Envisioning Europe: A Decolonial Project for Europe

A Decolonial Project for Europe

The idea of an unfinished project of modernity has long animated the European project.

In this talk, Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies, Gurminder Bhambra argues that what is needed instead, is to address the unfinished project of decolonization.

Moving away from an understanding of Europe constituted as a cosmopolitan continent of nations, this talk will examine the implications of its imperial and colonial past.

It sets out the ‘varieties of colonialism’ at the heart of the European project and discusses their significance for Europe’s past, present, and future.

Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies at the University of Sussex and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is the author of Colonialism and Modern Social Theory (2021) with John Holmwood, Connected Sociologies (2014), and the award-winning Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination (2007). She is also co-editor of Decolonising the University (2018) and runs the Global Social Theory site, is editor of Discover Society, and directs the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project.

Moderated by George Stylianou, former journalist and currently the House of European History’s PR, Outreach and Institutional Officer.

Introduction by Dr. Constanze Itzel, Museum Director of the House of European History.

In the light of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the House of European History (HEH) is organising an online lecture series entitled ‘Envisioning Europe.’ From 22 June 2021 to 19 July 2022, the museum will share its floor with 12 prominent historians to exchange insights into Europe past and present. Voices from outside Europe will also contribute to contextualising this dialogue with external perspectives. Each lecture includes a moderated Q&A session.