HUMN 2023 Empire: European Colonial Rule and its Subjects, 1750-1920

This is an archived copy of the 2021-2022 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit https://hbook.westernsydney.edu.au.

Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 100861

Coordinator David Burchell Opens in new window

Description A historical investigation of the experience of the 19th century European empires from the perspectives of both the colonised and colonisers. It examines the combination of domination and cultural negotiation between colonisers and colonised. It examines both how peoples were managed as imperial subjects and how they responded to this management. It looks both at the effect of imperial rule on the colonised, and of empire upon the colonisers. It draws upon historical literature from a variety of sources and perspectives, and within European and Asian history. The focus is chiefly, though not exclusively, upon the British empire and its subject peoples.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Studies in Human Society, Not Elsewhere Classified.

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject

Equivalent Subjects LGYB 0089 - The World Encircled 1100 - 1600

Restrictions Successful completion of 40 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
  1. Explain the historical experience of European colonialism
  2. Describe processes for studying different cultures in contact and collision
  3. Apply selected historiographic and ethnographic skills to the study of historical cultures
  4. Demonstrate essay-writing and argumentative skills

Subject Content

. Notions of imperial destiny and mission
. Similitude: imagining the metropolis in the colony
. Empire, race and sexuality
. Hierarchy and the glamour of imperial rule
. Artefacts of empire and their significance
. The empires as people-management
. The ambivalence of the colonised

Assessment

The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.

Item Length Percent Threshold Individual/Group Task
Major assignment 2000 words 40 N Individual
Journal 1000 words 30 N Individual
Tutorial Tasks 1000 words 30 N Individual

Prescribed Texts

  • Course reader

Teaching Periods

Structures that include subject