HR903-7-AU-CO:
Race and Class in the United States, South Africa and Britain: Select Topics
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2023/24
Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Postgraduate: Level 7
Inactive
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 15 December 2023
20
22 February 2023
Requisites for this module
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Our module commences by analysing the inner mechanics of the slave trade and how this shaped racial attitudes before exploring the forces underpinning abolitionism. That focus is overwhelmingly on Britain.
We then turn to consider the two countries that became infamous for racial discrimination: South Africa and the United States. There, racial identity and conflict became peculiarly entwined with class formation and antagonisms.
In the nineteenth century in both countries, slaves were always black, masters white; segregation arose in both places as new classes came into being and old ones (slaves, slaveholders, for example) declined; and labour movements in both states were to be stamped by a racism that often saw unions seeking to keep black workers out of particular jobs. Moreover, ethnic and racial identities came to have a salience so great that all too often they prevented general class solidarities from arising amongst black and white workers.
Years of intense class consciousness, which saw great conflicts between labour and capital could also see murderous battles within the working class. Our module explores this history by focusing on signal moments and phenomena: slavery, civil war, `race riots`, racial pathologies
This module aims to explore the complex relationship of race to class in Britain, South Africa and the US from the time of slavery through to the twentieth century.
The module is designed to give students a greater understanding of the contexts which shape racial ideologies, conflict and discrimination.
Topics traversed will include the slave trade and abolitionism, the comparative experience of slavery; ; race and class at transitional moments (the Civil War and Reconstruction in the US South; the Boer War and Reconstruction period in South Africa); the problem of racism and labour movements; and the utility of psychoanalytic perspectives to the analysis of racial consciousness.
Students will enhance their understanding of the complex social, economic and political contexts that shape racial consciousness and discrimination. They will develop a framework suitable for understanding the articulations of race and class both in the specific cases focused upon and more generally.
General Reading List:
J. Cell The Highest Stage of White Supremacy: the Origins of Segregation in South Africa and the American South
Emma Chrisopher Slave Ship Captains and their Captive Cargoes
G. Fredrickson White Supremacy: A Comparative Study in American and South African History
S. Greenburg Race and State in Capitalist Development: South Africa in Comparative Perspective
David Roediger The Wages of Whiteness
1 x 2 hour seminar per week
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
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Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Jeremy Krikler, email: krikjm@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Jeremy Krikler
Graduate Administrator, Department of History, Telephone: 01206 872190
Yes
Yes
Yes
Prof Rohan McWilliam
Anglia Ruskin University
professor of Modern Hritish History
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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