Global History: Empires, States and Cultures MA

This MA Global History: Empires, States and Cultures will expand and deepen your understanding of world history as you explore diverse interconnections across geographical and national boundaries.

Why choose this course?

* Taught by experts in African, Asian, Atlantic, European and Middle Eastern histories, societies and cultures, this course offers you the opportunity to examine theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of global interactions across history.

* You will be able to explore fascinating themes such as empires and imperialism; nations and nationalisms; decolonisation, migrations and diasporas; environmental history; the transnational history of ideas.

* The course offers you valuable preparation for a range of academic and non-academic careers by providing you with training in research methods and the use of primary sources, while also nurturing your own specialised research interests.

What will I learn?

You will study a compulsory module that explores specific topics in global history and highlights the advantages as well as the challenges of this approach.

Following your interests, you will then be able to choose from option modules that cover a wide variety of subject areas. These include history, classics and archaeology and allow you to specialise in the history of particular regions or time periods and deepen your knowledge further by original research for your dissertation.

How will I learn?

This course is available to study full- or part-time and follows an evening timetable. It is taught via a combination of lectures and seminars, with a strong emphasis on your analysis and discussion of pre-assigned readings.

This course is part of our Birkbeck Flexible Master’s UK, which gives you the choice of how you want to study - on campus, online or via flexible learning, which combines both.

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK, you will only be able to apply for the on-campus study option for this course. Online and flexible options will not be available to you because they may affect the conditions of your visa.

Please note, courses starting in January are not part of the Flexible Master's UK and will take place on campus.

Highlights

* Birkbeck was ranked in the top eight universities in the UK for its History research in the most recent 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

* Our research is unique in its range across geographical and chronological boundaries. We are the only university in London to include historians, classicists and archaeologists in the same team of academics investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. We see the study of the past as crucial for our understanding of present-day society, culture and politics.

* MA students are eligible to apply for our prestigious Eric Hobsbawm Scholarships, subject to availability. One of the most influential historians of the twentieth century, Eric Hobsbawm taught at Birkbeck for over five decades and embodied our continued commitment to critical enquiry and public engagement.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this MA Global History: Empires, States and Cultures, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including in:

* historically sensitive research skills

* constructing complex arguments, especially those requiring a long-term perspective

* understanding how the industry has changed over time and is continuing to evolve

* assessing the impact of globalisation on societies

* approaching political, cultural and economic issues from a global perspective.

Graduates can pursue career paths in research and archiving, education, the heritage industry, publishing, journalism and the media, and the charity sector. Possible professions include:

* historian

* higher education lecturer

* archivist

* journalist

* heritage manager

* politician’s assistant

* academic librarian

* museum/gallery curator.