Remembering Empire: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators (RemEm)

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The Leadership Fellowship, 'Narratives of the French Settlers of Algeria', examined the case of the French who colonised Algeria from 1830 and who fled to France as quasi-refugees when Algeria became independent in 1962. It found that their experiences challenged the conventional narrative of colonial actors as either (guilty) perpetrators or (innocent) victims and argued that they belonged to a more nuanced and widespread position, theorised as an instance of 'implicated subjects' (Rothberg 2019) or 'greyzone' bystanders, collaborators or beneficiaries. That position, with its implications for inter-community relations, is shared by many of us in the UK today, as the beneficiaries of colonialism.The findings acquired an unforeseen relevance following George Floyd's murder, amid calls for a reappraisal of colonial history and its continued legacies. Young people are particularly open to issues of racial justice and the project proposes a two-pronged ten-week programme, 'Remembering Empire' (RemEm), that aims to equip Scottish pupils with methodologies to transform their understanding of the colonial past and its effect on the present. It uses the story of the French settlers of Algeria and supports them to make connections with the history of Scotland, a nation historically overshadowed by England yet also implicated in the settlement and colonisation of other nations. It fosters deep understanding via academic approaches that destabilise the polarised, often instrumentalised, vision of the past that dominates public discourse, and so contributes to a transformational decolonisation of the curriculum.A secondary aim is to support take-up of French language and culture in Scottish secondary schools. Linguistic and intercultural competence is key to developing outward-looking citizens equipped to meet new challenges of racial justice and mass migration but from 2016 to 2020 Higher exam entries in French fell by 31% (SQA Statistics 2020), particularly amongst pupils from deprived backgrounds (high SIMD). The project aims to engage pupils from high SIMD areas with questions of French emigration, colonisation and empire that parallel the stories of impoverished Scottish emigrants, and build the linguistic competence and intercultural skills required for global citizenship. It will intervene at two key stages: age 14, where pupils prepare to make their exam subject choices, and age 17, where pupils prepare for university entrance. Younger pupils will connect the stories of Scottish emigration taught in schools to the French case-study and respond linguistically, creatively and via performance to the story of the settler exodus from Algeria to France, presented through a graphic novel and theatre workshops led by theatre practitioners and specially trained student mentors, supported by a travelling exhibition.For a range of reasons (OECD 2021) older pupils taking French Advanced Higher exams often face uneven levels of support when undertaking the required independent learning project, with consequences in their preparedness for university study. This intervention will complement teaching provision with a bespoke programme using archive footage and multi-media materials developed by the 'Narratives of the French Settlers' project, and literary study of a play, framed by academic analysis and discussion and delivered with practical theatre workshops.The project will also commission two new creative works: 1) a French graphic novel designed for use with younger pupils; and 2) an English translation of a contemporary French play, Les Pieds Tanqués (2012), that will be used with older pupils and adapted for public performance. These new works will be part of a free digital package of 'Remembering Empire', developed for schools to access permanently. Three versions will be available - French-language for age 14, French-language for age 17, and English-language for ages 14-17 - supported by CPD sessions for teachers.