You never stop learning
I always liked the Cultural Studies (CS) courses at university. However, I have to admit that the British CS courses always interested me more than the American CS courses. I think it is because of the different histories- I simply find British history more interesting. I had the chance to experience the first British CS course in my bachelor with the same lecturer who did this British CS course. Partly I chose this course because of that and because of the topic. I really like the fact that the lecturer knows what he is talking about, that he is interested in the topic and has fun to share his knowledge with us students.
Concerning this British CS course “From Empire to Europe” we started with the theories on the end of the British empire where we discussed which circumstances like the decline of the British economic power, the imperial retreat and timing led to its end. We then went on discussing the difficulties Britain faced after the second World War to join the “EU”- discussing the influence of France and later the first referendum. The next lessons were about the “road to independence” of India, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. I really liked that we always looked at both sides; what and how did the British do what they did to keep their colonies and also why and what did the colonies do to get their independence. For each lesson we had to prepare readings which were very informative, but also quite a lot. However, to cover all this history in an appropriate way, it seems reasonable.
Finally, the topicality made the course and its topic graspable which the lecturer included very well in the lessons. All in all I liked the course because we dealt with topics that are even still relevant today and we were always able to participate in the discussions.