| Unit name | Empire: Imperial tropes in contemporary western society |
|---|---|
| Unit code | POLI31566 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Hewitt |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
The unit sets out to explore and analyse the role and meanings that tropes and images of Empire have to a contemporary audience, and to historicise and interpret their influence on a variety of subjects and issue areas. The first part of the unit sets out a series of methodologies and historiographies to clarify how Empire can be used and understood and then proceeds to organise itself chronologically and thematically: the images of Rome on classical images of law, governance and order, their refraction and reinterpretation through Byzantine `intricacy&�; Christian theological texts (400-1000 CE), English and British colonial thinking and organisation, and then three examples of contemporary tropes: The Third Reich, the rise of the US, and the European Union. The unit will then explore a series of topics $� architecture and public space, law and the citizen, Empire, sex and identity, and Empire as world order. The aims of the unit is to equip students from across the social sciences with analytical skills to interpret and evaluate the extent to which tropes of Empire act as constant sources of cultural and political capital in the 21st century, as well as to look at the processes of `writing and re-writing&� history in changing political and social contexts.
Option 1 – A 1hr lecture and 2 hour seminar
Option 2 – A 3 hr seminar
Research paper 100%
