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The British Empire, the largest in world history, took its inception, humbly enough, when a charter was granted by Elizabeth I on the last day of 1600 to 219 ‘subscribers’, who had supplied nearly 70,000 pounds so that the East India Company could begin trading the “Indias”. Britain is currently commemorating a business venture that introduced spices, textiles, tea, and ‘china’ to a rising number of consumers, with the exhibition “Monsoon Traders” at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. An excursion (Fri. 11th – Mon. 13th May) to this exhibition will be integral to a seminar that incorporates various approaches to studying the creation of an overseas empire.
That all was not done ‘honorably’ becomes evident when we consider that the price for importing Chinese tea to Britain was paid for by the Chinese who became addicted to the opium grown in India and smuggled into Canton. In this context we will be reading Amitav Ghosh’s historical novel The Sea of Poppies as fictive representation of the world of the EIC.
A different approach to the topic of trade and empire-building is provided by video games. East India Company, in particular, as well as High Tea, offer its players the virtual ‘experience’ of re-enacting a period in history in which globalization was rapidly progressing. The historical accuracy of these games will be measured using material prepared by the National Archives, Kew, to which a visit is planned as part of the excursion.
These interrelated approaches will be complemented by a media workshop scheduled for the the end of the term, in which experts in graphic design and ‘serious’ computer games as well as cultural studies will discuss their fields of work.
Participation
Regular attendance of all sessions including the excursion and workshop block seminar; thorough acquaintance with all the material listed above before the first session; individual research on a relevant topic of your choice for short oral presentations / group work, followed by a term paper (7,500 words, in MLA format). Please check the TAS website under "Your Studies" for further details about oral presentation and essay writing modalities.
Please contact m.ghosh@mx.uni-saarland.de for further details
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