Rule and Resistance in Colonial India
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| HIST2049 | History | 2 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- HIST2049
- School
- History
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
This 2nd-year option introduces students to the history of the British imperial expansion in India from the mid-eighteenth century to India's Independence in 1947. The module covers the topic, such as the rise of East India Company power in India, the Decline of the Mughal power, orientalism, the debate over sati (widow immolation), colonial violence, resistance to imperial rule through mutiny and nationalist movement.
Lectures will offer in-depth discussions of each topic, to build up students’ knowledge and understanding of British-Indian relations, imperial power and the nature of the rule. Seminars will be based on a discussion of primary sources and secondary readings. Students will be expected to come to the seminars having closely read extracts from those sources.
Target Students
Students must have taken HIST1001 or HIST1002. Also available to exchange students hosted by the Department of History.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 50% Coursework 1: Piece of individually assessed coursework
- 50% Coursework 2: Piece of individually assessed coursework
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
The aim of this module is to familiarise students with the rise of the British Empire in India, focusing on resistance to, and collaboration with, that rule. By using original primary sources from various online repositories and from the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, students will gain an understanding of how to access and read primary sources, and how to ask historical questions of primary source material.Learning Outcomes
• Intellectual skills: Ability to chart the rise of the British Empire in India and the nature of resistance to it.
• Appreciation of the colonial archive and an ability to use manuscript sources to understand imperial power and resistance.
• Ability offer close, analytical reading of selected primary sources and relate it to historiographical discussions about imperial expansion and resistance;
• Ability to think critically about the relationship between imperial power and indigenous resistance;
• Ability to communicate complex historical and historiographical arguments clearly;
• Ability to offer a coherent arguments in oral and written forms.