| Unit name | Slavery and Emancipation in the Atlantic World 1450-1870 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISTM0071 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Wallace |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None. |
| Co-requisites |
None. |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
‘Comparative American Slavery’ examines the evolution of European ideas of slavery and race by exploring the development and dissolution of various Atlantic slave systems in Mainland North America, South America, and the Caribbean. The demographic fate of enslaved persons and their experiences of the infamous Middle Passage comprise the early discussion before the focus traverses the Atlantic to examine slavery in the Americas. The formation of racialised perceptions of identity and nationhood and how the beginnings of consumer society and other modern processes ensured slavery was expanded and secured are considered, located against the broader development of Atlantic slavery. The experiences of enslaved persons in the Americas – the labour they were expected to perform, laws that governed their lives, and treatment at the hands of slave masters and mistresses – is contrasted against the rich cultural and community lives enslaved persons were able to develop in the midst of adversity. Through engagement with primary and secondary materials, students will connect and critically examine with historiographical debates over comparative slavery, evaluating the complex experiences of enslaved life and the nuances of political, economic and cultural changes in Atlantic slave systems.
On successful completion of this unit students will:
1) Be able to locate key concepts of nation, race, and ethnicity within the historical context of the early Atlantic through to the nineteenth century.
2) have improved their ability to argue effectively and at length (including an ability to cope with complexities and to describe and deploy these effectively).
3) display high level skills in selecting, applying, interpreting and organising information, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control.
4) have the ability to evaluate and/or challenge current scholarly thinking.
5) have the capacity to take a critical stance towards scholarly processes involved in arriving at historical knowledge and/or relevant secondary literature.
6) be able to demonstrate an understanding of concepts and an ability to conceptualise.
7) have developed their capacity for independent research.
1-hour lecture
1-hour seminar weekly
One 5000 word essay (100%) – ILO’s 1-7
O. Patterson, Slavery and Social Death; David Eltis, Frank D Lewis, Kenneth Lee Sokoloff (eds), Slavery in the development of the Americas; D.B. Davis, Inhuman Bondage: the Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World; W. Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom; S. Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History
