Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Author: CIGH Exeter
The Imperial and Global Forum is the blog of the Centre for Imperial and Global History at the History Department, University of Exeter. The Centre brings together the strong research expertise of the University's eminent imperial historians. It comprises of one of the largest groups of imperial and global historians currently working in the UK. Our blog offers a dynamic exploration of imperial history. Please also visit our homepage at http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/imperialandglobal/
The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941–2000 – A CIGH Seminar with Brad Simpson (19 Nov.)
We are delighted to welcome Professor Bradley Simpson (University of Connecticut). He will be discussing his new book The First Right: Self-Determination and the Transformation of International Order, 1941–2000 (Oxford University Press, Oct. 2025). His talk is jointly convened by the Centre for Histories of Violence and Conflict and the Centre for Imperial and Global History.
Wednesday 19 November 2025, 2:30pm-4pm
Amory B310 and on Teams
Abstract: The idea of self-determination is one of the most significant in modern international politics. For more than a century, diplomats, lawyers, scholars, activists, and ordinary people in every part of the globe have wrestled with its meaning and implications for decolonization, human rights, sovereignty, and international order. This talk will examine self-determination as a century-long contest between contending visions of sovereignty and rights whose meaning has often emerged not just from the United Nations and great power diplomacy but from the claims of peoples, places, and movements on the margins of international society.
Click here to read the book’s introduction for free until 1 December.
Bio: Brad Simpson is Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. He teaches and researches twentieth century U.S. foreign relations and international history, and has an interest in US-southeast relations, political economy, human rights and development. His first book, Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968 (Stanford 2008) explores the intersection of anti-Communism and development thinking in shaping U.S. Indonesian relations. He is also founder and director of a project at the non-profit National Security Archive to declassify U.S. government documents concerning Indonesia and East Timor during the reign of General Suharto (1966-1998). This project will serve as the basis for a study of U.S.-Indonesian-international relations from 1965 to 1999, exploring how the international community’s embrace of an authoritarian regime in Indonesia shaped development, civil-military relations, human rights and Islamic politics.
How Ronald Reagan is Reigniting the Canada-US Trade Conflict
Francine McKenzie
Western University
Like so many of America’s trading partners, President Trump’s announcement of Liberation Day in April 2025 and the introduction of new and higher tariffs rocked Canada. Since the initial jolt, officials from the two long-time trade partners and allies have met to resolve their trade dispute. An uneasy calm started to settle in. But now Canada-US trade relations are worse than ever. The reason: a dispute about Ronald Reagan’s views on trade.
Can the free-trade beliefs of Reagan, who was President of the United States from 1981-1989, cause a breakdown in the Canada-US trade relationship today?
Continue reading “How Ronald Reagan is Reigniting the Canada-US Trade Conflict”This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From the passing of Dick Cheney to neoliberalism’s racial dimensions, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”New History PhD Funding Opportunities at Exeter
Marc-William Palen
Editor, The Imperial & Global Forum
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter’s Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences has just announced its newest round of funded PhD opportunities for domestic and international students. Come study History with us!
- Exeter’s Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is offering up to six PhD studentships (open to Home (UK) fee-paying students only) for candidates aiming to begin studying in September 2026.
- Exeter’s Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is offering up to four PhD studentships (open to International fee paying students only) for candidates aiming to begin studying in September 2026.
- The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is launching its UK Global Majority studentship for 2026/27. We recognise the sector-wide underrepresentation of UK Global Majority – sometimes referred to as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) – students at PhD level in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and the Studentship represents our commitment to expanding the opportunities for the most able students irrespective of background or financial circumstances.
- The University of Exeter is offering up to three fully funded AHRC doctoral studentships and training and development opportunities across a range of the AHRC’s disciplines for candidates aiming to begin studying in September 2026.
