HR104-4-SP-CO:
Resisting Empire
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2025/26
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 4
Inactive
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
15
15 September 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
At the heart of the module will be a set of case studies ranging from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, with examples from the Americas, Asia, and Africa. We will pose three basic questions to each case.
The module will seek to understand the nature of imperial domination in each region and period, the historically specific structures and policies, as well as the constant push and pull that gave shape to ordinary lives. Second, we will examine the resistance movements, their ideas, goals, and methods. Finally, we will try to understand the reasons for the success or failure of each movement
The aims of this module are:
- To familiarize students with the concept of resistance and its various modes.
- To provide students with an understanding of the ways in which resistance shaped imperial project itself.
- To introduce students to the methods and approaches employed by scholars in reading sources normally produced from the metropolitan perspective.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Have an awareness of key definitions and debates concerning the nature of colonial domination and resistance.
- Be able to identify and interpret a number of resistance movements throughout history, and be able to situate them within their specific historical contexts.
- Be familiar with the theoretical and methodological problems of studying resistance in a European-dominated archive.
- Have gained key discipline-specific skills in preparation for the final year research project.
The story of the European empires is all too familiar: beginning in the early fifteenth century, when Portugual began sending vessels down the African coast, Europeans gradually came to dominate much of the world, a situation that lasted into the second half of the twentieth century.
But that story is not the focus of this module. Instead, we will examine the many ways in which people across the globe opposed European imperialism, with special attention to the campaigns, both violent and non-violent, that contested and ultimately helped to alter the old world order. We will see that although many of these movements were crushed, European empires were far from invincible and always faced opposition.
Introductory reading
- James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak (1985).
- James C. Scott, Domination and the Art of Resistance (1990).
- Eric Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels (1959).
- Antoinette Burton, The Trouble with Empire (2015).
- Heather Streets and Trevor Getz, Empires and Colonies in the Modern World: A Global Perspective (2016).
This module will be delivered via:
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Liam Redfern, email: lr17313@essex.ac.uk.
History UG Administrators: hrugadmin@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Ingeborg Dornan
Brunel University London
Reader in History
Available via Moodle
Of 30 hours, 30 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can
be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements,
industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist
of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules.
The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.