| Unit name | Slavery |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST10046 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Stone |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Slavery has shaped individuals, communities and nations for centuries with profound and enduring consequences. Evidence of unfree forms of labour exists in some of the earliest historical records, and today there are thought to be more people in bonded labour in the world than there have been at any point in the past. The word ‘slavery’, however, is most often associated with the Atlantic system, and the millions of Africans who were transported and enslaved in the European colonies in the New World between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. This unit will focus on the distinctive racialised form of slavery, which developed in the Americas, whilst also setting it in a global and trans-historical context.
The unit engages with four key aspects of slavery: the development of Atlantic slavery; the lived experience of enslaved people in the Americas; abolition and emancipation; and legacies and memories of slavery. It will ask: why did slavery become the predominant form of labour in the early Americas? To what extent was this a result of ideas of ‘race’? What forces shaped the way enslaved people were treated? How can we recover the experience of those who were enslaved? How and why was slavery brought to an end? Did slavery cause the Industrial Revolution in Britain? Should reparations be paid to the descendants of enslaved people? How has slavery shaped modern race relations? How should we memorialise slavery?
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Classes will involve a combination of long- and short-form lectures, class discussion, investigative activities, and practical activities. Students will be expected to engage with readings and participate on a weekly basis. This will be further supported with drop-in sessions and self-directed exercises with tutor and peer feedback.
1 x 3000-word Essay (50%) [ILOs 1-4]; 1 x Timed Assessment (50%) [ILOs 1-4]
Ana Lucia Araujo, Shadows of the Slave Past: Memory, Heritage, and Slavery, (New York, 2014)
Daina Berry, The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave in the Building of a Nation, (Boston, 2017)
Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom, (Harvard, 2013)
Kenneth Morgan, Slavery and the British Empire: From Africa to America, (Oxford, 2007)
Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, (Harvard, 1982)
