HIST 127 - The Victorian Empire

Upper Division

Prerequisites
Students must have sophomore standing to enroll in upper-division courses.

The “sun never set” on the global British empire of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but its scale alone makes it difficult to comprehend from the multiplicity of local and global perspectives involved in its construction, contestation, and evolution. This course will trace the development of the British Empire before, during, and after the heyday of Queen Victoria’s empire (1837-1901) from geographic, demographic, and temporal vantage points. We will explore the intertwined nature of imperial, national, and racial identities in the British Empire, political contestations over citizenship and belonging, imperial wars and revolutions, industrialization and class conflicts, changing gender roles and sexual mores, and the flourishing of popular imperial literature and culture around the world. Students will also engage independently and collaboratively with children’s and adult literature, historical and contemporary films, museum and cultural exhibits, and both scholarly and primary texts from and about the Victorian Era that continue to shape our own historical consciousness of the British, their empire, and the era.

Core Curriculum Designation(s)
SHCU - Social, Historical, and Cultural Understanding; GP - Global Perspectives

Term Offered
Offered in alternate years.

Course credits: 1