Exploring Scotland's slavery past in 5 locations ADED11969E

  • Academic Session: 2023-24
  • School: Short Courses
  • Credits: 5
  • Level: Level 1 (SCQF level 7)
  • Typically Offered: Summer
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes

Short Description

This brief course consists of five talks offering virtual guided tours of specific locations across the Central belt of Scotland with significant and often overlooked connections to slavery and abolition. This course highlights the importance of New World slavery and enslaved labour to Glasgow's tobacco lords and the city's emergence as the "Second city of the empire". It also examines how the people and profits of the slave trade changed the built landscape, industry, trade, and architecture across central Scotland. The five locations include: the Merchant City, Greenock & Port Glasgow, the Clyde, Edinburgh's New Town, and the University of Glasgow Gilmorehill campus. Maps and notes will be provided for students who wish to make their own visits to the locations.

Timetable

Block 3

2 hours per week for 5 weeks (weeks 1-5)

Saturday

10:00-12:00

Requirements of Entry

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Poster (600 words including graphics) using images and text to depict a key site covered by the course, how it arose from the profits and demands of slavery and the importance of this site to Scotland's industrial development (75%)

 

Oral presentation by the student recorded as a short audio file (5 minutes) or submitted as a written commentary (500 words) reviewing the legacy of slavery and enslaved labour still present at the site they have chosen for their poster and its relevance to Scotland today (25%)

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ Present students with a broader contextual understanding of the role of New World slavery in the industrialisation of Scotland from approx. 1750 to the mid-19th century.

■ Introduce students to specific architecture, urban development, and industrial infrastructure sites in central Scotland that arose from the profits and demands of slavery and enslaved labour.

■ Invite students to discover and review the legacies of slavery still present in the built environment of Scotland today.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Recognise and explain the historical importance of slavery to Scotland, specifically the impact of slavery's profits on central Scotland's development and industrialisation

■ Locate and be able to discuss the specific architecture, urban development, and industrial infrastructure sites in central Scotland that arose from the profits and demands of slavery and enslaved labour.

■ Identify and review the legacies of slavery still present in the built environment of Scotland today.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.