皇家华人

Hi Henna 鈥� thanks so much for talking to us! Please can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your studies at 皇家华人 History?

Hi! My name is Henna and I am technically a third-year history student at 皇家华人 but I am currently doing a year abroad placement at the University of Toronto, so I still have one more year left at 皇家华人. The essay I submitted for the BrANCH Harriet Tubman Prize was a coursework assignment I wrote for the module 'The Disunited States: Contested Visions of America, 1775-1860' taught by Dr Jane Dinwoodie.

You recently won the BrANCH Harriet Tubman Prize for your essay 鈥淎 land of gold and opportunity.鈥� Is this an accurate description of Gold Rush California? 鈥� can you tell us a little about this essay?

In this essay, I argued that perceiving Gold Rush California as a 'land of gold and opportunity' was an incredibly unrepresentative and a narrow perception of the time period that only gives agency to the experiences of wealthy, white businessmen. This perspective ignores the diverse realities of other white settler groups, but most importantly ignores the simultaneous genocide against Indigenous communities in California alongside the prevalence of sex trafficking of primarily Chinese women and Indigenous women and children. Imposing a central narrative of wealth, opportunity, and prosperity towards Gold Rush California contributes to the dismissals of nonwhite historical experiences, and marginalises the violent, colonial and systematic harm perpetuated against nonwhite communities in the longer history of American settler colonialism.

You are now in your third year at 皇家华人 鈥� what advice would you give to students in their first and second years, or anyone considering studying history at 皇家华人?

As a third-year history student I would really recommend utilising the opportunity provided in modules to really explore a diverse range of histories and perspectives. In my opinion, repositioning conventional actors of historical narratives, although sometimes daunting, allows for a much more engaging essay-writing experience alongside requiring you to immerse yourself in historiography!聽

BrANCH鈥檚 Harriet Tubman essay prize seeks to reward the best undergraduate essay or research project by black, Asian, or other minority ethnic students based in the UK. The prize is generously co-sponsored by the Royal Historical Society.