Colonial POWs, French India and the Unmaking of the French Empire

Two scholars look at the pivotal moment of the Second World War for colonial subjects and citizens, and at what happened afterwards, the unmaking of its empire. From colonial prisoners of war in Vichy to French India, we are reminded of the many avenues historians still have to better understand the complexities of the twentieth century.

About the speakers: 

Colonial Prisoners of War in Vichy France
Sarah Frank is Lecturer in the History of the Francophone World at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the impact of the Second World War on the people subject to French colonial rule, and is intellectually linked to a series of questions on war captivity; collaboration and resistance; anti-colonialism; the decline of French imperialism; shifts in global humanitarianism; medicine, labour and movement. She is the author of Hostages of Empire: Colonial prisoners of war in Vichy France (University of Nebraska Press, 2021). Her current project 'Rebuilding lives, decolonising nations’ examines how ex-servicemen and their families adapted, reacted and moved on from trauma after violent conflict in Senegal, Congo, Ghana, Zambia, the UK, and France.

Decolonization in French India and the Future of the French Empire
Jessica Namakkal is Associate Professor of the Practice in International Comparative Studies, History, and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University. She is the author of Unsettling Utopia: The Making and Unmaking of French India (Columbia University Press, 2021). She is a member of the editorial collective of the Radical HistoryReview, a co-editor at the Abusable Past, and a member of the South Asian American Digital Archive academic council.