LECTURE. Red Globalism: The ‘Other’ Europe, Africa and Decolonization, Prof Paul Betts

CEISR ANNUAL LECTURE

Red Globalism: The ‘Other’ Europe, Africa and Decolonization

by Prof Paul Betts, University of Oxford

 

Professor Paul Betts is Professor of Modern European History in St Anthony’s College at the University of Oxford. His research and publications focus on Modern European Cultural History in general and 20th Century German History in particular.  Professor Betts has a special interest in the relationship between culture and politics over the course of the century, and have worked on the themes of material culture, cultural diplomacy, photography, memory and nostalgia, human rights and international justice, death and changing notions of private life.

His recent publications include Within Walls:  Private Life in the German Democratic Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010; paperback, 2012), which was awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History by the Wiener Library. Professor Betts has also co-edited a number of volumes recently, including Heritage in the Modern World:  Historical Preservation in International Perspective (with Corey Ross, Oxford University Press, 2015); Years of Persecution, Years of Extermination: Saul Friedländer and the Future of Holocaust Studies (with Christian Wiese, London: Continuum, 2010); and  Between Mass Death and Individual Loss: The Place of the Dead in Twentieth-Century Germany (with Alon Confino and Dirk Schumann, New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008; pb, 2011).

Chaired by Professor Tony Chafer

Date & Location: 17 November 2015 5.15 – 6.45pm. University of Portsmouth. Dennis Sciama Buidling, room 2.14

ALL WELCOME!

India Africa Forum, New Delhi 26-30 October

The third summit of the India Africa Forum took place in New Delhi (26-30 October 2015) and involved all 54 African countries, with 41 heads of state or government present, representing a huge increase from the initial meeting of the Forum in New Delhi in 2008, attended by representatives of 14 African countries, chosen by the African Union.

Seen by some as representing a major push by India to challenge the dominance of China in Africa, India is today announcing $10 billion of soft loans and $600 million of grants for projects in Africa. (See http://www.thestatesman.com/news/business/india-announces-10-bn-soft-loan–600-m-grant-to-africa/100086.html ). It is an ambitious undertaking aimed at increasing commercial trade between India and Africa, but also at building up support for international political cooperation, most notably reform of the UN to reflect the changing balance of power in the world.

For further details and a debate on this attempt to rebalance the relationship with Africa, see also http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2015/10/india-challenge-china-dominance-africa-151028195608246.html .

Posted by Margaret Majumdar