Course description
This course explores Western Europe’s colonial exchanges with the world outside it during the explosion of European colonial rule in the 18th-20th centuries. Its premises are that the “West” was shaped by these encounters, and that western and specifically European modern experiences, modes of life and identities were colonial, rather than simply national or class identities . The seminar offers a new look on European history from the perspective of colonialism, discusses key terms in the new colonial history, and examines such cross roads in European history as the look on the “Orient” in the Enlightenment; imperial government and control in the 19th century; religion, missionary life and the Empires; the consumers’ revolution and the birth of modern consumers’ society; the rise of modern democracies; the rise of the new empires’ economies and the birthof the new international society and empire. We draw on a variety of sources including political and philosophical essays, anthropological and ethnographic studies, travel literature; music and films.
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