Writing Colonial History

Emmanuelle Saada, in conversation with Youssef Ben Ismail, John Tachiang Ma, and Gregory Mann, moderated by Madeleine Dobie.

Colonial legacies dominate many contemporary political debates around the world. How do historians contribute to these debates and to the understanding of colonial situations, past and present? Starting with the observation that modern history is, in part, a product of colonial projects, Emmanuelle Saada’s new book, Histoires et colonisations: Des récits de la conquête aux héritages post-coloniaux (Gallimard, 2026) revisits major historiographical debates and controversies of the past two hundred years by testing them against a wide range of colonial situations, spanning five continents and five centuries. She explores how historians have forged their concept of colonization from very diverse historical situations, including the U.S., Israel, and Ireland. And it shows how engagement with colonial contexts has transformed historians' methods and writing practices.