This course offers a thematic and interdisciplinary exploration of British society and culture from the end of the Second World War to the present. With Jon Lawrence’s Me, Me, Me: The Search for Community in Post-War England as the core text, students will investigate how the idea of “community” has been challenged, redefined, and reimagined in response to political change, social upheaval, and cultural transformation. Topics covered include post-war reconstruction, Caribbean migration, the cultural and social revolutions of the 1960s, including changing sexual norms, youth subcultures, and new forms of artistic expression, the Troubles, the miners’ strike and the AIDS crisis and gay rights movement of the 1980s. The course also examines the emergence of Cool Britannia in the late 1990s as a rebranding of British identity through popular culture and political messaging. These developments will be examined through a wide range of cultural materials, including BBC Archive videos, contemporary literature, and visual media. The course emphasizes the role of cultural production as both a reflection of and a response to shifting values, social divisions, and contested visions of national identity.
- Teacher: Johana Kłusek