History

A Sea of Islands: The Asia-Pacific in the 19th Century

Module code: V1480
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

Epeli Hau’ofa wrote of how denizens of the Pacific ‘viewed their world as a “sea of islands”, rather than “islands in the sea.”’

This module explores the region’s diverse "islands" of nature, culture, family, and belonging throughout the long 19th century, from Europe's voyages of discovery to Asia’s ‘Wilsonian moment’ of the 1920s. Shaped by centuries of migration, trade, diplomacy, and war, indigenous and local communities had transformative encounters with Europeans. As a revolutionary, anti-colonial archipelago emerged, these communities began to see themselves as 'Asian' and 'Pacific,' worldly and modern, reclaiming the sea of islands surrounding them.

Module learning outcomes

• Deploy existing knowledge of topics of broad historical significance to the analysis of the national history of a particular country or region.
• Apply understanding of the historical concept of change over time to varied and contested national and regional chronologies.
• Deploy existing knowledge of historiographical debates to questions specific to particular national histories.
• Communicate information, arguments and analysis relating to national and regional history in written forms suitable for an informed audience.