Living Through the Global: Colonial Migrants and the British Empire from the Eighteenth Century to the Present

Module title	Living Through the Global: Colonial Migrants and the British Empire from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
Module code	HIH2016A
Academic year	2020/1
Credits	30
Module staff	Dr Gajendra Singh (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	36

Module description

This module will introduce you to the social and cultural impacts of the British Empire from the late eighteenth century to the present. The creation of Britain’s global web of Empire necessitated the creation of the globalised Imperial subject – both governing and governed by Empire – and the development of transnational and diasporic communities. These globalised subjects ranged from the white settler to the victims of forced labour, the emergence of the ‘hybridised’ colonised elite, and non-white communities in Britain today. This module will allow you to analyse the worlds of the colonial and postcolonial migrant.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

Introduce you to the history of the British Empire through the lived experience of those that were involved in its creation, governance, operation and decline
Explore the recent social and cultural turn in the history-writing of Empire
Focus upon the lived, global experiences of those involved and impacted by Britain’s global web of Empire – from convict to slave, missionary to postcolonial migrant
Develop your skills in researching, interpreting and analysing both primary and secondary sources

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Be aware of the various developments in the social and cultural histories of the British Empire
2. Make a close evaluation of the key developments and debates in postcolonial and post-Orientalist history writing
3. Evaluate the main themes in the subject and to collate information upon, and evaluate in greater detail, those aspects of the module discussed in seminar and especially those topics selected by students for their coursework

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. Analyse the key developments of the period
5. Collate data from a range of sources, both primary and secondary
6. Interpret primary sources
7. Trace long-term as well as short-term historical developments
8. Recognise and deploy historical terminology correctly
9. Assess different approaches to historical writing in areas of controversy

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

10. Work both independently and in a group, including participating in oral seminar discussions
11. Identify a topic, select, comprehend, and organise primary and secondary materials on that topic with little guidance
12. Produce to a deadline and, in examination conditions, a coherent argument

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Intellectualising the Imperial: From Voltaire to (Niall) Ferguson
The Bible and the Bullet: The White Settler
Travel-Writing and Empire
Empire on Display
Colonial Convicts/Colonial Soldiers
Coercive Labour
Disciplining the Body: Sex and Empire
Exiled at Home: The Emergence of Colonised Elites
From Marx to Marcus Garvey: Black Radicalism
‘They Gave the Crowd Plenty Fun’: The Rise of the Postcolonial Diaspora
Writing the ‘Post’ in Postcolonialism

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
44	256	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching	22	Lectures
Scheduled learning and teaching	22	Seminars; these will be led by the tutor. You will need to prepare for each seminar and present on a given topic in groups of 4 on 4 occasions
Guided independent study	22	Web-based activities located on ELE preparation for seminars and presentations
Guided independent study	234	Reading and preparation for seminars and presentations

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay Plan x 1	500 words	1-12	Oral and Written

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
60	40	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	60	3000 words	1-12	Oral and Written
Take home examination	40	2500 words	1-12	Written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay	3000 words	1-12	Referral/Deferral period
Take home examination	Take home examination	1-12	Referral/deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Christopher A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World: Global Connections and Comparisons, 1780-1914 , (London: Blackwell, 2004).
Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness , (London: Verso, 1993).
Antoinette Burton, Empire in Question: Reading, Writing and Teaching British Imperialism , (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2011).
Brent Hayes Edwards, The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation and the Rise of Black Internationalism , (Cambridge, Mass. And London: Harvard University Press, 2003).
Linda Colley, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History , (London: Harper Press, 2007).
Vijay Prashad, Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity , (Boston: Beacon, 2001).
David Arnold, The Tropics and the Travelling Gaze: India, Landscape and Science, 1800-1856 , (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006).
Robert J.C. Young, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race , (London: Routledge, 1995).
Joya Chatterjee and David Washbrook (eds.), Routledge Handbook of the South Asian Diaspora , (London: Routledge, 2013).
Pankaj Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia , (London: Penguin, 2013).
Bill Schwarz, The White Man’s World , (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11327
Empire Online (Available through the library website)
Making Britain: Discover How South Asians Made the Nation, 1870-1950, http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient , (London: Bloomsbury, 1992).
Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia , (London: Faber and Faber, 1990).

Credit value	30
Module ECTS	15
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	06/03/2017
Last revision date	07/07/2020