230998 Colonies, Missions, Cultures: Queen Victoria's Imperial Subjects (S) (SoSe 2012)

After the British had established overseas possessions since the Early Modern period, Queen Victoria ruled over territories so large that a contemporary observer claimed that "on her dominions the sun never sets". In this seminar we will explore the various ways in which Britain maintained the Empire in the 19th century in the Caribbean, Africa, India and Australasia. We will discuss the economic, political and ideological basis of the imperialist endeavour and reflect on the ways in which the people inhabiting Victoria's dominions were looked upon and treated by the British. We will attempt to trace the mind-set that was the precondition for exploration, exploitation, slavery and racism in the colonies, while at the same many people followed a zeal to bring Christianity to those countries. We will read fiction and non-fictional texts in which these issues were represented in the Victorian age, and some that look back on them from today's point of view.

Please note that a good part of this seminar will use a teaching method inspired by the method of 'problem-based learning'. More information on this will be given in the first session. If you have questions concerning this issue before the semester starts, please contact me in my office hours.

Bibliography

Some of the texts and other material we will discussed will be provided by workgroups in the course of the semester.
However, please buy your own copy of
Henry Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines (preferably the Oxford World's Classics edition)
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
David Dabydeen, The Counting House
Andrea Levy, The Long Song