The module is designed to introduce students to the comparative study of the transatlantic slave trade, servitude, colonialism, antislavery and abolitionism.  Building on students’ knowledge from their studies in year one and two, the module will critically examine connections across the Atlantic and Pacific Worlds from Africa to the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia, and discuss to what extent slavery and its consequences have shaped and continue to shape these regions. The module will go beyond national and local historical narratives, to examine the transnational legacies of slavery and colonialism through an exploration of their impacts, principally in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Germany and Japan. We will examine the historical context with an emphasis on the nineteenth century, as well as addressing postcolonial legacies (of race, gender, and identity), and the memory and memorialisation of slavery and colonialism, primarily through archival documents, literature, visual and material culture. We will also consider the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade on the Pacific world, exploring, for example, how its abolition spurred migration from Asia to the Americas. We will examine how abolitionist literature shaped understanding of race and servitude in Japan in the nineteenth century, and its appropriation into nationalist narratives and wartime propaganda in the twentieth century. We will also consider contemporary debates about the possible continuities between colonialism and other historical phenomena, for example the Holocaust. Teaching and learning in the module will highlight specific events and developments such as the Haitian Revolution, key conspiracies and slave revolts, the suppression of the slave trade in Brazil and Latin America more broadly, as well as showing how these had profound repercussions from one plantation, Atlantic port city, and even from one colony to another. 

1. Explain systematically the cultural and historical importance of the connections between Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, and the Pacific World.
2. Draw comparative analogies across time and space and critically analyse  problems of continuity and change over time. 
3. Discuss in detail the influence of Atlantic slavery and migration (forced and voluntary) in the development of the modern world and apply relevant concepts and theory
4. Discuss ethical, social and cultural considerations related to the study of slavery and colonialism, forced migration and indentureship in a culturally sensitive manner.

The module will be delivered through a range of interactive teaching sessions supplemented by online teaching and learning activities and materials – and may include, where relevant, asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings. Full details on the delivery mode of this module will be available on Learning Central at the start of the academic year – and may be, in part, determined by Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance.  

• Using a variety of texts (material artefacts, fiction, film and visual culture) to enhance understanding of the history of colonialism, slavery and abolition in different contexts.
• Presentation skills and ability to present arguments in written and spoken format.
• Ability to engage critically with theoretical, conceptual and historical issues.
• Essay writing and short report writing skills.
• Analysis of historical documents and artefacts.

The method(s) of assessing the learning outcomes for this module are set out in the Assessment Table, which also contains the weightings of each assessment component.

Both assessments assess ILO 1,2,3,4,5

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

You may be required to resit one synoptic assessment for 100% of the module if you fail the module. The Examination Board will advise you which assessments you need to resit. Resit assessments that are not supported by extenuating circumstances will be capped at the pass mark applicable to your programme.

Topics and themes to include:

• Slavery and the slave trade in Spanish America, Brazil and the Caribbean
• Race and resistance 
• Maroons/runaway slave communities
• Emancipation
• Discourses around slavery and abolition 
• British abolitionism, antislavery and empire
• The Atlantic World and Atlantic port cities
• Legacies of slavery and the slave trade
• Colonial legacies
• Hybridity and cultural exchange between Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Pacific 
• Disease, religion, identity, cultural expression, memory
• Colonialism and slave trade memory politics      
• Abolitionist literature in Japan