Exeter’s Centre for Imperial and Global History is once again launching its free online course, which starts this week.
The British Empire was the largest empire ever seen. It ruled over a quarter of the world’s population and paved the way for today’s global economy. But British imperialism isn’t without controversy, and it continues to cause enormous disagreement among historians today. This free online course will help you understand why.
Over six weeks, we’ll explore the British Empire through six themes – money, violence, race, religion, gender and sex, and propaganda. You’ll get to hear the stories of the fascinating individuals who contributed to both its rise and fall. Continue reading “Free Course: ‘Empire – the Controversies of British Imperialism’”
Filipino Muslims under US Colonial Rule
A Centre Talk by
Dr. Karine V. Walther
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Abstract: When the United States annexed the Philippine Islands in 1898 after their victory over Spain during the Spanish-American War, they made over 300,000 Filipino Muslims— as well as over 6 million Catholics and 200,000 animists— American colonial subjects. Although Filipino Muslims, or Moros as they were called by the Spanish, and later, the Americans, constituted only a small percentage of the population, they controlled a third of the territory annexed by the United States in 1898. During their colonial governance of the Islands, the intellectual and spiritual roots driving American imperial rule over Filipino Muslims were entrenched in—and relied upon— orientalist tropes that cast Muslims as uncivilized or barbaric and, importantly, incapable of self-government. What was unique about this moment, however, was that contrary to previous American interactions with Muslims around the world, this marked the first time the United States would rule over Muslim subjects as part of its own empire. This talk will analyze how American colonial officials applied their perceptions of Islam to the governance of what they described as their new “Mohammedan wards” in the Philippines.
When: Friday, 11 December at 3.30
Where: Forum Seminar Room 5, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus
This talk is taken from her wider book study, Sacred Interests: The United States and the Islamic World, 1821-1921 (University of North Carolina Press, 2015).
We say socialism tends to stand together throughout the world”, Margaret Thatcher said on American TV in 1977. “We must have what I call the freer way of life likewise standing together”. Margaret Thatcher’s World derives from the fact that no democratic leader has provoked so great an international reaction, and no political brand – defined in many often contradictory ways, but a recognisable brand nonetheless – has had such international salience as Thatcherism, both at the time and subsequently.
It is striking in public discourse in countries across the world, how often the person and the ‘ism’ is used and misused, revered and abused. Frequently the spectre (or specter) of Thatcherism is invoked; the term and the person has become an epithet of approbation or opprobrium. The project is an international history and a reception study which includes such aspects as policy networks and processes, rhetoric, gender, and ideology. So it was that Johannesburg’s Business Day described “the global implementation of Thatcherism”, Tehran’s Shargh felt “the majority of the countries of the world have put the Thatcherism movement in their agenda”, Toronto’s Financial Post that “Thatcher’s legacy lives far and wide”, and Santiago’s El Mercuria wrote of “the woman who transformed the UK and shocked the world”. The application of the term goes beyond Britain, and even the West: President Ershad of Bangladesh has referred to “third world Thatcherism”, and the Times of India to “Thatcherism of the Tigris”. As she said in Moscow in 1987, “[I]t is universally true, you know, Thatcherism”.
Dr. Martin Farr will be presenting his paper ‘Making Thatcher’s World’ this Wednesday at the Centre for Imperial & Global History’s seminar series. Continue reading “Making Thatcher’s World – A Talk by Martin Farr – This Wednesday at the University of Exeter”
The Centre for Imperial and Global History offers internationally-recognised supervision with geographical coverage from 30 staff across African, Asian (including Chinese), Middle Eastern, North American, Latin American, European, Imperial, and Global history from early-modern to contemporary eras. We have strong inter-disciplinary links with colleagues across the humanities and social sciences at Exeter, particularly with the Centre for War, State and Society and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. The Centre has particular research interests in:
- Globalisation’s past and present
- Comparative empires and transnationalism
- Humanitarianism, development and human rights
- Law and colonialism
- Political economy and the imperial state
- Europe, decolonisation and the legacies of empire
- The impact of armed conflict on society
- Colonial warfare and counterinsurgency
Continue reading “Applying for Graduate Study in Imperial & Global History at Exeter”
Seeking PhD funding in the fields of World, Global, Imperial or Transnational History?
Please consider the following funding opportunities at the University of Exeter:
· College of Humanities Doctoral Scholarships (up to 12 awards, plus 2 International Scholarships)
· ESRC South West Doctoral Training Consortium (up to 20 1+3 and 3 year awards).
· One Leverhulme ‘1989 after 1989: Rethinking the Fall of State Socialism’ project doctoral award
· One AHRC Globalism Goes Social project doctoral award
History at the University of Exeter has two research centres in the broad field of world history: the Centre for Imperial and Global History (led by Professor Andrew Thompson), and the Centre for War, State and Society (led by Professor Martin Thomas). Both offer internationally-recognised supervision with geographical coverage from 30 staff across African, Asian (including Chinese), Middle Eastern, North American, Latin American, Imperial, and European history from early-modern to contemporary eras, comprising of one of the largest groups of imperial and global historians currently working in the UK. Continue reading “Exeter PhD Funding in Imperial and Global History – Early Feb. Deadlines”
Exeter’s Centre for Imperial and Global History launches a new, free online course.
We are delighted to announce that, starting in January 2015, we will be running a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the history of the British Empire.
The British Empire was the largest empire ever seen. It ruled over a quarter of the world’s population and paved the way for today’s global economy. But British imperialism isn’t without controversy, and it continues to cause enormous disagreement among historians today.This free online course will help you understand why.
Continue reading “Empire: The Controversies of British Imperialism”
With pleasure, we see that the Centre for Imperial & Global History has been made the In Focus Feature story by the University’s Research & KT (@UofE_Research).
Cross-posted from In Focus
Centre in focus
Centre for Imperial and Global History
Understanding how the modern world was shaped by its past is a goal of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Imperial and Global History (CIGH).
Launched in late 2013, the Centre aims to show how much of the world’s history was created by empires, to reposition the histories of those empires in a wider global context, and gain insight into the causes and consequences of globalisation.
It does this through researching topics including the histories of humanitarianism and human rights, law and colonialism, regions in a global context, and the relationship between globalisation’s past and present. Continue reading “Centre In Focus”