Module: HIS5115-20 Ships, Slaves and Sugar

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Jackie Collier

Module Tutor Contact Details: j.collier2@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module traces the emergence, expansion and eventual decline of the transatlantic slave trade. It places the history of the transatlantic trade within the broader political, social and economic contexts of Europe, Africa and the Americas; and considers its impact and implications for these societies at the time and thereafter. Its focus is on the period between c.1500 and 1900 and on the triangular trade, but the module inevitable poses questions about the continued enslavement of so many people in the modern world.

2.Outline syllabus:

We will consider the following topics and themes, in varying levels of detail:

• Pre-contact Africa

• Slavery before the transatlantic trade, and the industrialisation of slavery

• Sources and evidence

• Plantation life

• European perspectives

• Abolition and non-abolition

• The legacies of slavery

3.Teaching and learning activities:

Analysis of archival material, newspapers, audio-video material and guided tours (slave trails), museums and visit to sites of memory

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Critical review: current responses to the transatlantic trade (2000 words)

• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Essay (3000 words)

• % Weighting: 60%