- Deadline for Calls for Papers, 2 May 2025
- Event, 10.00-16.00 on 15th July 2025
Location for this event: Council Room, Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HD
‘Mobilising Imperial History’ will examine intersections between Imperial History, histories of transport, and Mobilities through the lens of crimes committed in transit. This event is supported by the Royal Historical Society as part of its Workshop Grants programme.
New and faster modes of transport (trains, steamboats, bicycles, automobiles, aeroplanes) were introduced across the British Empire through the nineteenth and the twentieth century. However, an understanding of the impact of this unprecedented degree of mobility (both humans and goods) on crimes, and policing in the British Empire remains underexamined. This is rather a curious omission in Imperial History as increased mobility provided novel and widespread opportunities for crimes in transit.
Using recent scholarship (Lambert and Merriman:2020) on the prospect of closer collaboration between Imperial history and Mobility Studies as a point of departure, this workshop invites scholars to explore how technology induced mobilities shaped crimes, criminality, and policing in the British Empire. More specifically, the participants are encouraged to reflect on:
- Mobility as an analytical lens to broaden current assumption of crime and imposition of ‘order and control’ in the British Empire.
- Histories of policing in Imperial History.
- Rethinking notions of ‘colonial mobilities,’, especially, exploring the limits of tools of controlling mobile bodies and goods in colonial milieus.
The workshop will be held in-person on 15th July 2025 and will include refreshments and lunch. There is provision for covering travel costs for early career researchers. Please indicate your ECR status in the bio, and if you would like to be considered for the travel grant.
Please send an abstract of 200 words and a short biography to the workshop organiser, Dr Aparajita Mukhopadhyay (a.mukhopadhyay@kent.ac.uk) by Friday 2nd May 2025.