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Decolonisation and Colonial Conflict

Module description

In order to investigate a number of key themes - including imperial policies and colonial living conditions; popular imperialism in French and British politics and culture; forms of colonial nationalism; and wars of decolonization - this module will use a variety of primary and secondary sources to study late European colonialism and anti-colonial protest. You will study written records including published government documents, military reports from French and British colonial territories, as well as diplomatic and colonial government correspondence. You will be provided with full translational support for those documents which originate in French. Oral testimony, memoirs, colonial novels, and political party documents will also be studied. Visual sources relating to government propaganda, colonialism in advertising motifs, political posters and film will also be used. You will be asked to consider the reliability and histriographic value of the different sources and, in particular, to explore the manner in which interpretations of empire and colonial conflict have been represented within particular social, political, and cultural contexts.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will use a variety of primary and secondary sources to study late European colonialism and anti-colonial protest. It will study imperial policies and colonial living conditions; popular imperialism in French and British politics and culture; forms of colonial nationalism; and wars of decolonization. Written records to be consulted include published government documents, military reports from French and British colonial territories, as well as diplomatic and colonial government correspondence relating to colonial Africa and Asia. Most of this material is in English, in the few instance where French language material is used, the tutor will offer full translation support to students. Oral testimony, memoirs, colonial novels, and political party documents will also be studied (all in English). Some use will also be made of visual sources relating to government propaganda, colonialism in advertising motifs, political posters and film. Students will be asked to consider the reliability and value to the historian of different types of source and, in particular, to explore the manner in which interpretations of empire and colonial conflict have been represented within particular social, political, and cultural contexts.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the different sources available for the study of European imperialism and decolonisation, together with a very close specialist knowledge of those sources which the students focus upon in their seminar presentations with written work
• 2. Analyse the complex diversity of the sources studied

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse closely original sources and to assess their reliability as historical evidence
• 4. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner.
• 5. Follow theories and evaluate critically the often complex reasoning of contemporary discourses

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Independently and autonomously study and work within a group, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 8. Present complex arguments orally.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

The module will examine primary sources relating to the following subjects: European empires after the First World War; inter-war colonial reform and methods of rule; popular imperialism in France and Britain; empire and international politics; the Second World War and colonial change; patterns of post-war decolonization; colonial conflicts and ‘popular liberation struggles’ in Africa and South-East Asia.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 8,000 word portfolio of source work, as in the original assessment, but replaces the individual presentation with a written script that could be delivered in such a presentation and which is the equivalent of 30 minutes of speech.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Anthony Burgess, The Malayan Trilogy (London: Heinemann, 1984)
• Albert Camus, The First Man (Penguin Modern Classics, 1995)
• James D. Le Sueur (ed), Mouloud Feraoun, Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French Algerian War (Lincoln, NE:
• University of Nebraska Press, 2000)
• Robert Delavignette, Freedom and Authority in French West Africa (London: Frank Cass, 1968)
• Margery Perham, Colonial sequence, 1930 to 1949: a chronological commentary upon British colonial policy especially
• in Africa (London: Methuen, 1967)
• 1945-1946. Le Retour de la France en Indochine (Vincennes, 1987), and Indochine 1947 Règlement politique ou
• solution militaire? (Vincennes, 1989). Two volumes of documents on the first phase of the Indochina war.
• La Guerre d’Algérie par les Documents (Vincennes, 1990). Two volumes of Defence Ministry documents on the early
• development of the Algerian revolution after 1945.
• British Documents on the End of Empire. Various volumes on British colonial territories, imperial policies, and
• decolonization.
• British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Selections from the Foreign Office Confidential Print. Foreign Office records for
• Africa and the Middle East.
• Documents Diplomatiques Français, (Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1979 et seq). The volumes contain various diplomatic
• reports on colonial events throughout the period 1919-1964

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages

Key words search

Empires, Europe, Colonialism, Decolonization