MA History

Students write a 10,000 word dissertation on an agreed subject of their choice, that demonstrates their command of the relevant literature and their ability to conduct research based on primary and secondary sources. This is done with the guidance of an in individually assigned supervisor. The dissertation involves an extended period of research and writing and is submitted at the end of the twelve-month period that comprises the MA History programme.

As a compulsory module in our MA programme, Reconfiguring Global History is designed to foster conversations about the way we understand the past, present and future of the planet, across disciplinary and departmental borders. It introduces students to ongoing debates and encourages their participation in these discussions. It is meant to provide a collegial and stimulating environment for students to develop their own ideas and projects. Readings will explore current themes and debates on areas such as gender, sexuality and the body, urban history, history of emotion, racial capitalism, oceanic history, environmental and climate history, and histories of colonialism and empire.

Debating Pasts, Crafting Histories is the first of two compulsory modules for the MA in History at SOAS. Its aim is to encourage critical thinking about the discipline of history by examining the various themes, approaches, theories and research methods that have shaped and reshaped the field since the mid-twentieth century. The module has a particular focus on Asian, African and Middle Eastern pasts, and on how the modern historiographies of these regions emerged from their encounter with the West in the context of imperial power and its dissolution in the postcolonial era. Beyond the exploration of these shifting and contested historiographical terrains, it seeks too to develop key skills in research, source analysis and in the crafting of historical writing.

This course is designed to develop students’ understanding of key moments in modern Japanese history from the collapse of the Tokugawa hegemony (the 1850s) to the end of World War II (1945) in regional and global context. The module examines social and political epochs such as the rise of the Meiji government, the social and political contexts of modernisation, the process of nation-building, the establishment of an overseas empire and the rise of militarism, and the Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars.

This module examines Korea’s emergence as a modern nation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and subsequent development as two separate states after division in 1945. We will look in detail at the key historical themes and events that have shaped 20th century Korean culture and society.

This module focuses on Choson (1392-1910), the last dynasty of traditional Korea, and covers in depth aspects of society and culture that are of crucial importance for our understanding of not only traditional Korea but also developments on the Korean peninsula in the 20th and 21st centuries.It situates Korean culture and society in the context of the larger East Asian region and highlights aspects of traditional culture that are frequently discussed issues in contemporary South Korea, such as gender norms, environmental notions, and the importance of education.

This module approaches Zionism analytically, and examines its changing meaning and praxis. We look at a wide selection of sources and secondary literature, by sympathisers, opponents and critics of Zionism. The class will look at the main debates regarding the Zionist movement, both historically and current.

This module provides a historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict, from late Ottoman Palestine, through the 1948 war and the establishment of Israel, to the Oslo accords. The module interrogates the historical dynamic in Palestine/Israel and its contestations through social and cultural history.

The course focuses on the transition from empire to republic, examining the key turning points and assessing the relevance of the events of the 1908-1945 period for understanding Modern Turkey.

In this module we will examine the major contemporary historical eras, and transformative developments in Iran's history, including the constitutional revolution and the 1979 revolution and social changes since the late 19th century. We will also analyse the political structures and institutions in Iran, exploring the evolution of its governance systems and the social dynamics of power within the country.

This module offers historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives on the nature and causes of conflict and its impact of on social and economic development in Africa, Asia and the Middle East over the past century, as well as memory and justice responses to violence. It emphasises the crucial linkages of conflict, memory and justice, in particular the prevalence of unaddressed or manipulated memories of violence, historical grievance and impunity as causes of further conflict.

This module is concerned with South Africa's tumultuous twentieth-century history. It commences with the reconstruction of the South African state following the end of the South African War (1899-1902), and examines the respective origins and consequences of formal segregation (1910s - 1930s) and apartheid (1940s - 1980s). It is especially concerned with the ways in which ordinary Africans negotiated daily life within the strictures of these forms of state repression. A significant part of the module is concerned with the emergence of African nationalism, resistance to apartheid, and the collapse of the apartheid state at the end of the twentieth century, a conflict that engulfed all of southern Africa.

