Decolonization: The End of Empire

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1 Course: HIST 62a Meeting Times: T, F 9:30-10:50. Location: Olin-Sang 116 Sean Beebe Office Hours: W 12:30-2:30, Rabb 355 sbeebe@brandeis.edu Decolonization: The End of Empire Course Description: The course explores decolonization the end of the European colonial empires and the emergence of a world of nation-states, from approximately It examines different forms of opposition to empire before turning to study how these dynamics played out in different areas of the globe: South and Southeast Asia, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. Students will analyze anticolonial activism and engage with the variety of European responses to it. The course concludes with the legacy of decolonization, and the world that emerged from it. Above all, students will consider the complexity of this historical moment, wherein so much changed, and so much became possible. Learning Goals: At the end of this course, students will be able to identify and analyze the context, concepts and themes that shaped anticolonial thinking. They will grasp differing visions of decolonization that were present at this time, and their consequences for the postcolonial era. Students will learn to use primary sources along with secondary ones and make use of novels as means of understanding the past. They will further develop their capacity to express their own ideas clearly and concisely, especially their writing skills, but also through in-class discussions. For this four-credit course, students should expect to complete nine hours of work per week outside of class. Required Readings: Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North (2009) Ousmane Sembène, God s Bits of Wood: Banty Mam Yall (2008) Todd Shepard, Voices of Decolonization: A Brief History with Documents (2015) Martin Shipway, Decolonization and its Impact: A Comparative Approach to the End of the Colonial Empires (2008) Note that each of these is available on reserve at the Library. All additional readings will be made available on LATTE. Communication: Any changes to meeting times will be announced on LATTE and through . is also the best way to contact me. Attendance: Attendance is critical to success in this course. If you must miss a class meeting, or know you will be late in arriving, please inform me as far in advance as possible. Repeated 1

2 absences will harm your grade, and more than two will result in a 1/3 grade reduction of your final grade. Extensions for late work will not be given, save for documented emergencies. Late work will be marked down by 1/3 of a letter grade per day that it is late. Course Evaluation Assignments Response papers (4) LATTE responses Mid-term Participation Final 30% 10% 20% 10% 30% 1. Response papers Over the course of the semester, students will complete four short papers, two to three pages in length. Questions are indicated below; students should make use of assigned primary and secondary readings in completing these papers, but need not do additional research. A first, complete draft is due in class on the date indicated below; we will dedicate part of that class to peer review of them, and then a final draft will be due at the following class meeting, accompanied by the first draft. 2. So as to facilitate discussions, throughout the semester students must submit six scheduled responses on LATTE (approximately 250 words) due at 8:00 PM the night before class. This response may touch on some or all of a week s readings, but whatever the extent of the readings used, it must demonstrate clear engagement with them. 3. A five-page take-home midterm paper will ask students to consider God s Bits of Wood and its portrayal of the Dakar-Niger railway strike in French West Africa. In his fictionalized depiction of the strike, what does Sembène emphasize (or downplay), and why? Supplementary materials will be provided to aid students in considering this question, alongside detailed instructions. A first, complete draft of this paper will be due in class Oct. 26; I will comment on these, and then a final draft will be due Nov Participation in discussions both the scheduled discussions of the two novels on the syllabus, and those that occur in the course of a regular class meeting is vitally important, along with attentive preparation. 5. A take-home final paper of 8-10 pages will require students to draw comparisons between either the experience of decolonization a) in at least two different geographic areas of the world or b) in different European empires. Papers could emphasize early anticolonial activism, or the political transition to independence, to cite but two examples. A one-page summary of your paper topic is due in class Nov. 16. A rough draft is due in class Nov

