ISRF Newsletter – May 2025
This month our lecture series on colonialism and decolonisation is concluding. Also in this newsletter: a monthly Director's Note, upcoming ISRF events, Fellows news, and our latest blog posts.
Contents
Director’s Note
Reversing Helplessness
Christopher Newfield
In the past two months, ISRF has held two meetings of our Political Affect research group. The second of these was on the topic of Drive in both psyche and society, brought to us by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany.
I left the next day for Portugal, where among other things I watched Lisbonnais dealing with a total Iberian power failure by sharing bus space and cash and heading to parks for an afternoon and evening of group conversation.
As I was returning to London, Nigel Farage’s right-wing party, Reform UK, won a by-election and dominated local elections a few days later…
Decolonisation lectures, part 3: Oil, Decolonisation, and the Future of the Climate Emergency
Thursday 15 May, 2025, 6:00pm (BST). In person and online.
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London
Professor Adam Hanieh's lecture explores oil’s influence on national independence struggles, from the 1955 Bandung Conference to the rise of OPEC and the nationalisation of crude reserves. It examines how these shifts reshaped global power, exposing both the successes and limits of decolonisation, and their contemporary relevance in understanding the roots of today’s climate crisis.
Liberalism, Fascism and the Politics of Rights
Lara Montesinos Coleman
In this contribution to Bulletin 32, Lara Montesinos Coleman rethinks the relationship between rights, law, and resistance in the face of fascist resurgence.
How the last 50 years of economic policy can help explain Labour’s latest benefit cuts
Adam Smith
The UK Chancellor's Spring Statement is consistent with longstanding trends in social security and employment policy, as explored in great detail in Jay Wiggan's recent book.
Exploring the Contradictions of Planning in Post-War Britain
Yasminah Beebeejaun
In this contribution to Bulletin 32, ISRF Fellow Yasminah Beebeejaun explores the linkages between Britain's colonial legacy and post-war urban planning, focussing on themes of race, migration, and de facto segregation.
On Refugees
Artur Kula
In this contribution to Bulletin 32, Artur Kula discusses the way themes of national belonging fit into Polish public memory and bear on current political discourse surrounding immigration.
Trump’s tariffs are not the end of globalisation
Adam Smith
For historian Martin Thomas, trade tariffs and foreign aid cuts should be seen within the context of a wider story around decolonisation and the end of empire.
New Publication: Bordering social reproduction: Migrant mothers and children making lives in the shadows, by Rachel Rosen and Eve Dickson
This book shows how enforced destitution and debt work alongside detention and deportation as part of a tripartite of exclusionary technologies of the racial state. It advances the novel concept of weathering to comprehend mother's and children's life-making practices under duress – arguing that these are neither acts of heroic resilience nor solely symptomatic of lives rendered disposable, but indications of the fragilities of repressive migration regimes and, on occasion, refusals to accept their terms of existence.
Video: Decolonisation lecture series, part 1: A World Remade by Decolonization?
On the 9th of April, the ISRF hosted the first in a three-part lecture series on decolonisation. The lecture, given by former ISRF Fellow Martin Thomas, developed a global history of post-war decolonisation.
Video: Decolonisation lecture series, part 2: Shanawdithit: A Woman at the End of the World
On the 30th of April, the ISRF hosted the second in a three-part lecture series on colonial history and decolonisation. The lecture, given by ISRF Fellow Julia Laite, narrate the history of Shanawdithit’s fascinating and important life, alongside the history of the island of Newfoundland, which was England’s first transatlantic colony.
11th Independent Scholar Fellow Competition (ISF11)
Launching late summer 2025
Independent scholars not employed at a university or research institution can apply for a one-year fellowship to complete a significant piece of new research.
12th Flexible Grants for Small Groups Competition (FG12)
Launching autumn 2025
Funding support for small groups (2-10 scholars) to complete a piece of research or undertake face-to-face joint group work.
11th Flexible Grants for Small Groups Competition (FG11)
Application window closed on 10th January 2025
Funding support for small groups (2-10 scholars) to complete a piece of research or undertake face-to-face joint group work.
8th Early Career Fellowship competition (ECF8)
Application window closed on 14th February 2025
Individual scholars and pairs are eligible to apply for a one-year fellowship to complete a significant piece of new research.