MA Geography and Mediaeval History
About this course
Geography and medieval history are disciplines that share a fundamental interest in understanding the world over time, one through the physical and human processes that shape landscapes and societies, the other through the evidence of a particular period in which the foundations of much of what we recognise as the modern world were laid. Studying them together invites you to think across the boundary between science and the humanities, developing complementary ways of reading the world: the geographer's attention to process, scale and spatial relationship alongside the historian's skill in working with primary sources, interpreting evidence from the past and constructing narratives from fragmentary remains. This four-year full-time degree at the University of St Andrews includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study both disciplines in a different national and academic context. You will develop the quantitative and qualitative skills that geography demands, engaging with environmental systems, human geography, geospatial data and fieldwork, while studying the political, social, economic and cultural history of the medieval period in depth. The combination encourages you to think critically and creatively about the interaction of environmental conditions and human activity across historical time, which turns out to be a particularly rich and productive question for both disciplines. Graduates bring an unusual combination of analytical breadth and disciplinary depth to careers in heritage, museums, archives, cultural organisations, education, environmental management, planning, research and the public sector. The skills in evidence evaluation, spatial analysis, written argument and interdisciplinary thinking that the combination develops are also valued across journalism, policy, consultancy and many other graduate professions. Further study in historical geography, medieval studies, geography or history at postgraduate level is a natural path for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.
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