Featured module: Filth and the Victorians

The module examines nineteenth-century Britain and the British world through public debates, practices, objects and environments related to dirt and cleanliness. It explores ideas the Victorians held about: urban dirt of human and animal waste; air and water pollution; washing and deodorising the Victorian body; the ‘cleansing’ of language and culture; cultural history of soap; ideas of pollution in terms of the racial ‘other’. These are selected to reveal key aspects of the social, cultural and intellectual, political history of the period. Each week students on this module will work with Dr Gregory'get their hands dirty' exploring a key theme using a range of primary sources including literature, cartoons, song and artefacts.