HIS 545 The British Empire

At its height, the British Empire encompassed about 1/3 of the habitable globe and governed 1/4 of its peoples.The British imperial past thus set the stage for many current global conflicts and the persistant inequities among peoples and nations that constitute one of it's lasting legacies.This course traces the historical evolution of the British Empire from its origins in eastern trad networks and trans-Atlantic settlement to its demise in the quarter century following WWII.We will read a number of books and essays that explore: 1) how modern and ever-shifting concepts of race, class, gender and sexuality were forged through empire's trans-cultural encounters and were used to justify its continued existence and violent expansions; 2) the relationship between modern forms of knowledge, exploration, and expansion; and 3) how these processes shaped the very meanings of 'Britishness/Englishness' itself.These themes will be considered within changing contexts and conceptions of empire from the 18th to the 20th centuries, through the contests and resistances the acquistion, policies, and loss of empire generated both at home and abroad at critical historical junctures.

Credits

3