Description
The Master’s programme in History includes theory-based, methodology-based and applied course units, which examine the history of the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. It includes a diverse range of research activities and seeks to develop links with the public and private professional contexts.
There is a choice between four subject pathways, which maintain close links with one another thanks to a common core curriculum and a unit block based on cross-disciplinary skills.
• A subject pathway in ‘Power and Political Space: Sixteenth Century to Nineteenth Century (PEP)’.
• A subject pathway in ‘Urban Societies and Cultures: Sixteenth Century to Nineteenth Century (SECU)’.
• A subject pathway in ‘Development, Innovation and Environment: Sixteenth Century to Nineteenth Century (DIE)’.
• A subject pathway in ‘Geopolitics and International Relations: Sixteenth Century to Nineteenth Century (GRI)’.
These four research pathways are based on the scientific output of the team of university lecturer-researchers who teach on this programme.
Objectives
Within each of the four subject pathways within the overall Master’s in History, students gain an introduction to research in Early Modern and Contemporary history. This is through a general training in research tools and materials, and a high-level, specialised training specific to the chosen subject pathway and developed over time by historians here in Bordeaux.
This first, real insight into research constitutes an essential phase in the continuation towards further study via a doctorate (in accordance with the conventional progression within the French higher education system: undergraduate Licence degree, Master’s degree, doctorate).
This Master’s programme also constitutes a necessary milestone for those students hoping to prepare for the competitive university examination for the recruitment of teachers (‘Agrégation’) and the ensuing quest for academic excellence. This programme concentrates particularly on enabling students to target the competitive recruitment examinations for entry into teaching, by consolidating their previously assimilated historical knowledge and methodologies in the discipline. This has noticeably improved students’ success rate, particularly for the competitive entry examination for the secondary school recruitment competition (‘CAPES’).
Training content
The Master’s in History brings together the following elements.
- A unit block in cross-disciplinary skills, which combines a compulsory language course unit, a course unit on documentation and a ‘taster’ seminar to be chosen from the seminars offered by the Montaigne Humanities Doctoral School. Staff members from outside of the Department of History are responsible for the teaching hours in this block (72 hours).
- A common core curriculum unit, which is common to all four pathways.
- Four thematic subject pathways, which are each structured in the same way. The subject pathways bring together four pathway-specific course units on the one hand with research-supervision seminar units on the other (equivalent to three course units).
- The final element is the completion of a research project in the first year of study and a research-based dissertation in the second year of study. This is then the subject of an oral examination.
From the first year of this two-year programme, students choose to enrol in one of the four subject pathways, which offer a wide and scientifically rigorous choice in terms of learning and research.
Semester 1 constitutes a real introduction to research, in order to equip students with the necessary tools. Semester 2 provides an opportunity to expand on this introduction to research and leads onto students’ first scientific output: the research project.
The second year of this two-year programme interrogates the notion of research in greater detail. This feeds directly into the articulation, composition and oral examination of the dissertation. In this second year, a considerable amount of time is thus given over to students’ independent work.
Master’s in History: the four subject pathways in more detail
‘Power and Political Spaces (PEP)’ pathway
Power is at the heart of political thought and constitutes one of the key lines of research at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne research centre for early modern and contemporary societies (CEMMC). This pathway interrogates power and political spaces from the point of view of political factions, parties and political stakeholders who are considered within their contexts and networks and via a generational and gender-driven approach. But it also takes an institutional and regional perspective, considering situations as they are viewed by political media.
This pathway draws on traditional archiving tools as well as the study of discourse and representation, in the most diversified sense of the terms. It brings together taught units and partnerships with regional, national and international outlooks.
‘Geopolitics and International Relations (GRI)’ pathway
This new subject pathway on the history of international relations links the preparation of an original dissertation project on the one hand with, on the other, a series of course units and seminar units focussing on the evolution of global geopolitics; the key models for international organisation; the key players in diplomacy and international relations; the main stages of the process of economic globalisation. Students who follow this subject pathway will thus gain an aptitude for analysing and understanding the key international issues at stake.
These skills will be highly valuable, whether students choose to prepare for competitive recruitment examinations for entry into academia or the French public service, or if alternatively they aspire to a more internationally oriented career.
‘Development, Innovation and Environment (DIE)’ pathway
This pathway takes the major themes of regional and environmental development, crossed with global challenges and urgent social concerns, and examines them from a new and updated historical perspective. The training in research skills through research practice brings together the histories of the environment and environmental risks; of the vineyard and wine; of innovation; of consumption patterns; of our materialistic culture.
This pathway includes taught units and many partnerships, and has a distinctly professional orientation. It combines regional, national and international perspectives. Other than the opportunity to prepare for competitive recruitment competitions for entry into the French public service, this subject pathway can also lead to professions related to communications or within companies and social institutions.
‘Urban Cultures and Societies (SECU)’ pathway
Massive urbanisation is one of the fundamental characteristics of European societies, as it is of their overseas counterparts (North America, Oceania). This subject pathway invites students to reflect on the forms and patterns of this ‘urban experience’ and on the characteristics of the societies that spring up as a result. By tackling urbanisation in its totality, and by including the greatest possible diversity of geographical perspectives, students are able to prioritise the study of certain themes. For example, this programme focuses particularly on the diversity of city-based societies, the key cultural issues at stake, and questions of heritage.
Access condition
Find information regarding enrolment procedures and the supporting documents to be provided, according to your profile and your level of studies :
Identifier ROME
- K2108 : Enseignement supérieur
Career pathways
All four subject pathways within the programme of study can lead to doctoral studies of Modern and Contemporary history or professions in secondary school teaching (either directly via the ‘Agrégation’ or indirectly via the ‘CAPES’), higher education or research.
But they can also lead to ‘Category A’ positions in the French public service and regional authorities. Students may also pursue opportunities in professions related to documentation and libraries, heritage, communications or within companies.
