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HIST299: Empire, race, nation and identity in the colonial Americas

The module gives a broad thematic overview of issues of identity, focused on the period of European colonialism in the Americas. It concentrates on a territorial area stretching from the North to the Orinoco River and the attempts by Britain, Spain and the Swedish kingdom to establish colonies. This period of religious upheaval allows one to chart the acculturation and exclusion of non-Christian peoples and the adoption of colony-wide religions; it was a period of warfare and revolution giving birth to competing notions of the process of colonialism and its control of people through marking boundaries to delineate its areas of allegiance and jurisdiction in new lands, and control over European, American and African peoples. Throughout the module, as well as being introduced to the key historiographical debates, students will be encouraged to explore the subject through a wide range of primary sources, including state papers, legal records, images, renaissance literature, accounts of exploration and travel.

The module may be studied together with HIST298, or on its own. It is taught by means of 2 lectures per week and 5 fortnightly seminars. It is taught thematically rather than chronologically. Key themes may include:

• Differences in British colonialism
• Religion, faith and belief (Protestant Reformation, Catholic Reformation, Animism and shamanism)
• The Irish in America
• Spanish colonialism
• Swedish colonisation
• ‘Tribalism’
• Indenture and slavery
• Utopiansim and natural law
• Colonialism

The module also provides grounding for further exploration of colonialism at special subject or postgraduate level.

For further information on HIST299 visit the Lancaster University Online Courses Handbook.

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