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Critics of Empire: Context

Module description

Modern imperial projects were not without their critics. Critics of empire—be they anti-colonialists, anti-imperialists, pacifists, cosmopolitans, feminists, or nationalists—sought to identify, understand, and eradicate the root causes of imperialism. Empire’s critics sought to understand and undermine imperialism across the nineteenth and twentieth century, a time when the changing nature of the global political economy played a particularly important role in the shaping of imperialism and its critics. This module therefore introduces students to the complex relationship between modern critiques of imperialism and the history of global capitalism, focusing particularly upon the British and American Empires.

Module aims - intentions of the module

By using a combination of tutor-led seminars and lectures, student-led seminars and independent study, the module will enable students to reflect independently upon research questions and the context related to theories of imperialism, while making direct use of a large array of primary sources. In this way students will learn to draw thematic and strongly analytical comparisons between material from different sources and show awareness of contrasting approaches to research, 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Evaluate the different complex themes in the history of imperial theory.
• 2. Make close specialist evaluation of the key developments within the period, developed through independent study and seminar work.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 3. Analyse the key developments within theories of imperialism.
• 4. Focus on and comprehend complex issues.
• 5. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner.
• 6. Follow the theories of imperialism across the period.

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Do independent and autonomous study and group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 9. Present complex arguments orally

Syllabus plan

The module will examine a wide array of contexts and sources relating to theories of imperialism, focusing upon the critics of imperialism—anti-colonial nationalists, cosmopolitans, anti-imperialists, pacifists, feminists, Marxists, non-Marxists—within the context of the British and American Empires.

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

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

• Anthony Brewer, Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A Critical Survey (Routledge, 1980).
• Martin Ceadel, Semi-Detached Idealists: The British Peace Movement and International Relations, 1854-1945 (Oxford University Press, 2001).
• Gregory Claeys, Imperial Sceptics: British Critics of Empire 1850-1920 (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• Michael Doyle, Empires (Cornell University Press, 1986).
• Norman Etherington, Theories of Imperialism: War, Conquest, andCapital (London, 1984).
• David S. Patterson, Toward a Warless World: The Travail of the American Peace Movement, 1887-1914 (Indiana University Press, 1977).
• Brenda Gayle Plummer, Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960 (University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
• Bernard Porter, Critics of Empire: British Radical Attitudes to Colonialism in Africa 1895-1914 (Macmillan, 1968).
• Leila J. Rupp, Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Movement (Princeton University Press, 1997).
• Bernard Semmel, The Liberal Ideal and the Demons of Empire: Theories of Imperialism from Adam Smith to Lenin (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993).
• Ian Tyrrell and Jay Sexton, Empire’s Twin: U.S. Anti-Imperialism from the Founding Era to the Age of Terrorism (Cornell University Press, 2015).
• Penny M. Von Eschen, Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937-1957 (Cornell University Press, 1997).
• W. A. Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1959).

Key words search

Empire; Imperialism; Critics