HS2O57: Encountering the Atlantic World, 1450-1850

Module code: HS2O57

Module provider: History; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Richard Blakemore, email: r.blakemore@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 27 June 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module introduces students to the ‘Atlantic world’, the idea that from the late fourteenth to the late eighteenth-century new connections were established around and across this ocean, connections which drove profound and often turbulent changes to cultures, economies, and political structures, and which have left an important and sometimes unsettling legacy for the modern world. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Think comparatively about aspects of African, American, British, European, Middle Eastern and South Asian history over a substantial period;
2. Assess the nature of social, economic, political and cultural change and the particular methodologies associated with tracing it;
3. Organise material and articulate arguments effectively in different kinds of written exercises and orally;
4. Locate and assemble bibliographic and other information by independent research, using IT as appropriate.

Module content

This module introduces students to the ‘Atlantic world’, the idea that from the late fourteenth to the late eighteenth century new connections were established around and across this ocean, connections which drove profound and often turbulent changes to cultures, economies, and political structures, and which have left an important and sometimes unsettling legacy for the modern world. It will begin with a survey of the societies which existed around the Atlantic basin before regular contact was established, and consider early encounters between European travellers and African and American communities, together with their consequences for both indigenous and alien participants. We will then examine a variety of themes – such as trade, empire, technology, warfare, slavery, religion, and culture (including music) – which bound the Atlantic world together through interaction and circulation, though often also characterised by disjuncture and conflict. Through these themes we will explore the growth of European commercial and imperial interests in South and North America and the Caribbean, and the interactions between these newcomers and the resident populations of these regions, before turning to one of the defining features of this world, the transatlantic slave trade, to consider its impact upon societies in Africa and the Americas. The module will conclude with the ‘age of revolutions’, when political upheaval in France, Haiti, and North and South America broke apart the Atlantic empires of the previous few centuries. Students will be encouraged to reflect on this history in a wide-ranging and comparative perspective, and to analyse the ways in which scholars have sought to describe and understand the ‘Atlantic world’. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching and learning will be by a variety of methods, which may include: 

1. Lectures; 
2. Seminars, which Seminars rely on structured group discussion and may also include seminar papers by students, discussion of evidence, team-based exercises, and debates; 
3. Online exercises, including quizzes and worksheets; 
4. Discussion boards; and 
5. Independent study. 

Study hours

At least 33 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

1,000 words or 2 pages of A4 maximum to include, at the module convenor's discretion, an essay plan, bibliography, book review or other preparatory work towards each of the summative essays. 

Reassessment

Additional costs