1971 to the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. You'll consider why twentieth-century Europe was so violent, how warfare has evolved, and how Europe’s role has changed in a contemporary sense.

Medieval Medicine

Study classical medical theories through to the plague in the fourteenth century. You'll explore religious concepts, the early Middle Ages, transmission of medical knowledge and medical schools, hospitals and charity, diagnosis and prognosis, women’s health and more. 

American Century: United States History since 1898

Investigate the impact that US foreign policy has had on the development of the modern American state and society since the Spanish-American war of 1898.

'The Brightest Jewel in the British Crown': The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947

Discover the role of South Asia in international politics and globalisation, exploring key themes in the making of modern South Asia during the period of British colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent and its impact on the wider imperial world. 

Reform and Revolt in the Modern Middle East: Egypt from Ataturk to the 'Arab Spring'

Examine the key events, individuals and themes that shaped the Middle East in the 20th century, with a particular focus on Egypt. You’ll explore the origins and impact of Arab nationalism, outline the key Arab-Israeli wars and their consequences, and critically appraise the presidencies of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.

The Crusades, 1095-1291

Survey the golden age of crusading, considering the historical context and how historians understand crusading. You’ll develop a sophisticated understanding of the reasons for the crusades and appreciation of the historiography of crusading. 

Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850

Become introduced to the Atlantic World, discovering the impactful connections made between the 14th and 18th century and their turbulent influence on culture, economies and political structures. Explore how these connections have left an important and, at times, unsettling legacy in the modern world.

Kingship and Crisis in England, c.1154-1330

Examine continuity and change in English politics from the last twelfth to the early fourteenth century. You’ll learn of the concepts and expectations of kingship (and queenship) and issues, exploring seven reigns spanning the period.

Women and Medieval History

Explore the role of women throughout the centuries with a particular focus on Western Europe. Learn how social status, cultural revolution, and other social and economic dynamics impacted how these women engaged with, and contributed to, the world around them. 

Black Britain: Race and Migration in Post-War Britain

Explore race in post-war Britain and how immigration has rendered contemporary Britain into a truly multi-cultural society. You'll study the influx of immigration from the 40s, 50s and 60s and the restrictive immigration acts that followed, and analyse the experience of migrants and the political responses of both the white population and black power and civil rights groups. 

The Colonial Experience: Africa since 1879

Survey the history of British – and also German, Belgian, and French – colonialism with an outlook into its legacy in Africa, South of the Sahara, 1879. Reflect on how the colonial experience relates to gender, age, social status and initiative. 

Preparing for your Dissertation

Prepare for your dissertation under the supervision of a member of the History Department. As well as key elements in research design, you’ll begin to think about how you select and engage with primary source material. 

Noise Annoys: British Youth Culture, Popular Music and Social Change, 1950s-90s

Trace shifts in youth culture and popular music that drove social and political change in the post-war period. You’ll consider whether youth cultures sparked progress or decay, and if pop music provides a historical soundtrack or cultural gloss. 

Medieval Europe: Power, Religion and Death

Learn how archaeological evidence, approaches and interpretation contribute to our understanding of Europe in the Middles Ages. You’ll apply your knowledge on a field trip to Winchester, one of the richest medieval urban landscapes in southern England. 

From Revolution to Reconstruction: A Social History of the Nineteenth-Century USA

Evaluate the continuities and changes in peoples lives in the United States during the nineteenth century. You’ll consider differing interpretations of history offered by primary and secondary sources.

Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe

Discover the birth of modern humanity in late 18th-century Europe and the revolutionary changes that Enlightenment and Romanticism intellectual movements brought in all spheres of thought and social life. You’ll also explore how different European nations contributed to innovation, how modernity diffused beyond the Western world, the transformations brought by non-European influences, and the leading role of art in the modernisation process.

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Discover how modern ideas of nation, national identity, the nation-state and nationalism have shaped modern Europe and the rest of the world from the 18th century to the present day. You’ll examine the impact of the idea of the nation and the persistence and profound significance of regionalist tendencies across Europe. You’ll also explore the dynamic relationship between nationalism and other ideologies of community and identity.  

