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MA Cultural Astronomy and Astrology

Cultuaral Astronomy image The MA Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (CAA) is taught distance-learning, on-line, through the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, and is normally completed in two years full-time (one year for the six taught modules, followed by the dissertation) or up to four years part-time. There is no residency requirement. Students work from home. For further information please see frequently asked questions. Scroll down this page for module descriptions.


The MA is awarded for the completion of 180 credits (6 taught modules of 20 credits each, plus dissertation of 60 credits)

Anatomical man image Students completing 60 credits (three modules including one compulsory) may graduate with the Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert).

Students completing 120 credits (two compulsory modules and four optional modules) may graduate with the Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip).

If you wish to study just one or two individual modules, you may enrol as an Occasional Student. Please inquire. If you are a student at another university you may use credit gained at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David towards your existing course of study.

Below you will find descriptions of the MA modules, reading and advice on module choices.

For further information about applications, fees, length of study and the Sophia Centre’s other activities, such as publishing and conferences, visit the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture website.

Please note that in the module descriptions below, books are listed as indications of the material we will be covering. Unless these are required books, they are recommended but you do not need to purcxhase them.

You will take six modules. You take the three optional modules, followed by three optional modules. The optional modules are grouped into Pathways of two modules each in order to allow you to develop a speciality. You will chose one Pathway and one module from another Pathway.

Compulsory modules (20 credits each)

Optional Modules (20 credits each)

Choose one Pathway and one other module

Pathway 1: The Inner Cosmos

Pathway 2: Stars and Stones

Pathway 3: Earth and Sky

Dissertation (60 credits)

MA CAA MODULE SCHEDULE 2010-11

Below is a list of MA CAA modules, and the rules for selection:

1. If you are Full-Time you must choose two modules a term, including the two compulsory modules.

2. If you are part-time you have to take six modules over three years. You can take three modules a year over two years or two a year over three years. Follow this general pattern:

A. If you are a new student in October take the Introduction Module in the Autumn, Research Methods in the Winter (January) and choose an optional module or History in the Summer.

B. If you are a new student in January take the Introduction Module in the Winter (January), choose an optional module or History in the Summer and take Research Methods in the Autumn.

Autumn (September/October)

  • AHAN7002     Introduction to Cultural Astronomy and Astrology  (Compulsory)
  • AHAN7001     Research Methods: Ethnography and Fieldwork (Compulsory)
  • AHAN7005     Sky and Psyche (was called Psychological Perspectives) (Optional) Pathway 1: Inner Cosmos
  • AHAN7006     Sacred Geography (Optional) Pathway 2: Stars and Stones

Winter (January/February)

  • AHAN7002     Introduction to Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (Compulsory)
  • AHAN7001     Research Methods: Ethnography and Fieldwork (Compulsory)
  • AHAN7008     Stellar Religion (Optional) Pathway 3: Earth and Sky
  • AHAN7010     Archaeoastronomy (Optional) Pathway 2: Stars and Stones

Summer (AprilMay)

  • AHAN7003     History of Astrology (Compulsory)
  • AHAN7011     Cosmology, Magic and Divination (Optional) Pathway 1: Inner Cosmos
  •                       Heavenly Discourses (Optional) Pathway 3: Earth and Sky

Introduction to Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (Compulsory)

Module Code AHAN7002

As Michael Hoskin asked, ‘What astronomy is not an astronomy in culture?’ This module gives a grounding in theoretical and practical methodologies of research in relevant aspects of the subject area. After an initial discussion of the nature of astrology, astronomy and astrology, and of the meaning of ‘culture’, we consider various philosophical frameworks. The systems of thought proposed by Plato in the fourth century BCE provide a foundation for the entire western esoteric tradition, as well as for western astronomy and cosmology up to the seventeenth century, and provide a basis for much of the material studied in the MA. We introduce postmodern philosophy, which is believed by many commentators to provide a framework for astrology’s contemporary popularity, and Max Weber’s theory of enchantment, which is used to explain the appeal of myth, magic and divination; what is myth, and what s the nature of divination?

