Course Catalogue

Black Communities in the Diaspora (1605-2025) HIST4316

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Humanities
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course offers an overview of Black communities by focusing on past and contemporary cases from the Americas, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. From Colonial Brazil to present-day Toxteth District in Liverpool, its main purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the Black experience beyond the conventional framework of slavery studies.

Timetable

1 x 1hr lecture and 1 x 1hr seminar per week for 10 weeks. This is one of the Honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Requirements of Entry

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Source Analysis (1,200 words) 40%
Research Essay (2,500 words) 60%

 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the assessments, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ Learn about past and contemporary Black communities in the Diaspora including comparative analysis of similarities and differences.

■ Critically engage with the legacies of those communities through an afrodiasporic framework

■ Understand the meaning and importance of concepts such as quilombismo and marronage to study the Black experience

■ Promote student-led discussion that will strengthen their confidence and skills through source criticism, analysis, and interpretation.

■ Develop skills in interpreting primary sources and writing based on an interdisciplinary dialogue with current research from in the fields of History, Sociology and Social Anthropology.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

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

■ Identify key aspects of Black communities in the Diaspora

■ Explain how communities emerged and evolved through time and in different contexts

■ Critically analyse primary sources and relate them to relevant literature to produce convincing arguments

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions