Unit information: Introduction to the History of the British Empire: Rise, Fall and Legacies in 2010/11

Unit name	Introduction to the History of the British Empire: Rise, Fall and Legacies
Unit code	HIST13014
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Emeritus Professor. Pemberton
Open unit status	Open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This outline unit is a broad survey of the history of Britains empire, and of ideas about that history. The British Empire was, of course, for an extended period the biggest and most powerful of the modern worlds imperial systems. It had an enormous impact on much of the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. Historians are increasingly arguing about how crucial its influence was on the peoples of the British-Irish islands themselves, and about the nature of Englishness and Britishness, too. The significance of empire also remains a major and highly contentious part of current political debate, whether people are arguing about its legacies in former British colonies, about national identities, ethnicity and multi-culture in contemporary Britain, or about globalisation, world inequality, or present-day British (and indeed American) foreign policy.

Aims:

• an introduction to the history of the British empire and ideas about that history

• an awareness of the main issues at stake in undertaking historical analysis in the period

• an introduction to key concepts/theories in colonial and postcolonial history (imperialism, colonialism, postcolonialism, underdevelopment, globalisation, ethnicity, national identity, space and territory)

• an opportunity for students to discuss concepts/issues in colonial and postcolonial history and to discuss these in a small-group context

Intended Learning Outcomes

• an understanding of some of the main issues in the history of the British empire

• an awareness of shifting ideas about the history of the British empire and the politics of history

• an awareness of key concepts/theories in colonial and postcolonial history

• ability to set individual issues within their longer term historical context

• ability to select pertinent evidence in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general historical points.

Teaching Information

2x1hr lectures pw over 10 weeks plus alternating fortnightly 1hr seminars.

Assessment Information

• 1 X 2000 word essay (formative)

• 1 x 2 hour exam (100%)

Reading and References

• Bill Nasson, Britannias empire: a short history of the British empire (2006)

• Bernard Porter, The lions share: a short history of British imperialism, 1850-1995 (Harlow, 1996)

• Niall Ferguson, Empire: how Britain made the modern world (London, 2003)

• The Oxford History of the British Empire (OUP, 1998-9)

The essays in this multi-volumed set are often good starting points, providing overviews of debates and guides to further reading.