Global History: Empires, States and Cultures (MA)

Taught by experts in African, Asian, Atlantic, European and Middle Eastern histories, societies and cultures, our MA Global History: Empires, States and Cultures will expand and deepen your understanding of world history through the exploration of global perspectives and interconnections across geographical and national boundaries. The course will introduce you to a wide range of themes in global history, including empires, nations, decolonisation, migration and diaspora, economies and commerce, environmental history and the transnational history of ideas. You will be encouraged to think expansively about connections between different approaches to global history and to undertake specialised research into particular regions of the world, such as South and East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the USA.

The compulsory module explores specific topics and challenges in writing global history. You then choose three option modules from a wide variety offered by the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology and other departments at Birkbeck, opting, if you wish, to take a focused pathway through the degree by specialising in the history of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, or the imperial and postcolonial periods.

Throughout the degree, you will be encouraged to develop both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding the historical development of globalisation, as well as learning research methods and accessing primary sources that will enable you to specialise in a topic of your choosing and write a dissertation.

The course offers you training to continue on to PhD research, if you wish, but it will also equip you with specialist knowledge and transferable skills for a wide range of careers, including policy research, media, NGOs and public history.

CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY

Graduates can pursue careers in research and archiving, education, the heritage industry, publication and the media, the charity sector, and journalism. Possible professions include historian, higher education lecturer, or archivist. This degree provides a range of transferable skills, which may be useful in becoming a journalist, heritage manager, politician’s assistant, academic librarian, or museum/gallery curator.

We offer a comprehensive Careers Service to help you advance your career, while our in-house, professional recruitment consultancy, Birkbeck Talent, works with London’s top employers to help you gain work experience that fits in with your evening studies.

A second-class honours degree (2:2) or above and references. We offer a one-year Graduate Certificate in History, which can be used as a conversion course if you want to study history at postgraduate level, but have a degree in a significantly different discipline. Applications are reviewed on their individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners. On your application form, please list all your relevant qualifications and experience, including those you expect to achieve.