Revising History: why does it matter how we talk about empire?

The toppling of Bristol's Edward Colston statue in 2020 reminded the media that our colonial history and how it is taught, talked about and represented has an impact.

Calls for a decolonisation of the history curriculum, or changes to the way "Empire" is commemorated and discussed, are frequently dismissed or fought against as an attack on British history. Our panel discuss why this debate matters and what we should be doing about it.  

Meet our speakers and chair  

Dr Olivia Rutazibwa (@o_rutazibwa) is Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is the former Africa desk editor, journalist and columnist at the Brussels based quarterly MO* Magazine and the author of forthcoming non-academic monograph The End of the White World. Her research and teaching focuses on ways to decolonise international solidarity. 

Professor Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE. He is co-founder and former director of LSE International Inequalities Institute, leading the "Wealth, Elites and Tax Justice" research theme. 

Dr Imaobong Umoren (@ImaobongUmoren3) is an Associate Professor in the Department of International History at LSE. Her research interests, publications, and teaching focus on histories of race, gender, activism and political thought in the Caribbean, Britain and the US focusing on the modern and contemporary period. Her forthcoming book, Empire Without End: A History of Britain and the Caribbean, explores the long interconnected relationship between Britain and the Caribbean and received the 2020/2021 British Library Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer's Award.  

Nailya Shamgunova is LSE Teaching Fellow in the Department of International History at LSE.

More about this event  

This event is part of the LSE Festival: How Do We Get to a Post-COVID World? running from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 June 2022, with a series of events exploring the practical steps we could be taking to shape a better world. 

 LSE's Department of International History (@lsehistory) teaches and conducts research on the international history of Britain, Europe and the world from the early modern era up to the present day.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival