European Imperialism in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Introduction
2	The Decline of the Mercantilist Empires: From 1492 to the Early 19th Century
3	Classic Theories of Imperialism	First map quiz: The World
The Foundation of “British” India, and the Roots of a New Imperialism
4	From “John Company” to the Mutiny of 1857
5	Shifting Economic Rationales: From “Free Trade” to Opium Wars
(New) Views of Exotic Lands and Exotic “Others”
6	Charting New Terrain: Discovering “Darkest Africa”
7	Ethnography and “Race Science”
8	Imperial and “Civilizing” Missions
9	Discussion: Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts (2002)	First paper due
Partitioning the World
10	From the Great Game to the Scramble for Africa
11	The Berlin Conference: Power-Politics and Map Fantasies	Second map quiz: Africa
Violence
12	Colonial Warfare I: Conquest of Africa, Boer War, Boxer Uprising
13	Genocides in the Belgian Congo and German South-West Africa
Empire in the Metropole
14	The Imperial Nation on Display
15	Imperial Masculinities and Femininities
Case Studies of Transformation in the Colonies
16	Hawaii
17	Discussion: Ferdinand Oyono, Houseboy
18	Discussion: George Orwell, Burmese Days	Second paper due
Narratives (and Counter-Narratives) of Development
19	The First World War
20	Colonial Economics and “Modernization”
Twilight of Empire
21	Empire in the Second World War
22	A New World Order? From the Suez Crisis to Vietnam
Decolonization in Asia and Africa
23	Decolonization
24	Independent Nationalism of the New Elites	Final paper due (on Fanon)
New Imperialisms?
25	The Neo-Colonialism of “Globalization”?
26	The New American Empire?
Final Exam Week