Studying at York
Unfree Labour - HIS00135H
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
Unfree labour, ranging from apprenticeship and convict labour to serfdom and slavery, has been common across time and place. Proceeding in a rough chronological order, this module explores some of the main types of unfree labour in a variety of geographical and temporal settings, including ancient Greece, the post-emancipation USA, imperial Russia, and present-day Britain. It will not only test the thesis that capitalist economic expansion led to the disappearance of unfree labour but also evaluate the distinctive characteristics of unfree labour. In particular, the seminars will address such issues as: the legality or illegality of unfree labour; the relationship between the unfree labourer and their employer; the languages of unfree and free labour; the responses to unfree labour, including international treaties and resistance by unfree labourers; visual and textual representations of unfree labour; and gender differences and labour experiences. But the seminars will also pose more general questions about unfree labour. Why did certain societies prefer unfree to free labour? What is the link between capitalism and unfree labour? And how useful is the distinction between unfree labour and free labour?
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to the practice of comparative history;
- To enable students to acquire skills and understanding of that practice by studying a particular topic or theme; and
- To enable students to reflect on the possibilities and difficulties involved in comparative history
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Grasp the key approaches and challenges involved in comparative history;
- Understand a range of aspects of the topic or theme which they have studied;
- Be able to use and evaluate comparative approaches to that topic or theme; and
- Have learned to discuss and write about comparative history
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1, then a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in each of weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of the semester. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour plenaries/lectures and eight 2-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
- Definitions of (u)nfree labour and serfdom
- Slavery
- Bonded labour
- Tenant labour
- Convict labour
- Labour camps
- Sex trafficking
- Transnational migrant labour
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Open Examination: Multiple choice questions online | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment work, students will produce an essay plan relating to the themes and issues of the module.
For summative assessment students will complete an Open Exam in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Open Examination: Multiple choice questions online | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will receive written feedback, which may be supplemented
by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss their feedback during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission. For semester 1 assessments, the tutor will be available during student hours of the following semester for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
- Julia O’Connell Davidson, Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015).
- Joel Quirk, The Anti-Slavery Project : From the Slave Trade to Human Trafficking (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).
- Alessandro Stanziani, Bondage: Labor and Rights in Eurasia from the Sixteenth to the early Twentieth Centuries (New York: Berghan Books, 2014).