Professor Stephen Howe

Professor in the History and Cultures of Colonialism

Research interests

My present research revolves around the history - especially the history of ideas and ideologies - of empire, its aftermaths and legacies. My main focus has been on British imperial history, including the role of imperial questions in domestic British politics; but my writing also involves a strong comparative element, which embraces a growing interest in ideas about American 'empire' today. Much of my recent and current work engages with the very concept of colonialism and associated terms, including reflection on and probing of the limits, the uses and indeed the abuses of the concept itself. Much, too, addresses broad theoretical and comparative questions about anti- and post-colonialism. I'm currently completing three interrelated books: on the intellectual consequences of decolonisation, on anticolonial intellectuals, and on representations and legacies of late-colonial violence.

Research supervision

I welcome research proposals in political, intellectual and cultural history relating to imperialism and colonialism, and indeed anti-imperialism, anticolonialist movements and postcolonial studies, especially but not only concerning the British empire and its end.

Selected publications

Empire. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2002).
Ireland and Empire: Colonial Legacies in Irish History and Culture (Oxford University Press, April 2000) (pb. with new Introduction March 2002).
Anticolonialism in British Politics: The Left and the End of Empire 1918-1964 (Oxford University Press, 1993).
Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes (Verso, 1998 (pb. with new Preface, 1999)).
(Editor): Lines of Dissent: Writing from the New Statesman 1913-1988. Verso, 1988.

Full publications

Full list of Professor Howe's publications since 1993 as held in the University's IRIS publications

Department of History

Prospective students

Current students

About the department