Postgraduate Course: A Modern History of Demographic Angst and Population Control (PGHC11632)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | We are part of a demographic transformation that began with the Industrial Revolution and that has reshaped both the history and the future of humanity, society and the planet. This course will trace how the notion of a 'population' emerged as a problem to be managed and as an entity in need of protection in the modern era. It offers a genealogy of the deep fears about demographic change and cultural 'dilution' that are shaping national and global politics today. |
| Course description |
In 1800, the global population stood at around 1 billion. By the late twenty-first century, it is projected to peak at 10.5 billion, but fertility rates have already dropped far below replacement level in much of the world. Since the eighteenth century, the growth, size and health of populations has become a major preoccupation among policymakers, as have perceived threats to the prowess of the particular population under their guardianship. Today, fears of a looming 'demographic winter' and of a 'great replacement' are shaping national and international politics in important ways. Around the world, demographic concerns loom in the background of the reactions to economic stagnation, to liberal and secular democracy, to reproductive and LGBTQI-rights, to feminism, to the politics of equality and diversity, to immigration and to the curbing of climate change. This course aims to lay bare some of these connections, while tracing the historical trajectory of 'population' as a policy problem and as a cultural imaginary. The assignments will be geared towards the production of public history outputs (i.e. podcasts and public lecture scripts).
The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: colonialism, racism and genocide, sexual violence and other forms of physical abuse, as well as misogyny, religious intolerance and islamophobia. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
Group podcast on case studies and 250 word self and peer assessment (40%)
500 word individual research project abstracts with bibliography (10%)
3000 word public lecture script, including slide deck (50%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours for this course or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a good understanding of 'biopolitics' and a set of related concepts as a historical and conceptual framework of analysis
- Situate and contextualise present-day issues regarding population within a broad historical and geopolitical framework
- Collaborate with others to create a podcast geared towards lay audiences in which theoretical concepts are applied to concrete case studies
- Develop individual research projects that trace the history of present-day issues through the prism of the course
- Present their research results in the form of a written script for a lecture to a historically interested but lay audience, including an accompanying deck of slides
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Reading List
- Bashford, Alison. Global Population. History, Geopolitics, and Life on Earth. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.
- Bashford, Alison, and Philippa Levine, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- Bracke, Sarah, and Luis M. Hernández Aguilar, eds. The Politics of Replacement. Demographic Fears, Conspiracy Theories, and Race Wars. Routledge: London and New York, 2024.
- Cole, Joshua. The Power of Large Numbers. Population, Politics, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century France. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000.
- Connelly, Matthew. Fatal Misconception. The Struggle to Control World Population. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2008.
- Foucault, Michel, Michel Senellart, and Arnold I. Davidson, eds. Security, Territory, Population. Lectures at the Collège De France 1977-1978. Edited by François Ewald and Alessandro Fontane. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Hartmann, Betsy. Reproductive Rights and Wrongs. The Global Politics of Population Control. 3 ed. Chicago: Haymarket, 2016.
- Ittman, Karl, ed. The Demographics of Empire. The Colonial Order and the Creation of Knowledge. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012.
- Mbembe, Achille. Necropolitics. Translated by Steven Corcoran. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2019.
- Moses, A. Dirk, ed. Empire, Colony, Genocide. Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History. New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2008.
- Lemke, Thomas. Biopolitics. An Advanced Introduction. Translated by Eric F. Trump. New York and London: New York University Press, 2011.
- Kuhar, Roman, and David Paternotte, eds. Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe. Religious and Political Mobilisations against Equality. London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017.
- Solinger, Rickie, and Mie Nakachi, eds. Reproductive States. Global Perspectives on the Invention and Implementation of Population Policy. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Togman, Richard. Nationalizing Sex. Fertility, Fear, and Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- An ability to connect present-day issues with wider historical developments in a global framework
- An ability to master complex analytical concepts and apply them to historical forms of understanding
- Independence of mind in shaping and developing original lines of historical enquiry
- An ability to communicate concisely and persuasively in both written and oral form to broad, lay audiences. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Wannes Dupont
Tel: (01316) 503838
Email: Wannes.Dupont@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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