On Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning: A Reply to Alan Lester

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Notes

1 See endnote 25 of Alan Lester’s review. His complaint was that Trevor Phillips reported that my Oxford colleagues had called for my ‘centre’ to be shut down. The I.P.S.O., in its unwisdom, subsequently obliged the newspaper to issue a correction. I say ‘unwisdom’ for two reasons. First, Sir Trevor had not reported an attempt to shut down the centre that I direct; he reported an attempt to shut down the ‘Ethics and Empire’ project funded by the centre. Second, as I demonstrate in the text of my Reply, some Oxford colleagues were indeed party to a campaign to have that project shut down.

2 Nigel Biggar, “‘Ethics and Empire’ and Freedom of Speech—some Home Truths,” Oxford Magazine, January 10, 2018. https://www.mcdonaldcentre.org.uk/sites/default/files/content/om_final_10_jan_2018.pdf

3 ‘Beth’ and ‘Will’ on behalf of ‘Common Ground’, “Oxford Continues to Defend Colonialism at Every Opportunity,” Common Ground, December 2017. https://commongroundoxford.wordpress.com/response-to-nigel-biggars-article-dont-feel-guilty-about-our-colonial-history/

4 James McDougall et al., “Ethics and Empire: an open letter from Oxford Scholars,” The Conversation, December 19, 2017. https://theconversation.com/ethics-and-empire-an-open-letter-from-oxford-scholars-89333

5 Jon Wilson et al., “A Collective Statement on ‘Ethics and Empire’,” scholarsofempire, December 21, 2017. https://medium.com/oxfordempireletter/a-collective-statement-on-ethics-and-empire-19c2477871a0

6 Drayton, “Biggar vs Little Britain,” 143. It can be found here: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/biggar-vs-little-britain-god-war-union-brexit-and-empire-in-twentyfirst-century-conservative-ideology(fad94931-c366-4443-8dca-e0d266297eab).html. My response, “The Drayton Icon and Intellectual Vice”, Quillette, August 27, 2019, can be found here: https://quillette.com/2019/08/27/the-drayton-icon-and-intellectual-vice/

7 Drayton, “Biggar vs Little Britain,” 148.

8 Jon Wilson, “A Morality Tale?” History, February 2023, 74.

9 Wilson, “A Collective Statement on ‘Ethics and Empire’”.

10 Biggar, Colonialism, 277.

11 Rathbone, Murder and Politics in Colonial Ghana, 45.

12 Gilley, The Last Imperialist, 164. Gilley references Rathbone, Murder and Politics, 98.

13 Biggar, Colonialism, 64.

14 Ibid., 73–4.

15 Ibid., 82.

16 Ibid.

17 See Nigel Biggar, “The Drayton Icon and Intellectual Vice,” Quillette, August 27, 2019. https://quillette.com/2019/08/27/the-drayton-icon-and-intellectual-vice/