ENG 373 - Topics: The British Empire (1)

At its peak, the British Empire covered almost half the world, from Canada to New Zealand. Beginning in the sixteenth century, Great Britain built a global empire through commercial trade, military force, and the creation of bureaucracies composed of Englishmen sent to distant outposts to rule over the lives of people they often misunderstood.

This course will “read” the British Empire through primary sources-travelers’ accounts, Parliamentary reports, poems, and stories. Rather than take a chronological approach, we will pursue a geographical one, moving from the Caribbean to Africa to India, with a focus on topics such as race, gender, the spread of Christianity, and the environmental impact of the empire. Authors to be studied will include Mary Prince, H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, and Toru Dutt. Assignments include a poster presentation and two essays.

For good or ill, the British Empire shaped the modern world, and this course invites students to better reckon its history and significance. Prerequisite: writing-designated course (W), or ENG 201 , ENG 202 , ENG 215 , or ENG 225   
(Humanities)