Kevin Grant
Edgar B. Graves Professor of History
Grant is a historian of modern Britain and Ireland, European imperialism, and international humanitarianism. He has authored Last Weapons: Hunger Strikes and Fasts in the British Empire, 1890-1948 (2019), The Congo Free State and the New Imperialism (2016), A Civilised Savagery: Britain and the New Slaveries in Africa, 1884-1926 (2005), and he is the co-editor of Beyond Sovereignty: Britain, Empire, and Transnationalism, c. 1880-1950 (2007).
Grant received the John R. Hatch Class of 1925 Excellence in Teaching Award at Hamilton in 2003. He completed his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1997.
Recent Courses Taught
Europe and its Empires, c. 1500-1960
England, Ireland, and Empire, 1485-1688
Great Britain, Ireland, and Empire, 1688-1998
South Africa, 1652-1998
Rebellious Union: Great Britain and Ireland, 1690-1998
Hunger in History
History of Photography in Britain and the Empire
Lives against Apartheid
Distinctions
- Christian Johnson Teaching Enhancement Award, Hamilton College, 2017-18
- Class of 1963 Faculty Fellowship, Hamilton College, 2015
- John R. Hatch Class of 1925 Excellence in Teaching Award, Hamilton College, 2003
- Bernadotte E. Schmitt Travel Grant, American Historical Association, 1997
- Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, 1996-97
- Fulbright Research Scholarship to Great Britain, 1994-95
Selected Publications
- Last Weapons: Hunger Strikes and Fasts in the British Empire, 1890-1948 (University of California Press, 2019)
- “Anti-Slavery, Refugee Relief, and the Missionary Origins of Humanitarian Photography, c. 1900-1960,” History Compass, 15:5 (2017), 1-24.
- The Congo Free State and the New Imperialism (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016),
- “The Limits of Exposure: Atrocity Photographs in the Congo Reform Campaign,” in Heide Fehrenbach and Davide Rodogno (eds.), Humanitarian Photography: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2015), 64-88.
- “The British Empire, International Government, and Human Rights,” History Compass,
11:8 (2013), 573-83.
- “Christian Critics of Empire: Missionaries, Lantern Lectures, and the Congo Reform Campaign in Britain,” revised and reprinted in Martin Shipway (ed.), The Rise and Fall of Modern Empires, Vol. IV: Reactions to Colonialism (London: Ashgate, 2013), 91-122.
- “British Suffragettes and the Russian Method of Hunger Strike,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 53:1 (2011), pp. 113-43.
- Beyond Sovereignty: Britain, Empire, and Transnationalism, 1880-1950, co-edited with Philippa Levine and Frank Trentmann (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
- “Human Rights and Sovereign Abolitions of Slavery, c. 1885-1956,” in Kevin Grant, Philippa Levine and Frank Trentmann (eds.), Beyond Sovereignty: Britian, Empire, and Transnationalism, c. 1880-1950. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. 80-102.
- “The Transcolonial World of Hunger Strikes and Political Fasts, c. 1909-1935,” in Durba Ghosh and Dane Kennedy (eds.), Decentering Empire: Britain, India, and the Transcolonial World. (Orient Longman, 2006), pp. 243-269.
- “A Question of Trust: The Government of India, the League of Nations, and Mohandas Gandhi,” co-authored with Lisa Trivedi, in R.M. Douglas et al. (eds.), Imperialism on Trial: International Oversight of Colonial Rule in Comparative Perspective. (Lexington Books, 2006), pp. 21-43.
- A Civilised Savagery: Britain and the New Slaveries in Africa, 1884-1926 (Routledge, 2005).
- “Bones of Contention: The Repatriation of the Remains of Roger Casement,” Journal of British Studies, July 2002, pp. 329-353.
- “Trust and Self-Determination: Anglo-American Ethics of Empire and International Government,” in Mark Bevir and Frank Trentmann (eds.), Critiques of Capital in Modern Britain and America: Transatlantic Exchanges. (Palgrave, 2002), pp. 151-173.
- “Christian Critics of Empire: Missionaries, Lantern Lectures, and the Congo Reform Campaign in Britain,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, May 2001, pp. 27-58.
College Service
- Chair of the Faculty, 2017-19
- History Department Chair, 2015-19
- Committee on Budget and Finance, 2012-16
- Academic Council, 2008-10
- Committee on Academic Policy, 2005-06
- Committee on Academic Standing, 2000-04
- Writing instructor, HEOP Program
Appointed to the Faculty
1997Educational Background
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
M.A., University of Chicago
B.A., University of California, Berkeley
