Northern Soul

Regional Identities in the North of England, 1800-the present

(c) Ian Britton, FreeFoto.com

Where is the Where is the North?North?

Severn-Wash line?

Humber-Mersey line?

We will cover…We will cover…

Weeks 1-6

• the North-South divide

• industry, work and industrial decline

• rural life and representations of the northern countryside

• family and community life • popular culture & leisure

• accent, dialect and 'performing' Northernness

We will use…

• traditional historical sources (e.g. George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier)• also: novels (e.g. Walter Greenwood, Love on the

Dole)• film and TV (e.g. Brassed Off, The Full Monty,

Coronation Street)• art (e.g. L.S. Lowry)• museums (e.g. National Coal Mining Museum)• comedy (e.g. Monty Python…)

Weeks 6-12: the public history resource…The second half of the module will be devoted to producing a public history resource•you will have a lot of choice to pursue something you are really interested in and the option to do something creative•you can produce a film, some interviews, a booklet, etc.•you will receive training in oral history, story boarding, digital story telling etc.

• examples from this year: • oral history interviews among steelworkers in Scunthorpe• George Orwell’s visit to Sheffield in the 1930s• ‘now and then’ photographs• regeneration of Castle Markets• music in the North

teaching and assessment

• 1 hour lecture, 1.5 hour seminar

• 100% coursework

• an essay on an aspect of the social and cultural history of the north of England (30%)

• a public history resource (70%)

To enjoy and do well on this To enjoy and do well on this module, you should:module, you should:

•be interested in the history of the north of England and working-class history•be interested in the North-South divide…•enjoy social and cultural history, including using films and novels etc. as historical sources•be interested in what is, for many of you, YOUR HISTORY!•be interested in public history •like to do something different from the standard essay/exam•be keen to develop new skills and capitalise on the ‘employability’ dimension