Tag: British Empire MOOC

On Empire and Anachronism

Published on by CIGH Exeter20 Comments

anachronismRichard Toye
History Department, University of Exeter
Follow on Twitter @RichardToye

Our free online course Empire: The Controversies of Imperialism has now been running two weeks; between them, the participants have already made thousands of comments, often arguing their respective points of view quite vigorously. One persistent theme of debate is the degree to which it is possible to pass judgements on the actions of people in the past, who were operating on the basis of standards that are different from those held today. This is an important and difficult issue for historians in general, although the contentious topic of ‘Empire’ seems to throw it into particular relief. Everyone can agree that we shouldn’t reach assessments that are anachronistic; it is much harder to reach agreement on what constitutes anachronism. Continue reading “On Empire and Anachronism” →

Empire: The Controversies of British Imperialism

Published on by CIGH Exeter1 Comment

MOOC pic

Exeter’s Centre for Imperial and Global History launches a new, free online course.

We are delighted to announce that, starting in January 2015, we will be running a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the history of the British Empire.

The British Empire was the largest empire ever seen. It ruled over a quarter of the world’s population and paved the way for today’s global economy. But British imperialism isn’t without controversy, and it continues to cause enormous disagreement among historians today.This free online course will help you understand why.

Continue reading “Empire: The Controversies of British Imperialism” →