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Short Period: A Sea of Islands: The Asia-Pacific in the 19th Century (V1480)

15 credits, Level 5

Autumn teaching

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.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The Â鶹´«Ã½ may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.