How many of you know that the racist chanting once prevalent at British football matches draws upon idioms and images produced during the imperial age? And are you aware that even Hollywood blockbusters (for example, 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom') owe part of their appeal to their ability to draw liberally from themes and figures in the cultural ragbag of empire?
This module takes as its starting point the fact that our visions of the world, our very sensibilities, have been fashioned to some degree by the imperial experience, and yet we are often unaware of this. By taking five works of fiction - some famous, some less well-known - and considering them in their historical and biographical contexts, the module seeks to explore key aspects of the imperial experience.
The module introduces history students to the interface between history and literature. It seeks to demonstrate the richness of novels and other fictions as ways into history. At the same time, it seeks to show how works of fiction are embedded in particular historical and personal contexts. How does history condition literature? What insights does literature provide that works of history cannot? How does an ahistorical reading of fiction mislead the reader? How can an overly-historical approach distort, or fail to appreciate, key elements of a novel? These are some of the guiding questions of the module.
We use a range of fictions to explore colonial attitudes and policies, and to investigate the experience of colonisers and colonised, mainly in the British Empire. The period covered is from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century when popular mobilizations sounded the death knell of empire. Students should leave this module with a sense of the complexity of imperialism and its cultural legacy.
This module takes as its starting point the fact that our visions of the world, our very sensibilities, have been fashioned to some degree by the imperial experience, and yet we are often unaware of this. By taking five works of fiction - some famous, some less well-known - and considering them in their historical and biographical contexts, the module seeks to explore key aspects of the imperial experience.
The module introduces history students to the interface between history and literature. It seeks to demonstrate the richness of novels and other fictions as ways into history. At the same time, it seeks to show how works of fiction are embedded in particular historical and personal contexts. How does history condition literature? What insights does literature provide that works of history cannot? How does an ahistorical reading of fiction mislead the reader? How can an overly-historical approach distort, or fail to appreciate, key elements of a novel? These are some of the guiding questions of the module.
We use a range of fictions to explore colonial attitudes and policies, and to investigate the experience of colonisers and colonised, mainly in the British Empire. The period covered is from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century when popular mobilizations sounded the death knell of empire. Students should leave this module with a sense of the complexity of imperialism and its cultural legacy.