Module manager: Dr Will Jackson
Email: W.Jackson@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as a discovery module
The migration of white settlers into southern and east African over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries transformed the continent. White settlers dominated and exploited Black Africans but as racial minorities they felt their vulnerability acutely. In this module, we explore the social histories of white settlers in colonial Africa. We work across South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya and we use the optic of intimacy to think critically about how race – and class and gender – reverberated through ordinary people’s everyday lives. We explore how race became ‘worked out and worked around’ in the intimate – in settlers’ domestic lives, in the lives of their children and in the social margins where whites lived, worked and sometimes loved across the racial borders that organised colonial rule. The primary sources you will have the opportunity to work with will include fiction and life writing, travel writing, documentary film and sources from African archives relating to domestic service, ‘black peril’, ‘poor whites’ and inter-racial sex. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The aim of this module is to provide you with an understanding of settler colonialism through the lens of the intimate and to develop that understanding in relation to the history of colonial – and post-colonial – Africa. Through the module’s seminars, you will work closely on primary and secondary sources. The learning activities will provide you opportunities to develop your critical thinking and communication skills.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Critically assess the relationship between race, settler-colonialism and intimacy in relation to the histories of Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa.
2. Interpret a range of historical sources from the nineteenth century to the present and evaluate their usefulness to historians.
3. Evaluate the cultural representations of white settlers in colonial – and postcolonial – Africa.
Skills learning outcomes:
On successful completion of the module you will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Effectively communicate historical knowledge tailored to different formats
5. Find and appraise appropriate sources of information
6. Synthesise and evaluate multiple sources of information to form evidence-based arguments
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workshop | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Supervision | 2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Seminar | 20 | 2 | 40 |
| Private study hours | 355.6 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 44.4 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 400 | ||
Students will be participating in a variety of tasks throughout the module where they explore themes, issues, and approaches to develop their critical appreciation of the topic. These include set reading (both primary and secondary material), which feed into analysis, discussion, and summaries within the seminars. These provide opportunities to self-identify and reflect upon their knowledge. Informal feedback from the tutor within the seminar discussions will also provide ways of students gauging their progress.
Students will receive formative support and guidance for the essay through an essay plan and the follow-up one-to-one meetings before the submission of their essay. They will then receive feedback on their essay after it is marked and submitted, with the opportunity for a one-to-one meeting.
The portfolio provides specific opportunities for formative feedback opportunities within the module. Each component for the portfolio will have appropriate briefings for the tasks, which will be followed by feedback that students can then use in subsequent components of their portfolio.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 50 |
| Coursework | Portfolio | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Resits will be in the format of the original assignment.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 20/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team