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Module Catalogue

HI2B1-15 America in Black and White? Contemporary US Race and Racism in Historical Context

Department
History
Level
Undergraduate Level 2
Module leader
Lydia Plath
Credit value
15
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

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Introductory description

This module aims to equip students with the ability to make use of the past to understand the present through a study of African American history, culture, and politics. Students on this module will take contemporary racial issues, such as mass incarceration or the Black Lives Matter movement, and trace their historical antecedents through both primary and secondary sources. In doing so, students will examine how race in the United States has been, and continues to be, socially constructed. The module will include some discussion of whites, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asian Americans (as well as other groups), but it will prioritise the voices of African Americans in its use of source material.

Module web page

Module aims

The module will encourage students to consider the role of historians and other scholars in contemporary racial activism, and will allow students to articulate their findings in a range of ways, including through class participation, social media and podcasting, in order to develop their transferable skills.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Negotiated curriculum decided by students in the first week of the module. Topics will vary based on recent developments and contemporary events. Past topics have included:

  • The Role of Historians in American Public Life
  • Obama’s Legacy, Black Politics, and Voting Rights
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Mass Incarceration
  • Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement
  • Whiteness and White Privilege
  • Confederate Monuments
  • Immigration
  • “Celebrity Activism”

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the key themes and issues in US race relations in the present, and to evaluate them in historical context.
  • Communicate ideas and findings about US race relations in historical context, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
  • Generate ideas through the analysis of a body of primary source material, including online sources.
  • Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing interdisciplinary scholarship on US race relations.
  • Act with limited supervision and accept responsibility to interact effectively within a team, giving and receiving information and ideas.

Indicative reading list

Generic Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module can be found on

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.

Study time

Type Required
Seminars 9 sessions of 2 hours (12%)
Tutorials 4 sessions of 1 hour (3%)
Private study 128 hours (85%)
Total 150 hours

Private study description

History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A4
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Seminar contribution 10% No
Reassessment component
1000 word reflective essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution Yes (extension)
Assessment component
1500 word group project 50% No
Reassessment component
1500 word project Yes (extension)
Assessment component
2000 word blog posts 40% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Written feedback via online system and tutorials

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
  • Year 2 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology