MA, 1 year full time/2 years part time
Subject overview
View our media gallery
Sussex is ranked in the top 20 in the UK for history in The Times Good University Guide 2013 and in the top 25 in the UK in The Complete University Guide 2014.
Rated 15th in the UK for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 90 per cent of our research was rated as internationally recognised or higher, with 65 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher, and a quarter rated as world leading.
History is a vibrant, ambitious and highly research-active department with major strengths in modern and contemporary history. Cultural, intellectual, social and economic history are particularly well represented.
History is home to a number of innovative research centres, including the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, the Centre for Intellectual History, the Centre for the History of War and Society, the Centre for World Environmental History, and the Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South.
Sussex students have access to an impressive range of archives including the internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive, which is housed in the University Library.
- Academic activities
-
The History Department runs a weekly work-in-progress seminar throughout the academic year, to which visiting historians, research students and faculty contribute. All postgraduate students are expected to attend as an instrinsic part of their studies. Sussex history research students have in recent years organised successful postgraduate conferences. Our postgraduate students also run the well-established University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, an innovative online journal of creative and interdisciplinary historical research by members of the postgraduate and early postdoctoral community.
History at Sussex has a thriving and animated research culture, with regular seminars, workshops and conferences on interdisciplinary research, and specific modules on research methods and skills.
Postgraduate students play an active role in the vibrant research centres that exist within the History Department and throughout the University. These Centres organise seminars and conferences among other activities and include:
• the Centre for German-Jewish Studies
• the Centre for Intellectual History
• the Centre for the History of War and Society
• the Centre for World Environmental History
• the Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South.
Programme outline
Sussex is a leading centre of historical research in contemporary history. This MA offers a distinctive programme of study that is methodologically innovative and thematically diverse. It provides a firm foundation for advanced research work in an emerging field. Our approach emphasises social, cultural and economic experience, as well as political history. We provide opportunities to study important aspects of the contemporary history of Asia, Africa and North America, as well as to participate in our world-leading work on contemporary Britain. The history of rights, of emotions, of race, consumption and warfare are some of the themes explored in this degree.
The course equips you with the intellectual and subject-specific skills necessary to conceptualise research projects in contemporary history. Through the coursework, you immerse yourself in the literature of the field and learn how to integrate the historical perspective with that of the other social sciences. There is a strong emphasis on the comparative study of different regions and countries.
The MA draws on our expertise in modern British, Middle Eastern, American, Asian and African history. You may follow defined pathways through the degree. Each pathway is linked to one of the interdisciplinary research centres at Sussex:
Assessment
Historical Skills and Methods is assessed by a portfolio consisting of a group submission, an individual essay and a research proposal. Every other module is assessed by a 5,000-word term paper, each paper to be written in the vacation following the end of the module in question. All students write a 20,000-word dissertation, which is submitted towards the end of the summer vacation.
We continue to develop and update our modules for 2014 entry to ensure you have the best student experience.In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.
Most modules are taught in weekly small-group seminars, for which you prepare written work and oral presentations. Lectures, workshops and conferences organised by the History Department give you further access to the latest historical research and debate.
Taught modules provide training in appropriate research techniques, including the development of skills in using concepts and sources likely to play a part in the research project for the dissertation. Teaching is also available, where required, in languages, palaeography, statistics and computing.
You may, on certain degrees and subject to the approval of the course convenor, write any or all of your assessment exercises in a language other than English. Please note that all teaching is in English.
The range of options may vary depending on demand and the availability of faculty.
The options listed below are an example of modules that may be available. You take four modules during the MA.
Autumn term: Historical Skills and Methods • The People’s Century, Britain 1900-2000.
Spring term: you take two from Empire, Science and the Environment • Germany, France and the Making of 20th-Century Europe • Human Rights in History • Race, Religion and Modern America.
Summer term: you work on a supervised dissertation on a topic of your choice, agreed with your supervisor. Part-time students are expected to begin background reading for the dissertation in their first summer term.
Current modules
Please note that these are the core modules and options (subject to availability) for students starting in the academic year 2012.
Empire, Science and the Environment
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
The inter-relationship of Science and Empire has become a major field of historical research, involving such sub-disciplines or fields as as the natural sciences, technology, exploration, and race and ideology. Historians commonly address questions such as the utility of science to the practice and maintenance of empire, the diffusion of knowledge, the mutual influences of the metropole and the `periphery', and the role of umbrella organisations such as commonwealth universities, botanical gardens, the Royal Society, and the British Association.
This module explores these key concerns, tailored to the researching strengths of the course tutor.
Germany, France and the Making of the 20th Century Europe
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
For all of the declarations about the need to write new integrated histories of the continent, modern European history is still predominantly taught and written as distinct and discrete national histories. In this module, by contrast. you will explore modern German and French history in an expressly integrated and comparative framework, addressing the ways in which these long-time historical enemies understood and interacted with each other since the late 19th century. To date, there is surprisingly little effort to consider these histories in relation to one another, and yet how these former antagonists became partners in European project of peace and stability in the second half of the last century is one of the most unlikely outcomes of the Second World War. You will therefore explore the entwined nature of these national histories, with a view to how their rivalry and reconciliation furnished much of the drama of European history over the course of the past one hundred years.
You will begin by studying the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and will assess its massive geopolitical impact for both countries and the reordering of European power, including the Commune in France and the new sense of national identity in Germany. You will then go on to discuss the divergent experiences and attitudes of empire itself, and how the Franco-Prussian war coloured their respective attitudes about overseas expansion. Next, you will study the outbreak, experience and failed settlement of the Great War, and then will take up the interwar dream of internationalism in the wake of man-made mass death, be it in diplomatic rapprochement, cultural exchange and political spectacles such as the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. Additional topics will include the coming of World War II and the traumatic experience of occupation, complicity and the Holocaust; the Cold War project to build a new and 'post-national' (western) Europe from the ruins of Nazism; the upheavals of 1968, with a view to investigating how and why the uprisings in Paris and West Berlin were shaped by their respective 'Vichy Syndromes'; as well as the seismic shift of 1989 and the subsequent remaking of a new Franco-German conception of Europe as a 'civilian power' to counter a brazen American unilateralism.
Historical Skills and Methods
30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This module enables you to design, execute, present and evaluate group research projects in order to develop skills used by practicing historians including archival research, critical analysis and presentation of findings. During the module you will produce a portfolio consisting of a written report on a group research project, an individual research proposal (which may form the basis of your dissertation which is written in the summer), and a short reflective essay.
The People's Century: Britain 1900-2000
30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This module explores the development of Britain across the 20th century. For the last two generations, the study of British History at Sussex has been concerned with the lives and experience of ordinary people, and this course builds upon this longstanding tradition.
Themes may include inequality, emotion, welfare, citizenship, warfare, and popular culture. You will study four themes during the module, depending on which of the four modern British social, economic and cultural historians are teaching.
Religion, Race and the Making of Modern America
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
Religious-inflected debates have played a formative role in the tortuous progress of racial and ethnic relations in the United States since the founding of the American republic. This module will probe the origins and course of those debates, enhancing your awareness of the impact that contested religious ideas about the place of blacks in American society have had on intellectual discourses, political rhetoric, and southern/national identity.
You will focus on three critical moments of debate which elicited significant shifts in the status of ethnic minorities: contests over slavery, religion and the definition of freedom; the Civil War, Reconstruction and the development of racial segregation; and the 20th-century civil rights movement, white resistance to integration and the contested religious meanings of these disparate movements.
Topics for discussion include: abolitionism; the proslavery defence; African American and southern white religious thought in an age of evangelical growth; the religious roots of black emancipationist narratives of the Civil War; the Confederacy as a Christian nation; the development of the Lost Cause as a southern civil religion; and constructions of working-class and racial identity and the contest civil rights movement.
Entry requirements
UK entrance requirements
A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in history or another humanities or social science subject.
Overseas entrance requirements
- Overseas qualifications
-
If your country is not listed below, please contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
Country Overseas qualification Australia Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class upper division Brazil Bacharel, Licenciado or professional title with a final mark of at least 8 Canada Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.3/4.0 (grade B+) China Bachelor degree from a leading university with overall mark of 75%-85% depending on your university Cyprus Bachelor degree or Ptychion with a final mark of at least 7.5 France Licence with mention bien or Maîtrise with final mark of at least 13 Germany Bachelor degree or Magister Artium with a final mark of 2.4 or better Ghana Bachelor degree from a public university with second-class upper division Greece Ptychion from an AEI with a final mark of at least 7.5 Hong Kong Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class upper division India Bachelor degree from a leading institution with overall mark of at least 60% or equivalent Iran Bachelor degree (Licence or Karshenasi) with a final mark of at least 15 Italy Diploma di Laurea with an overall mark of at least 105 Japan Bachelor degree from a leading university with a minumum average of B+ or equivalent Malaysia Bachelor degree with class 2 division 1 Mexico Licenciado with a final mark of at least 8 Nigeria Bachelor degree with second-class upper division or CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 Pakistan Four-year bachelor degree, normally with a GPA of at least 3.3 Russia Magistr or Specialist Diploma with a minimum average mark of at least 4 South Africa Bachelor (Honours) degree or Bachelor degree in Technology with an overall mark of at least 70% Saudi Arabia Bachelor degree with an overall mark of at least 70% or CGPA 3.5/5.0 or equivalent South Korea Bachelor degree from a leading university with CGPA of at least 3.5/4.0 or equivalent Spain Licenciado with a final mark of at least 2/4 Taiwan Bachelor degree with overall mark of 70%-85% depending on your university Thailand Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or equivalent Turkey Lisans Diplomasi with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 depending on your university United Arab Emirates Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 3.5/4.0 or equivalent USA Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.3-3.5/4.0 depending on your university Vietnam Masters degree with CGPA 3.5/4.0 or equivalent If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas qualifications, contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related programmes
Fees and funding
Fees
Home UK/EU students: £5,5001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £5,5002
Overseas students: £13,0003
1
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Chancellor's International Scholarship (2014)
Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 1 May 2014
25 scholarships of a 50% tuition fee waiver
Fulbright-Sussex University Award (2014)
Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 15 October 2013
Each year, one award is offered to a US citizen for the first year of a postgraduate degree in any field at the University of Sussex.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2014)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
Santander Scholarship (2014)
Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 1 May 2014
Two scholarships of £5000 fee waiver for students studying any postgraduate taught course.
