This one-day workshop, sponsored by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, will pose a number of questions about global decolonisation.
Was ‘decolonisation’ a European invention designed to ease the ‘white man’s burden’ and pave the way for a neo-colonial system of extraction and dependency? Was it a Latin American invention intended to undo ‘the colonial system?’ Or was it an Indian, French Algerian or Caribbean invention? All the above?
Other questions that will be tackled on the day are, Is the received ‘wave’ narrative (first, second, third, fourth waves) currently used to tell the global history of decolonisation still adequate to the task? Or would notions such as ‘invention’ and ‘reinvention’ be more useful?
The line-up of international speakers come from a range of countries such as the UK, US, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark. Confirmed speakers are: Todd Shepard (John Hopkins University); Barbara Weinstein (New York University); Cyrus Schayegh (Institute for International Development Studies, Geneva); Zaib un Nisa Aziz (Yale University); Ismay Milford (European University Institute, Florence); Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo (University of Coimbra); Stuart Ward (University of Copenhagen, author of British Culture and the End of Empire); Philip Murphy (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, London, author of The Empire’s New Clothes: the Myth of the Commonwealth); and Mark Thurner (Institute of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London).
Dane Kennedy, who teaches courses in British imperial, modern British and world history at George Washington University, will give a keynote entitled ‘Making waves: the longue durée of decolonisation’. He is the author of Decolonization: A Very Short Introduction.
When: 21 June 2018, 10am–6pm
Who: Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Institute of Latin American Studies
Where: The Court Room, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
This event is free, but advanced registration is required.
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