The Modern World after Colonialism

What does it mean to take colonial histories seriously in the making of the modern world? Why does it matter that processes of colonialism, enslavement, and indenture occur at the same time as those of industrialisation and democratisation, but are rarely themselves considered as world historical processes? How does recognition of the connections between enclosures at ‘home’ and enclosures in the ‘new world’ make a difference to how we think about capitalism?

In this Conversation Series event, chaired by Les who will be joined by Gurminder Bhambra and Imogen Tyler, we will reflect on these questions and discuss, more broadly, the contribution of the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project (CSCP) and its associated textbook, The Modern World after Colonialism, to understanding the social sciences differently. 

CSCP is an educational platform funded by the Sociological Review Foundation that provides freely accessible videos and teaching resources. It supports students and teachers wishing to reconsider key social science concepts and categories from perspectives that take colonial histories seriously. The Modern World after Colonialism: Remaking the Social Sciences emerges from this project was published in February 2026 by Bristol University Press.

In this conversation, we consider the significance of colonial histories to how we understand the modern world and also reflect on what this means for the discipline of sociology in the 21 st century.

About our speakers: 

Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Historical Sociology at the University of Sussex where her research focuses on the political economy of empires and colonialism. Among her publications are the award-winning Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination, Connected Sociologies, and her co-authored book, Colonialism and Modern Social Theory. She is co-editor of The Modern World after Colonialism: Remaking the Social Sciences, a student textbook with Bristol University Press. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society, a past Trustee of the Sociological Review Foundation (2015-21) and President of the British Sociological Association (2022-24).

Imogen Tyler is Professor of Sociology at the University of Lancaster, a Fellow and trustee of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Vice-President of the British Sociological Association. Key publications include Revolting Subjects: Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain (2015), Stigma: The Machinery of Inequality (2020). An advocate of public sociology and participatory research methods, Imogen regularly collaborates with community groups, heritage, civil society and charitable organisations. Imogen’s current research focuses on colonial capitalist enclosures (past & present), necroeconomics (see e.g. Tyler & Skeggs, 2026), elemental inequalities and the class politics of environmentalism.

Les Back is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow. He is also a journalist, broadcaster and musician. He is a Trustee of the Sociological Review Foundation and President of the British Sociological Association. His published work is mainly in the areas of the sociology of race and racism, ethnicity, multiculturalism, urban culture, music and sport. Key publications include Academic Diary: Why Higher Education Still Matters (2016), Migrant City (2018), and The Unfinished Politics of Race( 2022). A proponent of public or live sociology using digital communication, he hosts the Recovering Community podcast and was previously Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths University, London.

Registration:

Open to all, this 90-minute online event is free to attend, with participants invited to consider supporting the work of the Sociological Review Foundation via a donation.

Spaces are limited: register now to secure a place.

You will receive a Zoom link and information on how to join after you have registered, and a reminder email prior to the event.

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If you have any questions, please contact Danielle Galway - events@thesociologicalreview.com