Small country, big history: themes in the history of Wales
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How does a country without political independence gain an identity? What is the role of history and historians in shaping national memory and identity? What sources have historians used, and how should we scrutinise them? This short, 15-credit course introduces you to themes and methods used in understanding Welsh history. Using case studies ranging from the impact of Tom Jones and the Welsh rugby team in the twentieth century, to castle building under Edward I, this course will develop your understanding of Welsh history, the craft of the historian, and some of the ways in which national identities are formed. This is a 15-week online course.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | A182 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 1 |
| SCQF level | 7 |
| FHEQ level | 4 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) |
| No examination |
| No residential school |
Register for the course
This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.
What you will study
The course is divided into four parts, an introduction followed by three blocks, each devoted to a different theme. In each part you will encounter case studies; these case studies are contained in a Reader, a collection of essays and writings about Wales dating from the thirteenth century to the late twentieth century. The format is identical for each case study. A brief introduction provides some context for the topic; this is followed by an essay written by an eminent historian of Wales, to which is appended a collection of sources that provided the raw materials for the historian’s essay.
Mythology and tradition, the case study used for the introductory block, deals with the way that the history of Wales was written and understood in the eighteenth century. It covers the fundamentals of historical sources and the challenges that modern historians have to face when using them. The remaining case studies are grouped into three thematic blocks: Culture, Society and Nationhood.
There are many themes that could have provided us with a focus for the course – and it is important to emphasise that each case study is relevant to more themes than the one under which it is placed. But in a course such as this, we need to be reminded that the work of historians makes a contribution to themes of broad and enduring significance. ‘Enduring’, because some themes seem to be a permanent preoccupation: one need only glance at newspapers to see how frequently words such as ‘culture’, ’society’ and ‘nationhood’ are at the heart of a range of contemporary debates and concerns.
Culture, the first of our themes, can be understood in many ways. One meaning suggests the highest intellectual and artistic products of a society, but this is not the meaning we are using. Here, culture should be taken to mean the values and preoccupations that are commonly understood and shared by large sectors of the people. The first case study, Popular culture, provides a good illustration of this meaning by examining the importance of sport, music and other leisure activities in bringing people together to create common opinions and dialogues. The theme is then applied to the way that a shared set of values and sentiments led to apparently spontaneous popular uprisings in the nineteenth century. The final case study in this block, Religion and belief, looks at the way that religious belief provided a common element in the culture of Wales in the sixteenth century.
Society provides the second theme. Here, two case studies reveal very different aspects of how Welsh society was shaped. The move from the land examines the great population shift that saw the movement of a large proportion of the people of Wales from a rural, agricultural society to one based increasingly on heavy industry. This topic contrasts sharply, but with no less relevance, with an examination of the place of women in Welsh society between the two World Wars, in Women between the wars.
Nationhood, the final theme, addresses the way that expressions of Welsh identity might be explored by looking at two contrasting periods and perspectives: the conquest (some have called it a colonisation) of Wales by the English King Edward I in the thirteenth century, and how far it stimulated a sense of shared identity among native Welsh people; and the extent to which the Welshness of Wales’ great international statesman, David Lloyd George, was evident in both his actions and his attitudes.
Entry
This is a Level 1 course with no prerequisites. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and musical notation and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.
You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
Course website, study guide, course reader.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance, either through email or the online forum. You will be allocated to a tutor with a group of around 25 people.
If you are new to the OU, you will find that your tutor is particularly concerned to help you with your study methods. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You can choose whether to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) on paper or online through the eTMA system. You may want to use the eTMA system for some of your assignments but submit on paper for others. This is entirely your choice.
Only the two final TMAs are formally assessed.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in April and October 2012 when it will be available for the last time.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | A182 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 1 |
| SCQF level | 7 |
| FHEQ level | 4 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) |
| No examination |
| No residential school |
Study explained
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.
Student Reviews
A great course which introduces some of the basic skills for analysing primary and secondary source materials. This is really ...
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A well-presented course which uses themes in Welsh history to introduce the academic study of history. The pace is relatively ...
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