Description
This course offers students an overview of selective aspects of the history of twentieth-century Britain, set within the context of imperial history and decolonization. London – the ‘imperial metropole’ – is frequently used as a location through which to explore broader questions about changing collective identities such as Britishness. Metropolitan attitudes towards empire, race, gender, social and cultural change also form a major focus. The course also introduces students to some key concepts within postcolonial studies, encouraging a critical evaluation of their utility and the relationship between theory and history. Case studies may include so-called ‘popular imperialism’ in the late nineteenth century; efforts to create ‘imperial architecture’ in London c. 1900; intellectuals and imperialism in late Edwardian Bloomsbury; WWI and gender; Americanisation in the 1920s ‘jazz age’; Cable Street and the anti-fascist struggle in interwar Britain; the Blitz and its trans-Atlantic and imperial dimensions; and post-war ‘New Commonwealth’ immigration.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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