This course introduces the intellectual and cultural history of European colonialism and decolonization, focusing on the origins, effects, and legacy of European imperialism from the eighteenth century to the present day, and engaging with ongoing debates about its possible benefits to the colonized, as well as the colonizers, in light of its human cost. Students read works and excerpts from works such as Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Achebe, “An Image of Africa”; Watts, “A Bloody Racist”; Gilley, “King Hochschild’s Hoax”; Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks; Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; Saïd, Orientalism; Lewis, “The Question of Orientalism”; Ferguson, Empire; and Biggar, Colonialism.