1.1 THE COURSE

This class will introduce the main structure and themes of the course, and all assessment requirements.

1.2 EMPIRE

This class will offer an overview of the history of empire and imperialism.

1.3 THE IMPERIALIST DRIVE

What drove a few countries in the western end of the Eurasian continent to seek to rule over the rest of the globe is a contested topic ever since then. In this class we will explore the main explanations that were offered at the time of imperialist expansion.

1.4 BRITAIN: THE BIGGEST EMPIRE OF THEM ALL

The British empire was by far the biggest empire in human history both in size and

in population. This class will offer an overview of the key explanations that have

been offered as to why did the British succeeded in what others failed.

2.1 IDEOLOGICAL LINKS: NATIONALISM, RACISM AND FASCISM

19^th century imperialism developed parallel to nationalism, the latter having been proven more resilient in time than the former. This seminar will explore how imperialism and nationalism both fed from and antagonised each other. It will then look at the popular connections with two other key trends of the time: racism and fascism.

2.2 MEET THE ‘ORIENTALS’

In the last thirty years the study of imperialism has been dominated by a focus on how the European colonisers first developed the intellectual tools to dominate the rest of the world and then proceeded to do so.

2.3 THE EMPIRE IN THE METROPOLIS

How did the public in the imperial centres experience the empire in its everyday life is a key question that has preoccupied analysts in the last decades. Their work has incorporated a diverse range of theories and themes. This class will look at material culture, from posters to films, and from imperial exhibitions to some of the most common objects of all, like soaps.

2.4 GROUP PRESENTATIONS: SYMBOLS OF EMPIRE

The presentations will focus on analysing specific objects that were associated with the empire.

3.1 THE METROPOLIS IN THE EMPIRE

Modernity is a rather loose concept, but despite its vagueness it was modernity, more than anything else, that was the differentiating factor between colonisers and the colonised. This class will explore the multiple levels through which this relation was worked out.

3.2 BRITISH EMPIRE AND RACIAL QUESTIONS

The first of this weekly session will deal with the British non-white empire in Asia. It will look at the Opium War with China and then the problem caused for Britain by Indian and Chinese immigration to the White British Dominions. The second part will examine the problems created for the Anglo-Japanese Alliance by the racially discriminatory immigration policies of the British Dominions and how Britain attempted to manoeuver between its ally, Japan, and the self-governing colonies.

3.3 NATIONAL MOVEMENTS

In just twenty years after the end of the Second World War most of the European empires disappeared from the global political map. What were there reasons for this reversal of fortunes. This class will focus on the local movements that developed throughout the imperial lands, the potent force of nationalism, and the figure of Mahatma Gandhi.

3.4 BRITAIN: THE COLLAPSE OF THE IMPERIAL CENTRE

The consensus today is that the empires collapsed not from without but from within under the pressures of the postwar reconstruction at the home front. This class will focus on Britain and the debates that preceded the end of the empire.

4.1 SUEZ 1956

If there is one event in history that is more single-handedly responsible for the abruptness of the collapse of the European empires this is the failed British-French-Israeli intervention in the Suez following the Canal’s nationalisation by the Egyptian government. This was the last attempt by the old empires to protect their old world. This was also when they were clearly out-staged by the new global superpowers: the US and the USSR.

4.2 REVOLT

Colonial systems of oppression inevitably lead to some sort of reaction. This seminar will explore the main theories of political and cultural revolt that developed against the empire, and their global appeal. Its focus will be Franz Fanon, whose work was closely connected to the Algerian War of Independence from France, and was very influential among the Western radical student revolts of the late 1960s.

4.3 FILM SCREENING: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers(1965) is considered a cinematic masterpiece that

explores with captivating realism the forces of violence when engaged in a war of

liberation. Decades later the film re-emerged as a standard reference material in the

military training seminars during the ‘War on Terror’.

4.4 THE EFFECTS OF DECOLONISATION ON EUROPE

How did the erstwhile metropolitan centres in Europe deal with the rapid collapse of their empires? Postwar Europe carries still the empire deeply inside it. This class will explore those little-talked signs and wounds.

5.1 COLD WAR EMPIRES

Exactly as the old European empires started disappearing in the 1950s and 1960s the US and the USSR appeared as the new contenders to replace them. The new global conflicts of the Cold War from Greece to Vietnam, and from Angola to Cuba have been often be described as driven by a very old-fashioned imperialist instinct.

5.2 GLOBALISATION AND EMPIRE

In the aftermath of the end of the Cold War, and especially after the start of the ‘War on Terror’ in 2001 there has been a proliferation of analyses that talk about the emergence of a new type of US imperialism. More recently there is wide speculation about what sort of an empire-in-the-making China is.

5.3 THE LEGACY OF THE EMPIRE

This session will fast-forward us towards the main current attitudes to the memory of the European empires and the key debates in the field.

5.4 FINAL DISCUSSION

In this class we will round up on the main themes that the course has touched on. Students should come prepared to talk about their own impressions from the stay in Britain and how they can be related to the wider context of British national identities. We will also talk about the forthcoming exams, how they will be constructed and what the expectations will be. The rest of the week should be used as time for exam preparation.

 Time to be confirmed