Research
Research groups
Research interests
- British empire and decolonisation
- The Labour Party and the British left
- British feminist movements
- British humanitarianism and overseas aid
- The British 'culture wars', free speech and the politics of history teaching, writing and commemoration
Current research
My book, Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain (2023), explores the tangled history of the British empire at home from the Second World War to present day. It uses cultural, social and political archives to focus on the stories of 'ordinary people' and their relationship to empire and decolonisation. The book explores topics around migration, border control, policing, education, the media, sport and pop culture to examine how empire has shaped British society and the British people, and how it continues to echo through our contemporary landscape. It was published in the UK by Bodley Head (Penguin) and in the US by Harvard University Press.
My edited collection, Free Speech Wars: how did we get here and why does it matter? (MUP, 2021) brought together a diverse group of writers to explore the free speech 'culture wars' in Britain and in Europe and America. The book used history, politics and philosophy to explain how free speech has become such a contemporary issue of concern and where this debate might take us. My co-written book, Is Free Speech Under Threat? (Bodley Head, 2024) develops these ideas in an extended essay exploring questions about cancel culture, no-platforming and who gets to speak.
My research more generally has focused on the history of the British Labour party, especially in relation to empire and overseas aid; the British feminist movement, especially in the context of the transnational women's movement and the IWY conferences; Rita Hinden's political thought; and sexism, harassment and abuse in academia and the aid industry. I am currently working on a cultural, social and political history of the 1990s.