3 On writing assignments: As improving student writing is a goal of this course, the overall quality of a paper s writing matters greatly in determining its grade. By this I mean: Is a paper s thesis clear? Is it sufficiently supported? And are these elements clearly presented throughout the paper? Otherwise interesting ideas, if expressed unclearly, will struggle to emerge, and a paper will suffer as a result. Consider the regular LATTE posts as a forum for testing out both your ideas/observations, as well as a further means of practicing your writing on a regular basis clarity matters there as well. On Sept. 14, we will dedicate part of the class meeting to an in-class writing workshop. Together, we will discuss the elements of skillful writing in history courses and consider strategies to improve writing. Always feel free to meet with me to discuss assignments in advance, or to seek advice/assistance in improving your writing. In addition to the required submissions of drafts, I will be happy to look over drafts of papers given sufficient time in advance (i.e. not the night before.) If you feel you need additional assistance, Brandeis Writing Center is an excellent resource to help you improve your writing. Do not hesitate to make an appointment there, in addition to speaking with me. Note that all papers must be double-spaced, and in 12-point font, with single-inch margins. Citations may be in either Chicago or MLA format, as long as the citation system is clear and consistent throughout. Technology: Given the large number of readings from LATTE, laptops will be allowed, but I reserve the right to modify this policy should their use become disruptive. Other devices should not be used. Academic Integrity: Students work is expected to be their own. Misrepresenting another s work as their own is unacceptable. The university policy on academic integrity is available here: and in case of questions regarding academic honesty, or uncertainty regarding proper citation formats, do not hesitate to discuss the matter with me. LTS offers help with citations as well: University Statement on Documented Disability: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. 3

4 Course Schedule Friday 8/31: Introduction Where does decolonization begin? Tuesday 9/4: The Colonial State Martin Shipway, Decolonization and its Impact, Chap. 1. John Darwin, Britain and Decolonisation: The Retreat from Empire in the Post-War World (1988), Chap. 1. F 9/7: Prewar Nationalism India Shipway, p Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and its Fragments (1993), Chaps M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, Chaps LATTE post #1 Due T 9/11: No Class Rosh Hashanah. F 9/14: The Second World War and the Colonial Empires Shipway, p Martin Thomas, Fight or Flight: Britain, France, and Their Roads from Empire (2014), Chap. 2. Writing Workshop T 9/18: Rethinking Empire in the Wake of the War Martin Thomas, Fight or Flight, Chap. 3. Speeches by Charles de Gaulle and René Pleven, Brazzaville Conference, Jan 30-Feb 8, Response Paper #1 Draft Due. Consider the place of the colonial empires during and after the Second World War. F 9/21: Colonial Alienation James Genova, Colonial Ambivalence, Cultural Authenticity, and the Limitations of Mimicry in French-ruled West Africa, (2004), p Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North, p T 9/25: No Class Brandeis Monday F 9/28: Salih Discussion Season of Migration to the North, p. 59-end. Response Paper #2 Draft Due. Briefly consider the ending of Salih s novel. 4

5 T 10/2: India s Independence and Partition Shipway, p Dietmar Rothermund, The Routledge Companion to Decolonization (2006), p Jawaharlal Nehru, The Importance of the National Idea: Changes Necessary in India, in Decolonization: Perspectives from Now and Then (2004), Prasenjit Duara, ed, p F 10/5: The United Nations and Decolonization Mark Mazower, No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations (2009), Chap. 1 Todd Shepard, Voices of Decolonization, p , 55-59, , LATTE post #2 Due T 10/9: Third Worldism Bandung Dipesh Chakrabarty, The Legacies of Bandung: Decolonization and the Politics of Culture, in Making a World after Empire: The Bandung Moment and Its Political Afterlives (2010), Christopher J. Lee, ed, p Robert Vitalis, The Midnight Ride of Kwame Nkrumah and Other Fables of Bandung (Bandoong), Humanity 4:2 (2013), Shepard, Voices, p , F 10/12: The United States and Decolonization Michael E. Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present (2010), Chaps. 1 & 3. Cary Fraser, Understanding American Policy Towards the Decolonization of Colonial Empires, , Diplomacy & Statescraft 3:1 (1992), p Response Paper #3 Draft Due. Consider the role of international action in opposition to colonialism. T 10/16: War in Indochina Shipway, p , Pierre Brocheux and Daniel Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, (2009), Chap. 8. Ho Chi Minh, The Path That Led Me to Leninism, in Duara, p Shepard, Voices, p

