Dr Jack Bowman
Research Overview
I am a Teaching Fellow in Modern History and my research centres around histories of anti-colonial print. My forthcoming monograph, entitled Writing Against Empire, applies a book history approach to twentieth-century empire and in particular the Pan-African movement.
My research centres upon the role of political publishing in anti-colonial movements within the British Empire and looks at the connections, intersections, and differences between anti-colonial movements through the lens of print. I have also written about the editorial career of Indian independence activist V. K. Krishna Menon and the role of Pan-African journals under Guyanese activist Ras T. Makonnen.
I am currently working on a new book project focusing on the League Against Imperialism. This short-lived anti-colonial activist group counted many interwar internationalists as members, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukarno, Jomo Kenyatta, and Willi Münzenberg, as well as well-known figures like Albert Einstein and Upton Sinclair.
Publications
Monographs:
- Writing Against Empire: A Book History of Pan-Africanism in Britain, c.1930-1950
(Bloomsbury, forthcoming).
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
- 'Pan-African Print in Interwar Britain: Ras T. Makonnen and International African Opinion', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, (2025).Link opens in a new window
- 'The Early Political Thought and Publishing Career of V. K. Krishna Menon, 1928-1938', The Historical Journal, 66 (2023), pp. 641-65Link opens in a new window.
Other Writings:
- '‘one can love’: Richard Bruce Nugent, Fire!!, and the Harlem Renaissance', queer/disrupt.Link opens in a new window
- '‘When the four corners of this cocoon collide’: A Brief Global Overview of Pan-Africanism, 1788-Present', Global History and Culture Centre, University of Warwick. Link opens in a new window
- '‘Mak’: Ras T Makonnen, the unrecognized hero of the Pan-African Movement', Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust, Manchester. Link opens in a new window
- 'Researching Ras T. Makonnen and Pan-Africanism in Manchester at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre' written as part of their Black History month programme, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust, Manchester. Link opens in a new window
Reviews:
- Review: Thy Phu, Erina Duganne, and Andrea Noble (eds.), Cold War Camera (Durham, 2023)Link opens in a new window.
- Review: Theo Williams, Making the Revolution Global: Black Radicalism and the British Socialist Movement before Decolonization (London, 2022)Link opens in a new window.
- Review: Arthur Asseraf, Electric News in Colonial Algeria (Oxford, 2019)Link opens in a new window.
- Review: Jeremy Adelman (ed.), Empire and the Social Sciences: Global Histories of Knowledge (London, 2019)Link opens in a new window.
- Review: Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Elusive Lives: Gender, Autobiography, and the Self in Muslim South Asia (Stanford, 2018).Link opens in a new window
Podcasts:
- Podcast for queer/disrupt with producer for Shoga FilmsLink opens in a new window, Dr Robert Philipson, 'The Harlem Renaissance in Black and Pink'. Link opens in a new window
Outreach:
- Academic Advisor and Supporting Research Fellow, IWM North, January 2025-present.
Consulted for IWM North's upcoming 'Big Picture ShowLink opens in a new window' to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the 1945 Pan-African Congress.
- Academic Advisor, Imperial War Museums, January-October 2025.
Consulted on the upcoming exhibition 'Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus'Link opens in a new window, opening October 2025.
- Consultant author for BrillderLink opens in a new window, May 2023-January 2025.
Working as a consultant author for Brillder, creating bespoke history learning resources for GCSE and A-Level students who aspire to attend university.
Volunteered as the historian for George Padmore in online question and answer sessions with school children aged 10-18, speaking about the role of Black activists and figures in British history.
Academic Profile
2024-present: Teaching Fellow in Modern History, University of Warwick
- Convenor of HI180 - Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Social HistoryLink opens in a new window
- Convenor of HI2D4 - Race, Racism, and Resistance in Modern BritainLink opens in a new window
- Convenor of HI2G7 - Contemporary Britain in Historical Perspective (WIISP module)Link opens in a new window
- Other roles include:
Academic Writing Adviser
Teaching Representative for Social Inclusion and Diversity CommitteeLink opens in a new window
2024, July: Lecturer, Warwick Summer School, University of Warwick
- Gave lectures for the 'Exploring British Culture' module, including upon Shakespeare and queer literature, and upon Oxford's colonial histories
2023-2024: Sessional Tutor in History, University of Warwick
- Taught Making of the Modern World module
2022-2023: Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant in History, University of Warwick
-Taught Making of the Modern World and Britain in the Twentieth Century modules
2019-2023: PhD in History, University of Warwick
- Supervisors: Professor Daniel BranchLink opens in a new window and Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Thesis titled Pan-African Print: Politics in Action - A Book History of the Pan-African Movement, 1930-1950
2018-2019: MA in Modern History, University of Warwick
- Supervisor: Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation titled Editing Independence: The Political Thought and Publishing Career of V. K. Krishna Menon, 1929-1939
2015-2018: BA (Hons) in History, University of Warwick
- Supervisor: Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation titled Rethinking Jawaharlal Nehru and Nehruvianism for Modern Indian Political Thought: A Book History of The Discovery of India (1946)
Research Interests
- Book history
- Histories of anti-colonialism
- History of political thought
- Global histories of empire
- Queer histories
- Visual media and photography
Centres and Memberships
Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical SocietyLink opens in a new window
Convenor of the Modern British History Reading GroupLink opens in a new window
Member of the Global History and Culture CentreLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick
Member of the Manuscript and Print Cultures Research GroupLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick
Postgraduate Student, European History Research CentreLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick
Conferences and Comments
- Discussant for Global History and Culture Centre seminar, University of Warwick, November 2023.
'Knowledge Frontiers: The Sixth Pan African Congress and the Literature of Resource Sovereignty', speaker: Christine Okoth (KCL)
- Warwick Postgraduate Conference, University of Warwick, May 2022.
Paper entitled 'Printing Pan-Africanism: The Black Jacobins and the Early Political Thought of C.L.R. James'
- ECR Workshop 'Mobile Bodies' (in conjunction with Prof. Radhika Singha's (JNU) visit to Warwick), University of Warwick, May 2022.
Paper entitled 'V. K. Krishna Menon: An Editor in Britain'
- Discussant for European History Research Centre seminar, University of Warwick, October 2020
'News Networks in Colonial Algeria', speaker: Arthur Asseraf (Cambridge)
Awards
January 2025: One of two articles 'highly commended' in The Historical Journal's ECR article prize
2019-2023: University of Warwick, History Department Doctoral Scholarship
Past Teaching
2024/25
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
2023/24
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
2022/23
HI180 - Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Social HistoryLink opens in a new window
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
Please feel free to email me:
jack.a.w.bowman@warwick.ac.uk
Office hours (term time):
FAB3.08
Mondays, 3-4pm (in-person)
Thursdays, 1-2pm (online)
From Term 3, Week 3 all office hour appointments will be by appointment only, please email me to book a slot.
Twitter: @DrJackBowmanLink opens in a new window
George Padmore, 'Colonial and Coloured Unity: A Programme of Action, History of the Pan-African Congress' (Manchester, 1947).
League Against Imperialism Brussels Congress 1927. (Source: Louis Gibarti (Hrsg.), Das Flammenzeichen vom Palais Egmont, Neuer Deutscher Verlag, Berlin).
Amy Ashwood-Garvey chairs a panel at the Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester, October 1945. Image from the Black History and Culture Collection courtesy of Getty Images.