Dr. Sujit Sivasundaram

MSc History of Nationalism, MSc History of Empires, MA/MSc History of International Relations, MSc Theory and History of International Relations, MSc International Affairs, MSc International and World History, MSc Global History and MA Global Studies: A European Perspective. Also available to students on the LSE-PKU Double Degree in MSc International Affairs. The course is also available as an outside option where regulations permit.

What will the narrative of the birth of the modern world look like if we take an oceanic perspective?

This course will explore the role of the oceans –the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic -- in giving birth to our modern world, and in particular to globalisation.

Students will study several types of oceanic connections. First how empires were shaped by oceans in the long nineteenth century; for empires used coastal regions as stepping stones to wider imperial programmes of trade and colonization. Second, how people, from elites to labourers, moved with the expansion of empires, taking with them particular cultures, religions and political ideas. Third how ideas were globalised across the oceans, leading to new forms of patriotism, rights and nationalism; and new kinds of knowledge such as science, medicine, art and orientalism.

Globalisation is seen to be the recent product of a shrinking world, yet this course seeks to historicise globalisation, by thinking through a particular moment in its history, which was linked to the great seas and to routes of shipping. Like us, many people in the long nineteenth century felt that theirs was a world which was becoming smaller, and that new exchanges were possible across vast distances. In historicising globalisation, we will be able to reflect more critically on our own condition.

In addition to seminars at the LSE, we will make four visits to the National Maritime Museum. The purpose of these visits is for students on the one hand, to be given access to unique historical materials. The Museum will allow students to handle objects, and curatorial staff will be on hand to advise on how to use these objects as historical sources. A second objective is for students to learn how a museum works, and also to consider how a museum creates and disseminates international history. As part of the assessment each student will complete an assignment based on materials at the Museum, and this will give them the chance to put into practice the experience of these visits, by understanding the research skills associated with doing historical work in museums.

16 hours of seminars in the MT and two visits to the National Maritime Museum. 16 hours of seminars in the LT and 2 hours of seminars in the ST.

The formative course work will include two essays to be written in Michaelmas Term of 2,500 words each.

Chris Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World 1780-1914 (2004); Bernard Bailyn, Atlantic History: Concepts and Contours (2005); Rainer Buschmann Oceans in World History (2006); D. Cannadine ed. Empire, the Sea and Global History (2007); Sugata Bose, A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (2006); Greg Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theatre on The Bounty (1992); A.G. Hopkins ed. Globalization in World History (2002); Adam McKeown, Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalization of Borders (2008); Thomas Metcalf, Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 (2007); Bernard Smith, Imagining the Pacific: In the Wake of the Cook Voyages (1992)

A 3,000 word project essay (25%) and a 3-hour exam in the ST (75%)