Winter is Coming: The Middle Ages in the Modern World HISP4118

  • Academic Session: 2023-24
  • School: School of Modern Languages and Cultures
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Runs Throughout Semesters 1 and 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes

Short Description

This course examines the idea of "the Middle Ages" in the modern world (not the historical Middle Ages but its afterlife), incorporating the Hispanic world to the better-known redeployments of "the medieval" elsewhere in the world. Topics may include jousting and other ongoing performative redeployments of medieval times, the Middle Ages in film and television, notions that the world has entered a New Middle Ages or neofeudal age, textual and architectural neomedievalism, and other forms of use and reconstruction of a purportedly medieval heritage.

Timetable

20x1hr sessions over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus.

 

This is one of the honours options in SMLC and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus

Requirements of Entry

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into one of the SMLC Honours programmes or Honours History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Presentation of work-in-progress (15 minutes) - 30%

Research Essay (3000 words) - 70%

Main Assessment In: April/May

Are reassessment opportunities available for all summative assessments? Not applicable for Honours courses

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

Course Aims

This course aims to:

introduce students to the field of Medievalism: the use and redeployment of the idea of "the Middle Ages" in the post-medieval world in a range of cultural areas, including the Hispanic world;

interrogate different approaches to "the medieval" across the geographic areas where it has been deployed, introducing the lesser-known Hispanic examples;

start charting the presence of the medieval in our lived environment.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

describe some of the political, cultural, and social forces shaping the use of "the medieval" in different historical times, including the Hispanic world;

identify forms of neomedievalism in different regions of the world, including the Hispanic world;

produce a well-researched essay on neomedievalism.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.