MA Slavery and Liberation

This module explores how slavery and the response to slavery changed after the end of legal slavery in late 19th century.

You will examine several themes including:

• the social, moral, and political re-definition of slavery, and the way this re-definition shaped modern concepts of human rights
• America's botched emancipation in 1865 and after; the emergence of 'slavery by another name'
• the emergence of non-governmental organisations from the anti-slavery movement and their growth into a major influence in today's world
• uses of 'new' technologies by the anti-slavery movements
• the 'third' anti-slavery movement - The Congo Reform Association - King Leopold and the genocide/slavery nexus
• use of forced labour by colonial powers and the emergence of global anti-slavery conventions within the League of Nations
• the economic transformation of slavery as an economic pursuit in the late 20th and early 21st centuries

Case studies will also be offered to illuminate global patterns of change in relation to slavery.

This module explores the development, complexity, and variety of governmental policies and legal frameworks dealing with slavery and human trafficking from the 20th to the 21st century.

You will examine several themes including:

• legal definitions of slavery, practices similar to slavery (servitude), forced and compulsory labour, and human trafficking
• the social, moral and political re-definition of slavery and the way this shapes modern approaches to anti-slavery law and policy
• the emergence of non-governmental organisations from the anti-slavery movement and their influence on governmental policies and legal frameworks dealing with slavery
• the role of anti-slavery issues in international diplomacy and law from the late 19th century to today
• impact of regional international organisations on anti-slavery law and policies
• development of domestic anti-slavery policies and laws enacted by countries around the world including the development of 'National Action Plans' against slavery in a number of countries
• the emergence of trade regulations and laws concerning slavery in global supply chains, including the applicability of WTO and World Bank provisions

Selected case studies will be offered to illuminate global and regional patterns of change in anti-slavery and human trafficking laws and policies.

This module explores the specific methodologies, debates, and ethical concerns when conducting social research into human rights violations.

You will examine several themes including:

• the vulnerability and special attention needed when research subjects are also victims of criminal acts
• approaching contemporary slavery through different levels of analysis (individual, group and community, societal and culture) and what each unit of analysis can and cannot tell us about the subject under study
• formulating research questions around human rights violations
• leading edge estimation techniques for hidden crimes, activities, and populations
• use of new technologies in unobtrusive data collection
• use of correlational and inferential statistics in uncovering the underlying factors supporting slavery and trafficking

Case studies will be offered to illuminate diverse research techniques in relation to slavery. You will also explore research methods relevant to different stages of policy/intervention design, monitoring and evaluation, as well as research tools for making effective responses.

This module explores what lessons may be learned from past anti-slavery movements and interrogates the literary, historical, artistic, and dramatic treatment of slavery over time to better grasp its complexity and common attributes.

You will examine several core areas including:

• the role of slavery in early history, in creation myths, in the formation of law and concepts of hierarchy
• the long history of creative culture devoted to the subject of slavery: Greek and Roman dramas and comedies; the medieval period; the modern period - 18th and 19th century writing, poems, and plays; and into the current era of fiction and film
• how the slave narrative both shares common themes across centuries and changes
• key novels addressing the lived experience of slavery
• uses of 'new' technologies by the anti-slavery movements and how these took cultural forms
• the treatment of slaves in art and visual culture, both exploitative and sympathetic in anti-slavery works

Novels, films, plays, historical and modern slave narratives will make up the core sources for this module.

The dissertation allows you the opportunity to work in considerable detail on a topic of special interest to you related to the MA programme. You will choose the project, conduct the research, analyse the findings and write the report. It gives scope to undertake original research and to apply the knowledge and skills learnt throughout the MA programme.

The module will also include content on:

• how to write a dissertation proposal
• revisitation of ethical considerations and how to complete an ethical review
• forming a research question
• writing a literature review
• method and methodology selection

You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor for guidance.

This is the first of two professional training modules, which lays the foundation for an understanding of how those in slavery can best be reached, liberated and helped to achieve full lives.

You will examine:

• types of intervention; symptomatic responses and systemic responses
• the place of community-based anti-slavery work within other anti-slavery strategies, and community-based work as a strategy for institutionalising government responsibility
• methods of liberation and slavery eradication
• basic principles of community organising and social mobilisation
• economic and psychosocial recovery; access to legal justice for survivors
• the role of local actors, and development of social movements/alliances with other social movements
• strengthening government fulfilment of their responsibilities
• using the reach of aid and mainstream development programmes into affected communities; how to integrate anti-slavery components
• strategies for developing business responsibility against slavery

This is the second of two professional training modules, which enables you to explore and use various tools for planning programme interventions against slavery, and more broadly within the human rights and development field.

It will help you consider which types of planning and monitoring approaches are most conducive to broad engagement of frontline activists, NGO teams and programme participants (in this case, often slavery survivors) in working together to progressively eliminate slavery.

It assumes that the overall goals of the organisation are already established, and the focus is then on the preparation, design and implementation of particular programmes through which those goals are pursued. It will assist students to prepare proposals as well as gain a better understanding of the capacity and training needs of the organisations that would carry out the planned work.

This module focuses on building practical skills and designing approaches that are:

• relevant to the context
• aimed at achieving transformative change, especially through stimulating new patterns of behaviour by key actors
• based on the insights and needs of participants
• cost effective
• able to generate appropriate data for programme improvement and to demonstrate results
• stimulating collaboration and engagement among a range of key stakeholders