Waves across the south: a new history of revolution and empire
Wednesday 23 September 2020, 7.00pm to 8.00pm BST
In this conversation, Sujit Sivasundaram discusses his fresh account of the world's history in the late eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries with author of the Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan. Sivasundaram's new book, Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire traces the origins of modern times from the perspective of indigenous and non-European people in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. From Aboriginal Australians to Parsis and from Mauritians to Malays, people asserted their place and their future as the British empire drove unexpected change. The tragedy of colonisation was that it reversed the immense possibilities for liberty, humanity and equality in the age of revolutions. Waves Across the South also foregrounds the environment; the waves of the Bay of Bengal or the Tasman Sea were the context for this story. Sivasundaram tells how revolution, empire and counter-revolt crashed in the global South. Naval war, imperial rivalry and oceanic trade had their parts to play, but so did hope, false promise, rebellion, knowledge and the pursuit of being modern. Join us as we debate the histories of people of colour, empire, environment and the role of world history today at a time where the legacy of this story is at the forefront of public consciousness.
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