Course summary

The MA in Public History at Queen’s University Belfast offers an opportunity to study how historical knowledge is produced, mediated, represented and consumed in public spaces, in a region where the past continues to resonate powerfully. The close relationship Queen’s enjoys with a broad range of partners across the country, from national cultural institutions, heritage organisations and media through to community-led initiatives, provides an unparalleled opportunity for first-hand experience of how history works and is put to work in many different ways. The close involvement of partner organisations in the delivery of the course through practitioner workshops, guest lectures, field trips and events, as well as the 30-day placement, provides first-hand, practical experience of the wide range of issues, challenges and opportunities faced by the public historian. This course approaches public history from many perspectives ranging from the local to the global. The city of Belfast offers an exciting opportunity to engage with key issues surrounding contested histories, national narratives, memory, commemoration and community history in a very real and meaningful way, and to gain first-hand understanding of the relationship between history, heritage and public audiences at a local and national level. A global understanding of public history is encouraged through taught modules on difficult public history in a range of national contexts, collaborative teaching with public history programmes in other countries, and the possibility of international field trips and placements. Students will carry out 30-day placements in one of a wide range of museums, archives, heritage sites or visitor experiences across the country. The course combines academic training in historical theory and research methods with specialised topics relating to history in the public sphere, such as negotiating contested pasts, oral history, heritage and tourism, or digital curation, thus linking the analytical and critical approaches of traditional academic history with innovative ways of creating and disseminating histories for a diverse variety of public audiences.