HR205-5-SP-CO:
Multicultural Britain: A History
2022/23
History
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 5
ReassessmentOnly
Monday 16 January 2023
Friday 24 March 2023
15
29 April 2021
Requisites for this module
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(none)
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Britain is a diverse, multicultural society. Yet traditional histories of Britain often ignore the fact that British society has been remade and its culture enriched by people from a wide variety of different cultures, communities and backgrounds.
The module will examine how 'race' became a defining concept for understanding British society, how mass immigration transformed concept of Britishness, and how Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities had to fight in order to exercise their rights as British citizens.
It will also examine the history of Europeans in Britain throughout the twentieth century, from anxieties about Jewish immigration in the 1900s, to uncertain welcome afforded to refugees and migrant workers in the 1930s and 1940s, and finally to contemporary debates about the EU and 'Brexit'.
This is a module that focuses on the agency and experience of the people in Multicultural Britain as much as on their interactions with power, while never downplaying the enormous impact of racism and xenophobia. It highlights the diverse range of cultural experiences which make up the fabric of British history.
Finally, it makes clear that understanding the history of multiculturalism also requires an understanding of its intersections with race, gender, and sexuality. Multiculturalism in Britain has not gone uncontested, but it is made Britain what it is today.
The module aims to:
1. Introduce students to the history of multicultural Britain, highlighting that British history cannot be understood as an exclusively ‘white’ phenomenon
2. Build confidence in understanding concepts of ‘race’, citizenship, and belonging, and how they are used to analyse the past
3. Explore the history of multicultural Britain in ways which emphasis how the concept of ‘race’ intersected with ideas of class, gender, and sexuality
4. Understand that the history of multicultural Britain, and of the people, who have lived in on this island, is as much about agency and achievement as it is about racism and the interactions between people and the power structures governing Britain.
On completing the module, students will:
1. Have an awareness of key issues concerning the history of multicultural Britain.
2. Have grown in confidence concerning the sophisticated use of key concepts in modern British history.
3. Have analysed suitable primary source material in a coherent and well-developed manner.
4. Have gained key discipline-specific skills in preparation for the final year research project.
Syllabus
1. Introduction: Britain, Race, and the Legacy of Empire
2. Undesirable Aliens: Intersections of Class and Race Before 1914
3. Marginal Lives? Sex, Violence and the perception of race in the 1920s and 1930s
4. A Tolerant Nation? Jewish Refugees, Colonial Troops, and Black GIs on the Home Front
5. From RAF Pilots to MigrantWorkers: Eastern Europeans in 1940s Britain
6. The Windrush Generation: Everyday Life in the 1950s
7. Racism and Power: Powellism and the New Right
8. Challenging Exploitation: Asian Women Workers and the Grunwick Strike
9. Essay Workshop
10. Brexit Britain: the Limits of Belonging in Multicultural Britain
Lectures and seminars. The learning and teaching methods acknowledge the different learning needs of students and are designed to enable all students to participate. Lectures will be available on Listen Again.
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 Matthew Grant, email: m.grant@essex.ac.uk.
Matthew Grant, m.grant@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Miriam Dobson
University of Sheffield
Reader
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
History
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