Required books will include Nicholas Campion, A History of Western Astrology, 2 VolsLondon: Continuum, 2009; Roy Willis and Patrick Curry, Astrology, Science and Culture: Pulling Down the Moon (Oxford: Berg, 2004).

Other books include Terry Eagleton, The Idea of Culture (Oxford: Blackwell 2000), Stanley Tambiah, Magic, Science, Religion and the Scope of Rationality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), Steven Best and Douglas Kellner, Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations (London: MacMillan 1991), Martin Rees, Before the Beginning (London: The Free Press, 2002), Carmen Blacker and Michael Loewe, Oracles and Divination, Boulder: Shambhala 1981.

Research Methods: Ethnography and Fieldwork (Compulsory)

Module Code AHAN7001      

This module will allow students to develop their own perspective on the nature, role and function of ideas, stories and beliefs about the sky, and practices derived from such beliefs, as conveyed in astrology, astronomy and cosmology, by studying a contemporary aspect of the field. The module will focus on the contemporary nature of ethnoastronomy - or ethnoastrology – the modern culture of the sky. The module will introduce methodologies of qualitative research, chiefly interview and/or questionnaire. Students will experiment with the acquisition and interpretation of data, compiling their own reference material and gaining insights into how primary documentary source material is produced. Approaches such as participant observation will also be introduced, as well as perspectives such as phenomenology, raising the problem of the role of the researcher. The notion of autoethnography will be introduced and Issues raised will include the debate between quantitative and qualitative methodologies and the need to develop reflexive skills, understanding one’s own position, and the insider-outsider debate.

Books will include Nicholas Campion, Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement (Abingdon: Ashgate, 2012), Alan Bryman, Alan, Quantity and Quality in Social Research (London: Routledge, 2001), William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences (London: Sage 1998), Davies, C. Reflexive Ethnography: a Guide to Researching Our Selves and Others (London: Routledge, 1999), Greenwood, Susan, Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology (Oxford: Berg, 2000), McCutcheon, R., The Insider/Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion: A Reader (London: Cassell, 1999).

History of Astrology (Compulsory)

Module Code AHAN7003

This module examines the history of western astrology from its origin in Mesopotamia through its transmission to Greece, Egypt and classical Rome and its revival in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There will be a focus both on astrology's 'internal' development, that is, the evolution of its symbolism and technique and the information these developments indicate concerning views of time and the cosmos, and its 'external' development, that is, its relationship to technological, social, religious and political events. Particular attention will be paid to the religious and philosophical context, including the survival of classical learning and pagan imagery in medieval and Renaissance Europe, the challenge of the Enlightenment to the medieval world view and questions of modernism, post-modernism and secularism in the twentieth century.

Required Books: Nicholas Campion, A History of Western Astrology, Vol 1, The Ancient World (London: Continuum 2008), Vol 2 (The Medieval and Modern Worlds, London: Continuum 2009) (NB Vol 1 was originally published as The Dawn of Astrology, London: Continuum, 2008); Nicholas Campion, Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions, New York: New York University Press (pub. May 2012.

Recommended Books: Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology (Boydell 1987); Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (Penguin 1973), Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, (8 Vols., New York: Columbia University Press, 1923 – 58) and Richard Evans, In Defence of History (London: Granta Books 1997).

PATHWAY 1: THE INNER COSMOS

Sky and Psyche (Optional)

