The School of Oriental and African Studies : Imperial Training and the Expansion of Learning

A history of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London from its foundation in 1916. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Table of contents 9 List of figures 10 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 1 ‘Long contemplated and too long delayed’: the founding of the School 19 The Reay Committee 25 The Cromer Committee 29 Opposition, reservations, and some serious questions 40 The formal opening of the School, February 1917 49 2 ‘Partly a research institution and partly a vocational training centre’: 1917–1938 53 The early growth: students 54 The early growth: teaching 64 The early growth: staff 67 From Finsbury Circus towards Bloomsbury 76 The School’s finances 82 3 The war years, 1939–1945 95 Teaching languages to the armed forces 95 Postal censorship and other war work 104 Reaching Bloomsbury 110 Planning for the post-war world 114 4 The great post-war expansion 127 Filling the posts 137 Teaching and research 150 Ralph Turner 164 5 Expansion into the social sciences 169 Two new departments 176 Finding students 186 A new building 192 Discord and important questions 199 6 The great contraction 218 The cuts 218 Planning the longer term 226 National responsibilities 235 The academic structure 245 Orientalism 248 Recovery 251 7 The 1990s: renewed expansion but unresolved issues 257 Special funding 259 Expansion and diversification 266 Academic restructuring – again 274 Language teaching 277 Strategic thinking 285 8 The past in the present 293 Students and staff: numbers and configurations 294 Student demand, the national interest, and academic coherence 301 Faculties and financial transparency 314 SOAS and the expansion of learning 318 From a school of super-specialism 328 Bibliography 333 Primary sources 333 Manuscripts 333 School of Oriental and African Studies 333 India Office Records [IOR] 333 National Archives, Kew [NA] 333 Royal Society for Asian Affairs 333 Michael McWilliam 333 Official publications 333 School publications 334 Newspapers and periodicals 334 Published secondary sources 334 Interviews 339 Index 341 The School of Oriental and African Studies, a college of the University of London, was established in 1916 principally to train the colonial administrators who ran the British Empire in the languages of Asia and Africa. It was founded, that is, with an explicitly imperial purpose. Yet the School would come to transcend this function to become a world centre of scholarship and learning, in many important ways challenging that imperial origin. Drawing on the School's own extensive administrative records, on interviews with current and past staff, and on the records of government departments, Ian Brown explores the work of the School over its first century. He considers the expansion in the School's configuration of studies from the initial focus on languages, its changing relationships with government, and the major contributions that have been made by the School to scholarly and public understandings of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Long Contemplated And Too Long Delayed: The Founding Of The School -- Partly A Research Institution And Partly A Vocational Training Centre: 1917-38 -- The War Years, 1939-45 -- The Great Post-war Expansion -- Expansion Into The Social Sciences -- The Great Contraction -- The 1990s: Renewed Expansion But Unresolved Issues -- The Past In The Present. Ian Brown. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A history of the School of Oriental and African Studies, which has evolved into a major world centre for academic teaching and scholarly research since its founding in 1916. Ian Brown surveys the School's role in Britain's complex relationships with, and understandings of, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.