Module description
This module explores the ways in which war impacts, creates, and influences the many forms of slavery and unfree labour in the modern world, and in turn how slavery has impacted war as a global phenomenon. It will inter-relate the study of key literature with key case studies to unveil the complexities and the difficulties inherent to the study of slavery as a historical and contemporary phenomenon relating to war. The module will examine different forms and examples of slavery across geographical and historical spaces to provide students with an understanding of the centrality of slavery and unfree labour to War Studies. Major cross-cutting themes that will be interrogated across the module include examining how considerations of race, gender, and political economy have shaped not only the forms of slavery that proliferate in war, but also the character of national and international-level antislavery interventions, and the ways in which the agency and rights of enslaved people and survivors are understood.
Assessment details
| Presentation |
10 minutes |
30% |
| Essay |
1800 words |
70% |
Educational aims & objectives
The aims of the module are:
- To provide students with detailed knowledge, and critical thinking skills regarding the relationship between War and Slavery.
- To synthesise, compare and discuss the key historical issues, academic debates, and different approaches to interrogating Slavery within War Studies.
- To improve students’ critical and analytical skills through engagement with key sources and selected literature in whole-class discussions, group tasks, research and writing assignments.
- To enable students to develop and produce independent scholarly research on one aspect of slavery and war.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module, the students will:
- Have acquired an extensive knowledge of the relationships between war and slavery.
- Be able to identify, analyse and critically engage with the main debates relevant to the study of the relationships between war and slavery, and exercise judgement on the strengths and weaknesses of competing interpretations of its contemporary and historical forms.
- Have learned how to generate ideas about the relationships between war and slavery
- Have acquired specialist analytical, evaluative, and critical skills through in-depth analysis of cases, processes and practices.
- Have developed employability skills through verbal, written and independent research assignments, but also through developing cultural competency by critically examining assumptions about the relationship between slavery and war.
Teaching pattern
The course consists of lectures and seminars. Lectures should be used to deepen and broaden your understanding of the subject, which should help you to engage in seminar discussions.