This three week summer course examines how people, political regimes and capital created the modern world economy. Starting with the status of EurAsia circa 1500, students will chronologically examine the vectors of change, resistance and transformation in Africa, Asia and the Near and Middle East. Through daily lectures, punctuated by excursions across the historical and contemporary cityscapes of London and Paris, students will be invited to identify broad patterns of change in world historical perspective by engaging a series of case studies drawn from the histories of individual societies in transition. This course is designed specifically for students desiring credits transferable to their home institution.

Based in the historic Bloomsbury district of London, just a few minutes’ walk from the British Museum and the British Library, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is a college of the University of London and the only Higher Education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. SOAS offers a unique convergence of languages, disciplinary expertise and regional focus, and offers the largest concentration in Europe of faculty concerned with the study of Africa, Asia and the Near and Middle East.

Students from colleges and universities worldwide (see further particulars for English language requirements) are welcome. There is no coursework prerequisite, but applicants are required to have a 3.0 GPA (U.S.) or equivalent.

The programme fee is £1600 and includes tuition, student hall accommodation with breakfast, London excursions, and an overnight Paris excursion, but students are responsible for their own travel arrangements to and from London.

Prospective students can request additional information via email to ifcels@soas.ac.uk or check our website at: www.soas.ac.uk/ifcels/summer/empires/. Online registration begins in early January.