Module description
This module examines issues of environment and uneven development through the historical geography of empire. The module aims to educate students on:
1) interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to empire in the social sciences and humanities,
2) the study of empire and environment (especially natural resources) within the subfields of political geography, historical geography, development geography, and political ecology, and
3) the complex natures, spatialities, and identities produced in the wake of European empires in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Specific topics include the spatiality of sovereignty, racialized labour regimes (including slavery, coolies, and peasants), imperial modes of water and forest development, imperial systems of food and agriculture, state responses to disease and disaster, and the contradictory political geographies of settlement, incorporation, exploitation, and decolonization. The module concludes with a reflection on struggles to ‘decolonize’ imperial knowledge systems, political economies, and social relations in the contemporary era.
Assessment details
500 word essay (0%), 3000 word essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module examines issues of environment and uneven development through the historical geography of empire. The module aims to educate students on: 1) interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to empire in the social sciences and humanities, 2) the study of empire and environment (especially natural resources) within the subfields of political geography, historical geography, development geography, and political ecology, and 3) the complex natures, spatialities, and identities produced in the wake of European empires in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Specific topics include the spatiality of sovereignty, racialized labour regimes (including slavery, coolies, and peasants), imperial modes of water and forest development, imperial systems of food and agriculture, state responses to disease and disaster, and the contradictory political geographies of settlement, incorporation, exploitation, and decolonization. The module concludes with a reflection on struggles to ‘decolonize’ imperial knowledge systems, political economies, and social relations in the contemporary era
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
• Critically evaluate how the links between empire, environment, and development have been analysed by geographers, historians, and other social scientists
• Apply spatial, comparative, and socio-ecological concepts to a critical discussion of the history and geography of empire
• Explain and evaluate the ecological (including agrarian) impacts of European empire in the Americas, Africa, and Asia
• Assess how imperial rule influenced global uneven development, including a discussion of current-day legacies of empire
• Link historical geographies of empire to a discussion of current world politics, especially in terms of issues such as geopolitics, globalization, migration, citizenship, territory, and uneven development
• Identify, access, and rigorously interpret archival documents relevant to empire, environment, and development (eg from National Archives at Kew, Maughan Library Special Collections, etc.).
• Employability skills: Effective written and oral communication; reading comprehension; policy analysis/commentary; Group work; Time management; Regional/cultural sensitivity; Case study presentation and analysis
Teaching pattern
TBC