MA History

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MA (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,400
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,800

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students.
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This course examines the origins, development and legitimisation of race and ‘whiteness’ – a powerful form of institutional power granting white men legal, social and psychological authority over blacks, Indians and women – in the American South, from first settlement in the seventeenth century to the establishment of Jim Crow segregation in the southern states in the late nineteenth century. It outlines the complex and contested process by which different groups of southerners, Native Americans, Europeans and Africans, internalised or sometimes challenged notions of racial identity and came to regard themselves, and those around them, as ‘white,’ ‘black’ or ‘red’. Students will consider the broad significance of race to the historical development of the South and to scholarly debates about the nature of southern society. The course will provide points of comparison, assessing southern race relations within a broader national and international framework. 

Available on which programme(s)?	English and American Studies MA  Gender, Sexuality and Culture MA   History MA  Other humanities MAs as appropriate
Available as Free Choice (UG) or to other programmes (PG)?	Yes (PG only)
Available to students on an Erasmus programme	No

- Consider the origins, consolidation and enduring significance of race in the American South 

- Explore historiographical debates considering race and the development of the southern colonies that became the southern states after the American Revolution  

- Develop skills of critical thinking and close analysis through a detailed engagement with a range of primary and secondary sources  

- Hone students’ research, presentation, and writing skills as well as their capacity to construct a sustained and coherent argument of a standard appropriate to MA-level work  

By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

- to recognise that race has multiple and contested meanings;  

- to appreciate the interconnection of race, class, gender and other markers of status and identity; 

- to coherently evaluate the utility of race to the historical development of the American South, using primary and secondary sources 

The course will be taught by means of one 90 minute seminar per week; sessions will include lectures at times 

teaching, materials including lecture slides, bibliographies, & handouts (posted on Blackboard) 

Students will be encouraged to use Blackboard discussion boards  

By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

- to understand the ways in which race underpinned power relations and the southern social structure at particular historical moments; 

- to be familiar with the major contentions of the substantial scholarship, in different fields, exploring the social construction of identity 

- to confidently navigate historiographical debates concerning race and the American South over a long duration 

By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

- plan and execute independent research essay; 

- make good use of library, electronic, and online resources pertaining to the course; 

- speak and write clearly about the historical evolution of race and racism in the American South; 

- organise, synthesise and critically evaluate material from a range of different sources, including library, electronic, and online resources; 

- produce written work using appropriate language for an academic audience;  

- produce written work that collects and integrates primary and secondary sources to develop a critical argument; 

 - demonstrate good teamwork skills by acknowledging the views of others and working constructively with others 

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Numerical grade and written comments on essay within 15 working days	Summative
Verbal feedback on essay plan	Formative
Individual consultation in office hours or by appointment	Formative

David Brown and Clive Webb, Race in the American South: From Slavery to Civil Rights (Gainesville, 2007)  

Kathleen M. Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race and Power in Colonial Virginia (Chapel Hill, 2003) 

George M. Fredrickson, Racism: A Short History (Princeton, 2002)  

Stephen Kantrowitz, Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy (Chapel Hill, 2000) 

Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (New York, 2016) 

Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People (New York, 2010) 

Theda Perdue, Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South (Athens, 2003) 

Joshua D. Rothman, Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families Across the Color Line in Virginia (Chapel Hill, 2003)