Ministry Of History

My History Master’s – Things I’m Enjoying and Things I’m Not

As some of you may know, I  (Artie) recently began a distance learning (remote) history master’s degree at the University of Birmingham, UK. I’m now almost done with the first term and I have some thoughts. The reasons I began the master’s I won’t go into too much as I explained it already on a YouTube video about the same topic, so do go check it out. However, all you need to know is that it’s because I had imposter syndrome and wanted certification that proved I know what I’m talking about.

As students we were allowed to pick a “pathway”, and I chose to do contemporary (modern) history, with a specific focus on the twentieth century (which is exactly what I wanted to do). The first module, which I have almost finished, is about “modernity and mass society.” Basically, the main topics of the module are what makes the world modern, decolonisation and the rise of the United States and its cultural and economic hegemony. This really is a module of my dreams.

The topics have mostly been absolutely fascinating, and have mostly been related to things that I am already familiar with: the Ottoman Empire, American capitalism, the fall of empires and the like. However, in a master’s degree you don’t just cover what happened – you also try to discern how and why it happened. So a lot of it involves some fairly intricate concepts. Some of these I really haven’t enjoyed.

There was one book we had to read which was about so-called “enchanted modernism,” which I really did not enjoy. It was about how since the rise of the modern world, mankind is no longer enchanted by spiritual or supernatural superstitions (e.g. religion) and is these days enchanted by mass produced media like film and television. The topic itself was actually quite interesting, but what I didn’t like was how long the book was and also how it was written.

This is where I’m having some trouble with the master’s. We have a lot of reading to do, however, it’s not so much the reading that bothers me, so much as the language that the books are written in. This academic language I have to say, I don’t like. I know I am doing a master’s and so I need to just suck it up and get on with it, which I am, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be critical. I find academic language to be so pretentious and, frankly, quite inaccessible.

Examples:

1. Overuse of Complex Words

  • Pretentious: “The exigencies of the sociopolitical milieu necessitated a paradigm shift.”
  • Everyday talk: “The demands of the political and social environment required a major change.”

2. Unnecessarily Long Phrases

  • Pretentious: “It is of paramount importance to delineate the multifaceted implications of this phenomenon.”
  • Everyday talk: “It is crucial to explain the various effects of this issue.”

3. Excessive Qualifiers

  • Pretentious: “This ostensibly incontrovertible assertion is inherently problematic.”
  • Everyday talk: “This supposedly undeniable claim has issues.”

4. Overly Abstract and Vague Language

  • Pretentious: “The interplay of epistemological frameworks underpins this discourse.”
  • Everyday talk: “Different ways of understanding knowledge shape this discussion.”

5. Unnecessary Use of Foreign Phrases

  • Pretentious: “The argument was, in essence, a reductio ad absurdum.”
  • Everyday talk: “The argument was essentially a demonstration of its absurdity.”

6. Stringing Together Synonyms

  • Pretentious: “The author employs a myriad, plethora, and multiplicity of rhetorical devices.”
  • Everyday talk: “The author uses many rhetorical devices.”

7. Verbose Introductions

  • Pretentious: “In this essay, I shall endeavour to elucidate the multifarious ways in which this issue is of profound importance.”
  • Everyday talk: “This essay will explain why this issue is important.”

Again, I know I am at university and this is standard practice, and I probably sound very uneducated, but it’s just something I really don’t like and which lessens my enjoyment of the assigned reading. To be fair, it is not all as bad as I have indicated, but a lot of the time it is.

Anyway, I am learning a lot and I don’t want you to think that I am not enjoying it, because I am! It’s a flexible, self-taught study programme and I am absolutely LOVING the topics. I think I already have an idea about what I want to do for my dissertation next year! So stay tuned here on this blog to hear more about my experience doing a history master’s.

Maybe I’ll post my essays and dissertations here…

Artie,

Minister of History