HISTORY History at Sydney is a discipline which places a good deal of initiative in the hands of the student. Increased tutorial sizes will ensure that discussions are dominated by a handful of vociferous students while most will not be able to participate in a given discussion. Your assessments will come predominantly in essay form, so with only three contact hours a week it is easy to scrape by while devoting little time to reading and research. If your goal is to go on to postgraduate work or honours in history, then you will need to develop your research skills in your own time and talk over your essay or potential areas of interest with lecturers after class. Luckily history staff are uniformly helpful in suggesting areas for further reading and potential research. The collection at Fisher library has been gutted in recent years but will still provide
an invaluable resource for most undergraduate historians. Much of the material covered in Marco Duranti’s Twentieth Century Europe (HSTY1044) will be familiar to students who have studied modern history in high school. However in order to disengage from your prescriptive Board of Studies endorsed education, Marco’s engaging lectures and readings will provide a useful introduction to engaging with secondary literature. The history department has a strong collection of subjects in Chinese history. Don’t be intimidated by any degree of unfamiliarity with Chinese history or language. Studying Chinese history will open up a rich world of academia neglected by high school education and provide students the potential to engage in a vibrant area of research. David Brophy’s China in the Nineteenth-Century
World (HSTY2606) will provide another perspective on the well trodden path of European imperialism as well as a useful background to contemporary politics and international relations. Studying history will place a number of resources at your disposal. Devoting time to tracking down that extra source or discussing a potential honours essay topic will ensure that you can take best advantage of them. Recommended Units: 1. HSTY1044 2. HSTY1031 3. HSTY1023 4. HSTY2619 5. HSTY2612 6. HSTY2691
INDIGENOUS STUDIES One of the biggest draws of Indigenous Studies at the University of Sydney is the small tutorials that are filled with eager students and tutors who are dedicated and willing to share their vast knowledge with everyone. These subjects provide a comprehensive historical and theoretical focus, but also strive to teach students the historical repercussions of events that are still occurring today. The most popular unit of study was KOCR2600 Indigenous Australia: An Introduction, which is structured in a way that gives students a clear and comprehensive overview of Indigenous culture and history. Peter Minter, the course coordinator and lecturer, was engaging and thought provoking. The most interesting part of the course was the theme of Indigenous resistance to assimilation. It explored historical events and the lasting effects that European colonization has had upon Indigenous culture, with a focus on creative resistance such as art PAGE 26
and poetry. This unit, along with KOCR2611 Issues in Indigenous Rights, is a great unit of study for students who want to engage in discussion about current Indigenous issues such as Native Title rights, Northern Territory Intervention and the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights and culture. KOCR2607 Introduction to Aboriginal Literature and KOC2612 Indigenous Creative Expression received highly favorable reviews due to the engaging course content and the dedication of tutors and lecturers. The majority of Indigenous units of study have a take home exam, so this is a huge plus for students who find sit down exams stressful. Be warned though: majority of the units of study involve an oral assessment, which can be worth around 50% of your assessment. So if you’re not a confident public speaker, let your tutor know ASAP.
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