This module is to introduce students to the history of the British Empire and explores the history of how British rule was established in India, through a process of conquest and the shaping of new racial and gender hierarchies. It uses cultural imprints of Britain's long imperial connection with India in contemporary British society to engage students. Students will explore how gender, race, the family, sexuality and law in Indian society were transformed by this encounter between British ideas and South Asia. From the religiously sanctioned 'tradition' of burning Hindu widows as Satis to critiques of Muslim 'despotic' rule – this module will explain how the creation of religious difference shaped colonial rule in South Asia. Conflict and conquest were accompanied in this early colonial period by ambitious imperial projects to survey, classify, count and tax colonial subjects
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny
analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration
summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form
