| Unit name | Slavery and the modern world (Level H Lecture Response Unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST39013 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Reid |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
From the sixteenth until the nineteenth centuries, millions of Africans were transported as slaves to European colonies in the ‘New World’. This unit aims to introduce students to a number of key themes in the relationships between slavery and the making of the modern world. The main focus will be upon the British system of slavery and the British Caribbean slave colonies. Students will be asked to explore a range of questions and themes in depth: What was slavery? How did the transatlantic system of slavery compare with other systems of unfree labour? Why did transatlantic slavery develop? What were the connections between modern theories of ‘race’ and the development of slavery? Did slavery fuel the British ‘Industrial Revolution’? Did it under-develop Africa? Why was slavery eventually abolished? What were the legacies of slavery? Lectures and group discussions will examine these and other themes through the study of selected primary sources and the writings of historians. The day-to-day experiences of slaves, the histories of slave cultures and communities, and the contributions of slave resistance and rebellion to emancipation will be considered, as will the movements for abolition and the development of anti-slavery thought. By the end of the unit the students will have developed a wide-ranging and critical understanding of the role played by slavery in the development of the modern world system.
Weekly 2-hour interactive lecture sessions Tutorial feedback on essay Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in consultation hours
A 3000 word essay (50%) and 2-hour unseen written examination (50%) will assess the student’s understanding of historiographical and conceptual developments in the field of study and of the ways in which historians have interpreted developments in the field; test the student’s ability to think critically and develop their own views and interpretations; and test their understanding of the links between transatlantic slavery and the rise of the modern world.
Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd, Caribbean slavery in the Atlantic world: a student reader (Princeton, 2000). Anthony Barker, The African Link: British attitudes to the Negro in the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1550-1807 (London, 1978). Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery: from the Baroque to the Modern, 1492-1800 (London, 1997). David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Ithaca, 1966). Kenneth Morgan, Slavery, Atlantic Trade and the British Economy, 1660-1800 (Cambridge, 2000). John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1680 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). James Walvin, Black Ivory: a History of British Slavery (London, 1992).
