"colonialism" blog posts

The Long History of Policy Brutality against Black People in Britain

Posted on: 7 October 2022 | Category: 2022 posts

Black History Month 2022

Written by Dr Jess White.

Decolonising Bluecoat: A Collaborative Project

Posted on: 16 March 2022 | Category: 2022 posts

the Bluecoat building in Liverpool

PhD researcher Michelle Girvan tells us about her work with the Bluecoat, Liverpool's oldest inner-city building, to investigate the building's complex connections with global trade, slavery and empire.

Sex and 'Sexuality' in South Asian History

Posted on: 29 January 2021 | Category: 2021 posts

British Library photograph of three people from the Hirja community

While the British justified the conquest and colonisation of a quarter of the world’s population on the grounds that they were bringing the ‘rule of law’ to peoples who had none, in reality they superimposed an alien legal system upon often complex pre-existing legal norms.

'Untold Histories of Empire': The truths about empire that museums don’t want to tell you – and why

Posted on: 13 November 2019 | Category: 2019 posts

Statue of Hindu God with many arms.

Dr Deana Heath is a Reader in Indian and Colonial History at the University of Liverpool, and organiser of the Untold Histories of Empire project at the World Museum as part of the Being Human Festival.

Digging and Controlling the Past — Unmasking Ideology in Imperial and Colonial Archaeology

Posted on: 1 March 2018 | Category: 2018 posts

Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Photo by mksfca, Creative Commons Flickr.

We are all familiar with the “Indiana Jones” myth, in which young (and attractive) archaeologists conquer and explore exotic landscapes in search of hidden treasures, defeating “bad guys” as they grab precious jewels or unlock ancient secrets. These fantasy films have encouraged the public to dream romantically of archaeological adventures abroad without thinking of their consequences. In fact, real archaeologists like Aurel Stein (1862-1943), Hiram Bingham (1875-1956), and Langdon Warner (1881-1955), are reputed to have served as the models for Steven Spielberg’s “hero”. Yet, as much fun as they are to watch, these movies hide ugly realities of the closely entangled relationship among imperial and colonial war, capitalism, and archaeology.