History
POSTGRADUATE SPECIALISATION
The History specialisation allows candidates to investigate the way in which everyday life and political and social forces have transformed one another. The study of ideas in action unites our work, prompting us to ask how ideas and categories were produced, lived with or worked through in particular situations.
How were ideas about freedom tested in practice by African Americans in nineteenth-century New York City, ex-convicts in New South Wales, or anti-imperial writers in early modern Europe? What consequences could flow from an insult or misunderstood gesture in the turbulent world of Renaissance Florence or in colonial contact zones? How were ideas about national character affirmed or questioned in the changing fortunes of the Australian bush, or in the deliberations of diplomats and policy makers following international crises? How did Romantic conceptions of experience and authenticity shape the self-understanding of Civil War soldiers in the United States, amateur writers meeting in suburban Glasgow, or travellers seeking to describe landscape and nature in the ‘New World’?
We explore our questions in a variety of eras and national contexts, from medieval France to early modern China to contemporary Australia, with many of us working across national borders. Some historians are engaged by how lives were lived in the past - others are more concerned with intellectual structures over periods of time. Sydney historians work at the intersection between the two.
Please note: The History specialisation is not available from Semester 2, 2013.
Study plan
Master of Arts - Satisfactory completion of 8 units of study (48 credit points) (cp). A minimum 4 units of study in the subject area are required (24cp). Remaining units of study are chosen from the list of approved electives, or undertaken in a relevant or related field, subject to the approval of the academic coordinator. Candidates electing to undertake a dissertation (12cp) prepare a research proposal and discuss their topic with the academic coordinator prior to enrolling.
Graduate Diploma in Arts - Satisfactory completion of 6 units of study (36 credit points) (cp). A minimum 4 units of study in the subject area are required (24cp).
Graduate Certificate in Arts - Satisfactory completion of 4 units of study (24 credit points) (cp). All units of study are completed from the list of approved units of study.
Capstone specialisation
Eligible candidates undertaking the degree of Master of Arts have the option of completing a dissertation on an approved topic over two units of study, normally undertaken over two semesters, with a value of 12 credit points, under the supervision of an academic staff member.
Graduate opportunities
Sydney Master of Arts graduates hold an advanced learning qualification in their chosen specialisation that may qualify them for further study or research opportunities in the subject area, or enhance career opportunities with employers who value the outstanding analytical, communications, interpersonal and problem-solving skills of humanities and social sciences postgraduates.
Location
Camperdown campus
Specialisation study mode
On-campus