Global Ecologies: Discourse, Environment and Society 

Explore case studies of climate discourse and activism from around the world. You’ll gain the skills needed to think critically about environmental issues and discourses and their wider implications. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Study Year Abroad

Compulsory modules

Language and Power

Language is a powerful tool that can construe reality, challenge power, harm and discriminate individuals and foster social cohesion. You’ll investigate a range of genres, discourse, and theoretical approaches to disclose a text’s underlying ideological stance. 

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

Explore the diversification, evolution and fluidity of definitions of modern notions of race, gender, and how individual and collective identities have been redefined by intellectuals and ideologies. You’ll be encouraged to engage with competing and conflicting visions and values both through set case studies and group projects.

Extended Essay

Prepare for postgraduate study and engage in extended research on a topic of your choosing, within the subject area and relevant to your degree programme. 

You'll also take at least one of the following:

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Increase your competence in spoken and written language. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Consolidate your language skills and achieve the equivalent of level B2.2 of the Common European Framework of Reference upon successful completion. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language III

Advance the spoken and written language skills you developed during your year abroad to express yourself fluently. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level C1/C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference.  

Further compulsory modules will depend on your chosen core language(s), for example:

The German Language and National identity

Investigate debates around the German language including standardisation and codification, the uses and misuses of German, and the role it has played in the development of Germany as a nation. 

Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present

Discover themes and events that have contributed to change in modern Italian society. You’ll examine how moments of crisis engendered long-lasting change whilst fostering opportunity in terms of identity, citizenship, and nationhood. 

Memory, Dictatorship and Cultural Resistance in the Southern Cone

Examine the politics and aesthetics of 1970s Latin America, when authoritarian rule took hold across the Southern Cone. You’ll consider factors that led to military dictatorship, cultural resistance, and representations in literature, film and collective memory. 

Future Worlds in Film

Explore genre features, contexts, and aesthetic genesis of science-fiction films from different traditions and periods. You’ll analyse formal and thematic features of the films and identify central ethical questions they raise, evaluating each film in its specific cultural, political, and social context.

Narrating the Colombian Conflict

Investigate the history of the Colombian armed conflicts, from the 1940s civil war to the present day war on drugs. Through the analysis of interdisciplinary historical and cultural texts, including essays, fiction, films and new media, you’ll explore the role stories play in both justifying conflict and creating the possibilities for peace. 

Writers and Publishers in Spain

Explore how recent history, politics, society, ideology and technology have shaped Spain’s cultural landscapes. You’ll focus on critical episodes in Spanish history, like the rise of a parliamentary system, the Republic of 1931, the Civil War, the Francoist regime, and the Transition to democracy. This module is conducted in Spanish, but assessments can be done in either English or Spanish.

War on Screen - Germany and its films about WWII

Analyse representative examples of German post-1945 war cinema and evaluate them as part of wider discourses about the legacy of the Nazi dictatorship in East, West, and unified Germany. You’ll compare war films from different post-war decades and German states, focusing on central ethical questions relating to guilt and atonement, resistance and participation as well as the representation of atrocities in a context of entertainment.

Language, Diversity, and Inclusion: The Representation of Otherness in the Italian Context

Explore how the concepts of identity, otherness, inclusion, and exclusion have been articulated and transmitted through the Italian language. You’ll examine case studies based on the Italian context, and look at issues around national stereotyping, diversity, representation of minorities, migrants and foreigners, gender, political correctness, cancel culture, and ‘inclusive language’.  

Optional modules

Philanthropy à la française: The History of Ideas and Practices in the French Third Sector

You’ll examine case studies that address the significant role that charity has played throughout French history and consider the social, economic, political, and cultural motivations and consequences of voluntary action.  

Dissertation in History

Develop powers of synthesis and analysis and refine your knowledge on your chosen dissertation topic. You'll develop vital research skills as you explore specialised literature and primary sources and articulate a well-versed argument.

Becoming a Revolutionary: The Old Regime and the French Revolution, 1787-1794

Explore the historiographical debates raised by the French Revolution that ended the Old Regime and the long-term origins and immediate causes of it. In particular, explore how the French became revolutionised and how the process of building a new society promoted a new genre of revolutionaries associated with a new political culture, radicalism and rule of terror.

Heretics and Popes: Heresy and Persecution in the Medieval World

Gain hands-on experience as you analyse a wide range of primary sources from medieval heresy and heretics. Reflect on the phenomenon of medieval heresy and dissent while considering the ways in which the historiography of medieval heresy has evolved. 

