“Representing the Holocaust”: an Interdisciplinary Module

Abstract

This chapter will address the issues arising from the construction and implementation of an interdisciplinary Holocaust Studies module at a UK university. As Robert Eaglestone notes in the recent English Subject Centre report on the conference "Teaching Holocaust Literature and Film," there are now many Holocaust Studies modules in literature departments or Schools in UK universities, as opposed to ten years ago (when there was only one). 1 Most of these modules focus, as might be expected, on literature and film: during the conference in 2005, it became clear that the "Representing the Holocaust" module at The University of Salford comprises one of very few co-taught, interdisciplinary Holocaust Studies modules in the UK. It is also the first "cross-School" module in the School of English, Sociology, Politics, and Contemporary History at Salford. Students from numerous programmes (including Military History, Politics, Journalism, English, Creative Writing, Sociology, and Criminology) are invited to take the module in their final semester in level three. The two tutors come from the English and Sociology sections. Despite the encouragement at a local and national level for inter-disciplinary teaching and research, the tutors encountered many obstacles in their attempt to validate the module. These challenges are perhaps indicative of the problems in setting up cross-School or cross-Faculty modules and pathways. Administrative systems are often (perhaps inevitably) tied to subject areas (sections, or departments) at UK universities. Approval for a School-wide module thus encountered some difficulties. One subject area was reluctant to release the tutor into the perceived luxury of an interdisciplinary 78