Ireland, Modernity, and Empire

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Did Ireland have an Empire? Did Ireland play a part in the exploitation of other peoples through the British Empire? Were the Irish foot-soldiers or leaders? To what extent did Irish religious missionaries exploit the opportunities afforded by Imperial expansion? This course will look at the Irish role in a period of European-wide Imperial expansion, from about 1880 to about 1950. In addition to tracking Irish entrepreneurs, soldiers, missionaries and colonists across the "settler colonies" such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand it will look at the Irish in India, West Africa, Argentina, and the West Indies. Drawing on a growing scholarship in the area we will decide whether the Empire was utilised mainly by people from one particular class, or from all. Did the people who left home believe they were part of a progressive or evangelical mission of "improvement" or were they just out for themselves?