The influence of French colonial humanism on the study of late antiquity: Braudel, Marrou, Brown

Abstract

Late antiquity is a sub-discipline of history. It is also a particular way of representing the time and space of the past. Studies in late antiquity tend to focus on the culture and society of the late Roman world. This article argues that this way of imagining time and space and people derives from francophone debates about colonial governance that were current in the 1920s and 1930s. This colonial humanism provided the context for two francophone authors whose work heavily influenced the formation of late antiquity: Fernand Braudel and Henri Marrou. This article shows how Braudel and Marrou were influenced by colonial humanism and how this influence shaped the formation of late antiquity. Historiographical accounts of the study of late antiquity have noted a recurring preoccupation with modernity. This article argues that late antiquity is modern to the extent that it is dependent on the colony for its constitution.