The final lecture focuses on the impact of empire on Ireland and how empire has been remembered. How did empire shape the lives of those living in Ireland, and how is Ireland’s engagement with and experience of empire in the early modern period remembered (or not) and represented/mis-represented? Today in Ireland some celebrate and some excoriate connections with the British Empire. Others have either conveniently forgotten or are simply ignorant of Ireland’s imperial past. However the decade of commemorations (2012-2022) in Ireland and campaigns around ‘Black Lives Matters’, Brexit, and ‘Rhodes must fall’ have kindled a greater awareness of the importance of revisiting the history of empire, if only to better understand its legacy and how it has shaped the present.

The recording of this lecture will appear here www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/the-james-ford-lectures-empires at 17:00 on Friday 26 February. The recording will be available for the whole of Hilary Term for viewing at your convenience.