Please note: there may be some adjustments to the teaching arrangements published in the course catalogue for 2020-21. Given current circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic it is anticipated that some usual arrangements for teaching on campus will be modified to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff on campus; further adjustments may also be necessary, or beneficial, during the course of the academic year as national requirements relating to management of the pandemic are revised.

Culture, Politics And Society In The Highland Clearances HIST5006

  • Academic Session: 2022-23
  • School: School of Humanities
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Available to Erasmus Students: No

Short Description

The course takes the Clearances and their aftermath as the spinal connector of its exploration of the process of change in the Scottish Highlands between the failure of the last Jacobite rising in 1746, and the passing of the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act in 1886. There is a particular emphasis upon the ideas and ideologies which were vital in shaping the attitudes and actions of all parties: government, landowners, improvers, clergy, the 'people' and their allies, and public opinion.

Timetable

ten 2-hours seminars

Requirements of Entry

Standard entry to Masters at College level

Excluded Courses

none

Co-requisites

none

Assessment

one essay of c. 3,000 words (70%)

two seminar presentations (10% each)

seminar contribution (10%)

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ examine the Clearances and their aftermath as the spinal connector of its exploration of the process of change in the Scottish Highlands between the failure of the last Jacobite rising in 1746, and the passing of the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act in 1886.

■ focus on ideas and ideologies which were vital in shaping the attitudes and actions of all parties: government, landowners, improvers, clergy, the 'people' and their allies, and public opinion;

■ emphasise the recovery of the voice of the people of the Highlands themselves 

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

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

■ identify the ideologies which shaped the Highland Clearances

■ evaluate the key source materials, literary as well as historical, which relate to the Clearances

■ assess the historiographical debates which surround the contentious issue of the Clearances

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.