This module addresses the historical emergence of the ‘Chinese nation’. It focuses on socio-cultural identity as well as the ideological frameworks which were employed by different political regimes to promote the concept of China as a modern nation state. It begins with an analysis of the changing relationship between the Han majority, the ruling Manchu elite and the other major ethnic groups forming the Qing empire (1644-1911). It subsequently examines the panoply of new intellectual currents at the turn of the twentieth century, and political responses to the volatile situation following the transition to the Republic of China. The module analyses the tension between socialist internationalism, modern nationalism and traditional Chinese values, while focusing on differing interpretations of ‘Chinese tradition’ during the early People’s Republic.

This module explores the interrelationship of gender and empire in China's early modern history. The term 'early modern' is an undefined concept in Chinese history, but our focus will be on the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, straddling the transition from the Ming to Qing dynasties. This period saw significant territorial expansion by the Chinese state, a process we study through the lens of gender. This includes aspects such as the political appropriation of social customs by the state (the cult of chastity being a prime example), the social world of the patriarchal family, and the cultural realm of courtesans and male scholars. Linked to these areas of enquiry are questions about homoeroticism, non-normative gender expressions, transactions in people, and changing views on female suicide. Key themes we explore relate to how these different gendered experiences were intertwined with the history of state building and imperial expansion.

What makes a person worthy or unworthy of freedom? Who is entitled to justice? What do we mean by equality? Although understood and dealt with differently in different contexts, these questions have constituted, as they still do today, the central concerns and dilemmas in all past societies. Starting with different formulations of a ‘just society’ across time and space, this module explores historical contexts in which these magic yet elusive ideas took on new meanings and significance. Organized thematically, weekly reading assignments and discussions address such topics as revolution, emancipation, forms of free and unfree labour, decolonization, and gendered aspects of rights and obligations.

This module studies the historical foundations of colonialism in the Middle East. It does not begin with a preconceived conception of the ‘colonial’ but examines a series of spatial and temporal transformations through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the region. It explores the conceptual distinctions that emerged between the ‘economic’, the ‘religious’ and the ‘political’ to ask a series of questions: Where do we locate the ‘colonial’? At what moments does it come to be elaborated? Is it merely a result of ‘physical’ occupation by European powers, or could it have begun in another set of relations? Could the Ottoman empire be seen to become ‘colonial’ as the nineteenth century progressed? Each week, the module examines one of the central categories of political and economic history, unpacking the processes by which they have emerged, transformed, or come to be reconfigured.

This module puts into conversation conflicting approaches to the question of race and slavery in the Middle East, while situating these discussions within more long-standing debates around ‘Islamic’ or ‘Arab’ slavery within the field of African history. It asks not only how forms of enslavement have changed over time, but also how the easy binaries of African versus Arab/Muslim have come to be historically produced, with a complex relationship to the question of enslavement. The module nuances understandings of racial formation and its interconnections with changing political economies in the region in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

As a compulsory module in our MA programme, Reconfiguring Global History is designed to foster conversations about the way we understand the past, present and future of the planet, across disciplinary and departmental borders. It introduces students to ongoing debates and encourages their participation in these discussions. It is meant to provide a collegial and stimulating environment for students to develop their own ideas and projects. Readings will explore current themes and debates on areas such as gender, sexuality and the body, urban history, history of emotion, racial capitalism, oceanic history, environmental and climate history, and histories of colonialism and empire.

This module addresses central themes in the postcolonial histories of South Asian societies. It aims to historicise pressing political, social and cultural issues in the region that shape the lives of ordinary people today. The module explores themes across South Asia, including the diaspora, and thus challenges the ways that national and regional boundaries have commonly shaped approaches to these histories. It addresses India and Pakistan’s ‘long’ Partition; ethnicity, language and region; labour migration and the diaspora; the creation of Bangladesh and the Indian Emergency; the rise of middling castes and classes; urbanisation; gender and community; caste, secularism and people’s movements. The module provides a fresh, innovative approach to thinking about the field as well as the critical tools for students to understand South Asian history in the present. It pays particular attention to cultural and social history and will be of interest to students from all disciplinary backgrounds.

This module examines how public historians engage with diverse audiences in Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the digital era. It studies how history is produced and consumed in public spaces such as museums, through debates over monuments, the internet, documentary films and other media. It also explores the ways in which public history shapes society and the ethical issues involved. Students study the historiography and theoretical scholarship, as well as the sources, materials, media and methodologies used in public history projects to share and communicate history to popular audiences. Students will develop some of the key skills of public historians, especially in regards to communication and collaboration through the production of a mini digital public history project based on their research undertaken during the term.