Module Code AHAN7005      

C. G. Jung stated that 'astrology represents the sum of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity'. But was he right? This module will examine the relationship between astrology and psychology in its broadest sense: an interiorising of the cosmos and its powers as dimensions of the human psyche. We will consider so-called 'protopsychology' (ancient concepts of temperaments, elements and humours, and the planetary spheres as a seven-staged inner journey); Hellenistic, Jewish and Gnostic astrological systems as inner stages of development; ancient and Renaissance astral theurgy as self-transformation and an antidote to astral determinism; medieval interiorised models of sins and virtues; Alan Leo’s character analysis; Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic models; the humanistic psychology movement and its influence on Dane Rudhyar; and modern personality theories, including recent developments in cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Particular attention will be paid to C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, including his work on psychological types and functions, archetypes, the collective unconscious, and synchronicity ­ all of which were both influenced by and, in turn, greatly influenced astrology. We shall then turn to psychological theories and psychotherapies following in Jung's wake, including Hillman's archetypal psychology and the transpersonal psychology of Assagioli and Maslow. We shall look at the phenomenon of modern psychological astrology in its various forms, as well as the use of astrology to provide mappings of character and support forms of psychological analysis and counselling.

Required Book: C. G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, CW9i (London: Routledge, 1959).

Recommended Books: Jung, C. G., Psychological Types (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1971), Jensine Andresen, Religion in Mind: Cognitive Perspectives on Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum, Temperament: Astrology's Forgotten Key (Bournemouth: Wessex, 2005),  Ioan P. Couliano, Out of This World (Boston: Shambhala 1991), James Hillman, The Soul's Code (New York: Bantam, 1998), Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being (Princeton: Van Norstrand 1967), Roderick Main, Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal (London: Routledge 1997), Thomas Leahey, A History of Psychology: Main Currents in Psychological Thought (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1987).

Cosmology, Magic and Divination (Optional)

In the ancient world divination was the means by which a dialogue was opened with divinity which did not require prayer or worship. Magic was a means by which individuals could then engage in a conversation with the world through ritual, the manipulation of symbols and the use of invocations. This module examines a major feature of Classical and Hellenistic culture, the use of divination and oracles, and places them in the context of cosmological theories (chiefly Platonic and Hermetic) which emphasised individual interaction with stars and divinities. Particular attention will be paid to the use of magic, the development of astrology and the emergence of notions of individual salvation. The subject matter will include primary texts and scholarly commentary relating to pre-Hellenistic, Near Eastern divination, which provided a context for Greek practice, and, where appropriate, post-Classical legacies, for example, in the Islamic world. Suitable attention will be paid to such questions as definitions of magic and divination, as well as the nature of specific practices. The course will consider discussions concerning the essential nature of magic and divination as well as social and political contexts and historical development.

Required Books:

Hans Dieter Betz, Greek magical papyri in translation, including the Demotic spells, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1992; Campion, Nicholas, A History of Western Astrology, Vol. 1, The Ancient and Classical Worlds, London: Continuum, 2008l; Ogden, D., Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002;

Recommended Books:

Cicero, De Divinatione (On Divination), trans. W.A.Falconer, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press, London, 1929; Iamblichus, De Mysteriis (On the Mysteries), trans. Thomas Taylor.  London: Reeves and sons, 1895; Plato, Timaeus, trs: R.G. Bury (1929), Loeb, London and Cambridge, MA: Heinemann and Harvard University Press; Plotinus, Enneads, ed. and trs: A.H. Armstrong (1966-88), 7 vols. Loeb, Cambridge, MA and London: Heinemann and Harvard University Press; Plutarch, The E at Delphi; The Oracles at Delphi no longer given in verse; The Obsolescence of Oracles; Isis and Osiris, in Plutarch’s Moralia, Volume 5, trans. F.C. Blacker, Carmen and Michael Loewe, Oracles and Divination, Boulder: Shambhala, 1981; Burkert, Walter, Ancient Mystery Cults, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press 1987; Graf, F., Magic in the Ancient World, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997; Ogden, D., Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2002; Jacq, C., Egyptian Magic, Warminster: Aris and Philips, 1985; Lloyd, G.E.R., Magic, Reason and Experience: Studies in the origins and Development of Greek Science, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

PATHWAY 2: STARS AND STONES

Sacred Geography (Optional)