This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From the opening of historical archives in Europe to Argentina’s bailout and Tony Blair’s potential role in Gaza, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From recent observations and reports in Asia and Africa to the centenary of the Locarno Treaties, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From the dark past of the medical sector to concerns about further conflicts in the Middle East, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”Destroying and Doctoring the Empire’s Past: Comparing Hong Kong with Other British Colonies
Matthew Hurst
University of York
Inside The National Archives (TNA) is a glass box. A reader entering this special area of the reading room must don blue plastic gloves, then locate their requested items from inside a box. Once the reader has finished, they must wipe down surfaces and anything they touched, tick a form to indicate they have finished, reseal the item inside its box and return it to the shelf. Amongst the series that must be handled in this way, due to possible insecticide contamination, is the infamous FCO 141.[1]
In 2011, the British Government was forced to admit a secret. It had for decades been holding onto tens of thousands of files created by former colonial administrations that had been shipped to London on the eve of British withdrawal from their colonies. These records were subsequently released to TNA, where they formed FCO 141. A windfall for those interested in the colonies to which they pertained, the series also inspired research into how records were handled towards the end of the British Empire. Although colonial officials had considerable volition over how they affected withdrawal, a shared commitment to protecting the legacy of the Empire meant that many treated the files they had created in similar ways. As such, recent research has revealed that outgoing officials often destroyed or doctored countless files in an effort to uphold the Empire’s glorious image: a project that became known as ‘Operation Legacy’.[2]
One former British colony has, however, remained absent from the literature: Hong Kong. In a recent paper, I addressed this gap by piecing together the past, present and future of colonial records that were moved from Hong Kong to the UK.[3] In this post, I summarise the main findings of my paper by comparing the Hong Kong case with that of other British colonies and arguing that the handling of Hong Kong colonial government records was unique and largely escaped Operation Legacy.
Continue reading “Destroying and Doctoring the Empire’s Past: Comparing Hong Kong with Other British Colonies”This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From post-colonial African accounts to further developments in minority communities in America, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History
Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter
From questioning when World War II ended to Trump’s ‘invasion from within’, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.
Continue reading “This Week’s Top Picks in Imperial & Global History”Autumn Term Research Seminar Schedule
Centre for Imperial and Global History
Research Seminars
~ Autumn 2025 ~
All seminars take place on Wednesdays 3.30pm-5.00pm in person in Amory B310 unless otherwise noted, with the option to join remotely. Reminders, links, and abstracts will be sent a week in advance of each seminar to the CIGH mailing list. To be added, please email Chris and Beccy at c.w.sandal-wilson@exeter.ac.uk and r.williams2@exeter.ac.uk.
WEDNESDAY 1 OCTOBER [Week 2] Welcome (Back) Social
Join us in the Amory Senior Common Room for an informal gathering to mark the start of the academic year, welcome new researchers, and catch up with old friends.
WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER [Week 3] Parting Gifts of Empire: Book Talk
Join us for a talk by Esmat Elhalby (Toronto) around his forthcoming book, Parting Gifts of Empire: Palestine and India at the Dawn of Decolonisation. This event is co-hosted with South Asia Centre and the European Centre for Palestine Studies. NB: This event will take place 2.30-4.30pm in Lecture Theatre B, Streatham Court.
WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER [Week 5] Legacies of Devon Slavery Connections
At this event, members of the Legacies of Devon Slavery Connections Group will be sharing the work that they have been doing to explore Devon’s local connections to slavery, and their insights into sources and archives for doing this kind of research.
WEDNESDAY 5 NOVEMBER [Week 7] Meet our visiting researchers!
Join us to learn more about the exciting research our visiting doctoral and post-doctoral research colleagues are doing here at Exeter. Saloni Verma and Nazlı Songulen will present on their ongoing projects.
WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER [Week 11] The Bonds of Freedom: Book Talk
Join us to hear Jake Subryan Richards (LSE) speak about his new book, The Bonds of Freedom, which tells the forgotten story of people seized from slave ships by maritime patrols, “liberated”, then forced into bonded labour between 1807 and 1880. NB: This event will take place in Amory C417.
WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER [Week 12] Postgraduate Research Symposium
As always, we’ll see out the term on a high note: join us as post-graduate researchers working on Imperial and Global History at Exeter share their work in progress.
