"colonialism" blog posts

The Long History of Policy Brutality against Black People in BritainBlack History Month 2022

The Long History of Policy Brutality against Black People in Britain

Written by Dr Jess White.

Posted on: 7 October 2022

Decolonising Bluecoat: A Collaborative Project the Bluecoat building in Liverpool

Decolonising Bluecoat: A Collaborative Project

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.

Posted on: 16 March 2022

Sex and 'Sexuality' in South Asian History British Library photograph of three people from the Hirja community

Sex and 'Sexuality' in South Asian History

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.

Posted on: 29 January 2021

'Untold Histories of Empire': The truths about empire that museums don’t want to tell you – and why Statue of Hindu God with many arms.

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

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.

Posted on: 13 November 2019

Digging and Controlling the Past — Unmasking Ideology in Imperial and Colonial ArchaeologyPueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Photo by mksfca, Creative Commons Flickr.

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

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.

Posted on: 1 March 2018