Colonialism and its Afterlives: Global Concepts, Asia Histories

elective courses

The aim of this course is to analyze and discuss some of the major recent theoretical

developments in the fields of colonial and global history, and to learn how to critically

apply them to a range of case studies drawn from East and Southeast Asian history,

broadly speaking from the nineteenth century to the present day. While focusing on

Asia, the course frames the case studies in their global context, giving students the

tools to apply their learning to different historical and geographical settings. The

course also addresses recent debates surrounding the legacies of empires in

postcolonial societies and the recent movements calling for decolonial actions in

academia and beyond.

The aim of this course is to analyze and discuss some of the major recent theoretical

developments in the fields of colonial and global history, and to learn how to critically

apply them to a range of case studies drawn from East and Southeast Asian history,

broadly speaking from the nineteenth century to the present day. While focusing on

Asia, the course frames the case studies in their global context, giving students the

tools to apply their learning to different historical and geographical settings. The

course also addresses recent debates surrounding the legacies of empires in

postcolonial societies and the recent movements calling for decolonial actions in

academia and beyond.

At the end of the course, the students should

- have an overview of the modern colonial and postcolonial history of East and

Southeast Asia

- have a good knowledge of the most recent theoretical approaches to

colonialism and decolonization

- be able to independently and critically apply those theories to a range of

specific case studies in Asian history and beyond

- have the skills and knowledge to write a professional and publishable

academic book review

The course will cover the following subjects:

○ 1. introduction

○ 2. concepts: empire and imperial(ism), post/de-colonial(ism)

○ 3. different kinds of colonial regimes and colonizations

○ 4. industrial and agricultural production

○ 5. religion and society

○ 6. colonial urbanisms

○ 7. empire and imperialism in popular culture

○ 8. decolonization and independence

○ 9. empire and environment

○ 10. science and knowledge production

○ 11. museums & heritage

○ 12. migrations & mobilities

○ 13. economy and development post-independence

○ 14. everyday experiences of empire

○ 15. conclusions

Potter, Simon J. and Jonathan Saha, ‘Global History, Imperial History and Connected

Histories of Empire’, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 16:1 (2015).

Hedinger, Daniel and Nadin Heέ, ‘Transimperial History - Connectivity, Cooperation

and Competition’, Journal of Modern European History, 16:4 (2018), 429–452.

Barlow, Tani, 2012), “Debates over Colonial Modernity in East Asia and Another

Alternative,” Cultural Studies, 26(5), 617-644.

Yang, Taoyu, ‘Redefining Semi-Colonialism: A Historiographical Essay on British

Colonial Presence in China’, Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History, 20:3 (2019).

Osterhammel, Jurgen, ‘Semi-Colonialism and Informal Empire in Twentieth-Century

China: Towards a Framework of Analysis’, in Wolfgang J. Mommsen ed. Imperialism

and After: Continuities and Discontinuities (London: Allen and Unwin 1986): 290-314.

Rappaport, Erika, A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World (Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 2017).

Dubois, Thomas David, ‘Hegemony, Imperialism, and the Construction of Religion in

East and Southeast Asia1’, History and Theory, 44:4 (2005), 113–131.

Hevia, James L, ‘Leaving a Brand on China: Missionary Discourse in the Wake of the

Boxer Movement’ in Tani E. Barlow ed. Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia

(Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1997): 113- 140.

Lewis, Su Lin, Cities in Motion: Urban Life and Cosmopolitanism in Southeast Asia,

1920-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).

McCallum, Jenny, ‘Conflict and Compromise over Processional Sound in

19th-Century Singapore’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 45:133 (2017), 315–333.

Dai, Jinhua. 1997. “Imagined Nostalgia.” Boundary 24 (3): 143–161.

McKinney, Mark, The Colonial Heritage of French Comics (Liverpool University Press:

2011).

Chen, Kuan-Hsin. Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization. (Durham: Duke

University Press, 2010)Hack, Karl, “Decolonization and Violence in South East Asia: Crisis of Identities and

Authority” in Els Bogaerts and Remco Raben ed. BeyondEmpire and Nation: The

Decolonization of African and Asian Societies 1930s- 1970s (Brill 2012).

Lee, Haiyan, 2009, “The Ruins of Yuanmingyuan: Or, How to Enjoy a National

Wound,” Modern China 35.2: 155-190.

Zakaria, Faizah, ‘Birth, Life, and Afterlife of An Indonesian Graveyard: Environmental

Rule and Its Discontents’, Journal of Social History, 55:3 (2022), 724–743.

Fernando, Tamara, ‘Seeing Like the Sea: A Multispecies History of the Ceylon Pearl

Fishery 1800–1925’, Past & Present, 254:1 (2022), 127–160.

Manickam, Sandra Khor, ‘Common Ground: Race and the Colonial Universe in British

Malaya’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies; Singapore, 40:3 (2009), 593–612.

Raj, Kapil, ‘Networks of Knowledge, or Spaces of Circulation? The Birth of British

Cartography in Colonial South Asia in the Late Eighteenth Century’, Global

Intellectual History, 2:1 (2017), 49–66.

Clunas, Craig, ‘Oriental Antiquities/Far Eastern Art’, in Tani E. Barlow ed. Formations

of Colonial Modernity in East Asia (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1997):

413–446.

Schottenhammer, Angela, ‘The “China Seas” in World History: A General Outline of

the Role of Chinese and East Asian Maritime Space from Its Origins to c. 1800’,

Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, 1:2 (2012), 63–86.

Koh, Keng We, ‘Travel and Survival in the Colonial Malay World: Mobility, Region, and

the World in Johor Elite Strategies, 1818–1914’, Journal of World History, 25:4

(2015), 559–582.

Goh, Daniel P. S., ‘From Colonial Pluralism to Postcolonial Multiculturalism: Race,

State Formation and the Question of Cultural Diversity in Malaysia and Singapore’,

Sociology Compass, 2:1 (2008), 232–252.

Mommsen, Wolfgang J. ed. 1986. Imperialism and After: Continuities and

Discontinuities ( London: Allen & Unwin 1986)

Mignolo, Walter, The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial

Options. Durham and London: Duke University Press (2011)

1) students should not have more than two absences.

2) students should be actively participating in the discussion .

3) They should submit a book review in English (2000 words ?) by the end of the

course.

Achieving learning outcomes (PRK8): doctoral students are able to write a professional and publishable academic book review.

At the end of the course, the doctoral students / students should:

- have an overview of the modern colonial and postcolonial history of East and Southeast Asia

- have a good (doctoral students) / basic (students) knowledge of the most recent theoretical approaches to colonialism and decolonization

- be able to independently and critically (doctoral students) / be able to (students) apply those theories to a range of specific case studies in Asian history and beyond