Europe after Empire: Decolonization, Society, and Culture

566 Pages·2016·7.543 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Buettner

Europe after Empire
EuropeafterEmpireisapioneeringcomparativehistoryofEuropeandeco
lonization from the formal ending of empires to the postcolonial European
present. Elizabeth Buettner charts the longterm development of postwar
decolonizationprocessesaswellasthehistoriesofinwardandreturnmigra
tion from former empires which followed. She shows that not only were
formercoloniesremadeasaresultofthepathtodecolonization:sotoowas
WesternEurope,withimperialtracesscatteredthroughoutpopularandelite
cultures,consumergoods,religiouslife,politicalformations,andideological
terrains.Peoplewerealsoinwardlymobile,includingnotsimplyEuropeans
returning‘home’butAsians,Africans,WestIndians,andotherswhomade
theirwaytoEuropetoforgenewlives.TheresultisaEuropefundamentally
transformed by multicultural diversity and cultural hybridity and by the
destabilizationofassumptionsaboutrace,culture,andthemeaningsofplace,
andwhereimperiallegaciesandmemoriesliveon.
elizabethbuettnerisProfessorofModernHistoryattheUniversityof
Amsterdam. Her publications include Empire Families: Britons and Late
ImperialIndia(2004).
New Approaches to European History
Serieseditors
T.C.W.Blanning,SidneySussexCollege,Cambridge
BrendanSimms,Peterhouse,Cambridge
NewApproachestoEuropeanHistoryisanimportanttextbookseries,which
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Europe after Empire
Decolonization, Society, and Culture
Elizabeth Buettner
UniversityofAmsterdam
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©ElizabethBuettner2016
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Firstpublished2016
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Buettner,Elizabeth,author.
Europeafterempire:decolonization,society,andculture/ElizabethBuettner.
Cambridge,UnitedKingdom:CambridgeUniversityPress,2016.|Series:New
approachestoEuropeanhistory
LCCN2015042963|ISBN9780521113861(hardback:alkalinepaper)|ISBN
9780521131889(paperback:alkalinepaper)
LCSH:Europe Colonies History.|Decolonization Europe History.|
Postcolonialism Europe History.|Imperialism History.|Multiculturalism
Europe.|Immigrants Europe.|Europe Ethnicrelations.|Europe Emigration
andimmigration.|BISAC:HISTORY/Europe/General.
LCCJV151.B762016|DDC325/.34 dc23
LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015042963
ISBN9780521113861Hardback
ISBN9780521131889Paperback
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accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
PartI Decolonizationforcolonizers:Europe’stransition
tothepostcolonialera 21
1 MythsofcontinuityandEuropeanexceptionalism:Britain,
decolonization,andtheCommonwealthfamilyideal 23
Britain,dominion‘daughters’,andIndia’sroadtoindependence 23
Post-wartransitionsandanewCommonwealth 37
From1950simperialcrisestothe‘windofchange’ 49
TheBritishpublicencountersdecolonization 61
Imperialendgames,Commonwealthdoubts,Europeandiscomforts 67
2 Occupation,resistance,andliberation:theroadtoDutch
decolonization 78
3 Soldieringonintheshadowofwar:decolonizinglaplusgrande
France 106
TheFrenchempirefromtheFirstWorldWartothe1930s 108
Vichy,war,andtheFrenchUnion 119
Indochina’sfightforindependence 126
ReckoningwithIndochinaandthestruggleoverAlgériefrançaise,1954 1958 135
DeGaulle,thenewRepublic,andtheongoingcrisisinNorthAfrica
andthehexagon,1958 1962 146
Frenchdecolonization,grandeur,andEurope 157
4 Longlivetheking?Belgium,themonarchy,andtheCongo
betweentheSecondWorldWarandthedecolonizationyears 163
5 Fromrose-colouredmaptoCarnationRevolution:Portugal’s
overseasamputations 190
v
vi Contents
PartII Migrationsandmulticulturalisms
inpostcolonialEurope 211
6 Endingempires,cominghome:theghostworldsofEuropean
colonialrepatriates 213
Introduction 213
TheNetherlandsandrepatriatesfromIndonesia 216
ResettlingimperialBritons 223
BelgiansandtheCongo 228
France:pieds-noirsandothers 236
Portugal’sretornados 242
Decolonizingthecolonizer 247
7 Ethnicminorityimmigrationfromempireslost 251
Introduction 251
Britain’slateimperialandNewCommonwealthsettlers 254
PostcolonialarrivalsintheNetherlandsfromtheEastIndiesandWestIndies 270
France,immigration,andlestrenteglorieusesincontext 283
