• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

The British World c.1860-1975

Module description

This module explores how a ‘British World’ developed from the mid-nineteenth century fostered by migration, trade, and growing communications, and connecting Britain and the settler regions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. You will explore how these ‘British World’ connections were challenged over the course of the twentieth century by resistance to the racially exclusionary practices of settler colonialism, the growth of national consciousness and indigenous rights, and the development of alternative forms of regional and international co-operation. These histories have a difficult legacy and we will consider how they continue to be commemorated today. Over the course of the module you will be introduced to an eclectic range of sources such as film, advertising, and the collections of Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• enable you to interpret and analyse the history of the British World and the ongoing significance of its historical legacies
• help you develop your skills in researching, interpreting, and analysing both primary and secondary material
• provide you with an opportunity to explore broadly the rich and fascinating history of the British World from multiple perspectives, and helps you to develop the depth of understanding you will require to study more specialised areas of history

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the key developments in the history of British World f the British World
• 2. Summarise and evaluate different historiographical perspectives relating to the the history of the British World
• 3. Critically evaluate the social, cultural, political, and economic trends relating to the history of the British World

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Analyse the key developments in a complex historical environment
• 5. Demonstrate an ability to handle profoundly different approaches to history in a deeply contested area
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to understand and deploy complex historical terminology in a comprehensible manner

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Select, organise and analyse material for written work and oral presentations of different prescribed lengths and formats.
• 8. Present complex arguments orally.
• 9. Present an argument in a written form in a clear and organised manner, with appropriate use of correct English.
• 10. Through essay development process, demonstrate ability to reflect critically on your own work, to respond constructively to feedback, and to implement suggestions and improve work on this basis.

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:

• Emigration and Settler Identities
• The ‘Colour Line’ and the ‘White Man’s World’
• Imperial Communications
• ‘Parliamentary Empire’: The Politics of Britishness
• ‘The British World of Trade’
• Empire and Film
• The End of the British World?: Cultural Decolonisation and the Long 1960s
• The Break-up of Britain?: From the 1970s to Brexit
• Remembering the British World: Museums and Heritage

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 2500 word essay, as in the original assessment, but replaces participation in the presentation with a 750 word written script that could be delivered in such a presentation.

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

• James Belich, Replenishing the Earth: The Settler Revolution and the Rise of the Angloworld (Oxford UP, 2009)
• Rachel Bright and Andrew Dilley, ‘After the British World’, Historical Journal, 60 (2017), 547-68
• Philip Buckner and Douglas Francis eds., Rediscovering the British World (Calgary UP, 2005)
• Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds, Drawing the Global Colour Line: White Men’s Countries and the International Challenge of Racial Equality (Cambridge UP, 2008)
• Gary Magee and Andrew Thompson, Empire and Globalisation: Networks of People, Goods and Capital in the British World, c.1850-1914 (Cambridge UP, 2010)
• Katie Pickles, ‘The obvious and the awkward: Postcolonialism and the British World’, New Zealand Journal of History, 45 (2011), 85-101
• Bill Schwarz, The White Man’s World (Oxford, 2011)
• David Thackeray, Forging a British World of Trade: Culture, Ethnicity and Market in the Empire-Commonwealth, 1880-1975 (Oxford UP, 2019)
• Stuart Ward (ed.), British Culture and the End of Empire (Manchester UP, 2001)
• Stuart Ward and Astrid Rasch (eds.), Embers of Empire in Brexit Britain (Bloomsbury, 2019)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE:
• https://www.canadiana.ca/ 
• https://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/
• https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
• https://teara.govt.nz/
• https://tepapa.govt.nz/
• https://trove.nla.gov.au/

Key words search

British World; Settler colonialism; Museums and heritage