Legacies of Empire

In much of the media, the importance of the legacies of empire and colonialism are often dismissed, with the public conversation dominated by the "culture war" elements, from debates about statues to institutions like the National Trust becoming "woke". The implication within much of this discourse is that empire and colonialism are features of the past, and should be left there.

In reality, it is far from that simple. Our guest for Episode 18 is legal scholar Kojo Koram, whose first book, Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire, unpacks how the legacies of empire continue to structure every part of our unequal global economy, from international tribunals that protect corporate interests to the systems that leave countries trapped in cycles of debt. Rather than a thing of the past, Kojo expertly breaks down just how present empire really is, and critically, how it has shaped both the roots and impacts of climate and ecological crisis.

Dr. Kojo Koram is a Reader in Law at Birkbeck School of Law, University of London. Kojo was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2011 and received his PhD in 2017, winning the Julien Mezey Dissertation Award for the dissertation that most promises to enrich and advance interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of law, culture and the humanities.

Kojo's first book, Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire (John Murray 2022), was nominated for the 2022 Orwell Prize. Kojo's writing has also appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere.

Further Reading

Simon Evans and Verner Viisainen, "Revealed: How colonial rule radically shifts historical responsibility for climate change", Carbon Brief.

Kojo Koram, Uncommon Wealth: Britain and Aftermath of Empire, John Murray, 2022

Anuradha Varanasi, "How Colonialism Spawned and Continues to Exacerbate the Climate Crisis", Columbia Climate School.