Introductory description

This module proposes to explore the relationship between corporations, law, and colonialism. Specifically, it seeks to unpack the ways in which corporations both accompanied and reinforced colonialism and what role the law played in that history. While the module will predominantly discuss colonialism's historical dimension, it also endeavors to illuminate colonialism's ongoing legacies through the lens of corporate capitalism. The module will first examine the global history of colonialism. It will then turn to the colonial history of the United States as a case study. In doing so, it will examine the impacts of corporations upon Native American tribes.

Module aims

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.

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.

The use of corporations to colonize distant places: Why and how.
The relationship between corporations and the state.
The law's role in the spread of corporate capitalism.
Taxation (including tax havens), colonialism, and corporations.
Colonization, corporations, and Native American tribes.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad and interdisciplinary knowledge of corporations' role in global and local colonial histories.
• Critically evaluate the law's role in cementing corporate capitalism and colonial impact.
• Undertake interdisciplinary research and critically read complex primary sources through the lens of colonialism.
• Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the key and emerging secondary sources on the topic.
• Critically revisit the core theories of the corporate form.
• Develop an awaraness of corporations' impact upon Native American tribes.

Indicative reading list

Avi-Yonah, Reuven. 2005. The Cyclical Transformations of the Corporate Form: A Historical Perspective on Corporate Social Responsibility. Delaware Journal of Corporate Law 30, no. 3: 767-818.

Harris, Ron. 2019. Going the Distance: Eurasian Trade and the Rise of the Business Corporation, 1400-1700. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Hogan, Linda. 1990. Mean Spirit. New York: Scribner.

Karuka, Manu. 2019. Empire's Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad.
Oakland: University of California Press.

Miner, H. Craig. 1989. The Corporation and the Indian: Tribal Sovereignty and Industrial Civilization in Indian Territory, 1865-1907. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Ogle, Vanessa. 2017. Archipelago Capitalism: Tax Havens, Offshore Money, and the State, 1950s–1970s. American Historical Review 122, no. 5: 1431-1458.

Ogle, Vanessa. 2020. ‘Funk Money’: The End of Empires, The Expansion of Tax Havens, and Decolonization as an Economic and Financial Event. Past & Present 249, no. 1: 213-249.

Stern, Philip. The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty & the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India. New York: Oxford University Press.

Stern, Philip. 2023. Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations that Built British Colonialism. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press.

Winkler, Adam. 2018. We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights. New York: Liveright.

Woker, Madeline. 2024. French Imperial Statecraft, Capital, Corporate Taxation, and the Tax Haven that Wasn’t, 1920s–1950s". Past & Present (advanced access).

Zhang, Taisu and John Morley. 2022-2023. The Modern State and the Rise of the Business Corporation. The Yale Law Journal 132, no. 7: 1970-2047.

Research element

Assessment will be a 3,000-word essay, which can be (1) a critical analysis and discussion of selected secondary sources, (2) an original research based on primary sources (mostly from archival research), or (3) a combination of both. Thus, the research element will mostly consist of fairly circumscribed archival research, either in-person or online (with the module convenor's approval).

Interdisciplinary

The module will draw on several disciplines: history, law, anthropology, geography, Native American and Indigenous studies. Thus, students will be free to choose how to write the essay and draw on a vast array of methodologies, sources, and writing styles.

Subject specific skills

Student will:

1. Know the core historiography on colonialism and corporations.
2. Be able to examine the corporate form critically (and discuss the related core theories) through the lens of colonialism.
3. Be able to conduct interdisciplinary and historical research on the topics taught in the module.
4. Acquire interdisciplinary knowledge of the corporate dimension of colonialism globally and in the United States (and how the latter relates to the case of Native American tribes).
5. Read and analyse a wide variety of historical primary sources that discuss corporations and colonialism, either directly or not.
6. Write a critical essay on corporations' role in colonial history/ies.

Transferable skills

Students will:

1. Know how to read complex literature from several disciplines, which will enhance their reading and writing skills.
2. Be used to think critically, specifically in the context of topics (that is, corporations) that do not seem, at first glance, to be connected to broader racial and socio-cultural issues. This will contribute to Warwick's law in context ethos. It will also enhance their critical thinking skills.
3. Be able to conduct independent research and write a critical essay on a topic of their choosing.
4. Hone their analytical skills by learning to resituate local phenomena within their broader environment and by learning to look for and identify global processes.