We live at a time when questions of climate justice, global migration flows, and militarized landscapes daily remind us of colonial pasts and of their legacies into present environments. Our world is shaped by colonial conquest, imperial discourses, and the consequences of imperial domination and subordination. This programme analyses colonial and postcolonial manifestations and effects in the past and the present.

The programme meets needs in society and research for critical analysis of meanings, implications, and consequences of colonialism at the time of colonial conquest and rule, and in view of how previous colonial relations continue to influence the postcolonial present. Students will acquire knowledge of the formation of the modern world under the impact of colonial power, orientalist discourses, and knowledge networks and of how these are manifested in social and political relations in a postcolonial context. Students are challenged to critically examine the working of civilizational and orientalist discourses in political, economic, cultural, religious, and artistic representations. A broad choice of courses introduce, among others, Nordic colonialism, environmental history, indigenous people studies, Linnaean knowledge and enlightenment science legacies. The programme encompasses training in field study, archival research, planning and leading seminars and accommodating guest lecturers.

Career perspectives

The programme is particularly suited for students who seek to work in domestic and foreign administration, non-governmental organisations (NGO), schools, news media, museums and cultural institutions. The programme is preparatory to PhD research training.