Module Directory

The module will seek to understand the nature of imperial domination in each region and period, the historically specific structures and policies, as well as the constant push and pull that gave shape to ordinary lives. Second, we will examine the resistance movements, their ideas, goals, and methods. Finally, we will try to understand the reasons for the success or failure of each movement

The aims of this module are:

• To familiarize students with the concept of resistance and its various modes.


• To provide students with an understanding of the ways in which resistance shaped imperial project itself.


• To introduce students to the methods and approaches employed by scholars in reading sources normally produced from the metropolitan perspective.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Have an awareness of key definitions and debates concerning the nature of colonial domination and resistance.


2. Be able to identify and interpret a number of resistance movements throughout history, and be able to situate them within their specific historical contexts.


3. Be familiar with the theoretical and methodological problems of studying resistance in a European-dominated archive.


4. Have gained key discipline-specific skills in preparation for the final year research project.

The story of the European empires is all too familiar: beginning in the early fifteenth century, when Portugual began sending vessels down the African coast, Europeans gradually came to dominate much of the world, a situation that lasted into the second half of the twentieth century.

But that story is not the focus of this module. Instead, we will examine the many ways in which people across the globe opposed European imperialism, with special attention to the campaigns, both violent and non-violent, that contested and ultimately helped to alter the old world order. We will see that although many of these movements were crushed, European empires were far from invincible and always faced opposition.

Introductory reading

• James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak (1985).


• James C. Scott, Domination and the Art of Resistance (1990).


• Eric Hobsbawm, Primitive Rebels (1959).


• Antoinette Burton, The Trouble with Empire (2015).


• Heather Streets and Trevor Getz, Empires and Colonies in the Modern World: A Global Perspective (2016).

This module will be delivered via:

• Lectures.
• Seminars.