Module manager: Professor Claire Eldridge
Email: C.Eldridge@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is approved as a discovery module
The Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris in January 2015 generated a lot of debate about free speech, secularism, the integration of minorities, and even the durability of the French Republic itself. As this module will demonstrate, these are not new themes in French history. In the modern era, France has undergone a series of crises that have repeatedly tested the strength of the republican model of government at the same time as posing important questions about who belongs to the nation and what it means to be French. This module will explore these critical moments starting with the founding of the Third Republic in 1870, amidst humiliating military defeat to Prussia and the civil unrest of the Commune. It moves on to the Dreyfus Affair, which exemplified the religious tensions that the formal separation of church and state in 1905 did little to resolve, through two World Wars and into recent decades where the rise of the far right has helped fuel fierce debates concerning urban violence, anti-Semitism, immigration and the place of Islam. You will be encouraged to think about common themes over time such as political polarisation, religious conflict, processes of integration and exclusion, and the implications of all of these for contemporary French identity. This module will include discussion of topics related to race, religion, and sexuality that you may find difficult. Any questions should be directed to the module convenor. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module aims to develop your abilities to analyse, interpret and communicate the nature of social, political, religious and cultural change in France since 1870. By engaging critically with a wide range of primary and secondary sources in lectures and seminars, you will develop an understanding of the responses to, and the effects of, these changes. This will enable you to understand the diversity of perspectives and experiences in France since 1870 and will enhance your capacity to construct well-supported and coherent historical arguments about this period of French history.
On successful completion of the module you will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Critically analyse the nature of religious, social, cultural and political change in nineteenth and twentieth century France.
2. Critically evaluate the sources, methods and arguments used by historians of modern France and scholars in cognate disciplines.
3. Critically evaluate primary sources and use these sources to present specific interpretations about the history of modern France.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module you will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Evaluate and synthesise information from secondary sources and historiographical debates, using these to develop rigorous historical analysis.
5. Analyse and critique primary source materials, applying relevant and appropriate methods and theories.
6. Formulate and communicate sophisticated and nuanced historical arguments.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 179.6 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20.4 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Participation in class discussions will enable you to build subject knowledge and analytical skills that will feed into the summative assessments. You will be offered an individual consultation prior to the submission of the essay to discuss your essay plan and receive oral feedback on this. You will receive feedback on one gobbet outline ahead of the deadline for the summative gobbet exercise.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Gobbet exercise | 40 |
| Coursework | Essay | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 29/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team