Studying at York
Confronting Empire in the Early Modern Asia-Pacific - HIS00174I
- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Module summary
The waterways of the Asia-Pacific connected peoples from different lands for millennia, creating rich and dynamic Indigenous worlds across this ‘sea of islands’. Encompassing the geographies of the Malay Archipelago, Australia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, this course focuses on the Indigenous societies of Asia-Pacific, their relationships to local environments, and their encounters with distant peoples and lands during the early modern period. We begin by exploring the histories of migration, navigation, and cultural exchange that have shaped the societies of this dynamic region. The course then explores the place of Asia-Pacific within early modern history, a time when this region became central to colonialism, globalisation, and trade. From the sixteenth century, Europeans were attracted to the region in search of the lucrative spice trade and the mythical ‘Terra Australis’, ushering in an era of rapid change driven by colonial ambitions and frontier violence. Communities across this vast region responded to these developments in a variety of ways, ranging from trade and accommodation to resistance and warfare. This course approaches these histories of encounter from an Indigenous-centred perspective.
This course explores both written and non-traditional sources for historical enquiry, including oral histories, archaeology, folklore, and ethnohistory and students are encouraged to think about decolonial approaches to historical research and writing. Throughout the course, we will reflect on how different themes relate to contemporary issues such as Indigenous land rights, sovereignty, environmental management, ecology, and climate.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
The aims of this module are:
- To provide students with the opportunity to study particular historical topics in depth
- To develop students’ ability to examine a topic from a range of perspectives and to strengthen their ability to work critically and reflectively with secondary and primary material
Module learning outcomes
Students who complete this module successfully will:
- Have acquired a deep knowledge of the specific topic studied
- Have developed their ability to use and synthesise a range of primary and secondary sources
- Be able to evaluate the arguments that historians have made about the topic studied
- Have developed their ability to study independently through seminar-based teaching
Module content
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1. Students will then attend a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW) during which there are no seminars. 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:
- Asia-Pacific: Crossroads of Ancient and Modern Globalisations
- Our Sea of Islands: Maritime Connections
- Seafarers and Wayfinding: Encounters and Explorations
- Spices, Diplomacy, and Rebellion: Sultanates and Empires
- Spiritual Conquests?: Missionaries and Indigenous Lifeways
- Merchants and Labourers: Chinese Presence in Island Southeast Asia
- Frontiers and Hinterlands
- Decolonising Early Modern Asia Pacific History
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
For formative assessment, students will complete a referenced 1200 to 1500-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This will be submitted in either the Week 5 or Week 9 RAW week (on the day of the weekly seminar).
For summative assessment, students will complete an Assessed Essay (2000 words, footnoted). This will comprise 100% of the overall module mark.
Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work 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 deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
Indicative reading
For term 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:
- Ryan Tucker Jones and Matt K. Matsuda (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean, Vol. 1: The Pacific Ocean to 1800, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022
- Heather Sutherland, Seaways and Gatekeepers: Trade and State in the Eastern Archipelagos of Southeast Asia, c. 1600-c.1906, Singapore: NUS Press, 2021
- Bronwen Douglas, Science, Voyages, and Encounters in Oceania, 1511-1850, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014