Module Code AHAN7006      

The identification of landscape as sacred, or the construction of buildings endowed with religious or cosmic symbolism or power is a feature of human attempts to live in harmony with the universe. This module will examine the notion that the numinous power of the heavens is made manifest in the physical environment, interpreted in a broad sense to include sacred geography, space, topography, landscapes and religious cosmologies. The theme implies consideration of features such as the history, character, architecture and design of particular sacred sites and the contested designation of sites and spaces as sacred, tabooed or reserved. The mythical, doctrinal, social and ritual dimensions of sacred geography will be considered and attention paid to the ambiguous character of sacred spaces and sites as loci of both inclusion and exclusion, and hence the role played by sacred space in the development and demarcation of socio-religious identities in global, national and local contexts. We will draw on the work of major theorists in the field, such as Mircea Eliade, Ernst Cassirer and Christopher Tilley, and allowing room for personal fieldwork.

Books will include Barbara Bender, Landscape: Politics and Perspectives, (Oxford: Berg, 1993), Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1959), James A. Swan, The Power of Place: Sacred Ground in Natural and Human Environments (Bath: Gateway, 1993), Christopher Tilley, A Phenomenology of Landscape (Oxford: Berg 1994), Bob Trubshaw, Sacred Places: Prehistory and Popular Imagination (Wymeswold: Heart of Albion Press 2005).

Archaeoastronomy (Optional)
Archaeoastronomy is the study of astronomy in material culture. Usually it deals with the incorporation of celestial orientation, alignments or symbolism in human monuments and architecture. This module investigates the development of the discipline and its technical procedures. It will examine astronomical claims and theories from the early seventeenth century and from the early surveys of Stonehenge by Inigo Jones, John Aubrey and William Stukeley, through the ideas of Alexander Thom and Gerald Hawkins in the late twentieth century, to the present day. The module examine current archaeoastronomical research in areas such as Machu Picchu (Peru), Nabta Playa (Egypt), Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde (USA) and India The module will raise such questions as the evaluation of evidence, the difference between astronomical and archaeological methodologies, and the value of cultural and ethnographic evidence. For their final essay students should have a choice of a literary project, for example, examining the controversies concerning the nature of archaeastronomical claims, analysing and evaluating a modern research project in archaeoastronomy, or conducting fieldwork and writing a report on a particular site.

Required Books
Aveni, Anthony (ed), Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy, Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2008; Malville, J.McKim, Guide to  Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest, Boulder: Johnson Books, 2008; Ruggles, Clive, Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999.

Recommended Books
Aveni, Anthony, Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, University of Texas Press, 2001; Blomberg, Mary, Peter E. Blomberg and GöranHenriksson, Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture, Proceedings of the 9th annual meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC), The Old Observatory, Stockholm, 27-30 August 2001, Stockholm: Uppsala Astronomical Observatory Report no 59, 2003; Cunliffe, Barry and Colin Renfrew (eds.) Science and Stonehenge, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997; Heggie, D.C. (ed.) Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1982; MacKie, Euan, Science and Society in Prehistoric Britain, London, Paul and Elek, 1977; Ruggles, Clive and Nicholas Saunders, Astronomies and Cultures, Niwot, Colorado: University Press of Colorado 1993; Fountain, John W., and Rolf M. Sinclair (eds.), Current Studies in Archaeoastronomy: Conversations Across Time and Space, Durham NC; Carolina Academic Press, 2005.Tostwick, Todd and Bryan Bates, Viewing the Sky through Past and Present Cultures, Pueblo Grande Museum, 2006

PATHWAY 3: EARTH AND SKY

Stellar Religion (Optional)

Module Code AHAN7008      

Religion has always been linked to the sky, whether through the worship of the sun, notions of the soul's salvation in the stars or heaven’s location above the stars. The starry sky reveals the glory of God and Christian prophets scoured the sky for signs of the End. In India today astrology is one of the pillars of Hindu religion. This module explores the role and impact of Stellar Religion in both history and the contemporary world. It considers some of the ways in which sidereal aspects of religion are expressed today in the light of current debates about the identity and construction of religion in contemporary discourse. The module will include themes such as the relationship between the soul and the stars, the regulation of religious life according to sacred calendars; religious cosmologies, and modern mystical cosmologies. Seminars will examine such topics as ancient Egyptian astral religion, Gnostic cosmology, theosophy, UFO religions and the relationship between Christianity and astrology.

