HI4320 Ireland and Empire, 1801-1949
Module Organiser: Prof. Ciaran O'Neill
Duration: Hilary term
Contact hours: 2 hours per week
Weighting: 10 ECTS
Assessment: 20% essay, 80% examination
Did Ireland have an Empire? Was Ireland a colonial force and did it play a part in the exploitation of other peoples through the British Empire? Were the Irish foot-soldiers or leaders? To what extent did Irish religious missionaries exploit the opportunities afforded by Imperial expansion? This module examines the Irish role in European-wide imperial expansion. In addition to tracking Irish entrepreneurs, soldiers, missionaries and colonists across the ‘settler colonies’, such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, discussion focuses on the Irish in India, west Africa, Argentina, and the West Indies. Drawing on a growing scholarship in the area we will decide whether the Empire was utilised mainly by people from one particular class, or from all. Did the people who left home believe they were part of a progressive or evangelical mission of ‘improvement’ or were they just out for themselves?
Leaning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- Analyse key political, religious and intellectual developments associated with Irish engagement with Empire
- Identify and locate relevant secondary literature
- Engage with relevant theoretical and critical approaches to the history of Empire
- Apply different techniques of evaluation and interpretation to relevant primary sources
- Critique relevant historiography in the light of study of primary sources
- Present and discuss analysis of questions relating to the history of Empire, and Ireland’s involvement in it, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- Analyse the impact of Empire on Ireland