HIU34509: Atlantic Island: 18th century Ireland in Oceanic Perspective

Concepts such as mercantilism, the Black Atlantic, the Green Atlantic and the British Atlantic World will be interrogated and subjected to critical analysis. Geographically the course ranges from the European Atlantic ports of Bordeaux, Cork, and Cadiz to the North American islands of Montserrat and Jamaica, the colonial port cities of Philadelphia and New York and to the Pennsylvania back country exploring the variegated and complex experiences and movements of Irish communities within the North Atlantic ocean. Attention will be paid to the different ways different regions and communities within Ireland engaged with the Atlantic world or worlds. Historiographical issues regarding Ireland’s role within the empire, the slave trade, and the distinctive experience of the Irish colonial experience will be given particular prominence.