The Empire Strikes Back: European Empire and its Cultural Legacies

This course considers the contours and legacies of European imperialism from the late nineteenth century to the present day with a particular focus on cultural history and cultural studies. This discussion-based seminar will focus on three different themes: first, cultural histories of European imperialism; second, cultural histories of migration from the colony to the metropole; and lastly, we will examine the current movement in scholarship, activism, and the arts calling for the decolonization of European history and studies while also attending to contemporary European voices of color such as Sara Ahmed, Grada Kilomba, Gary Younge, Olivette Otile, and Johnny Pitts.

In addition to reading course materials, we will be collaborating with UMMA on two exhibits: the first explores art under the empire, and the second exhibit investigates current practices and policies of repatriating objects back to formerly colonized communities with the ultimate goal of identifying objects in UMMA's collection to repatriate (if the source community so desires).