Over the years, Cambridge University Library has gathered an important collection of Francophone and (North) African / Caribbean material and postcolonial studies, through a selection policy in foreign languages and translations beyond what we receive by legal deposit. It ranges from history to philosophy, literature, sociology, politics or arts (see previous blogpost on “Black models” in visual culture and modern arts). However, only some of these resources are available as ebooks: unfortunately, few titles in French are currently available online, with the exception of the Open Access platform OpenEdition. A lot of extra (Anglophone) resources were opened to members of the University of Cambridge on temporary access during the COVID-19 outbreak. Cambridge University Library has just subscribed to the packages EBSCO Ebook Academic Collection and Proquest Academic Complete, which total c. 400,000 ebooks. Gallica, the online portal of the French national library, holds many resources (digitised books and periodicals), but because of copyright, only extracts are available for many relevant works. The list below, which is completed by additional bibliographic e-resources on the French collections website, is only indicative and focuses on the 20th century. Continue reading “E-resources on Black Lives Matter and decolonisation in the Francophone world”
Tag: decolonisation
Some resources on racism in Spain and Portugal
In line with recent events linked to the Black Lives Matter movement, this blog post features ebooks and other titles dealing with racism and social prejudice in Spain, Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa available to Cambridge students and researchers.
Continue reading “Some resources on racism in Spain and Portugal”
Some ebooks on colonialism and racism in Scandinavia
Among the worldwide reactions to the killing of George Floyd, protests have taken place across Scandinavia. Much of the local media coverage of these events assumed a display of solidarity with the United States and perpetuated the misconception that racism was something belonging to other countries. However, the participants were also highlighting current problems of systemic racism in their own countries along with the need to face up to their colonial past. Continue reading “Some ebooks on colonialism and racism in Scandinavia”
Some resources on racism in Latin America
As mentioned in the article Estudios sobre el racismo en América Latina by María Dolores París Pombo, studies about racism in Latin America have only started to become prominent since the Eighties. París Pombo argues that this may have to do with the underlying “official” narrative, in some Latin American countries, that the mestizo (the person of combined Indigenous and European descent) and the mulato were the quintessential incarnations of national identities, chosen as such in an attempt to defend and differentiate those nations from the metropolis. For many Latin American intellectuals, racism was just a rare phenomenon. This is, of course, not truly the case and studies on racism (and also on endoracismo, the kind of unconscious and self-imposed racism that manifests as a rejection of your own identity and the undervaluation your own historical past, that has permeated in in several indigenous communities) have consolidated ever since but in different ways in different countries, depending on how they each are trying to come to terms, or not, with their own colonial historical memories and their current realities. Continue reading “Some resources on racism in Latin America”
Some ebooks relating to colonialism and Black experience in Germany
Following on from last week’s post on Dutch material, this post will present some material on Germany’s colonial history and race relations.
While Germany’s colonial period was relatively brief the legacy was nevertheless devastating. Reassessment of Germany’ colonial history has been a focus of research in Germany during the last 20 years.
As currently only relatively few German titles are available as ebooks to students and staff in Cambridge, English titles containing contributions from German scholars and translations of German titles are included in this list. Continue reading “Some ebooks relating to colonialism and Black experience in Germany “
Dutch titles on race and decolonisation
Last week’s blog post Black Lives Matter : some ebooks looked at a selection of anti-racism English-language titles. Today’s post will be the first of a series looking at titles in other languages, with a focus today on Dutch material.
The Netherlands and Belgium share with the UK a history of colonisation and slavery and are addressing uncomfortable issues of ongoing racism. Dutch ebooks available to Cambridge staff and students are very few, so the suggestions below include translations into English and books published in English by Dutch-language authors. Continue reading “Dutch titles on race and decolonisation”
Languages across Borders 