Humanities Studies in Cornwall
History
History in Cornwall offers a dynamic and supportive learning experience. Our History programmes bring historical focus to a range of issues and challenges facing societies today. You will learn the critical skills required to understand the power of the past in shaping the present and how we think about the future.
You will study how History leads to better understanding of the historical context of modern issues such as globalisation, ethnic and cultural conflict, migration and displacement, scientific and technological change, and the climate and environmental crisis. You will study the forces of state-building, empire, modernity, colonialism, racism and capitalism over time and across geographical space. You will investigate patterns of continuity as well as change and how new approaches, including histories of place, everyday life, sexuality and postcolonialism, have brought complexity to the interpretation of the main events and transformations found in orthodox histories.
As with all our History degrees, research-led teaching is integral to our work as a department and members of staff are nationally and internationally recognised for the intellectual contributions, research activities and publications they have made in their fields. Our expertise is concentrated in the modern period, from the sixteenth century to the present day, incorporating social and cultural history, political and intellectual history, local and global history across a range of geographical areas, including the Far and Middle East, the Pacific, Europe, Ireland and Britain and the Americas. We offer opportunities to study history in the workplace through placements with public history, museum and heritage organisations.
Penryn is one of Cornwall's oldest market towns, steeped in history and culture. Many of its buildings date back to Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian times, and it is home to the Penryn Town Museum and the oldest gardens in Cornwall, Enys Gardens. Close to coastal town, Falmouth and the Cathedral City of Truro, in the former you can visit Pendennis Castle (English Heritage) and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, and the latter hosts both Truro Cathedral and the Royal Cornwall Museum. Our department has had collaborations with the Royal Cornwall Museum, the Telegraph Museum in Porthcurno, the Penlee House Museum and Gallery, and Geevor Tin Mining Museum. Further afield in Cornwall, you will find Tintagel Castle (English Heritage), St. Michael's Mount, and Lanhydrock House.
Aside from the exciting intellectual community our staff and students in Cornwall have helped to create and develop, we have also established links with organisations outside of the University. These links are particularly in the heritage sector, but also with local businesses and social enterprises on research work that has a direct economic impact. Our commitment to public history gives students the chance to carry out work experience within museums, galleries and similar organisations, making a real difference to the community.
Environmental Humanities
Join our new Environmental Humanities programme in Cornwall and learn how the Humanities can bring critical insight to understanding and solving current and global problems of climate and environmental change. You will benefit from world-class research-led teaching and will join a close-knit community of scholars and students committed to making a difference through actively engaging in the climate and environmental crisis.
Environmental Humanities is a global interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field of study, enabling you to discover new and fresh ways of thinking and acting upon urgent environmental, ecological and societal problems. During your degree you will explore the key contribution of humanities methods (including from history, literature, creative arts, archaeology and cultural geography) to scientific and political understandings of local and global crises and challenges.
You will examine the problems and limitations of dealing with these challenges from a single disciplinary perspective and the rich potential of working together and collaboratively across disciplines. You will pursue humanities-led questions on a range of connected issues from climate change, environmental and social injustice, oceanic and aerial pollution, and global resource depletion, and will engage in critical enquiry of the narratives and representations, infrastructures and inequalities that continue to reproduce environmental and societal problems.
English
The study of literature and creative arts brings critical insights to understanding and solving current and global problems. Our English colleagues help drive research, innovation and global connectivity across our department, help lead our BA Environmental Humanities programme, and bring interdisciplinary insight to many of our programmes. Cornwall enjoys a vibrant history and active present of Literary Culture, that helps to inform our work.
We work closely with colleagues from several departments on our Streatham Campus in Exeter, including:
