British Empire

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  

  Review Essay: The Bloody Business of the British Conquest of Nigeria

  by Adewale Maja-Pearce

  Self-serving stories of the civilizing mission of British Christianity paper over the brutality of colonialism. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  3/28/2022
  

  The British Empire Was Worse Than You Probably Think

  Historian Elizabeth Elkins's new book on the British Empire "contends that Britain’s use of systematic violence was no better than that of its rivals. The British were simply more skilled at hiding it."

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• SOURCE: Slate
  3/30/2022
  

  You Can't Teach "Pros and Cons" When it Comes to Empire

  by Priya Satia

  Far from encouraging critical thinking, the "balance sheet" approach to teaching historical atrocities like slavery or imperialism flatters the mythologies created by the powerful to excuse violence against others, says a historian of empire and parent of a high school student. 

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• SOURCE: Substack
  2/24/2022
  

  We, The Abuser State

  by Jules Gill-Peterson

  Texas's announcement of a policy defining some support for transgender youth as "child abuse" echoes the abuses of colonial authorities on gendered minority groups. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/29/2021
  

  Barbados Declares Republic, Rejects Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State

  Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced last year that the nation of 300,000 would become a republic by Tuesday, the 55th anniversary of its independence.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/01/2021
  

  Records of 320,000 Punjab Soldiers from Great War Uncovered`

  The records have the potential to fill gaps in understanding and even dispel popular myths and misunderstandings about the participation of South Asian troops in the British military in World War 1. 

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• SOURCE: Reuters
  10/6/2021
  

  Britain's Financial Hub Confronts its Involvement with Slavery

  "Lloyd's and the Bank of England have each hired a historian to delve into their roles in the slave trade and are planning on publicizing the results in the next year."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  8/18/2021
  

  The US Repeated Mistakes of the Past in Afghanistan

  by Ali A. Olomi

  "By flooding Afghanistan with payoffs, bribes and aid, the British created a system of endemic corruption in which local chieftains and favorable bureaucrats would enrich themselves while the rest of the country remained relatively poor."

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  8/16/2021
  

  Britain’s Idyllic Country Houses Reveal a Darker History

  About a third of the historic homes managed by Britain's National Trust have been linked to fortunes made through slavery and colonialism. The agency's efforts to present this history has been controversial. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  8/1/2021
  

  August 1 Was Emancipation Day in Britain, but Abolition Didn't Create Freedom

  by Padraic X. Scanlon

  Emancipation in the British West Indies was accompanied by policies that maintained the racial hierarchy necessary for profit through labor exploitation. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  6/29/2021
  

  Illusions of empire: Amartya Sen on what British rule really did for India

  by Amartya Sen

  The prize-winning international economist examines a tricky historical counterfactual: what would contemporary India be like had British colonialism never happened?

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  5/5/2021
  

  Except for the Miracles

  by Olúfémi Táíwò

  "The deciding aspect of politics over these next crucial years will turn on battles against overwhelmingly powerful foes who will try to prevent radical redistribution of resources," writes Olúfémi Táíwò. The legacy of two radicals, in Ireland and Kenya, show the value of partial victory and learning from defeat. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  4/15/2021
  

  The Sun Never Set on the British Empire’s Oppression

  While nationalist leaders in postcolonial states win political support by invoking heroic struggle to defeat British imperialism, they are very happy to use the repressive laws of colonialism against dissidents today. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/21/2021
  

  Washington’s Delusion of Endless World Dominion

  by Alfred McCoy

  "While Washington had been pouring blood and treasure into desert sands, Beijing was making itself into the world’s workshop."

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/17/2021
  

  Why Can't Britain Handle the Truth about Winston Churchill?

  by Priyamvada Gopal

  "Churchill was an admired wartime leader who recognised the threat of Hitler in time and played a pivotal role in the allied victory. It should be possible to recognise this without glossing over his less benign side."

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  3/16/2021
  

  Fascism and Analogies — British and American, Past and Present

  by Priya Satia

  "Historical and local specificities mean all analogies are ultimately inaccurate in ways that historians must always make clear. The point of such comparisons, however, is to uncover darker historical truths obscured by prevailing, more flattering comparisons."

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  3/12/2021
  

  ‘Imperially Nostalgic Racists’ Target Empireland Author With Hate Mail

  The history of empire has become part of a growing British culture war, particularly since Black and brown British authors and historians have begun to weigh in with critical studies of imperialism. 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  

  Irish President Attacks 'Feigned Amnesia' over British Imperialism

  “I am struck by a disinclination,” he says, “in both academic and journalistic accounts to critique empire and imperialism. Openness to, and engagement in, a critique of nationalism has seemed greater.

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/12/2020
  

  The National Trust is under Attack Because it Cares about History, not Fantasy

  by Peter Mitchell

  Britain's historic preservation agency has become the target of conservative politicians who have interpreted the Trust's commissioning of a report evaluating the relationship of its projects to slavery as an attack on the nation's historical identity.

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• 11/1/2020
  

  From a Victorian to a Twenty-First Century Understanding of Why History Matters

  by Priya Satia

  "Churchill was the apotheosis of the historically-minded statesman, committed to the idea of history as progress in which the role of great men was to suppress ordinary moral compunctions about destructive events that forwarded it."