HI2L4-30 Anti-Colonial Resistance in the British Empire, 1600 to the Present
Introductory description
This module examines the long history of anti-colonial resistance in the British Empire from the seventeenth century through to the present day. The module is explicitly global in scale, and will use case studies from across the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania to assess how people resisted enslavement, violence, and colonial power. The principal case studies will be: enslaved resistance in Colonial America and the Caribbean, the Indian Uprising of 1857, and the global evolution of anti-colonial nationalism during the twentieth century.
Module aims
We will examine the evolution of different modalities of resistance, both violent and non-violent, across time and space. By examining the history of anti-colonial resistance, we will actively engage with a number of issues which are not only historically important, but which have strong resonance today. These include: decolonisation and decoloniality; historical agency; intersectional identities including gender, sexuality, class, caste, race and ethnicity; intergenerational trauma; and cultural identity.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Unit 1: Enslaved Resistance from the 17th -19th Century
2. What do we mean by the history of resistance?
3. Rebellion and Abolitionism in Colonial America and the Caribbean
4. Everyday Resistance
5. The Courtroom
6. Reading Week
7. Resistance in the Metropole
8. Suppressing Resistance, Acquiescing to Abolition?
Unit 2: The Indian Uprising (1857)
9. Early Colonisation and Company Rule 1600-1857
10. The Indian Uprising, 1857
11. Resistance from Below?
12. Counter-Insurgency and Martial Law
13. Legacies of the Uprising in India and Beyond
Unit 3: The Evolution of Nationalist Consciousness in the Twentieth Century
14. Seeds of Resistance, 1899-1914
15. Single-Issue Rebellions, 1900-1939
16. Reading Week
17. Rebellion during WW1
18. The Development of Elite Nationalist Movements, 1918-1960
19. 'Peasant Consciousness', 'Popular Politics' and the study of Nationalism 'From Below', 1918-1960
20. Contesting and Shaping Decolonisation
21. Decoloniality Today
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the history of resistance against enslavement, colonisation, and colonial power in its multitude of forms. By doing so, understand the insights, benefits, and limitations of comparative, imperial, and global history.
- Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
- Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material for the study of anti-colonial resistance through time.
- Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
- Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing multidisciplinary scholarship.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Subject specific skills
Please see the Learning Outcomes
Transferable skills
Please see the Learning Outcomes
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 19 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Seminars | 19 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Tutorials | 4 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
| Private study | 258 hours (86%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group D
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| 1500 Word Essay | 10% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Seminar Contribution | 10% | No | |
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Contributions to seminar discussions |
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Reassessment component |
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| 1000 word Reflective Essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
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| 3000 Word Essay | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| 7 day take-home essay with citations and a bibliography | 40% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
Via Tabula as per the departmental guidance.
Courses
This module is Core optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
This module is Optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list D for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list E for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list F for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy