The British Empire: Views and Approaches

This course examines both the rise and expansion and the decline and fall of the British Empire from 17th to the 21st centuries. Its main goal is to examine the issues that arise from occupation by an imperial power, both for the conquered and the conquerors. It shows the unsystematic fashion in which the empire expanded,  in which it was influenced both by chance, risk and venture and by political and social circumstances in Britain itself. Through the discussion of such issues, the students will consider the different ways of government employed in various territories of the empire.  These were moulded after conflict and negotiation by the occupiers with the indigenous populations and by the internal conflicts of the local societies. The analysis and understanding of the shaping of hybrid identities, both within the populations of the empire and within Britain itself, as a result of the long cohabitation between conquerors and conquered, is the main topic of this course. As part of this, the course also examines the post-colonial period and the ways in which it has shaped modern Britain.