Power struggles: anti-colonialism and anti-racism in history

The struggle of colonised peoples to attain independence from foreign domination is one of the defining features of contemporary world history. In this unit, you will explore modern anti-colonial movements in the Asia-Pacific, Africa and other locations, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between racism and colonialism. You will investigate the ongoing push for decolonisation in the contemporary world, including the enduring legacies of colonialism in settler colonial contexts such as Australia and the United States. Your investigation will centre on a selection of historical case studies of anticolonial resistance and decolonisation from the eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the self-determination of indigenous and other marginalised groups. You will discover how decolonisation interacts with other themes such as gender and violence, and explore and debate the evolving meaning of decolonisation, including consideration of the ‘silences’ of the archive in historical research, and the legacies of colonialism in education and the university.