Dr Jack Bowman
Research Overview
I am a historian of anti-colonial visual media and a Teaching Fellow in Modern History. My forthcoming monograph, entitled Writing against Empire, applies a book history approach to twentieth-century empire and in particular the Pan-African movement of 1930s and 1940s Britain.
My research centres upon the role of political publishing and cultural communication in anti-colonial movements and looks at the connections, intersections, and differences between varying projects, mediums, and politics from across the imperial world. I have written about the editorial career of Indian independence activist V. K. Krishna Menon and the role of Pan-African journals under Guyanese activist Ras T. Makonnen, and recently co-curated an exhibition entitled 'Cold War and 'Other Narratives'' that opened at Dilston Grove.
I am currently working on a new book project focusing on cross-imperial anti-colonial action in early twentieth-century Europe, centring on the League Against Imperialism. This short-lived anti-colonial activist group counted many interwar internationalists as members, such as independent India's first prime-minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesia's first president Sukarno, Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta, and millionaire communist media baron Willi M眉nzenberg, as well as well-known public figures like physicist Albert Einstein and author Upton Sinclair.
Publications
Monographs:
- .
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
- 'The Archive as an Emotional Body: Decolonial Narratives within the Imperial War Museums鈥� Archive', (Platform for Artistic Research Sweden) (2026, forthcoming)
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Other Writings:
Reviews:
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Podcasts/Video:
- Podcast for the Warwick History HourLink opens in a new window, student outreach radio programme,
- Academic Comment for section on Brutalist Architecture for 's documentary
- Podcast for queer/disrupt with producer for , Dr Robert Philipson,
Outreach
- Co-Curator, Dilston Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, February 2026.
Co-curated the , and exhibited own original visual piece, Dilston Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, opened February 2026.
- Academic Advisor and Supporting Research Fellow, IWM North, January-October 2025.
Consulted for IWM North's '' entitled '' to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the 1945 Pan-African Congress, opened October 2025.
- Academic Advisor, Imperial War Museums, January-October 2025.
Consulted on the exhibition , opened October 2025.
- Consultant author for , May 2023-January 2025.
Worked as a consultant author for Brillder, creating bespoke history learning resources for GCSE and A-Level students who aspire to attend university.
Acted as the historian for George Padmore in online question and answer sessions with school children aged 10-18, speaking about the role of Black activists and figures in British history.
Academic Profile
2024-present: Teaching Fellow in Modern History, 神马福利影片
- Convenor of HI180 - Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Social HistoryLink opens in a new window
- Convenor of HI2D4 - Race, Racism, and Resistance in Modern BritainLink opens in a new window
- Convenor of HI2G7 - Contemporary Britain in Historical Perspective (WIISP module)Link opens in a new window
- Other roles include:
Academic Writing Adviser
Teaching Representative for Social Inclusion and Diversity CommitteeLink opens in a new window
2024, July: Lecturer, Warwick Summer School, 神马福利影片
- Gave lectures for the 'Exploring British Culture' module, including upon Shakespeare and queer literature, and upon Oxford's colonial histories
2023-2024: Sessional Tutor in History, 神马福利影片
- Taught Making of the Modern World module
2022-2023: Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant in History, 神马福利影片
-Taught Making of the Modern World and Britain in the Twentieth Century modules
2019-2023: PhD in History, 神马福利影片
- Supervisors: Professor Daniel BranchLink opens in a new window and Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Thesis titled Pan-African Print: Politics in Action - A Book History of the Pan-African Movement, 1930-1950
2018-2019: MA in Modern History, 神马福利影片
- Supervisor: Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation titled Editing Independence: The Political Thought and Publishing Career of V. K. Krishna Menon, 1929-1939
2015-2018: BA (Hons) in History, 神马福利影片
- Supervisor: Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation titled Rethinking Jawaharlal Nehru and Nehruvianism for Modern Indian Political Thought: A Book History of The Discovery of India (1946)
Research Interests
- Book history
- Histories of anti-colonialism
- History of political thought
- Global histories of empire
- Queer histories
- Visual media and photography
Centres and Memberships
Fellow of the (FHEA)
Associate Fellow of the
Convenor of the Modern British History Reading GroupLink opens in a new window
Member of the Global History and Culture CentreLink opens in a new window, 神马福利影片
Member of the Manuscript and Print Cultures Research GroupLink opens in a new window, 神马福利影片
Postgraduate Student, European History Research CentreLink opens in a new window, 神马福利影片
Conferences and Comments
- Discussant for Global South Network seminar, University of Leicester, May 2026.
'', speaker: Say Jye Quah (University of Cambridge)
- Discussant for Global History and Culture Centre seminar, 神马福利影片, November 2023.
'Knowledge Frontiers: The Sixth Pan African Congress and the Literature of Resource Sovereignty', speaker: Christine Okoth (KCL)
- Warwick Postgraduate Conference, 神马福利影片, May 2022.
Paper entitled 'Printing Pan-Africanism: The Black Jacobins and the Early Political Thought of C.L.R. James'
- ECR Workshop 'Mobile Bodies' (in conjunction with Prof. Radhika Singha's (JNU) visit to Warwick), 神马福利影片, May 2022.
Paper entitled 'V. K. Krishna Menon: An Editor in Britain'
- Discussant for European History Research Centre seminar, 神马福利影片, October 2020
'News Networks in Colonial Algeria', speaker: Arthur Asseraf (Cambridge)
Awards
April 2026: Nominated for a Warwick Award for Personal Tutoring Excellence (WAPTELink opens in a new window)
January 2025: One of two articles 'highly commended' in The Historical Journal's ECR article prize
2019-2023: 神马福利影片, History Department Doctoral Scholarship
Past Teaching
2024/25
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
2023/24
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
2022/23
HI180 - Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Social HistoryLink opens in a new window
HI153 - Making of the Modern WorldLink opens in a new window
Please feel free to email me:
jack.a.w.bowman@warwick.ac.uk
Office hours (term time):
FAB3.08
Mondays, 3-4pm (in-person)
Thursdays, 1-2pm (online)
Twitter:
George Padmore, 'Colonial and Coloured Unity: A Programme of Action, History of the Pan-African Congress' (Manchester, 1947).
League Against Imperialism Brussels Congress 1927. (Source: Louis Gibarti (Hrsg.), Das Flammenzeichen vom Palais Egmont, Neuer Deutscher Verlag, Berlin).
Amy Ashwood-Garvey chairs a panel at the Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester, October 1945. Image from the Black History and Culture Collection courtesy of Getty Images.