UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

Masters Degrees in the History Department

Masters Degree by Unitwork and Research Report

Prerequisites

Admission to the unitwork MA will normally be restricted to students who have secured at least a good second class pass in History Honours.

Duration

The unitwork MA is open to both full-time and part-time students. Full-time students are expected to complete the programme in a calendar year, and part-time students within two calendar years.

Requirements

  • Three units from a range of options in African, Southern African, British, European, and American history, a unit in the theory of history, and a unit in curriculum research, planning and development.
  • A research report of between 20 000 to 30 000 words on an approved topic.

Students qualifying for the MA by unitwork will be required to have completed the unit in the Theory and Practice of History as part of either their Honours or their MA programme.

For each unit MA students will be required to submit at least three essays, all making use of printed primary materials. Each unit will be of a term s duration, involving a three-hour seminar every fortnight.

With the approval of the Head of Department, students will be permitted to take one unit in another Department.

Examinations

Students will be required to write a three-hour examination in each of their units. Examinations will normally be held at mid-year and at the end of the year.

Assessment

The research project will count 50% of the mark and the three modules will combine to count 50%. Within each module, exams will count 60% and unitwork (consisting of three written exercises) will count a total of 40%. Candidates who attain 75% or more for both the unitwork and the dissertation will be awarded the degree with distinction. Wherever possible there will be a single external examiner for the unitwork component of the MA; where necessary a second external examiner will be appointed to assess the research project.

Research project

The project should be of a limited nature, and the standard attained worthy of resulting in the publication of an article in a recognised learned journal.

Before completing their unitwork students are expected to have settled on a supervisor and to have drafted a research proposal. Six months is allowed from the completion of the unitwork to the final submission of the research project. Only in very exceptional circumstances will an extension be granted.

Masters Degree in History & Documentary Film

The Unitwork Masters degree in History and Documentary Film is offered jointly by the History Department and the Wits School of Arts.

Prerequisites

65% in History Honours (or any cognate Social Science unit) or in Drama and Film Honours. Appropriate experience will also be taken into consideration.

Duration

The unitwork MA is open to both full-time and part-time students. Full-time students are expected to complete the programme in a calendar year, and part-time students within two calendar years.

Requirements

In the first six weeks film practitioners in the School of Arts provide a crash course in television techniques, alongside a television production unit. Wits TV contributes a rich range of technical services here and later in the unit. The next 6 weeks are devoted to familiarising students with historical documentary styles, structures and relationships between content and form. This broader theoretical literature is progressively focused on individual documentaries and specific documentary genres.

In the second half of the year students select two units from a menu of History Postgraduate offerings which range across:

  • Twentieth Century Urban South Africa
  • Transformation in the South African Countryside
  • Representations and re-representations in South African History
  • Pre-colonial History
  • Modern European History
  • Urban European History
  • Modern American History

The central purpose of these units is to embed a structure of historical understanding of these epochs and issues which will inform the research report and subsequent professional work. Each unit requires three pieces of written work which involve a limited research component through the accessing and interpretation of primary sources (eg Commission reports such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Report). Relevant historical documentaries and films will be analysed and related to the historical themes being explored.

In the second half of the year students will also undertake a paper edit of a documentary which will familiarise them with basic techniques and equip them to develop a concept for their own documentary film research report. This will involve researching the subject, selecting suitable imagery and sounds, writing a script and producing a report which synthesises this research. Over and above this written component students will produce a documentary film.

Examinations

Students will be required to write a three-hour examination in each of their two History units. The examined television component will consist of a 10 minute documentary piece and a production workbook.

Assessment

The three modular units (2 History, 1 Television) count 50% (made up of unitwork and examinations) and the Dissertation counts 50% towards the final mark.