Signs of Resistance: Linguistic Landscapes and Urban Tensions in Santa Marta, Venice
Berizzi Mariachiara[1], Boam Olivia[2], Fourie Nicholas Charles[3], Pizarro Jacinto Laura[4], Yücel Dinç Fatma[5]
‘Linguistic Landscapes‘, Venice International University Summer School 2025
Faculty: Kurt Feyaerts, KU Leuven (Coordinator); Richard Toye, University of Exeter (Coordinator); Matteo Basso, Iuav University of Venice; Geert Brône, KU Leuven; Claire Holleran, University of Exeter; Eliana Maestri, University of Exeter; Michela Maguolo, Iuav, University of Venice; Paul Sambre, KU Leuven
In Santa Marta, a quiet Venetian district, the city itself becomes a text: walls, streets, and public spaces speak through signs, graffiti, and infrastructures that reveal five interwoven themes: Anti-tourism, Transport & Mobility, Multilingualism & Symbolic Resistance, Government & Authority, and Prison as an Edge. From anti-tourism sentiments to the symbolic tensions of incarceration, our investigation examines how language, infrastructure, and public space interact to shape meaning and mobility. As shown in Figure 1, which provides a satellite view of Venice highlighting key landmarks and mobility nodes, our study is grounded in the spatial reality of the city. We begin by analysing local resistance to mass tourism, then move through the spatial logic of transport hubs like Piazzale Roma. We further consider multilingualism and graffiti as forms of symbolic resistance, explore the role of governance in shaping visibility and authority, and finally, interpret the Santa Maria Maggiore prison as both a physical and discursive edge.
‘This country had a great empire’: The Nuances and Limits of the Rhetorical Premiership in Using the Imperial Past
Shagnick Bhattacharya
University of Exeter
This article proposes that there were nuances and limits to Cold War-era British Prime Ministers’ use and abuse of the country’s imperial past to influence policy, shape national identity, and navigate international relations. That Prime Ministers’ use of public speeches to further their political agendas should receive greater academic attention was first proposed by Richard Toye[1] over a decade ago, and has currently taken the shape of an active research project[2] focussing specifically upon imperial rhetoric (titled ‘Talking Empire’—not to be confused with the CIGH’s podcast series!) led by Christian Damm Pedersen at the Syddansk Universitet, having recently received funding from the Carlsberg foundation.
Using contemporary newspaper reports from across Britain as sources, my intervention here will be on two counts: firstly, by showing how Margaret Thatcher used the legacy and memory of Churchill in her rhetoric as a surrogate for referring to the imperial past (rather than directly mentioning the Empire in the first place) in order to publicly talk about her desired economic policies; secondly, by noting how any rhetorical premiership’s reliance on the imperial past could also be turned against the premier by their political opposition (and not even necessarily by anti-imperialists) in an attempt to strip it of its usefulness as a political resource for the former.
Continue reading “‘This country had a great empire’: The Nuances and Limits of the Rhetorical Premiership in Using the Imperial Past”Striking a balance between residents and tourists? The Linguistic Landscape of Santa Maria Formos
Beatrice Gervasi, Katarzyna Jonkisz, Meng Hao, Sabeth Malfliet, and George Ellis
Students of ‘Linguistic Landscapes‘, Venice International University Summer School 2025
Faculty: Kurt Feyaerts, KU Leuven (Coordinator); Richard Toye, University of Exeter (Coordinator); Matteo Basso, Iuav University of Venice; Geert Brône, KU Leuven; Claire Holleran, University of Exeter; Eliana Maestri, University of Exeter; Michela Maguolo, Iuav, University of Venice; Paul Sambre, KU Leuven
Our case study of Venice for the ‘Linguistic landscapes: signs and symbols’ summer school was centred around the storied neighbourhood of Santa Maria Formosa. This area boasts a historic Basilica, the Fondazione Querini Stampalia library and a new art installation of 2 lions and 2 lionesses which is intended to promote public interaction with art and celebrate Venetian pride. In short, this area offers a lot culturally and historically. This is strongly evident when walking down the side streets. During our first excursion, our group got the immediate sense that this was a residential area that had developed a strong tourist population due to its historical significance and geographic location (en route to the Rialta bridge).
We were fortunate in the sense that this region of Venice was not a particularly large one, being measured at 0.0072km^2. However, this did not mean that our investigations were without challenge. The geography of this area (a seeming thoroughfare for tourist populations) led to difficulties in photo collation. This combined with the high-content-per-area (a total of 73 relevant primary photos) and the labyrinthine streets led to our group having an abundance of data and difficulties delimiting our data set and research question. To overcome this, we adopted a thematic approach which split our data set into three relevant points for discussion: action flows, multilingualism and polyfunctionality. We then used relevant semiotic and anthropological studies (for example Landry and Bourhis 1997, Scollon and Scollon, 2003) to dissect the data set and apply a linguistic landscapes lens with the end goal of finding out whether Santa Maria Formosa is a healthily functioning neighbourhood or another victim of the increasing globalization faced all over the western world.
Continue reading “Striking a balance between residents and tourists? The Linguistic Landscape of Santa Maria Formos”
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