Dissertation topics and materials

It is now compulsory for all Stage 3 History students to do an 8000-word dissertation. A dissertation is a significant piece of research using primary materials. The sooner you start thinking about possible topics and materials the better.


So what if you fancy doing a dissertation on China?

It is important to realise that for an undergraduate dissertation you are not expected to be able to read foreign languages! It is perfectly acceptable to use materials in translation. (If you decide to continue to postgraduate study, that's when you will need to learn the relevant languages). There is actually quite a bit of Chinese primary source material available in translation now, although it is, of course, just a very tiny drop in the ocean compared to the total quantity of materials that exists. There follow some suggestions regarding existing materials in translation, and some pointers to topics or subject areas that could use further study. These materials cover all periods and topics of Chinese history.

MATERIALS IN TRANSLATION

POSSIBLE TOPICS

Historical writing

  • chronicles
  • treatises (eg. on foreign peoples, the economy, the military system)
  • biographies
  • at least one diary
  • Representation of different groups in historical materials, eg. rebels, women, soldiers, 'barbarians', bureaucrats
  • Changes in types of events recorded in histories (does interest shift, say, from astronomical events to diplomacy?)

Dunhuang materials

Dunhuang was a major stop on the Silk Road, and thousands of 7th-10th cent. manuscripts have been found there. Translations are increasingly available at: http://idp.bl.uk/

  • religious tracts
  •  official reports
  • contracts
  • personal writing
  • Perceptions of ethnic distinctions in different types of material
  • Relations between women and men in a frontier town
  • Comparison of local and official accounts of the same historical events

 

Legal materials

These might seem unpromising, but in fact they provide a fascinating insight into how life could go wrong for people, what could be done and, by extension, what was meant to happen.

  • law codes
  • treatises on punishments
  • judgements written by magistrates
  • Attitudes towards different types of crime and criminals: was crime a matter of morality, economics, or what?
  • How social expectations were affected by class, gender, ethnicity or age
  • In what circumstances did people resort to the legal system?

 

Literature

  •  early imperial biographies
  • Tang poetry
  • Yuan plays
  •  late imperial novels and short stories
  • Portrayal of relations between the sexes
  • Sexuality of all types
  • Overlaps between gender and other topics, eg. ethnicity, class, age, learning
  • Was literature normative or disruptive?


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