10 insights I gained through the “From Empire to Europe” course

Wow, the semester went by really fast — I can’t believe Wednesday will already be our final session in class. Time to look back on the course and to reflect on some of the aspects that I found particularly impressive and inspiring or that gave me a new perspective on things.

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Thus, I compiled 10 insights that I gathered throughout the semester, both concerning my personal learning experience and Britain’s situation in the past and present:

1. The British Empire, its emergence, rise, extensiveness and, eventually, its decline are highly interesting topics. Before our CS IV course, I wasn’t really interested in the history of the Empire; from what I learned at school and also at university by then, it basically meant learning by heart which countries were once British colonies and when exactly they became independent. In “From Empire to Europe”, we had the chance to dive deeper into this topic, to learn how all that came about, which problems the British had to face, how the colonised countries reacted and so on. I realised that an Empire of such a size and so geographically scattered is actually a very fascinating thing and absolutely worth studying.
2. There is not only so much history behind all of this, but it has also shaped the British present and its international relations in such a way that you can see traces of it nowadays almost everywhere you go respectively in everything you hear, watch or read on the UK. Many conflicts that the British fought in their imperial times are still relevant today, or even kind of lurking under the surface. Of course I didn’t notice these things before, but ever since I have learned so much about the development of the Empire, they simply catch my eye and/or ear.
3. Concerning the British Empire as such, I realised that all of this was not so glorious as I had previously imagined. The building, enhancement and safeguarding of its dominant position on several continents was to great parts based on bloodshed. For exmaple, the Amritsar Massacre and the war against the Mau Mau in Kenya were things I hadn’t even heard of before our CS IV course. These events and also low-points of Great Britain’s power like the Suez Crisis are covered way too superficial (if at all) at school and university.
4. What is immanent in all these developments up to the present day is the kind of “imperial spirit” inherent to the British nation. Whether it is the somehow strategic structure of the Empire, the first application for the EU in the 1960s, the “teaming up” with the superpower USA or even the recent Brexit decision: underlying all of this is their strong patriotism and omnipresent wish to be on the winning team, to be among the most important global players, to be a strong nation, to have a “special” position for themselves. And also the desire to be “unique”, both in traditions and in politics, and different from the other European nations.
5. With the agreed Brexit from the EU, Britain’s place in Europe and probably the world will be obviously changing. Nobody knows how exactly and to what extent, but recent developments concerning the distinct integrated parts of the United Kingdom and also demographic differences in the attitudes towards Europe will pose a huge challenge for Britain. They are entering an unknown path, and have to deal with a lot of criticism from both in- and outside the country. However, with their prospective Prime Minister Theresa May they seem to have a new, strong leader who will most certainly manage to order and overcome the present chaos.
6. Concerning my personal experience of the course, I agree with what most of my fellow students already pointed out in their reflections post, especially on blog writing. At first, I thought of it as a rather tedious task to have to write something “out of nowhere” every other week. The comment weeks were much easier for me as there was already something there that I could relate to and evaluate. But with every blog entry I wrote, I more and more enjoyed the task and my post became longer and longer. I slowly perceived it as a chance to express my opinion (I’m usually not the type for participating extensively in class discussion) and to critically assess certain things. And I have to say: it really helped me. I have learned that I am capable of researching on a topic, then of presenting it in a (hopefully) interesting way and of critically judging it.
7. Not only did I start to enjoy blog writing in the course of the semester, but I also more and more enjoyed to read what others posted. I sometimes spent whole afternoons just browsing through our publication and see what great, creative and sometimes funny posts I could find there. It also helped me to stay interested and to really engage with the topics we covered in class — especially the Brexit.
8. Another thing that many of my fellow students already mentioned is the challenge of getting up early. I usually avoid registering for courses that start at 8.15 in the morning, simply because I live around 75 km from Mainz and being at university at shortly after 8 means taking the train at 6.30 in the morning. Now, that’s a challenge for me! However, the fact that the course was really interesting helped me a lot, I really enjoyed its diversity, both in content and material. Our instructor Geoffrey Miller was always well prepared, included documentaries and class dicussions and thus presented even complex topics in an interesting way. Thank you very much for this! :-)
9. What I also discovered during the course is where to get the information I needed. For the blog posts, I had to do research on a variety of topics and especially for the ongoing Brexit discussion, I had to stay up to date and survey the latest developments. Thanks to this, I found new sources of information, scanned the relevant British newspaper websites, and also other websites where I was sure to find essential information. In doing this, I also gained a certain routine that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have developed.
10. Eventually, I took very much from this course and am almost a bit sad that Wednesday will be the last session. The topic and structure were very interesting and inspiring, and Geoffrey did a great job. The regular blogging helped me develop my writing skills and also to critically assess what others write. Especially the thematic coincidence with the current Brexit debate helped me to understand and filter the huge amount of information one was bombarded with in the last weeks.

All in all, it is a pity that the course won’t be offered next semester.