6 F 10/19: Social Change Gender and Decolonization Philippa Levine, Gendering Decolonisation, 2:10 (2010). Ritu Bhasin and Kamala Menon, Recovery, Rupture, Resistance: Indian State and Abduction of Women during Partition, Economic and Political Weekly 28:17 (1993). LATTE post #3 Due T 10/23: Decolonization from above or below? Wm. Roger Louis and Ronald Robinson, The Imperialism of Decolonization, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 22:3 (1994), Begin Ousmane Sembène, God s Bits of Wood, p F 10/26: Social Change Labor; Discussion of God s Bits of Wood Ousmane Sembène, God s Bits of Wood, p. 108 to end. Frederick Cooper, Our Strike : Equality, Anticolonial Politics, and the Railway Strike in French West Africa, The Journal of African History 37:1 (1996), Midterm Draft Due T 10/30: Colonialism s Critics Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (1955) Frantz Fanon, Algeria Unveiled, in Duara, p Shepard, Voices, p F 11/2: Algeria I Todd Shepard, The Invention of Decolonization (2006), Chaps Shepard, Voices, p LATTE post #4 Due T 11/6: Algeria II Jeffrey James Byrne, Algiers Between Bandung and Belgrade: Guerrilla Diplomacy and the Evolution of the Third World Movement, , in The Middle East and the Cold War: Between Security and Development (2012), Massimiliano Trentin and Matteo Gerlini, eds, Matthew Connelly, Taking Off the Cold War Lens: Visions of North-South Conflict during the Algerian War for Independence, The American Historical Review 105:3 (2000), Midterm Final Draft Due 6

7 F 11/9: Kenya Shipway, David Anderson, Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire (2005), p. 9-53, Jomo Kenyatta, The Kenyan African Union is Not the Mau Mau, (1952). Response Paper #4 Draft Due. Compare colonial repression in Kenya and Algeria. T 11/13: French West Africa Tony Chafer, The End of Empire in French West Africa: France s Successful Decolonization? (2002), Chaps. 4, 6-7. Elizabeth Schmidt, Top Down or Bottom Up? Nationalist Mobilization Reconsidered, with Special Reference to Guinea (French West Africa), The American Historical Review 110:4 (2005), F 11/16: Ghana Shipway, p , Jeffrey S. Ahlman, Road to Ghana: Nkrumah, Southern Africa and the Eclipse of a Decolonizing Africa, Kronos 37 (2011), Kwame Nkrumah, I Speak of Freedom (1961) and Africa Must Unite (1963), excerpts. Final Paper Proposals Due LATTE post #5 Due T 11/20: Southern Africa Daniel Magaziner, Black Man, You Are on Your Own! : Making Race Consciousness in South African Thought, , The International Journal of African Historical Studies 42:2 (2009), Luise White, Normal Political Activities : Rhodesia, the Peace Commission, and the African National Council, Journal of African History 52 (2011), Steve Biko, I Write What I Like (1979), selections. F 11/23: No Class Thanksgiving Break T 11/27: Independence in the Caribbean Richard Hart, From Occupation to Independence: A Short History of the Peoples of the English-Speaking Caribbean Region (1998), p Shepard, Voices, p Final Paper Draft Due F 11/30: No Class 7

8 T 12/4: The Caribbean Decolonization without Independence? Robert Aldrich and John Connell, France s Overseas Frontier (1992), p , 90-94, William F.S. Miles, Scars of Partition: Postcolonial Legacies in French and British Borderlands (2014), p F 12/7: Legacies Gregory Mann, From Empires to NGOs in the West African Sahel: An Introduction, Humanity 6:2 (2015), Alexander Keese, First Lessons in Neo-Colonialism: The Personalisation of Relations between African Politicians and French Officials in sub-saharan Africa, , The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 35:4 (2007), Shepard, Voices, p LATTE post #6 Due T 12/11: Conclusions Final Paper Due 8