Sexual Politics: Gender, Sex, and Feminism in Britain after 1918

Explore the factors underpinning gender roles from 1918 to the present to develop a wider understanding as to why attitudes of gender, sex and feminism have evolved, considering wider social and academic reasoning. 

Slavery in America

Survey the history of slavery in America and reflect on the different perspectives and representations surrounding it. You'll consider the changing ways in which the history of slavery has been understand as you examine a range of primary sources that show it in its wider historical context.

Anarchy in the UK: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture in Britain, 1976-84

Examine and evaluate primary sources as you survey the history of punk and the 1970s-80s UK punk scene. Reflect on how culture relates to wider political and socio-economic contexts as you use punk culture as a lens into British history.

Medieval Magic and the Origins of the Witch-Craze

Absorb the history of magic as you gain an understanding of medieval practices and theories of magic. You’ll consider the wider social contexts within which they were developed to gain a deeper understanding on why they were welcomed or repressed. 

'Battleaxes and Benchwarmers': Early Female MPs 1919-1931

Assess the aftermath of suffrage and reassess the importance of the 1918 Representation of the People Act on British democracy. You'll examine the impact of the acts in relation to women, and the emergence of female MPs throughout the transformative social, political and economic context of the 1920s.

History of Education

Gain and reflect on practical work experience as you develop your interest in a career in education. You’ll have the opportunity to apply your skills and share your knowledge in schools as you’re introduced to lesson-observation skills, secondary-level teaching strategies, and pedagogy characteristics of initial Teacher Education.

Axis at War: Life and Death in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 1936-45 

Explore Italian and German society during a war which sparked civil war in Italy and sent millions to their deaths in the Holocaust. You'll examine diaries, letters, secret police reports and Allied Intelligent assessments to gain a view of life under fascism and the differing experiences of the Second World War. 

From Darwin to Death Camps? Evolution and Eugenics in European society, 1859-1945

Examine the reception of Darwin’s ideas and their influence in shaping social theories. You’ll focus on the shifting perceptions of a desirable social and biological order found in attempts by science, medicine and the State to influence heredity and evolution, regulate sexuality and reproduction, and eradicate disease and defect.

The American Civil War 

Reflect on the historical impact on the American Civil War and how it shaped understandings of what it means to be American, particularly in relation to face. You’ll examine issues of contingency and consider how historians have understood the causes and consequences of the conflict.  

Utopia: The Quest for a Perfect World

Discover the utopian tradition to explore modern and historical attempts to create the perfect world. You’ll explore attempts to put utopia into practice, for example within Yugoslavia, Cuba and Scandinavia.

Poor Law to Hostile Environment: Repatriation, Deportation and Exclusion from Britain 1800-2016

Considering the concepts of ‘foreignness’, ‘home’ and attitudes towards migration, you’ll examine language and policies of repatriation and expulsion aimed at migrant and minority groups in Britain, from the early nineteenth to the twenty-first century.

Gender in Africa: From Eighteenth Century 'Amazons' to Twentieth Century Child Soldiers

Develop and demonstrate your skills of working with primary sources to survey the history of gender in Africa. You’ll reflect on approaches in gender history and methodologies applied to recover gendered voices from the past. 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Empire, Slavery, and Society, 1550-1750

Examine ‘piracy’ in terms of its popular connotations, legal definition, and social dimensions. You’ll explore its development and consequences for early modern empires in the Caribbean and reflect on how attitudes towards piracy developed.

May '68

Investigate the events of May ’68 in France and put them in relation of the wider moment of global protest and counter-cultural turbulence. Through examining key texts, visual sources, ideas (and ideologies) from the period, you’ll explore the significant political, social and cultural change of these event and their legacy on contemporary French society.

French Popular Music and Society

Explore French popular music of the late 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the development of the relevant genres and on music’s wider socio-cultural role. You’ll spend time looking at the texts, performances and personae of major artists in contemporary music genres including rap, rock, and electronica. 

The United States and the Cold War

Explore the evolution of US foreign policy during the Cold War as you examine the impact of the conflict on US domestic politics and the wider influence of the Cold War on US society and culture. 

These are the modules that we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.