ENG 235 - Empire, Race and the Victorians

By the end of the 19th century, Britain had the most powerful colonial empire in the world. That empire was acquired during a key time in the formation of European and American ideas about race and we have inherited many of the Victorians’ assumptions about race, ethnicity and relations between Western Europe, Africa, Asia and America. This course explores literature about the British Empire, the political, social and sometimes even sexual issues that underlay the acquisition of colonies and the scientific writings that helped to shape definitions of race. We will read poetry, nonfiction prose, novels, travel literature and plays.

Credits 4

Area
Humanities

Connection
20096

Division
Arts and Humanities

Compass Attributes
Global Honors, Humanities, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars