UNCOMMON WEALTH with Dr. Kojo Koram and Dr. Julian Go
@ Pilsen Community Books
1102 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608
Opening Friday, February 9th, at 7PM
As we see in the unfolding genocides from Gaza to Sudan, the history and aftermath of the British empire continues to have tremendous bearing on the present. Understanding the British empire, including the aftermath of its fall, remains crucial for those looking to decolonize the world today.
We are delighted to host Dr. Kojo Koram at PCB for a timely discussion about these issues and in celebration of his award-winning book, Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire. He will be in conversation with Dr. Julian Go, author of Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US.
Uncommon Wealth is the little known and shocking history of how Britain treated its former non-white colonies after the end of empire. It is the story of how an interconnected group of British capitalists enabled horrific inequality across the globe, profiting in colonial Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. However, the greed unleashed in this era would boomerang, now leaving many ordinary Britons wondering where their own prosperity has gone. Ranging from Jamaica to Singapore, Ghana to Britain, this is a blistering account of how buried decisions of decades past are ravaging Britain today.
Dr. Kojo Koram teaches at the School of Law at Birkbeck, University of London, and writes on issues of law, race and empire. He is the author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire.
Julian Go is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, where he is also a Fellow of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT) and Faculty Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture and the Committee of International Relations. He is the prize-winning author of several books including Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory, Patterns of Empire: the British and American Empires, and American Empire and the Politics of Meaning: Elite Political Cultures in the Philippines and Puerto Rico during US Colonialism.
Praise for the book:
WINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE 2023
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing
Longlisted for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding
A Guardian Book of the Year
“Brilliantly arranged and rich with fresh insights.” —Akala
“A radical, beautifully written understanding of our history.” —Owen Jones
“You can’t understand how Britain works today without reading it.” —Frankie Boyle
“A challenge to a nation living in the shadow of empire: reckon with your imperial past, or it will come back to bite you.” —Grace Blakeley
“This book should be part of the national curriculum.” —Ellie Mae O’Hagan
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