An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.

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.

Register for the course

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.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the Module Regulations and the Student Regulations which are available on our Essential documents website.

If you have a disability

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.

Study materials

What's included

Course website, study guide, course reader.

Computing requirements

You will need a computer with internet access to study this course as it includes online activities, which you can access using a web browser.

• If you have purchased a new desktop or laptop computer since 2007 you should have no problems completing the online activities.
• If you’ve got a netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device check our Technical requirements section.
• If you use an Apple Mac you will need OS X 10.6 or later.

You can also visit the Technical requirements section for further computing information including the details of the support we provide.

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.

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in April 2013, when it will be available for the last time.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• The arts past and present (AA100)
• Exploring history: medieval to modern 1400-1900 (A200)
• Making sense of the arts (Y180)
• Empire: 1492-1975 (A326)
• World archaeology (A251)

How to register

We regret that we are currently unable to accept registrations for this course. Where the course is to be presented again in the future, relevant registration information will be displayed on this page as soon as it becomes available.

Student Reviews

Distance learning

The Open University is the world’s leading provider of flexible, high quality distance learning. Unlike other universities we are not campus based. You will study in a flexible way that works for you whether you’re at home, at work or on the move. As an OU student you’ll be supported throughout your studies – your tutor or study adviser will guide and advise you, offer detailed feedback on your assignments, and help with any study issues. Tuition might be in face-to-face groups, via online tutorials, or by phone.

For more information read Distance learning explained.

Course satisfaction survey

See the satisfaction survey results for this course.

Your questions

Try our frequently asked questions.

Come and meet us at an event near you.

Or contact an adviser by Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90 +44(0) 845 366 60 35

Employers' questions

Contact Corporate Enquiries
Visit our website for employers or Email us

Get a prospectus