Portugal:Anationofemigrationandpostcolonialimmigration 303
AfricansinpostcolonialBelgium 311
Conclusion:colonialdebtswithinanintegratingEurope? 317
8 Reconfiguringnations:identities,belonging,andmulticulturalism
inthewakeofpostcolonialmigration 322
Introduction 322
Butterinthemeltingpot?MulticulturalisminthepostcolonialFrenchrepublic 327
UnionJack,UnionBlack:newethnicitiesandapproachestointegrationinBritain 349
PostcolonialculturesinamulticulturalNetherlands 375
Belgium’sAfricanpopulationandnewethnicitiesinadividednation 388
Portugalanditsdiasporas:hybridculturesandthelimitsoflusotropicalism
intheaftermathofmigration 397
Conclusion:nationaldynamismanddefensiveness 412
PartIII Memories,legacies,andfurtherdirections 415
9 Rememberingandforgettingempires 417
Introduction 417
Triggersofentangledimperialmemoriesandforgettings 425
Repatriatesandethnicminoritiesasleadingdefenders,critics,andinitiatorsofpublic
discussion 448
Cacophonyandsilence:selectivememoriesofcolonialismanddecolonization 474
Conclusion 490
Epilogue:thoughtstowardsnewhistoriesofcontemporaryEurope 491
Bibliography 505
Index 537
Figures
I.1 Sinterklaasintochtfeaturing‘BlackPiets’(ZwartePieten),
Amsterdam,November2014.PhotographbyBernhard
Rieger. page2
I.2 ProtestlogoagainstZwartePietpostedonYoutube,
November2014.Accessedviahttps://nl-nl.facebook.com/
Zwartepietniet. 3
1.1 MohandasGandhiandcheeringmillworkerswhileleaving
oneofthetextilemillsatSpringVale,Darwen,Lancashire,
UK,26September1931.Credit:GandhiServe. 32
3.1 AdvertisementforBananiabreakfastdrink,France,used
startingin1936.Credit:TheAdvertisingArchives,London. 110
4.1 Hergé,TintinauCongo(Paris:Casterman,2006),9.Credit:
©Hergé/Moulsinart2013. 169
4.2 KingBaudouinintheCongo,1955.PhotographbyAndré
Cauvin.Credit:CollectionsCEGESOMA–Brussels.Image
no.256208. 173
4.3a–c Belgianpostagestampsdated30June1960and
commemoratingtheindependenceoftheCongo.
Copyright:bpost. 182
5.1 ‘Portugalnãoéumpaíspequeno’(‘Portugalisnotasmall
country’),posterdesignedbyHenriqueGalvãoforthe1934
ColonialExhibition,Porto,Portugal.Credit:Arquivo
HistóricoMilitar,Lisbon.ImagereferencePT/AHM/DIV/3/
47/AV2/2325. 191
5.2 Monumenttothe‘Discoveries’,Belém,Lisbon,inaugurated
1960.Photographbyauthor,2012. 197
6.1a–c ‘Pontaérien’/‘Luchtbrug’seriesofthreeBelgianpostage
stampsissuedinsupportoftheComitéNationalCongo/
NationaalComitéCongo,3August1960.Credit:bpost. 234
6.2 LouisBolzeandRoseMartin,TheWhenwesofRhodesia
(Bulawayo:BooksofRhodesiaPress,1978),23. 249
vii
viii Listoffigures
7.1 EppoDoeve,‘Opwegnaardeonafhankelijkheid’/‘Towards
Independence’,October1975.Credit:Collectie
Persmuseum,Amsterdam:PMBGE36/130. 277
7.2 ‘BidonvilledelaFolieàNanterreen1964.’Photographby
JeanPottier. 293
7.3 VascodaGamaBridge(fromSacavémtoMontijo).
PortuguesepostagestampdesignedbyCarlosLeitão,dateof
issue:29March1998.FundaçãoPortuguesadas
Comunicações/PFA,Imageno.2481.Imagereproduction
authorizedbyCTTCorreiosdePortugal,SociedadeAberta. 309
8.1 KalaTara:PaperoftheAsianYouthMovement,Bradford,
no.1(1979),1.Tandana–theGlowworm,Archives,SC2.
Credit:www.tandana.org. 364
8.2 PosteradvertisingPortugalDay,KenningtonPark,London,
12June2011. 398
8.3a–c ‘Homenagemaoemigrante’/‘HomagetotheEmigrant’:
1979PortuguesepostagestampseriesdesignedbyLimade
Freitas.Dateofissue:21February1979;Fundação
PortuguesadasComunicações/PFA,Imagenos.1415,and
1417.Credit:ImagereproductionsauthorizedbyCTT
CorreiosdePortugal,SociedadeAberta. 401
9.1 LucTuymans,MwanaKitoko(2000).Credit:StudioLuc
Tuymans,Antwerp,Belgium. 418
9.2 LucTuymans,Lumumba(2000).Credit:StudioLuc
Tuymans,Antwerp,Belgium. 420
9.3 LucTuymans,Sculpture(2000).Credit:StudioLuc
Tuymans,Antwerp,Belgium. 421
9.4 IndischMonument,TheHague,inaugurated1988.
Photographbyauthor,2013. 454
9.5 1986calendarissuedbytheBirminghamAsianYouth
Movement,featuringphotographsofUdhamSinghin1940
nexttoAsiansproclaimingtherighttoself-defencein1980s
Britain.Tandana–theGlowworm,Archives,MH98.
Credit:www.tandana.org. 471
9.6 YinkaShonibare,‘Nelson’sShipinaBottle’,exhibitedon
thefourthplinthinTrafalgarSquare,London,2010–2012,
nowlocatedattheNationalMaritimeMuseum,Greenwich.
PhotographbyBernhardRieger,2014. 477
9.7 MonumenttotheOverseasCombatants,Belém,Lisbon;
inaugurated1994.Photographbyauthor,2012. 487