HIS32920 Britain in the Islamic World: Themes of empire, religion, and resistance 1800-1950

Academic Year 2022/2023

At its height, British imperial authority extended over hundreds of millions of Muslim subjects from the Straits of Malacca to the Niger basin and beyond. While a diverse cadre of British soldiers, policy-makers, census enumerators, intelligence agents, missionaries, writers, scholars, and explorers divided these subjects along lines of sect, race, caste, tribe, and nation, collectively they were conceived of as comprising one coherent civilization, an “Islamic world”. This course will explore the engagement of the British Empire with this world through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will examine the imperial impulse which drove British expansion into the heartland of territories long held by the great Islamic powers of the early modern age, with a special emphasis on the Indian subcontinent and the Arab Middle East. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which British authorities came to categorize and “know” their Muslim subjects, and the impact that this process of colonial knowledge building had in shaping the modern identities of Muslims across the empire. As the period under review incorporates the birth of a truly global, pan-Islamic Muslim consciousness, we will engage with the efforts of key Muslim thinkers and movements to make sense of their place and prospects in a world dominated by European imperialism. Finally, we will consider the challenge and nuances of nationalism and the formal end of empire, and its legacy in terms of contemporary life in South Asia, the Middle East, and Britain.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
• demonstrate knowledge of the crucial historiographical episodes which have defined the engagement of the British Empire with the various lands and peoples which comprise “the Islamic world”
• think critically about the processes and language through which British imperial knowledge of Islam and Muslims has been constructed and expressed
• understand the wide range of Muslim responses to the imposition of British authority from India to the Middle East
• engage with a variety of primary source material derived from both British and Muslim actors

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1 Lecture: Introduction - the scope of Britain’s Islamic empire
Seminar theme: The idea of an “Islamic World”

Week 2 Lecture: The origins of Britain’s Islamic empire
Seminar theme: The centrality of India

Week 3 Lecture: The Great Game and the Eastern Question
Seminar theme: Imperial strategy, warfare, and conquest

Week 4 Lecture: 1857, its aftermath, and the “fanatical Musulman”
Seminar theme: Forms of imperial authority and the quest for legitimacy

Week 5 Lecture: The Muslims of British India
Seminar theme: Law, education, and national politics

Week 6 Lecture: The “penetration” of Arabia
Seminar theme: Forms of knowledge and information

Week 7 Lecture: “Modern Egypt” under British occupation
Seminar theme: The centrality of the Arab Middle East

Week 8 Lecture: Reformists, revivalists, and “sectarians” from Cairo to Calcutta
Seminar theme: Religion and Islam in British colonial thought

Week 9 Lecture: Extending to the ‘periphery’- East Asia, Africa, and beyond
Seminar theme: Mobility, communications, and networks

Week 10 Lecture: The First World War and the interwar mandates
Seminar theme: Collaboration, nationalism, and resistance

Week 11 Lecture: Revolutions, partitions, and withdrawals
Seminar theme: The legacies of empire, and Islam in modern Britain

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

11
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Specified Learning Activities

95
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Total

223
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module. It is taught through a one-hour weekly lecture and a two-hour weekly seminar. Lectures will provide a basic overview of the broad history of the British Empire across the Islamic world, while seminars will be centred around primary source readings relating to a defining theme. The weekly seminar is focused upon individual active / task-based learning by means of class debates, discussion and student presentations. Advanced research, writing and citation skills are developed through a combined individual student presentation on primary sources and written essay, and a semester-long 4,000 word research project. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary sources and / or student presentations each week.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Essay: An end of trimester essay/extended research project of 4000 words. Week 12 n/a Graded No

40
Continuous Assessment: Students are graded on their contribution to seminars throughout the trimester. Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20
Presentation: A combined 20-minute presentation and 1500-word written essay version. Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No

40

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the written assessments will be provided in writing via brightspace. Informal feedback on the in-class presentation will be given verbally during seminars. Students can arrange one-on-one meetings to discuss their assessments, particularly in relation to preparations for the end of trimester essay.

Name Role
Mr Conor Meleady Lecturer / Co-Lecturer