BA Liberal Arts

Manchester is a culturally significant and diverse city in the North-West of the UK. Like any city, it faces a number of challenges as a result of global industrial shifts, new patterns of work and leisure, and flows and frictions between different cultures and ideas. Once a bastion of the Industrial Revolution, and now, in its post-Industrial state, at the forefront of innovations in computing and technology, a hotbed of revolutionary ideas, and important in sport and the arts, Manchester has gone through many changes and yet it retains a cultural identity.  

This module takes Manchester as a starting point for interdisciplinary exploration in the arts and humanities. We examine the values and politics of researching a complex city, reflecting on what different methodologies and methods might be suitable for examining key social issues in the contemporary city. Through a variety of media, the course examines different case studies from Manchester, enabling you to analyse themes around historical memory, gender and sexuality, race and religion, ecology and industry, with a key focus on issues of social change. 

• To introduce students to concepts of social responsibility, ethics, and knowledge exchange in research;
• To develop students’ insights into the connections between the academy and society;
• To familiarise students with the cultural context of Manchester and its dynamism;
• To highlight the importance of the arts in shaping and reshaping culture.

Topics can include:  

• Revolution and protest – radical memory and history  
• Inequality and poverty  
• Religion and migration  
• Creative walking and placemaking  
• Urban planning and health inequalities  
• Trauma and collective memory  
• Sustainability and urban ecology  
• Race and oral history  
• Queering Manchester  
• Social responsibility and the civic university  

Weekly interactive lectures, seminars, and skills workshops; in addition, students are encouraged to attend weekly office hours to discuss queries and/or feedback. 

• An understanding of the dynamics of Manchester’s rich, diverse, multifaceted culture;
• Familiarity with some of the issues facing Manchester;
• An understanding of the importance of context and an ability to approach this through interdisciplinary methods (i.e. historical, geographical, intellectual, cultural);
• More detailed and critical knowledge of some of the challenges through summative assessments.  

• Use Manchester as a laboratory for Liberal Arts (i.e. interdisciplinary, challenge-led) learning;
• Identify and select appropriate sources for the development of independently-researched written and oral work;  
• Apply skills to problem-solving tasks and examination of case studies through seminars;
• Articulate, and suggest contributions to, the relationship between the arts (and art-based research) and culture;
• Begin to develop ideas and resources for the Engagement Project in Year ¾. 

• Critical reading and application in development of an argument;
• Group work and communication of ideas in co-operation with others;
• Ability to prepare and deliver a research reflection
• Independent approach to research;
• Reflective and self-aware learning. 

• An interdisciplinary competence;
• Critical and analytical skills highlighted through engagement with key texts and key themes and issues;
• Self-organisation skills and an ability to plan research in order to meet course deadlines;
• An ability to work independently, including conducting independent research, and to work with others in group work tasks;
• Effective oral and written communication skills. 

Assessment task	Formative or Summative	Length	Weighting within unit (if relevant)
Reflective Portfolio Plan	Formative	500 words	0%
Research Essay	Summative	2800 words	70%
Reflective Portfolio	Summative	1200 words	30%

 

Written (and optional oral) feedback on short essay	Formative
Oral feedback on contributions to class discussions from peers and teaching staff	Formative
Written (and optional oral) feedback on summative assignments	Summative

 

• DiYanni, Robert and Anton Borst, eds., Critical Reading Across the Curriculum, Volume 1: The Humanities (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2017)
• Beckett, John, Writing Local History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
• Glick Schiller, Nina, ‘Localized neoliberalism, multiculturalism and global region: exploring the agency of migrants and city borders’, Economy and Society 40.2 (2011): 211-38
• Matras, Yaron and Alex Robertson, ‘Urban Multilingualism and the Civic University: A Dynamic, Non-Linear Model of Participatory Research’, Social Inclusion 5.4 (2017): 5-13
• Nevell, Michael, Manchester: The Hidden History (Stroud: The History Press, c2008)
• Wildman, Charlotte, Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester (London: Bloomsbury, 2016)
• Janet Wolff and Mike Savage (eds.), Culture in Manchester: Institutions and Urban Change Since 1850 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013).
• Charlotte Wildman, ‘Urban Transformation in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918-1939’, The Historical Journal, Vol. 55, No. 1 (2012), pp. 119-143.
• Stuart Hylton, A History of Manchester (Chichester: Phillimore, 2003).
• Lynne Pearce, ‘Manchester: The Postcolonial City’, in Lynne Pearce, Corinne Fowler, and Robert Crawshaw (eds.), Postcolonial Manchester: Diaspora Space and the Devolution of Literary Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013), pp. 20-78. 

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

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 .

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.