Postcolonial Europe: Narratives, Nationalism, and Race

About this course

This course examines European colonial narratives and how they continue to inform current discourses of immigration, culture, and race in Europe.

A comparative approach in this course allows for a deconstruction of national narratives of exceptionalism, innocence, and benevolence. These narratives have enabled European nations to marginalize and romanticize their colonial past, each in their own unique ways. Why has it taken so long for Europe to address its colonial past? What are the consequences for Europe’s postcolonial migrants and their descendants?

With Denmark, Belgium, and France as our case studies, we will investigate these questions and more. In class and on our study tour to Brussels and Marseille, we will look into how colonial narratives are challenged in decolonial work by artists, writers, thinkers, filmmakers, and activists.

“Despite the heavy subject matter, I think the best part of the class is that it does challenge and expose students to the kind of histories that are not typically taught in schools.”

Kat

Denison University

Faculty

Ditte Marie Egebjerg-Rantzau

Faculty

Cand. mag. in Nordic Literature and French, University of Copenhagen. BA studies in French Literature, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France. Vice Consul at the Royal Danish Consulate of Ethiopia (2000). Educator at Novo Nordisk and Mærsk (>2006). Areas of specialization: Memory studies, postcolonial studies and civic education. With DIS since 2006.