The course begins with an exploration of labour society in the early modern British Isles and in West Africa. We will then focus on the development of English colonies in the Caribbean and North America, the development of the Atlantic slave trade to service these colonies, and the evolution of the plantation labour system and its societies and cultures.

Weekly, three hourly meeting, in both first and second semester as scheduled in MyCampus

4 x 3 hour lectures, 6 x 3 hour seminars

None

Semester 1

Historiographical Essay (2500 words), 20%

Seminar presentation with visual aid (10 min), 10%

Seminar contribution, 10%

Semester 2

Research Essay (2500 words), 20%

Source analysis (1000 words), 10%

Seminar contribution, 10%

Exam (2 hour), 20%

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

The aims common to all History Honours Special Subjects are as follows:

■ to prepare students for independent and original analysis of a complex range of evidence, including source materials, thereby developing intellectual skills which will be of benefit in a wide range of careers.

■ to show students how a professional historian works.

■ to familiarise students, through source-criticism, with a wide range of problems of interpretation arising from different usages of language, underlying meanings and intentions, differing standards of objectivity, and the variety of purpose and intent associated with historical evidence (written, visual or other).

■ to ensure, through student-led discussion, that the relative validity of alternative historical interpretations is fully recognised.

■ to encourage students to develop the confidence, imagination, skills and self-discipline required to master a similarly demanding brief in the future, whether in historical research or in any sphere or employment where these qualities are valuable.

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

1. Evaluate and differentiate how English and West African societies approached free and bound labour, developed an international trade in enslaved Africans, and distinguish how, why and with what effects plantation economies and societies developed in the Americas.

2. Implement an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the slave trade and slavery, incorporating economic, social, intellectual, and cultural histories as well as literary and statistical sources.

3. Describe a thorough understanding of the inter-related historiographies of West Africa in the era of the slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade, and New World plantation slavery.

4. Implement a broad range of primary source material, which may include autobiography, literature, maps, manuscript and printed materials, databases, and visual materials, to demonstrate substantive evidence in persuasive written and oral arguments with accurate and verifiable referencing.

The construction, appraisal, analysis, and reporting of work must demonstrate substantive evidence and accurate, verifiable referencing as a response to weaknesses in student work that may arise from reliance on GenAI summaries and fabrications by establishing clear academic standards for marking.