Migration has always been a part of human history and is a central feature of the modern world. In fact, the world which we inhabit today is unimaginable without large-scale movements of populations, groups, and communities across the globe. Contemporary rhetoric on migration tends to focus exclusively on migration into Britain and immigration is a politically volatile subject in current public discourse in most European nations. However, historically in the case of Britain and the British Empire, migration also meant emigration from Britain into what are described as settler colonies. Like other contemporary European empires, the British Empire was made possible by large-scale migration and became a platform for migrant populations across the world. This summer school will engage with British and imperial inward and outward migration from the nineteenth century until today.

Our tutors, the eminent scholars Marjory Harper (Professor in History, University of Aberdeen) and Gurminder K. Bhambra (Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in International Relations, University of Sussex) will discuss key questions related to migration such as causes and experiences of emigration as well as questions of citizenship and the history of migration as a fundamental link between national and imperial history. Finally, the course will explore how migration in the context of Britain’s imperial past has shaped, and continues to shape, modern Britain. Topic-related excursions in London are planned.