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WiSe 19/20: “We are here because you were there:” Post-Imperial Migrations to Western Europe

Christoph Kalter

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In a development that has been seen as an irony of history, at the precise moment when European imperial rule was ending in the second half of the twentieth century, the overseas empires came to be more present in the everyday lives of most Europeans than they had ever been before. This heightened presence of empire was the result not only of a series of decolonization wars that involved conscripted European soldiers and led to considerable political upheaval in Europe itself. It was also, and even more so, the result of new migrations. To be sure, from its beginning, the so-called European expansion had brought millions of Europeans to other parts of the globe, but also, reversely, people from Africa, Asia, and the Americas to Europe. For a long time, however, this reverse mobility was more the exception than the rule. It was only in the decades after the Second World War, in the context of decolonization and of Europe’s post-war reconstruction and economic boom years, that immigration from the colonized or formerly colonized world became a massive phenomenon and transformed Europe into a continent with a significant net surplus of immigration. As more and more people from Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia arrived—in quest of work, education, and social mobility, or in search of refuge from poverty, famine, violent conflict, or group-specific persecution— it seemed that empire was coming home. This process thoroughly altered the demographic, economic, social, political, and cultural realities of Western Europe. Based on recent and exciting scholarship and zooming in on select aspects of the immigration histories of France, the United Kingdom, and Portugal from the 1940s to the 1990s, this seminar will help students deepen and complicate their knowledge of post-imperial Europe. Course Requirements: In order to successfully complete the course, you must meet the following requirements: A. Regular and active participation; B. preparation and introduction of the discussion for one of our classes; C. weekly responses to the readings uploaded to Blackboard; D. seminar paper (optional, depending on your module). Note: Reading ability in French or Portuguese is an asset, but not a requirement. close