Concluding thoughts on the module

Now that we have had our last class for the module, and done our presentations it feels quite strange that we still have so far to go in terms of the work for this module. Having spent so many weeks defining and redefining what transnational history is it feels good to be able to let this more historiographical side go for a while and focus more on the practicalities of our own individual projects. From the wide variety of our projects it is clear that a transnational approach can be brought to almost any aspect of history, and with a variety of lenses, from the micro to the global. I have found my feelings about what the transnational means widely vary, from a strong sense that the transnational perspective is indispensable to the history of today, to a skepticism that almost all history is written from a transnational sense already, and thus our attempts to define it are almost futile. I have more recently felt more positive again though, as starting with something as broad as a transactional approach has given rise to such a dazzling array of projects. From purely our own perspectives, rather than those of professional historians, I’m not sure how many of us would have ended up writing a project on what we have ended up with without this fresh historiographical focus. I certainly didn’t imagine I would end up writing 5,000 words on a brewery! My other concluding thought is about learning techniques, and how this is the first module I have taken at St Andrews where this is discussed. It feels bizarre that this is the case as new learning and working techniques can have a huge impact on our ability to study. I have certainly found the pomodoro technique very useful, and will be continuing to use it as I battle my way through this project. Finally I’d just like to wish everyone good luck with completing their projects, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all often in the library over the coming weeks.