An overview of the fundamentals of Britain’s rise to global power in the early nineteenth century, the maintenance of this power at the turn of the twentieth century and its decline as a hegemony in the post-World War II period.

Explores the international history and internal dynamics of Oman, including its East African empire centred on Zanzibar, its dual religious and secular power centres and its diverse geographic and ethnic composition.

The story of Britain’s connection with the sultanate, focusing on the establishment of British suzerainty, the nature of the British relationship with the Al Bu Said sultans and the twin themes of counter-insurgency and withdrawal that characterized British involvement with Oman in the 1960s and 1970s.

1) 10-11.30: Exam 2) 11.45-13.45: Research Topics Discussion; we will use the Power article to explore the nature of the primary source material.

Each student will make a five-minute presentation on the topic they wish to research. The session is split into three separate mini-sessions, and students will attend according to the group they are in. 10.00-11.00: Group A 11.15-12.15: Group B 12.30-13.30: Group C

Each student will make exploratory examinations of the online primary source material.

Each student will take 10 minutes to present their research into the primary source material relating to their personal research topic. It is expected that at least three individual archival items will be discussed. These discussions are based on the conventions of historical source criticism, concerned with questions of description (i.e. questions of authorship, date, type of source, purpose and information contained) questions of interpretation (i.e. the reliability of the source, whether any ‘hidden’ or unintended insights are revealed in the document, how the source relates to other primary sources on the topic, the implications of the source for developing an interpretation of the topic). Each presentation will be followed by up to 10 minutes of general discussion.

As in previous session: another three individual archival items will be discussed by each student. It is expected that students will show a greater general expertise with the sources and will in particular be able to show how the different documents that they have analysed relate to each other documents (i.e. identifying tensions or harmonies between sources, showing how sources from different dates show the development of the chosen topic through time, revealing continuity and change in how the chosen topic develops).

As in previous session: an additional three individual archival items will be discussed. It is expected that students will be able to relate their discussion of their selected documents to at least one work of scholarship on the topic (using either one of the sources listed in Section 3, above, or a work suggested or approved by the instructor). We are interested here in seeing how the selected primary sources either support or undermine an existing interpretation of your chosen topic.

Students will give a final ten-minute presentation of their overall findings (including incorporating fresh evidence and references to secondary sources as required). Powerpoint or other visual aids can be used. A final primary source report will also be submitted as a Dropbox assignment on NEO.