Transnational, Global and Spatial History (MLitt) 2025 entry

Course information may change. Module information and course content, teaching and assessment may change each year and after you have accepted your offer to study at the University of St Andrews. We display the most up-to-date information possible, but this could be from a previous academic year. For the latest module information, see the module catalogue.

• Compulsory

  • Global Times - Plural Spaces (1 and 2): offers a strong foundation in the major approaches to comparative and transnational history as well as the emerging field of spatial history.

  Students take two additional modules.

  The recommended modules are:

  • Skills in Digital History: Maps and Text: leads to the acquisition and development of skills in the digital humanities and skills required for using specific historical sources. (Semester 1)
  • Directed Reading in Transnational History: designed to encourage the development of skills of historical analysis through concentrated study of a topic chosen by the student prior to the dissertation. (Semester 2)

• Optional

  Upon request, a student may replace one or both of the recommended modules with alternative option. Most optional modules are offered in Semester 1.

  Here is a sample of alternative optional modules that may be offered:

  • Building Britain: The Construction and Deconstruction of Britishness since 1707: explores the concept of 'Britishness' and its construction and deconstruction, from 1707 to 2000.
  • Disease and Environment (c.1500-c.2000): examines the manner in which sickness and death have shaped human history, both biologically and culturally, over the past 500 years.
  • Environmental History: Nature and the Western World (1800-2000): studies environmental history over the past two centuries in an international context.
  • Global Capitalism: Origins and Development from a Political Economy Perspective: explores some of the most fundamental economic phenomena that have shaped the modern world.
  • Perceptions of Central and Eastern Europe: examines perceptions of Central and Eastern Europe which have undergone significant transformation since the emergence of modern nationalism in the mid-19th century.
  • Themes in American History: examines a selection of the most important issues in the history of North America, from its foundations as European colonies onwards.
  • Themes in Middle Eastern and Iranian History: looks at a variety of theoretical and disciplinary approaches, including Orientalism, as well as exploring questions of nationalism, statehood and identity.

  Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered; some may only allow limited numbers of students (see the University’s position on curriculum development).

• Dissertation

  Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of no more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August.

  If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.