The history of the British Empire in the twentieth century is often told from the perspective of its decline, fall or disappearance. Whilst ‘formal’ colonialism in territorial ‘possessions’ was indeed in retreat, imperial administrators resisted that process at every turn. The course focuses on the drawn-out and often incomplete processes of imperial withdrawal in Asia and Africa. We explore the phenomenon commonly referred to as the ‘end of empire’ as a series of such potential endpoints. Rather than thinking of specific moments as endpoints only – such as the independence of Afghanistan in 1919, of India and Pakistan in 1947 or of Kenya in 1963 – the course also surveys the changing nature of empire in the ‘age of decolonisation’. In this way, we can begin an evaluation of empire’s legacies as well as their relevance for the empire’s manifold ‘afterlives’.
- Kursleiter:in: Dr. phil. Maximilian Drephal