USA Friends Scholarships (2014)
Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 3 April 2014
Two scholarships of an amount equivalent to $10,000 are available to nationals or residents of the USA on a one year taught Master's degree course.
Faculty interests
Research interests are briefly described below. For more detailed information, visit the Department of History.
Dr Hester Barron 20th-century British social history, labour history, the history of the working classes.
Professor Stephen Burman International political economy, class and race in the US.
Professor Robert Cook 19th- and 20th-century political and social history, the American Civil War.
Professor Matthew Cragoe Victorian Britain, social history of religion, cultural history of politics.
Dr Vinita Damodaran Modern India, popular protest and nationalism during the final stages of British imperial rule.
Dr Jim Endersby The history of science, the impact of empire on 19th-century Britain and the reception of Darwinism.
Professor Martin Evans French empire and North Africa, decolonisation and post-colonialism, oral history.
Dr Richard Follett 19th-century US history, slavery, emancipation in the Americas: the American South.
Professor Ian Gazeley British history in the 20th century, living standards and poverty, and employment and unemployment.
Professor Robert Iliffe The history of science and the Newton Project.
Dr Hilary Kalmbach Modern Islam, especially Islamic authority, leadership, knowledge and education; reform in the Middle East.
Dr Claire Langhamer 20th-century British history, specialising in gender, life histories and mass observation.
Dr Maurizio Marinelli Modern China, urban history.
Dr Iain McDaniel Intellectual history.
Dr Jacob Norris The Middle East in global perspective, Palestine in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dr Gideon Reuveni Cultural history of the European economy. Director of the Centre for German-Jewish Studies.
Dr Lucy Robinson Contemporary British history: the British left, counter-culture and youth culture.
Dr Darrow Schecter Gramsci, industrial democracy, theories of socialism, civil society.
Dr Eric Schneider Economic history, history of health and living standards, demographic history, the Great Divergence.
Dr Claudia Siebrecht Cultural history of war and violence in 20th-century Germany and Europe.
Dr Chris Warne Modern French history, with particular interests in youth and its representation, and the cultures of everyday life.
Professor Clive Webb Race and ethnic relations in the US and the UK.
Careers and profiles
Many of our graduates have gone on to careers such as teaching and research; others have gone on to further study.
Rose's student perspective
‘The MA in Contemporary History at Sussex appealed to me because it offers a wide range of courses and scope for academic creativity. I was pleasantly surprised to find a real mixture of people of all ages and from all sorts of backgrounds taking the MA, and I found the seminars stimulating and enjoyable.
‘Perhaps the most challenging part of the programme for me was the amount of self-directed study, particularly researching and writing a 20,000-word dissertation. The process of organising my time to do this really helped to develop my self-motivation skills.
‘Towards the end of my MA I decided that I would like to continue academic research and started to apply for postgraduate funding. I was lucky enough to get funding at Sussex and have now started a PhD in History here.’
Rose Holmes
MA in Contemporary History
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
School of History, Art History and Philosophy
The School of History, Art History and Philosophy brings together staff and students from some of the University's most vibrant and successful departments, each of which is a locus of world-leading research and outstanding teaching. Our outlook places a premium on intellectual flexibility and the power of the imagination.
School of History, Art History and Philosophy,
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9QN, UK
T +44 (0)1273 678001
E hahp@sussex.ac.uk
Department of History
Postgraduate Open Day 2013
4 December 2013, 1pm-4pm
Bramber House, University of Sussex
- talk to academic faculty and current postgraduate students
- subject talks and presentations on postgraduate study, research and funding
- choose from our exciting range of taught Masters and research degrees
- find out how postgraduate study can improve your career prospects
- get details of our excellent funding schemes for taught postgraduate study.
To register your interest in attending, visit Postgraduate Open Day.
Can’t make it to our Postgraduate Open Day? You might be interested in attending one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions.
Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions
If you can’t make it to our Postgraduate Open Day, you’re welcome to attend one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions. These are held in the spring and summer terms and enable you to find out more about postgraduate study and the opportunities Sussex has to offer.
Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.
Other ways to visit Sussex
We run weekly guided campus tours every Wednesday afternoon, year round. Book a place online at Visit us and Open Days.
You are also welcome to visit the University independently without any pre-arrangement.