Revolution and Empire

We understand the long 18th century as an age of revolution and empire, whose afterlives and legacies of colonialism continue to reach into the present day. Our work in this area examines the British Empire, the Spanish Empire and Orientalism.

Our approach to these topics pays careful attention to those marginalised by the period’s centres of power, and we work to contextualise revolution and empire within a global 18th century, emphasising the interdisciplinary connections of these themes across written forms, politics, legal history and material culture. For instance, our research on global conflict, the cultural and literary contexts of the Napoleonic wars, narratives of wartime experience, industrial warfare, prisoners of war, and penal-era Ireland.

We believe that revolution and empire constitute vital and meaningful areas of enquiry in the long 18th century, and in the shared work of addressing the period’s archival gaps and silences. Interdisciplinary approaches to the period’s archives and collections in these areas can help us to generate new findings and interpretations.