The 'Wind of Change': Fifty years on. Britain and the End of Empire in the 1950s and 1960s

A Conference organized by the Departments of History at University of East Anglia and King’s College London to mark the 50th Anniversary of Harold Macmillan’s Landmark Speech

To be held at the University of East Anglia
2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Harold Macmillan’s famous speech claiming that a ‘wind of change’ was blowing through Africa. It was followed by wholesale British retreat from empire in Africa and elsewhere, which, with the demise of other European colonial empires transformed the geopolitical map. Driven by the progressive release of archival sources, recent decades have seen enormous growth in studies of British decolonisation, and a gradual widening of the themes addressed in such work. Most official papers for the key period are now available, and the appearance of a string of synoptic accounts of British decolonisation appeared to indicate growing consensus on the dynamics and nature of British decolonisation. But as we approach the 50th anniversary of Macmillan’s seminal speech, important new research adopting novel approaches has once more begun to complicate these established narratives of British decolonisation. This conference brings together leading figures in decolonisation studies to reflect on current approaches and possible future directions.