Course Description
Examination of nineteenth-century writing from the British Isles, the British Empire, and elsewhere, with an emphasis on Anglophone literature that attends to issues of travel, colonialism, race, imperialism, transatlanticism, multiculturalism, nation, and internationalism in the period.
Athena Title
Britain Emp Global 19th Cent
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Students will develop a critical understanding of the global nineteenth century, as represented by writing in English. They will read broadly in British, Imperial, and other texts that depict colonial sites and cultural contact zones, as well as in texts that depict the ways that the globe and the empire became crucial to the national identities even of those who stayed home—including those whose homes were claimed by a foreign power. Discussions will address the circulation of people, commodities, news, and ideas across global routes of communication and commerce. 2. Students will learn to contextualize and analyze diverse nineteenth-century genres—novels and romances, travel writing, adventure tales, lyric, or narrative poetry. 3. Students will encounter a range of scholarly approaches to travel, fiction, imperialism, trade, and cultural contact, as they consider how nineteenth-century literature and culture were shaped by and contributed to the ideologies and lived experiences of nationalism, geography, race, commerce, gender, and place. 4. Students will develop their abilities to think critically about literature and culture, to argue persuasively, and to write vigorous prose that adheres to conventional standards of grammar and usage. They will produce about twenty to twenty-five pages of writing in a variety of formats that may include papers, examinations, presentations, and short responses.
Topical Outline
The course outline will vary widely from instructor to instructor. Topics will change from year to year but would be likely to include many of the following: slavery and abolition, Orientalism, transatlantic studies, writing and empire, travel, trade, the East India Company, colonial politics and resistance, transportation and mobility, intercultural contact, and the circulation of goods, images, print media, and news.
Syllabus