Teacher(s)
Language
French
Prerequisites
Course available to students enrolled in a Masters 60 or 120 in History
Main themes
Since post-colonial independence, several currents and theories have renewed the way of writing history and decoding current societies. These critical and analytical tools invite a geographical, mental and temporal "decentring" and allow us to understand past and present systems of thought and action, here and elsewhere, from a different perspective.
This master's course aims to deepen the study and practice of critical decentring in history. It will not only involve mobilising epistemological frameworks from other social science disciplines, but also training in the work of historians who question the past in an inclusive and decentred manner, and who interrogate systems of power and relations of domination and dependence (economic, gender, ethnic, religious, etc.).
This training will be partly given by non-European researchers.
This master's course aims to deepen the study and practice of critical decentring in history. It will not only involve mobilising epistemological frameworks from other social science disciplines, but also training in the work of historians who question the past in an inclusive and decentred manner, and who interrogate systems of power and relations of domination and dependence (economic, gender, ethnic, religious, etc.).
This training will be partly given by non-European researchers.
Content
During this academic year, we will focus on Postcolonial and Subaltern Studies. By immersing ourselves in the writings of some emblematic authors (Gramsci, Fanon, Memmi, Saïd, Gayatri Spivak, Chakrabarty, Nandy, Mbembe, ...), we will resituate their ideas in the specific context of the social, economic, cultural or epistemic struggles in which they have participated, from the anti-colonial struggles of the 1950s-60s to current globalization. We will attempt to understand their main intellectual and methodological contributions, by applying them to concrete case studies concerning, on the one hand, relations between Europe and the Arab-Muslim world, and on the other, relations between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. We will also examine the perspectives of authors from the field of Decolonial Studies (Latin America, early 1990s). Finally, we will examine the limits of these currents, or the most striking criticisms of which they have been the object.More broadly, our aim will be to discuss the main tools that Postcolonial and Subaltern Studies can offer the social science researcher, particularly in history. These include critical reflection on temporalities in history and the classic caesuras that distinguish historians' work ("Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Times, Contemporary Era"... ); the importance of the long term; reflection on "positioning" and "standpoint"; the influence of the structural and mental legacies of colonial systems on the political, social and cultural dynamics of Western and non-European societies, and on their mutual relations; the reappraisal of "subordinate" actors or those invisibilized by dominant discourse/research (peasants, women, the colonized, etc.); taking into account the "cultural" and "social" dimensions of the colonial era. ); taking into account the "performativity" and "agency" of subaltern actors; valuing the knowledge, practices and epistemologies emanating from non-European actors and researchers; overcoming the logic of binary opposition in favor of approaches that privilege the analysis of métissages, hybridizations and reciprocal influences between cultures, religions and societies of the world, either at a given time, or over time, through the entanglements between traditions and modernities...
Teaching methods
Prior to and in parallel with the content of the sessions, students will be invited to read extracts from the texts of the authors addressed, or scientific articles relating to these authors or, more broadly, to Postcolonial/Subaltern/Decolonial studies. These readings will be framed by some initial questions/proposals formulated by the teachers. On this basis, we'll then engage in cross-reflection exercises and mini-debates, encouraging participative dynamics during the joint sessions.
Evaluation methods
Oral or written examination based on personal work demonstrating the student's ability to think critically about the perspectives of Postcolonial and Subaltern Studies and how they can concretely influence the way history is practiced and written.
Online resources
Powerpoints summarizing the content of the sessions, a bibliography, texts to be read, audiovisual, iconographic and media supports, and practical information are available and can be downloaded from the course's Moodle platform.
Faculty or entity
