Postcolonial Empires 2009-10
Theme: Institutions and Historiographies
Alternate Wednesdays in term
CRASSH, 17 Mill Lane, Cambridge
Wednesday 28 April, 17.00 hrs Friday 4 June, 16.00 hrs * Please note change of time and date
Easter Term 2010
Dr Chris Kaplonski (University of Cambridge)
The Many Lives of Secret Police Files: Repression, Rehabilitation and the Hermeneutics of Documents in Mongolia
Wednesday 26 May, 17:00hrs
Dr Sudeshna Guha (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge)
Historicising Civilisational Heritage: Archaeology in Constructions of 'Ancient India'
Dr Felipe Hernandez (University of Cambridge)
Reading group: "Building Foundations: Architecture, History and Authority"
Readings: Extracts from Felipe Hernandez, Bhabha For Architects
Lent Term 2010
Thursday 14 Jan 2010, 4.00 to 7pm* Registration required
Workshop with Prof Ann Stoler (Willy Brandt Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology and Historical Studies, New School for Social Research, New York)
Preparatory reading:
Extracts from Prof Stoler's Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009)
Wednesday 20 January 2010, 5.00pm
Isabelle Humphries (PhD St Mary’s University College, University of Surrey)
Land as a Source of Memory: Marking Palestinian Presence/Absence in the Galilee
Background Reading:
Sa’di, Ahmad.H. and Lila Abu-Lughod (eds.), Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007) – particularly introduction pp.1-24.
Swedenburg, Ted. ‘Chapter 3 – Scenes of Erasure’ in Ted Swedenburg, Memories of Revolt: The 1936-1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past(Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2003)e TBC
To access the Reading, please contact Manar or Rachel
Wednesday 3 February 2010, 5.00pm
Reading Group
The politics of memory, memorialisation and museums in postcolonial Kenya.
This session will prepare the group for papers by Prof John Lonsdale (Trinity, Cambridge) and Dr Lotte Hughes (Open University)
To access the Readings please contact Rachel or Manar
Clough, Marshall. Mau Mau and the Contest for Memory, (Chapter 11 of Mau Mau and Nationhood: Arms, Authority and Nationhood). Ed. E.S.A. Odhiambo and J. Lonsdale. Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP, 2003.
Lonsdale, John. Soil, Work, Civilization and Citizenship in Kenya, Journal of Eastern African Studies 2.2 July 2008.
Wednesday 17 February 2010, 5.00pm
Prof John Lonsdale (Trinity College, University of Cambridge)
Politics and memory and memorialisation in Kenya
Please prepare Readings in advance for the seminar.
Wednesday 3 March 2010, 5.00pm
Dr Lotte Hughes (Open University)
Managing Heritage, Building Peace: Museums, memorialisation and the uses of memory in Kenya
Dr Hughes is also a member of the History Department of the Open University's Faculty of Arts; a Council member of the African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK); and a member of the editorial board of the Historical Association of Kenya (HAK).
Michaelmas Term 2009
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 5.00pm
Archive Fever?
Introductory session in which we aim to set the frame for the seminar series and discuss key questions. Why is it important to think about historigraphy, memorialisation and institutions in a postcolonial frame?
Facilitators: Rachel Bower (English), Manar Makhoul (Middle Eastern Studies), Claire Warrior (Senior Exhibitions Curator at the National Maritime Museum)
Participants are asked to look at reading materials in advance.
To access the Readings please contact Rachel or Manar
Forsdick, Charles Interpreting 2004: Politics, Memory, Scholarship, small axe 27 (2008): 1-13
Stoler, Ann Laura. "The Pulse of the Archive" Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2009: 17-53
Wednesday 28 October 2009, 5.00pm
Andrew Macdonald (PhD Cambridge)
Archives and border crossing in South Africa
Kate Highman (PhD York)
A cultural history of plagiarism in South African literature
Followed by group discussion.
Friday 30 October 2.00-3.30pm (Faculty of English, Room GR 06/07) *
Dr Saad Eskander, Director of Iraq National Library and Archive, Baghdad
Iraq National Library and Archives in Transition: Old Tasks and New Responsibilities
*Please note different time and venue
Wednesday 11 November 2009, 5.00pm
Yoni Mendel (PhD, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge)
Museums in the Battlefield: Two Examples from Israel and Palestine.
Reading TBC.
(Joint seminar with Middle East CRASSH group)
Wednesday 25 November 2009, 2.30-4.30pm*
Group visit to Imperial War Museum, London,
hosted by James Taylor (Head of Research and Information)
The visit is open to all. If you wish to attend please contact Rachel Bower (reb59@cam.ac.uk).
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