Within the dynamic realm of historiography and the generation of knowledge, the process of “Becoming Independent” serves as a profound testament to the tenacity and resolve exhibited by a wide array of intellectual communities in their efforts to confront and transform established narratives. This afterword explores the themes in this special issue, which not only offers a critical analysis of historiographical practices from both past and present but also emphasises the imperative for ongoing dedication in the endeavour to cultivate diverse and independent historical narratives. By discussing the different articles of this collection, the afterword explores shared themes, such as the decoloniality of historical scholarship through ethnographic inquiry, prospects of de-emphasising the Eurocentric gaze, fragmentation of history as evidence of varied epistemological sovereignties, and the decolonial agenda through “white expatriates.” By doing so, this Afterword serves as a resounding appeal for the continuous pursuit of intellectual liberation.

This special issue brings together contributions from scholars covering different imperial formations in Africa to discuss the changing aspects of European identities and the complexities surrounding the concept of being ‘European’ in colonial settings in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The articles examine different strategies and mechanisms employed by historical actors and their continual adaptation of their identities to the local and global transformations surrounding them. This introductory text offers a reflection on why identity remains a useful lens through which to examine colonial frameworks and dynamics of power and expand our knowledge of the role of evolving local societies in shaping modern imperialism.

This article investigates the nature of Dutch and English empire in the early modern period through the variety of joint Anglo-Dutch imperial ventures Dutch and English people founded. The article uses seven case studies of sets of imperial projects that included different elements of Anglo-Dutch cooperation to show that Dutch and English people pursued these collaborations largely because they sought profit and wanted to frame their efforts around the Protestant cause, rather than national glory. The article contributes to scholarship on early modern transimperial cooperation, proposing that the Anglo-Dutch case deserves particular attention due to the large number of ventures involved and the range of formality and legality they spanned. The article also argues that Anglo-Dutch imperial collaboration was of particular importance to the growing English empire. It finds that almost every English imperial project in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century contained Anglo-Dutch elements. It therefore suggests that the early English empire was, in many ways, an Anglo-Dutch empire.

This article illuminates the variety and diversity of mechanisms and strategies of (European) identification that were used by Ranga Reinhardt Kaundinya. The Indo-German was born into a German Indian (Brahmin) family in service of the Protestant Basel Mission from Switzerland. Having spent his youth in India, Germany, and Switzerland, he later became a planter in India before managing a cotton plantation in German East Africa (GEA). Producing his identity in a visual source and two German publications released during WWI, the examination of Kaundinya’s sources offers a perspective on how an individual developed an (European) identity in colonial frameworks and dynamics of power across three continents and two empires. In the field of tension between race, class, gender, and religion, he drew on the image of a virile, white colonial hunter and on the self-image of an experienced colonial planter. He further attempted to distance himself from his Brahmin descent and to exploit the Christian part of his family history instead. Moreover, he criticized British colonial rule of India. He even envisioned his own European identity and a vague Indo-German alliance. Amalgamating major ideas of Orientalism, racist thought, and geopolitical theories prominent at the fin du siècle, he called this alliance ‘Indo-Germania.’

During the colonial period, Lebanese migrants in Dakar played a significant role in the local economy, benefiting from a historical and evolving French imperial framework in the Levant. From the 1930s onwards, their presence was increasingly perceived as a threat by white settlers, culminating in the post-1945 period when Maurice Voisin articulated a rhetoric of “Frenchness” to exclude them from Senegalese colonial society. This rhetoric, invoking economic, cultural, and political arguments, sought to defend a supposed imperial community uniting French settlers and African subjects. Yet archival evidence reveals that Voisin’s vision was increasingly disconnected from French imperial strategic interests, which recognized the Lebanese as clients and valuable intermediaries. Drawing on colonial administrative archives and press sources, this article examines how Lebanese migrants navigated these challenges, asserting their agency and negotiating their position both within Dakar’s society and the broader imperial order. By highlighting the clash between settler rhetoric, imperial policy, and migrant strategies, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of Lebanese identification in French West Africa and the complex dynamics of colonial power, belonging, and transnational ties in the aftermath of the Second World War.

The objective of this study is to examine the policies of the Russian Empire and Persia regarding the election of the Catholicos of All Armenians. The expansionist ambitions of the Russian Empire in the South Caucasus led to confrontation with Persia, and within this context the cultivation of a pro-Russian worldview among the Armenian population became a priority for Russian authorities. Consequently, the Catholicosate of All Armenians—the most influential Armenian institution of the period—emerged as a target of both Russian and Persian intervention.

The election of the Catholicos thus became a primary foreign policy issue for the two empires. The electoral process itself reveals divisions within the Armenian clergy, as rival factions sought to establish a Catholicos under Russian or Persian patronage. Taking advantage of these circumstances, Tsarist authorities actively intervened, promoting their preferred candidates and thereby breaking with the traditional practice of autonomous election.

This study draws on archival documents from the Catholicosate of All Armenians, which provide the basis for a comprehensive analysis of the election process, the responses of the Armenian clergy, the manifestations of Russian-Persian rivalry, the resulting diplomatic confrontations, and the involvement of the Ottoman Empire. By systematically reconstructing these events from original sources, the study highlights the ways in which imperial rivalries directly shaped Armenian ecclesiastical life, offering new insights into the intersection of religious authority and regional power politics in the South Caucasus.

Mobility has become a central focus of research into material culture. We chart the life-cycle of one mobile object: a painting commissioned in 1790s Peru by an indigenous man, painted by an indigenous artist, and intended for the king of Spain. Its history demonstrates the importance of exploring not simply the fact that objects moved around, but the particular reasons why they were in motion, and the particular ways in which they circulated. In the case of this painting, its creation, trajectory, disappearance, and afterlife were determined by two forms of damage characteristic of the eighteenth century: colonial violence and imperial warfare. These forces set objects in motion, and they conditioned the ways in which this painting was repeatedly reinterpreted and physically rearranged. Its history exemplifies the interconnections between imperial and colonial conflict, and the mobility and reception of artworks in this globalising era. Warfare and violence, we show, were powerful, and overlooked, factors that shaped the meanings and changing materiality of objects as they circulated.

This article contributes to the history of the British cultural project in the late empire by examining the role of the “British way of life” (BWL) in the rhetoric of late colonialism. In the decade between the end of the Second World War and the first African independence, British colonial policy balanced two objectives: redefining the legitimacy of empire while preparing the transition to independence through a shift from direct control to sustained influence in postcolonial states. The promotion of the BWL formed a key component of this strategy. Conceived by the Colonial Office as a set of values, social norms, and political ideals associated with modernity, it aimed to strengthen ties between Britain and colonial populations and to encourage continued affiliation with the Commonwealth after independence. This article defines the concept of the BWL and analyses two principal instruments of its dissemination: Colonial Office publications and the activities of the British Council in East Africa, especially Kenya. It argues that cultural policy was central to Britain’s attempt to transform imperial authority into post-imperial influence.