Education
Historical Childhoods: antiquity to the modern day
Module code: X3253
Level 4
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Seminar
Assessment modes: Project
Exploring the question “is childhood a modern construct?”, this module provides an overview to the history of western childhoods and youth from antiquity through to the modern period, drawing on a range of historiographical debates and perspectives.
You will be supported to conduct your own desk-based research, which evaluates sources, their importance and limitations, and use them to explore this issue in depth. You will curate a small selection of sources and objects exploring a historical theme or concept in the study of childhood e.g. a collection of toys, or depictions of children in adverts over time.
Module learning outcomes
- Demonstrate a developing theoretical knowledge and understanding of scholarship within the field of the history of childhood, from antiquity to the modern day, and the perspectives through which it can viewed including the anthropological, sociological, and psychological.
- Apply theoretical knowledge and understanding of childhood, youth and family from a number of historical and other perspectives, such as the continuity, sentimentality and change schools of thought.
- Critically evaluate sources and interpretations of the history of childhood, based on published works.
- Show a developing confidence in critically evaluating your own and others’ academic writing, through working with others in peer learning and evaluation.