The British Empire in the Culture War: Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

Abstract

The British Empire has been politicised to an extent that many of us could never have predicted just a few years ago. The colonial past features especially prominently in the right wing-oriented press, where attempts to inform the public about the realities of colonialism are fiercely resisted in a ‘culture war’ against those labelled as ‘woke’. This culture war is sponsored in part by elements within the post-Brexit Conservative government and its conservative-nationalist-populist counterparts in other countries. Some of those who pursue it have enthusiastically welcomed Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning for giving the diminution and mitigation of British colonialism’s violence and racism the appearance of intellectual credibility. This article explores the political and psychological dimensions of this phenomenon and provides a detailed critique of Biggar’s book and its position within a historiography of imperial defensiveness. In the expectation that there are more culture war interpretations of the British Empire to come, I hope that it can act as something of a provisional guide for serious historians who are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid engagement with the contemporary politicisation of empire.