Required Books: Nicholas Campion, Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions, New York: New York University Press, 2012; Nicholas Campion, Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement (Abingdon: Ashgate, 2012).

Recommended Books: W. Braun W and R. McCutcheon (eds) Guide to the Study of Religion (London: Cassell, 1999), Nicholas Campion, The Dawn of Astrology: A Cultural History of Western Astrology, Vol. 1 (London: Continuum 2008), James Thrower, Religion: The Classical Theories (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999), Plato, Timaeus,  trans. R.G.Bury (Cambridge Mass., London: Harvard University Press 1931), Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity (2nd ed., Boston: Beacon Press 1963), Alan Scott, Origen and the Life of the Stars; A History of an Idea (Oxford University Press), 1994); Wouter Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture (Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill 1996), Michael York, The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-pagan Movements (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1995).

Heavenly Discourses (Optional)

The sky – the celestial canopy – is always above us. We look up to the sky to seek divine guidance and we shelter from it when it threatens us. As such, in almost every human culture the sky and the movements of the heavenly bodies function as a context for human, mythic and mystical encounters. The movements of the heavenly bodies shape our experience and give form to our thoughts and aspirations. This module explores the ongoing human engagement with the sky, its cultural implications and the way it was, and is still, witnessed and described through the use of zodiacs, astrolabes, maps, poetry, and the visual arts. We will look at myths, literature, architecture, stained glass, and paintings, and students will be expected to observe the skies at dawn, dusk, and mid-evening, the cycles of the moon, and the rising and setting of stars. Students will be able to keep a reflexive journal of their observations of the sky.  

Recommended Books:

Barrow, John D., The Artful Universe, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995; Bell, David and Martin Parker, Space Travel and Culture: From Apollo to Space Tourism, Oxford: Blackwell, 2009; Cosgrove, Denis, Apollo's Eye: A Cartographic Genealogy of the Earth in the Western Imagination, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press 2001; Davidson, Norman. Astronomy and the Imagination. London, Boston, Melbourne; Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985; Edson, Evelyn and E. Savage-Smith, Medieval Views of the Cosmos: Picturing the Universe in the Christian and Islamic Middle Ages, Oxford: Bodleian Library 2004; Jacob, Christian. "Towards a Cultural History of Cartography." Imago Mundi 48 (1996): 191- 198; Krupp, E.C., ‘Sky Tales And Why We Tell Them’, in Helaine Selin (ed.), Astronomy Across Cultures: the History of Non-Western Astronomy, (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 1-30; Walker, Christopher, ed. Astronomy before the Telescope. London: British Museum Press, 1996; Cashford, Jules. The Moon: Myth and Image. London: Cassell Illustrated, 2003; Chamberlain, Von Del  When Stars Came Down to Earth : Cosmology of the Skidi Pawnee Indians of North America, Ballena Press Anthropological Papers ; No. 26; Los Altos, CA: Ballena Press, 1982; Cressy, David."Early Modern Space Travel and the English Man in the Moon."The American Historical Review 111, no. 4 (2006): 961-982.

Dissertation

Module Code AHAH7001

Having completed the taught modules, writing a 20,000 word dissertation provides a chance for the student to pursue independent research within the subject area and make a contribution to scholarship. We encourage students to take on a subject which particularly interests them, and which builds on the skills and experience they have acquired in the taught modules.

