Course Synopsis
This course will introduce students to selected aspects of Scottish history and historiography considered from a Highlands perspective and a (sometimes significantly different) Lowlands perspective, including issues surrounding the selection and use of source materials, and provide practical training involving manuscripts in the University Archives.
This course places a strong emphasis on engaging with archival manuscript materials, and exploring their appraisals of cultures, economies, and natural environments in the Highlands and Lowlands.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate the main interpretations of how Highland and Lowland societies were adjudged by travellers from c. 1750;
- Apply advanced skills of primary source analysis to a wide range of sources related to travel and tourism history in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on manuscript travel accounts;
- Apply theoretical models derived from a range of disciplinary traditions and dialogues to explore tourism history in Scotland, and to distinguish genres of travel writing;
- Understand, critically explore and communicate key concepts in archival practice and fonds development and preservation through the systematic and rigorous study of the Scottish travel collection and its development’;
- Undertake, with skill and sensitivity, projects which integrate extensive primary source material and innovative scholarship to produce original research in the field of Scottish travel history.
Method of Delivery
Face-to-face three-hour meeting, once weekly.
Method of Evaluation and Weights
- Class Participation - 20%
- Seminar Leadership - 10%
- Bibliographic/Historiographical Review - 20%
- Final Assignment - 40%
- Final Symposium Participation - 10%
Texts and Resources Required
All readings are available on electronic course reserve.
*Please note: This is a preliminary website description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.
