Inaugural Lectures (University of Oxford) S.
1 total work
This volume contains the author's inaugural lecture on Commonwealth studies, delivered at the University of Oxford in April 1991. Professor Brown took the opportunity to trace some of the intellectual winds of change which had blown through the subject since 1950, and to discuss what should be the content of Commonwealth history now. She argued that, under the impact of decolonization, the discipline of Commonwealth history had in many cases fallen apart into area studies, now that the imperial connection has ceased to tie together the many countries of the Commonwealth. She concluded that although area studies are necessary, the comparative dimension and sense of inter-connected common experiences provided by Commonwealth history is a vital part of its study.