Beth Bhargava

Supervisors: 

• Adrian Bingham (Primary) 
• Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid (Secondary)

Period:

Post-1800

Thesis abstract:

Recent discussions in press and parliament have identified certain elements of the school curriculum (Shakespeare; the Second World War; the ‘benefits’ of the British empire) as a fundamental cultural heritage without which the nation would collapse. Such commentary identifies demands to decolonise education as an unprecedented and existential threat to national survival – yet neither these demands, nor the anxiety they have provoked, are in any way novel. The history of education in mid- to late-twentieth century Britain is characterised by a number of clashes between reformist and traditionalist voices.

My thesis will trace the history of these clashes. It will examine the intricacies of change in educational theory and – more importantly – classroom practice, in order to determine how the history of the British empire was taught to English school-students in the latter half of the twentieth century. The story here is not one of linear, progressive development, as is so often assumed in commentary on race and empire. In reality, the visibility and influence of decolonial understandings fluctuated over time in response to the determined campaigning of people of colour and the demands of teachers, pupils, politicians, journalists, and any number of other political actors. While mainstream curricula have, in some respects, remained strikingly unchanged during the period under examination, there have been moments of slippage where more radical histories of British imperialism may be glimpsed.