Module HIST20T1: Rice, Race, Religion and Revolt in Colonial Myanmar

Department: History

HIST20T1: Rice, Race, Religion and Revolt in Colonial Myanmar

Prerequisites

• A pass mark in at least ONE level 1 module in History

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To familiarize students with the history of colonial Myanmar and, more widely, the social tensions of modern imperialism in Asia.
• To introduce the students to colonial-era primary sources from Myanmar and provide a critical methodology for interpreting them, particularly counter-insurgency records.
• To introduce the students to the historiography debating the impact on British imperialism on Myanmar as well as wider social theories of peasant rebellions.

Content

• In 1930 the British colonial regime in Myanmar (Burma) confronted a peasant rebellion—known today as the Hsaya San rebellion, after its nominal leader—the scale of which it had not faced since the 1857 Uprising in northern India. During 1931, nearly every district of the colony descended into open revolt, during which the state’s authority was momentarily untenable. It took over 10,000 imperial troops, the estimated deaths of 3,000 rebels, and the capture of roughly 9,000 more, to quell the rebellion in 1932. Historians have applied a range of lenses to understand the event. Some have explored its economic triggers, others the role of Buddhist folk beliefs, and others still the influence of anti-colonial nationalist activism. More recently, historians have critiqued the historiography on the rebellion itself, questioning the archival foundation for even our most basic understandings of what happened and why. During this module, we will use the rebellion as an entry point to examine the profound changes that colonialism wrought and the resulting tensions that culminated in this violent uprising. In particular, we will trace the emergence of the rice industry, and the rise of xenophobic racism and religious chauvinism within anticolonial resistance.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding of historical developments of the political economy of colonialism in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.
• Critical engagement with previous and current theoretical and historiographical debates on the history of colonialism and anticolonialism.
• Critical use of historiographical and primary sources to develop independent lines of analysis on the history of peasant rebellions.

• Students will develop their skills to evaluate archival sources, particularly government records.
• Students will develop their skills to evaluate and analyse historiographical debates.

• The ability to employ sophisticated reading skills to gather, sift, process, synthesise and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources (print, digital, material, aural, visual, audio-visual etc.).
• The ability to communicate ideas and information orally and in writing, devise and sustain coherent and cogent arguments.
• The ability to write and think under pressure, manage time and work to deadlines.

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

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods:
• Lectures to set the foundations for further study and to provide the basis for the acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Lectures provide a broad framework which defines individual module content, introducing students to themes, debates and interpretations. In this environment, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in listening, selective note-taking and reflection.
• Seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Assessment: Examinations test students' ability to work under pressure, to prepare for examinations and direct their own programme of revision and learning, and develop key time management skills. The examination gives students the opportunity to develop relevant life skills such as the ability to produce coherent, reasoned and supported arguments under pressure. Students will be examined on subject specific knowledge.
• Summative coursework will test students’ ability to communicate ideas in writing, present clear and cogent arguments succinctly and show appropriate critical skills as relevant to the particular module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative work done in preparation for and during seminars, including oral discussions. There will be the opportunity for formative written work in the form of a 1,000-word draft essay as appropriate to the module. The summative coursework will have a formative element by allowing students to develop ideas and arguments for the examination and to practice writing to similar word limits.

■ Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.