Programme Specification

Educational Aims

  1. Provide students with a learning experience that meets national standards and fosters academic excellence.
  2. Provide students from a variety of backgrounds with a student-centred approach to postgraduate education..
  3. Enable students to develop further their capacity to become autonomous learners, engaging in systematic self-directed research.
  4. Enable students to develop their imaginative and intellectual powers by engaging with complex new ideas, information and theoretical frameworks in a multi-disciplinary context.
  5. Enable students to present their work and communicate ideas effectively in an academic style appropriate to MA study..
  6. Enable students to question assumptions, debate ideas and critically evaluate evidence.
  7. Enable students to develop a sophisticated understanding of their own cultural assumptions.
  8. Enable students to critically explore their understanding of the impact of astronomy, astrology and cosmology on culture, society, politics, religion and the arts.
  9. Encourage students to aspire to formulate original conclusions and propose new hypotheses.
  10. Prepare students as appropriate for their further professional or academic development.

Programme Outcomes

Section 1. General: Core Skills

Successful students on the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology will acquire

  1. A systematic understanding and a critical awareness of issues at the forefront of research into cultural astronomy and astrology and a critical and informed appreciation of the diverse nature of beliefs about the sky, and their cultural function.
  2. A critical knowledge of the key terms, theories and methods within the discipline.
  3. The ability to investigate, examine and reflect upon questions arising from the traditions and practices of cultural astronomy and astrology in the modern world, and reach reasoned, balanced and mature conclusions, allowing a comprehensive understanding of the techniques applicable to the discipline.
  4. A wide range of refined general and particular transferable skills, such as project management, the ability to analyse and synthesise information from a range of sources, including oral and written testimony, primary and secondary sources, and the proposal of new hypotheses.
  5. Independent, critical thinking skills, including the self-reflexive ability to criticise one’s own opinions and attitudes and propose original hypotheses, deal with lacunae and/or contradictions in the knowledge base, and make a confident selection of the appropriate academic tools for the task.
  6. Self-directed learning skills, the ability to exercise initiative and personal responsibility, and to solve problems and make decisions in complex and unpredictable situations.
  7. A range of generic and transferable skills which will contribute to their further academic and career development and, where required, assist in their preparation for further research at doctoral level.

These generic core skills are then reflected in (2) Knowledge and Understanding, (3) Discipline Specific and Intellectual Skills and (4) Key and Transferable Skills.

Section 2: Subject Knowledge and Understanding

In relation to the subject area, successful students will

  1. Develop a sophisticated understanding of the major methodological theories and movements at the forefront of the academic discipline.
  2. Acquire a sophisticated understanding of the relationships between myths and theories about the sky and the arts, politics, religion and society in general.
  3. Recognise complexity and diversity in cultural relationships.
  4. Reach a sophisticated understanding of beliefs about the sky in modern culture.
  5. Develop a complex understanding of beliefs and traditions of practice concerning the sky in the past.
  6. Acquire a sophisticated understanding of beliefs and practices in cultures other than their own.

Section 3: Discipline Specific and Intellectual Skills

In relation to the subject area, successful students will acquire the ability to

  1. Read and analyse historical and contemporary texts, whether in translation or in the original, and place them in a cultural context in relationship to traditions of practice and belief.
  2. Reach solutions to complex problems by recognising bias and cultural preconceptions.
  3. Critically reflect on their own cultural assumptions and biases.
  4. Understand the complex relationship between theory and evidence, critically evaluating primary data within a theoretical framework.
  5. Research appropriate archives and critically evaluate manuscript, on-line and web-based sources.
  6. Develop strategies for dealing with incomplete or contradictory knowledge in the modern world.
  7. Critically engage with problems arising from complexity and uncertainty in the historical record.
  8. Present their work and communicate coherent, evidence-based arguments in an accepted academic format.
  9. Present views other than their own with fairness and integrity and express their own ideological or intellectual position without denigrating others.

Section 4: Key and Transferable Skills

Successful students will acquire and refine the ability to

  1. Manage time efficiently and complete complex tasks.
  2. Communicate ideas effectively in written presentations.
  3. Show self-critical awareness of their own beliefs and attitudes.
  4. Engage with the beliefs and behaviour of others with understanding and integrity.
  5. Ask pertinent questions and identify relevant problems.
  6. Use libraries and archives to extract useful information.
  7. Use IT and computer skills to capture data, identify source material and evaluate the provenance of web based material