Modern and Contemporary History of the Anglosphere (Bachelor Year 3 / Fall)

The decolonisation of the British Empire and the postcolonial period
This course focuses on the collapse of the British Empire in the twentieth century and the emergence of the modern nation states that replaced it in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. During the first half of the semester, we will consider the development of anticolonial and nationalist opposition to British rule among different colonised peoples, and the processes of decolonisation that resulted. The second part of the module will then focus on the postcolonial period, examining how different countries - for example India, South Africa and Australia - have developed since independence. Emphasis will be placed on how each country has sought to define itself, through processes of nation-building and the construction of new identities, as it has emerged from the shadow of colonial rule.
Indicative topics
Part 1: Empire and decolonisation
The British Empire in 1900
The First World War
The formation of the Commonwealth
The Second World War
The Partition of India
Decolonisation in Africa and the Caribbean
Part 2: The postcolonial period
Australia: land and rights
South Africa: Apartheid and after
India since independence
Pakistan: nation and state
The Caribbean: memory and forgetting
The future of the Commonwealth