Module HIST3A23: Empires and Converts in the Black Sea

Department: History

HIST3A23: Empires and Converts in the Black Sea

Prerequisites

• A pass mark in at least TWO level 2 modules in History

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To give students an understanding of the history of the Black Sea in the medieval period, its connections and significance for wider global history.
• To develop students’ ability to read a wide range of sources to understand the history of indigenous peoples, including those which are hostile to them. These may include diplomatic sources, travellers’ accounts, and narrative histories.
• To develop students’ ability to use non-narrative sources to assist historical analysis, including material culture artefacts, archaeological reports, folklore, and ethnography.
• To increase students’ understanding of historiographical controversies related to the medieval Black Sea, such as the process of the conversion of Kievan Rus’, and the impact of the Mongols on global economic history.

Content

• Empires have been interested in the Black Sea, its natural resources, its strategic location and its trade routes for millennia- from the Roman Empire to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This course will study a critical period in which monotheistic empires contended for control of the Black Sea- including the Jewish Khans of the Khazar Khaqanate in the tenth century CE; the emperors of the Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) Empire in the tenth to fourteenth centuries; the Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan, and that of his successors in the Golden Horde (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries); and the rising power of the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Not only did their armies and navies found and seize fortresses and cities, but they also attempted to spread their influence by converting the rulers and peoples of the Black Sea to their institutional religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• But this course will not just talk about the ambitions of imperial rulers and administrations. Its central focus will be on the indigenous peoples of the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea, such as the Georgians, Alans, Dagestanis and Circassians in the Caucasus, and the Oghuz and Qipchaq nomads of the western Eurasian steppes. It will study these peoples’ reactions to the empires on their doorsteps: from accommodation, to cultural appropriation, to fierce resistance. Topics covered may include: indigenous adaptations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism; reasons for religious conversion; syncretism with indigenous religions; transformations of indigenous societies and politics; the role of the slave trade in indigenous societies and international commerce; and the significance of the Black Sea for creating the early modern world economy. In doing so, this module will ask some major questions of significance far beyond the Black Sea’s shores, which may include: who gets to determine what religion people are? Are states necessary for social development? And, what influence did older slave trades have on slavery in the Atlantic?

Learning Outcomes

• A broad knowledge of the major empires which participated in the struggle for the Black Sea in the medieval period.
• Skills of source analysis regarding the reactions of indigenous peoples to imperial encroachment, which are transferrable to other time periods and regions.
• Ability to critically evaluate historiographical interpretations of major controversies in the medieval Black Sea.
• Ability to link major themes in the history of the Black Sea with broader trends in global history.

• Challenging students’ assumptions about the past and reflecting on the nature of the discipline (and, where appropriate, interdisciplinarity) at an advanced level.
• Appreciating how historical knowledge is produced, what forms it takes, and the purposes it serves.
• Reflecting on students’ own historical consciousness and practice.

• 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.
• The ability to make effective use of information and communications technology.

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

• 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.
• Tutorials either individually or in groups to discuss topics arising from prepared work, allowing students the opportunity to reflect upon their personal learning with the tutor.
• Assessment: Examinations test students' ability to work under pressure under timed conditions, 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 essays remain a central component of assessment in history, due to the integrative high-order skills they develop. Essays allow students the opportunity to recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas, concepts and problems; students can demonstrate awareness of, and the ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of resources and identify, represent and debate a range of subject-specific issues and opinions. Through the essay, students can synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals and develop reasoned argument based on individual research; they should be able to communicate ideas in writing, with clarity and coherence; and to show the ability to integrate and critically assess material from a wide range of sources.
• Primary source handling: Students are assessed on their understanding of original primary sources, usually in print, their character varying according to the nature of the subject, and the students' ability to bring that knowledge to bear on 'cutting edge 'research-based monographs and articles. Students are given the opportunity to discuss and articulate an understanding of changing interpretations and approaches to historical problems, drawing evidence from a body of primary source materials. Students are required to demonstrate skills associated with the evaluation of a variety of primary source materials, using documentary analysis for a critical assessment of existing historical interpretations.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One formative essay of not more than 2,500 words (not including footnotes and bibliography); preparation to participate in seminar and tutorials; at least one oral presentation; and practice source/gobbet work.

■ 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.