Finished Family Fortunes

I've finished the first major activity of my MA: reading Family Fortunes. The book traces the development of an ideology prevalent among the emerging middle classes and influenced by evangelical Christianity that there were two spheres: the domestic sphere inhabited by women and the public world inhabited by men. The authors explore the roots and development of this ideology, how it was manifested and its various contradictions, focusing on the city of Birmingham and villages in Essex and Suffolk .

I read the first 160 pages properly but have to admit that I skimmed the rest. While I respect the amount of work - particularly archival - that the authors put into researching and writing the book, a page-turner it is not. I fell asleep twice reading the first 160 pages. Luckily, from what I can pick up on the course forum, I'm not the only one found it a bit if a turgid read. My fear now is the first TMA is focused on the book; albeit - fortunately - on its reception (and significance) rather than the book itself.

The thing that I found most useful from reading the book was (ignoring the turgid prose) the structure of how they presented their findings, which generally went:

* Make a general claim (referenced through general works);

* Illustrate with statistics or material from reference works, novels, contemporary sources and/or;

* illustrate with own findings.

This was reassuring as it is what I'm used to in the social sciences (claim - evidence/illustrate), although the nature of the evidence is different. The next stage for me, once this dreaded TMA is out of the way, is to look more into gathering and analysing this kind of evidence. Tomorrow I'll start to read the commentaries and plan my essay

I've started the MA

This morning, the portal for my MA came online and I was able to begin studying, although the course itself is not scheduled to begin until October 1. The portal is well set out and provides a study planner that takes me up to December and my first essay, links to resources etc.

The first unit is based around the book Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1780-1850 by Davidoff and Hall. I have to read it and three articles reflecting on it and then write 2.5k assessing its most significant contribution to debates in the area. I'm about 70 pages in (out of 450) and am beginning to slowly get my head around it, but I'm guessing that it will make more sense once I've read the commentaries and critiques. I can see myself having to re-read bits of it for the essay.

At the outset I am a tad apprehensive as it is a new challenge and I'm not sure yet what the MA is looking for, the approach required etc. I'm still finding my feet, but this is to be expected at the end of day one! My plan is to try and finish the book itself within a week, then spend the week after reading the commentaries and coming up with an argument for my essay - maybe running my ideas past the tutor, assuming I can and he/she doesn't think that I'm being giddy.

Ironically, I've also just discovered that part of my MA course materials have been written by my A Level tutor for ICS :-)

MA History Materials Have Arrived!!!!

I arrived home from work this evening to find a large package waiting for me containing my course materials for the MA. Inside were two ring binders and all the readings and materials (minus the stuff that is online), all neatly wrapped with a paper seal around each unit.

Receiving the pack added a degree of reality to the MA (a bit like holding a baby). I've been looking forward to doing the MA for seemingly ages now and knew that the pack would be here soon, but seeing it there added a new air of concreteness to it.

As I said, each unit is sealed although I peaked inside a few (while not breaking the seals), while the assessments are online. My plan is to try and get online to the forums etc at least twice a week, more if I can and begin looking through the online materials next week once (hopefully) work has settled down a bit.

Thinking Ahead

I've spent the last week or so thinking about the next stage of my studies. As it stands, I have between now and May 2012 to finish off the A Level (doing the AS exam in January and the A2 exam in June), and I also start the MA in October. I had a look at the course dates on the OU webpage and I am scheduled to finish the first module in January 2013, start the second year in May 2013 and then finish it the following January. After that, hopefully with work paying for it, I would then love to do a second PhD on something history and crime related (again with the OU).
When I realised how long the MA is going to take, my initial thought was whether I could do it faster (doing the first module between October and January, and the second between May and January 2013). I spoke to the OU and they weren't keen on me doing it like that as they said I would miss out on the whole process of doing the MA and there were also be units that I had to pass before I could progress onto the second year. I was disapointed about this but then quickly realised that the whole reason why I began studying these courses was for the enjoyment and the excitement of discovery: something that a rush to the final qualification would remove. So, now I'm resolved to take things at the pace intended and enjoy the process, having it as my main intellectual focus over the next couple of years.
I've also been thinking about the A2 module. Under the ICS specification, I'm due to study Stability and War: British Monarchy and State, 1714-1770. However, I've recently developed an interest in the English Civil War (prompted largely, I admit, by the lovely ECW miniatures made by Warlord). The AQA have a module on this period (British Monarchy: the Crisis of State, 1642–1689), that I would much prefer to do, not least as there is one of the AQA/Nelson Thornes books covering the topic similar to the one on Russia 1855-1917 that I found so useful. I'm finding that the ICS pack is ok for the topics but very superficial and would prefer to do a module for which there is a decent textbook. I've emailed my tutor to ask, and will await his response.

Jumping between Qualifications

It's been a busy and stressful month or so with the day job, but one upshot of it all is that work have agreed to fund me to study MA History with the Open University as part of staff development for my new role. I initially wanted to do the MA in military history down the road, but this one looks really interesting (albeit not much scope for "kings and queens and battles and stuff" sadly), will help with work and its all paid for. It should hopefully also give me a kick up the arse to refocus my research.

This will mean that I will be simultaneously studying for an A Level and an MA in the same subject!

Looking through the courses on offer, and bearing in mind what I need for the day job, I will study the units in crime and policing, urban history, industrialisation and poverty and welfare. Breaking from the past, I'm determined not to do the religion unit.

My plan is to spend the summer writing my coursework for the A Level and then spend the autumn, among other things, revising for the AS exam in January and beginning work on the MA. Then, between January and the summer, I'll finish off the first year of the MA and work on the A2 material, sitting the exam in May, June or whenever it is. After that I will have 6 months or so to focus on the dissertation.

After that I'd love to do a second PhD...