Alan Lester Explained

Alan Lester is a British historian, historical geographer and author who has worked for Sussex University since 2000.^[1] He was appointed Professor of Historical Geography in 2006. He is known for his research on imperial networks, colonial humanitarianism and imperial governance.^[2]

In Colonisation and the Origins of Humanitarian Governance he and co-author Fae Dussart analysed the ways in which men considering themselves humane oversaw the destruction of Indigenous societies. His book Ruling the World: Freedom, Civilisation and Liberalism in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire, he examined how imperial governance worked 'everywhere and all at once' across the British Empire at key moments during the nineteenth century.

Lester gave the Distinguished Historical Geographer Lecture at the 2022 Association of American Geographers annual conference. He is co-editor of the Manchester University Press's Studies in Imperialism research monograph series. Lester has been described as “the pioneer of the idea” of “a key concept much used in recent ‘new imperial history’ writing … that of the imperial network” ^[3]

Lester has written of his concern at the recent politicisation of imperial history, and critiqued British academic Nigel Biggar's representation of colonialism.^{[4] [5]}

Selected works

• Lester, Alan (1996). From Colonisation to Democracy: A New Historical Geography of South Africa. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-0-7556-2600-7.
• Lester, Alan; Binns, Tony; Nel (2000). South Africa Past, Present and Future. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0582356269.
• Book: Lester . Alan . Imperial Networks: Creating Identities in Nineteenth-century South Africa and Britain . 2001 . Psychology Press . 978-0-415-25914-9 . en. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}
• Book: Lester . Alan . Lambert . David . Colonial Lives Across the British Empire: Imperial Careering in the Long Nineteenth Century . 2006 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-84770-4 . en.
• Book: Lester . Alan . Dussart . Fae . Colonization and the Origins of Humanitarian Governance: Protecting Aborigines across the Nineteenth-Century British Empire . 2014 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-00783-3 . en. ^{[10] [11] [12]}
• Damodaran, Vinita; Winterbottom, Anna; Lester, Alan, eds (2015) .The East India Company and the Natural World. ISBN 978-1-349-49109-4.
• Book: Laidlaw . Z. . Lester . Alan . Indigenous Communities and Settler Colonialism: Land Holding, Loss and Survival in an Interconnected World . 2015 . Springer . 978-1-137-45236-8.
• Book: Lester . Alan . Boehme . Kate . Mitchell . Peter . Ruling the World: Freedom, Civilisation and Liberalism in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire . 2021 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-108-56747-3 . en.
• Book: Lester . Alan . Deny and Disavow: Distancing the Imperial Past in the Culture Wars . 2021 . SunRise Publishing . 978-1-914489-14-3 . en. ^[13]
• Book: Lester . Alan . The Truth About Empire: Real Histories of British Colonialism . 2024 . Hurst Publishers . 978-1-80526-143-8 . en.

Notes and References

1. Web site: University of Sussex . profiles.sussex.ac.uk . 15 June 2023 .
2. Web site: Alan Lester . 2023-06-16 . Alan Lester . en-GB.
3. Book: 2020-07-24 . Howe . Stephen . The New Imperial Histories Reader . 10.4324/9781003060871. 9781003060871 . 160751035 .
4. Book: Lester, Alan . Deny and Disavow: Distancing the Imperial Past in the Culture Wars . SunRise Publishing Limited . 2023 . 978-1-9144891-4-3 . 2nd . London.
5. Lester . Alan . 2023-06-02 . The British Empire in the Culture War: Nigel Biggar's Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning . The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History . 51 . 4 . 763–795 . 10.1080/03086534.2023.2209947 . 259061156 . 0308-6534. free .
6. Clayton . Daniel . Reviews: Imperial Networks: Creating Identities in Nineteenth-Century South Africa and Britain . Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space . 2003 . 35 . 1 . 189–190 . 10.1068/a3501rvw . 2003EnPlA..35..189C . 157397798 . en . 0308-518X.
7. Keegan . Timothy . COMPETING COLONIAL DISCOURSES Imperial Networks : Creating Identities in Nineteenth-Century South Africa and Britain. By A LAN L ESTER . London and New York: Routledge, 2001. Pp. xii+257. £55; $90 (ISBN 0-415-19850-X); £16.99; $27.95, paperback (ISBN 0-415-25914-2). . The Journal of African History . 2002 . 43 . 2 . 313–376 . 10.1017/S0021853702388297. 162537782 .
8. Potter . Simon J. . Webs, Networks, and Systems: Globalization and the Mass Media in the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British Empire . Journal of British Studies . 2007 . 46 . 3 . 621–646 . 10.1086/515446. 145304674 .
9. Anderson . Peter . Review of Imperial Networks: Creating Identities in Nineteenth-Century South Africa and Britain . Kronos . 2004 . 30 . 247–249 . 41056527 . 0259-0190.
10. McHugh . P.G. . Colonization and the Origins of Humanitarian Governance: Protecting Aborigines across the Nineteenth-Century British Empire, by Alan Lester and Fae Dussart . The English Historical Review . 2016 . 131 . 553 . 1544–1546 . 10.1093/ehr/cew337 .
11. Web site: Exeter . CIGH . Colonization and the Origins of Humanitarian Governance . Imperial & Global Forum . 15 June 2023 . en . 4 November 2015.
12. Forth . Aidan . Review of Colonization and the Origins of Humanitarian Governance: Protecting Aborigines across the Nineteenth-Century British Empire . Victorian Studies . 2016 . 58 . 4 . 756–758 . 10.2979/victorianstudies.58.4.23 . 10.2979/victorianstudies.58.4.23 . 0042-5222.
13. Web site: Exeter . CIGH . Hanley on Lester's Deny & Disavow: Distancing the Imperial Past in the Culture Wars (2022) . Imperial & Global Forum . 15 June 2023 . en . 12 July 2022.