Module HIST2431: CIVILISING PEOPLES: PROGRESS, GOVERNANCE AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Department: History

HIST2431: CIVILISING PEOPLES: PROGRESS, GOVERNANCE AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Prerequisites

• • A pass mark in at least ONE level one module in History.

Corequisites

• • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• • None.

Aims

• To introduce students to the new ideas about how human societies evolved that emerged in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
• To introduce students to global perspectives on human society drawn from the experience of empire in the nineteenth century.
• To give students a good understanding of the themes of evolution, government and development in intellectual history.

Content

• The content will include the following themes to be covered in lectures and in detail in seminars:
• How has the evolution of human society been understood? This module examines the period between Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) and Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871) to examine various ideas about the development of and differences between human societies across the world. This was a time before the disciplines of economics, politics, sociology, and anthropology had emerged as separate fields, and so the way these different realms were approached and understood will be a key theme. Selections of texts from key thinkers will therefore form a part of this module.
• While taking the British Empire as its main focus, the module explores the ‘globalising’ aspects of this thinking to see how the wider world was conceptualised and understood. The main areas to consider will be: the nature and legacy of the Scottish Enlightenment; understandings of European development, with particular reference to the French Revolution; the ‘image of Africa’ and understandings of slavery and freedom; the question of ‘orientalism’ with specific reference to governance and reform in India; themes of dispossession and ‘responsible government’ in the settlement empire; and, finally, consideration of the relationship of ideas of evolution and society in the mid-nineteenth century and beyond.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain: Knowledge and understanding of ideas and intellectual developments about human society and evolution in Britain between 1770 and 1870;
• The ability to compare ideas about human society and government in the nineteenth century;
• An understanding of the wider global context in which these ideas were shaped by British thinkers.

• Subject specific skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/history.internal/local/ModuleProformaMap/

• Key skills for this module can be viewed at: http://www.dur.ac.uk/history.internal/local/ModuleProformaMap/

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be by lectures and seminars.
• The lectures will indicate to the students the major historical and historiographical issues and seminars will give them the chance to focus on issues arising from the lectures.
• Formative work will include seminar presentations which will be submitted and returned with comments.
• Summative assessment will be by two essays of 3000 words.
• This will enable the students to examine particular areas in detail within the module's range of study in greater detail, reflecting the particular nature of the secondary material and teaching resources available for art and cultural history.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One or more short assignments submitted in writing or delivered orally in a group seminar context.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University