This course will examine the history of modern Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the perspective of its various geographies. These geographies will be interpreted broadly to include both the history of locations -- houses, nations, bodies, streets, cities, department stores, neighbourhoods, gardens, regions, etc. -- and the history of spatial relationships, such as between the city and the country, public and private, north and south, colony and metropole. How have people in different periods perceived space? How have places and the experience of living in them changed over time? In what ways do these perceptions and experiences relate to questions of historical causality, continuity and change? How do historians construct histories attuned to the nuances of geography?
Students will explore these questions and others through an initial set of primary and secondary source readings and through the creation of an original research paper (30-50 pp) based on primary sources. Students will meet both individually with the instructor and as a group to discuss and plan the stages involved in original research (topic, sources, research, drafting, revision). Students are encouraged to contact the instructor prior to the start of term to discuss possible topics and sources.