History, Place and Community

The Institute of Historical Research’s MA in History, Place and Community opens up new paths by which students can explore – across a host of different historical and geographical contexts – the ways in which people have chosen to gather and associate with each other. What does it mean to feel a sense of identity and commonality with a group or with a place? What are the bonds that link people as parts of a greater whole, and how are they created and perpetuated? How are communities imagined and what does it mean for those within them and outside?

Today, the intersections between history, place and community have never been more visible in public discourse, heritage interpretation, conservation and policy. What does it mean to feel a sense of identity and commonality with a group or with a place? What are the bonds that link people as parts of a greater whole, and how are they created and perpetuated? How are communities imagined and what does it mean for those within them and outside?

The MA encourages you to ask and answer these questions and can be adapted to allow you to draw upon wider scholarship to focus on your own particular favoured areas, localities or research topics. This flexibility in approach also extends to the structure and teaching format: the course is taught using a hybrid, blended approach, making the most of London where appropriate but also allowing for study at a distance, allowing you the maximum opportunity to fit study around your own circumstances and needs.

The independent study element of the course – taking place in term 3 for full-time students or term 6 for part-time – will see you choose between a 15,000-word dissertation, a placement with a partner organisation (of your choice, although the IHR can assist in finding suitable placements) of not fewer than eight weeks, or an 'alternative output', which might be a series of podcasts, a small exhibition or a set of interpretation panels, or a set of teaching materials, or something similar of your own devising; we are open to offers!

Positioned within the rich intellectual environment of the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, the IHR is the perfect place in which to engage with localities and communities. Home to the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community, the Victoria County History and the Layers of London project, the Institute boasts an unrivalled concentration of expertise in both urban and rural places, ranging widely beyond the usual boundaries of history as a discipline. The programme also takes advantage of the IHR’s unique location in the heart of London, and the opportunities for field trips, archive visits, and observation of the historic environment this presents.

NB, please note that acceptance onto the MA in History, Place & Community does not qualify for the purposes of making a UK student visa application; enquiries about flexible learning for international students are, however, welcome.

Full details of the programme structure and modules are available on the course page