Unit information: Spain and Portugal in the Atlantic World 1430-1830 in 2010/11

Unit name	Spain and Portugal in the Atlantic World 1430-1830
Unit code	HISP30083
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Williams
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit explores the process whereby the four continents bordering the Atlantic Ocean were drawn together and transformed by the new contacts, connections, and cultural exchanges that began with the Spanish and Portuguese voyages of the fifteenth century. Study of this complex phenomenon, which led to the creation of a new Atlantic community, or Atlantic World, has been described as one of the most important historiographical developments of recent years. It has engaged historians of western Europe, Africa, and the Americas in re-evaluating the impact and consequences, for all the regions and peoples affected, of the unprecedented circulation across and around the ocean of individuals and communities of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Christian missionaries and settlers, Sephardic Jews, and Islamic Africans, among many others), and of an exceptionally wide range of products, practices, and ideas. The unit assesses the significance and usefulness of the concept of the Atlantic World, and explores the nature of the transformations brought about by the convergence and interaction of peoples previously separated by the Atlantic Ocean, over the period stretching from the early fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. It focuses particularly on the participation in the development of an Atlantic community of the Spanish and Portuguese, as well as of the non-Europeans whom they enslaved or colonised, or among whom they settled, in both Africa and the Americas. Students will be encouraged to explore connections and draw comparisons between the experiences of members of both Iberian nations, and of the disparate peoples, enslaved and free, of their Atlantic colonies and settlements.

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

1 x 2hr slot weekly.

Assessment Information

A written assignment of 3,000 words and a two-hour exam (50% each).

Reading and References

Key Reading:

• Bailyn, Bernard, Atlantic History: Concept and Contours (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard University Press, 2005).

• Ca�izares-Esguerra, Jorge, and Erik R. Seeman (eds.), The Atlantic in Global History, 1500-2000 (Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007).

• Egerton, Douglas R., Alison Games, Jane G. Landers, Kris Lane and Donald R. Wright, The Atlantic World (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson Inc., 2007).

• Klooster, Wim, and Alfred Padula (eds.), The Atlantic World: Essays on Slavery, Migration, and Imagination (New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2005).