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- Writing against Empire
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Description
This book paints a detailed picture of how anti-colonial publishing operated from the very heart of the British Empire in the middle of the 20th century. Pointing to the vibrant interconnections between anti-colonial and Pan-African activists in Britain, it engages with their personal politics, political thought, and global links to recast how we think about both publishing and anti-colonialism at this time. It engages with activists on their own terms through a book history approach, one that takes seriously the printed manifestations of anti-colonial thought, and views printing and publishing as political activism.
Assessing various forms of Pan-African writing, from pamphlets and journals to novels and works of anthropology, this book unpacks how different activists 'did' their politics, and what these politics were. Delving into the literary works that supported and maintained British Pan-African activism, Writing Against Empire highlights the central and crucial role of written texts to this movement. Unpicking the links between different thinkers and their works, and analysing how such a wealth of anti-colonial writers could operate within the very core of empire, Bowman gets to the heart of anti-colonial action in 20th-century Britain, and the centrality of print to this struggle.
Table of Contents
1. Pan-African Journals: Ras T. Makonnen and Black Self-Sufficiency
2. George Padmore and Pan-African Pamphlets
3. Pan-African Books: The Black Jacobins and the Early Political Thought of C. L. R. James
4. Implicit Pan-African Print: Jomo Kenyatta and Facing Mount Kenya
Epilogue
Product details
| Published | Jul 09 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 256 |
| ISBN | 9781350588899 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 10 bw illus |
| Series | Empire’s Other Histories |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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In this exciting new book, Jack Bowman shows the significance of the printed word to understanding the Pan-Africanist movement in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s. Important activist-intellectuals, including C. L. R. James, Jomo Kenyatta and George Padmore, as well as understudied figures like Ras T. Makonnen, are seen in new light.
Theo Williams, University of Glasgow, UK
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Writing Against Empire powerfully affirms that printing and publishing are not neutral acts but essential political practices in the struggle against empire. This book speaks directly to a sense of urgency concerning the history and understanding of the criticality and circulation of black print and thoughts of black liberation. Bowen's text locates Black radical print in all its missing chapters, overlooked chronicles, and pamphlets as a site of resistance. Bowen's contribution to this field aligns with the critical work in anti-imperialist scholarship that seeks to make visible the systematic suppression of Black histories.
Mark Sealy, University of the Arts, London, UK

























