MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORYFIRST ARTS FIRST SEMESTER (2019-20)

HY 131 THE PRACTICE OF HISTORY

Lecturing TeamDr Alison Fitzgerald; Prof Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses; Dr Lili Zách

Module codeHY 131

Credits7.5

Lecture hours per weekThree

Module content

HY 131 The Practice of History is designed to introduce you to various ways of approaching History as an academic subject. It alerts you to the fact that historians find very different aspects of the past interesting and study that same past in many different ways – without sacrificing, however, their common concern for academic standards. It is also designed to show you the enormous range of sources that historians have at their disposal to bring the past to life.

The module is divided into three different strands, all which are taught and assessed independently, although they share a common theme: the manufacturing and undermining of political legitimacy.

In HY 131, Dr Fitzgerald’s strand, History and its Images: Art as Historical Evidence, considers how physical artworks were and are used to manufacture identities, disseminate propaganda, destroy reputations and eulogise or discredit political regimes. Prof. Ribeiro de Meneses’ strand, entitled Fascist Lives: Biography, Autobiography, Hagiography, examines how Mussolini, Hitler and Franco used autobiographical writings to create an image of themselves, and how this image was then replicated in their respective regime’s propaganda machine – and, sometimes, by unwary professional historians. Finally, Dr Zách’s strand, The Politics of Humour in the Twentieth Century, explores how humour and laughter functioned as a means of dissent and a political weapon in Ireland and Europe over the course of the past century.

Schedule of classes

Three classes per week: Tuesdays @ 12 noon; Thursdays @ 1 pm; Fridays @2 pm.

Assessment

Each strand of the module is assessed differently. The Politics of Humour in the Twentieth Century will be assessed by a 2,000-word essay due on the 9th week of term (35% of the mark). Fascist Lives: Biography, Autobiography, Hagiography will be assessed by an in-class test held on the 11th week of the term (30% of the mark); and History and its Images: Art as Historical Evidence will be assessed by a one-hour exam in January.