HIS 8275-030   CRN: 13705                                                                   Prof. Jeffrey Johnson

European Imperialism in the 19th-20th Centuries                                   SAC 440, tel. 610-519-7404

Summer Session III (June-July) 2004                                                      Hrs. Th. 3:00-5:00 p.m.

Thursdays, 6-8:50 p.m.                                                                             & by appt.

website:  http://www11.homepage.villanova.edu/jeffrey.johnson/

email:       Jeffrey.Johnson@villanova.edu

                                                               

AIM:   This graduate reading course is intended to examine the phenomenon of European imperialism within the context of the 19th-20th century world, chiefly from the 1830s to the Second World War.  We will discuss various interpretations of the phenomenon, featuring linkages to politics, economics, social relations (including class, gender, and ethnic issues), culture, science and technology.  We will also test these interpretations by examining case studies of imperialism in various geographical areas (the Mediterranean and Middle East, Asia, Africa, etc.).  We will consider the perspectives of both the imperialists and those subjected to imperialism.

 

BOOKS:  The following required paperbacks are available at the Villanova University Shop.

 

Kipling, Rudyard.  The Man Who Would Be King & Other Stories.  Dover Publications.

Hobson, John A.  Imperialism. University of Michigan Press.

Lenin, Vladimir I.  Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.  International Publishers.

Conklin, Alice L., & Fletcher, Ian, eds.  European Imperialism, 1830-1930.  Houghton Mifflin.

Headrick, Daniel R.  The Tools of Empire.  Oxford University Press.

Strobel, Margaret.  Gender, Sex and Empire.   American Historical Association

Parsons, Timothy. The British Imperial Century, 1815-1914.  Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 

Hochschild, Adam.  King Leopold's Ghost.  Houghton Mifflin.

 

WORK AND EVALUATION:  The course will meet once a week for two hours and fifty minutes, divided into two sessions with a short break.  Each session will involve discussions based on the common readings, introduced (beginning in the second week) by short oral reports to highlight significant issues and introduce supplementary evidence.  Oral participation will be graded (20 % of total grade, including 10 % for oral reports).  Written work will include two short papers (about 6-8 pages each) on topics to be chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor (40 % each).  There will be no final examination.

 

Late work and plagiarism:  The following warnings are included for the record.

   If you do not complete your written work when it is due, and if you do not have an adequate excuse (and contact the instructor before the due date), your maximum possible grade will be reduced by one letter grade after each week the assignment is overdue.

   The instructor will not tolerate plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty; students handing in work that is demonstrably not their own, or which involves dishonest manipulation or misrepresentation of sources, can expect to be disciplined according to standard university procedures.  The usual penalty is a failing grade in the course.

 

OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE: 

 

Part One:  Shaping the “New imperialism”

 

Week 1 (6/3)  Introduction; the imperialist mind-set

    Read:  Kipling, pp. 21-100 (note glossary, 101-102); PAPER TOPICS & ORAL REPORTS


HIS 8275-030   CRN: 13705                                                                   Prof. Jeffrey Johnson (2)

 

Week 2 (6/10)  Imperialism and international systems:  the British case

                Read Parsons, entire

                Oral reports:  1) British imperial economic strategy in 19th-century India (use P.J. Marshall, Bengal: The British Bridgehead : Eastern India, 1740-1828; C. A. Bayly, Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire [if available]; B. R. Tomlinson, Economy of Modern India)

                                2) The “official mind” in Africa  (use Robinson, Ronald, & John Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians)

 

Week 3 (6/17)  "Classic” non-Marxist interpretations of imperialism:  Hobson and Schumpeter

    Read:  Hobson, entire; Conklin, 43-51

    Oral reports:        1) Hobson and the “new imperialism” (Richard Koebner & H. D. Schmidt, Imperialism; The Story and Significance of a Political Word)

                                2) Schumpeter’s sociological analysis  (see his Imperialism and Social Classes)

 

Week 4 (6/24)  Effect of the First World War on the debate:  anti-Imperialism and revolutionary Marxism

    Read:  Lenin, entire; Conklin, 21-36, 51-53

    Oral reports:        1) Lenin and other Marxist anti-Imperialists (Peter A. DeCaro, Rhetoric of Revolt : Ho Chi Minh's Discourse for Revolution; Bukharin, Imperialism and World Economy)

                                2) Anti-Marxist critics between the wars (William Langer, The Diplomacy of Imperialism; C. J. Hayes, A Generation of Materialism (selected chapters);

 

Week 5 (7/1)  Race and gender issues

    Read:  Strobel, entire; Conklin, pp. 97-137

    Oral reports:        1) Sexuality, race and imperialism (Anne McClintock, Imperial leather: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest; Paul B. Rich; Race and Empire in British Politics)

                                2) Brief presentations of selected papers

    FIRST PAPERS DUE

    SECOND SET OF PAPER TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED

 

Part Two:  The “New Imperialism” in action

 

Week 6 (7/8)  Formal vs. informal empire & technological issues in North Africa & Asia

    Read:  Headrick, pp. 3-57, 83-104, 129-191

    Oral reports:        1) North Africa (Algeria, Egypt)

                                2) Asia (Opium War, Indian Mutiny)

 

Week 7 (7/15)  Scientific and technological factors behind European dominance in Africa; opposition to European technology and “civilization” in India

    Read:  Headrick, pp. 58-79, 105-126, 192-210; Conklin, pp. 67-74, 81-95; Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (on-line:  http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm), chsIV-VIII, XII-XVII, XIX-XX

    Oral reports:        1) "Development" & socioeconomic dependency (India, Africa)

                                2) Indian non-violent resistance (Gandhi)

 

 

 

HIS 8275-030   CRN: 13705                                                                   Prof. Jeffrey Johnson (3)

 

Week 8 (7/22)  The Congo and the "scramble for Africa"; Leopold’s empire and reactions to it

    Read:  Hochschild, entire

    Oral reports:        1) Leopold’s empire and its enemies (sources TBA)

                                2) French & German empires in Africa:  comparative cases

 

Week 9 (7/29)  Cultural effects, resistance, and the legacy of imperialism

    Read:  Conklin, 139-220

    Oral reports:        1) Forms of resistance to imperialism in Africa

                                2) Brief presentations of selected papers

    SECOND PAPERS due