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Date: 19/20 March 2026Venue: University of Oxford, Wadham College, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PNOrganizers: Norman Aselmeyer (Oxford), Eric Burton (Innsbruck) Main objective The aim of the workshop is to reassess the relationship between the city and the struggle for decolonization in the colonial world. It brings together scholars examining anti-colonial movements in specific urban contexts in the twentieth century. The workshop seeks to foster dialogue on the relationship between anti-colonial protests and colonial cities in Africa and Asia, exploring how these struggles were shaped by diverse social groups, the spatial organization of urban environments, and the tensions between competing visions of anti-colonial practice. Workshop description What role did cities play in shaping the dynamics of twentieth-century decolonization? This question continues to captivate scholars across disciplines. Contemporaries perceived revolutionary movements as originating from urban hubs and radiating outward into rural regions. Aristide Zolberg evocatively characterized anti-colonial movements as “creatures with a relatively large head in the capital and fairly rudimentary limbs.”[1] In contrast, postcolonial thinkers like Frantz Fanon, significantly influenced by Marxist scholarship, insisted that “the peasants alone are revolutionary.”[2] Historian Raymond Betts proposed a nuanced interpretation, suggesting anti-colonial movements were simultaneously “rooted in the countryside and grounded in the city.”[3] In recent years, research in anthropology, political science, and history has increasingly shifted focus toward the role of cities and urban populations, emphasizing the urban dimension of anti-colonial protest and the complex connections between urban centers and rural hinterlands in shaping anti-colonial resistance. As political scientist Jeffrey Herbst has argued, “nationalist politics in the 1950s and 1960s were very much urban affairs.”[4] The most recent literature on cities as centers of anti-imperial activism has shown how colonial metropoles like London (M. Matera), Paris (J. Boitin; M. Goebel) or Brussels (M. Louro; D. Laqua) emerged as nodal points for activists in the interwar period and after World War II. Non-colonial or semi-colonial cities in Asia could also be hubs of anti-colonial networking in the interwar or postwar period, including Beijing (R. Leow), Hanoi/Saigon, or Bangkok (C. Goscha). From the late 1950s, governments of newly independent states in Asia and Africa became sponsors of anti-colonial organizations, turning cities into “hubs of decolonization” (E. Burton). Across postcolonial Africa, cities such as Accra (M. Grilli), Cairo (R. Abou-el-Fadl; J. R. Brennan), Dar es Salaam (A. Ivaska; G. Roberts), Algiers (J. Byrne), Léopoldville (L. Passemiers), Lusaka (C. Chongo, H. Macmillan) and Maputo (N. Manghezi) harbored liberation movements and provided infrastructures to mobilize followers, engage with international actors and get access to transnational audiences and support. Afro-Asian connections with cities such as Bombay, Rangoon, and Delhi also played a role here (C. Stolte; G. McCann), as did links to Havana and growing Tricontinentalism (A.G. Mahler; R. J. Parrott). This recent scholarship emphasized significant variation across regions and contexts. The dynamics of resistance differed between trade and settler colonies, as Jean Allman has pointed out, and were further shaped by the specific character of colonial rule, the diversity of local cultures of resistance, and the distinct temporalities of decolonization.[5] Some regions, such as the so-called “hinterland countries” (J. Herbst), that is, countries lacking densely populated urban centers, followed markedly different trajectories. Moreover, decolonization was not solely an elite-driven or urban-centered process. Elizabeth Schmidt’s work on Guinea compellingly demonstrates that nationalist narratives were often imagined and propelled “from below,” shaped by a wide range of actors (including urban workers, women, peasants, and military veterans) rather than imposed by political leadership from above.[6] Similarly, John Lonsdale’s concept of “moral ethnicity” underscores the significance of local political languages and ethnic frameworks in shaping nationalist politics in Kenya.[7] The complexities of twentieth-century decolonization demand a nuanced understanding of the urban-rural interface in anti-colonial movements. Drawing on the various strands of recent scholarship, the workshop aims to reassess the distinctive role cities played in shaping the trajectory of decolonization. Focus areas: actors, venues, and tensions The workshop advances current approaches to anti-colonialism by rethinking the urban histories of the struggle against empire through a focused examination of actors, venues, and tensions. By grounding discussions in the lived experiences of historically overlooked groups (across lines of class, gender, religion, and age) the workshop foregrounds the diverse actors who shaped anti-colonial protest on the ground, moving beyond purely elite narratives. Special attention is given to the spatial strategies employed by urban crowds, exploring how both major cities and smaller towns, as well as their hinterlands, became venues of unrest, organization, and resistance, and how the relationships between these spaces influenced the broader anti-colonial struggle. The workshop also seeks to complicate conventional understandings by investigating the role of labor and neighborhood movements, the significance of liminal spaces, and the moments when activism was blocked or constrained. This line of enquiry will also pay attention to everyday practices of anti-colonialism, asking for the quotidian dimensions and prerequisites of political and ideological work. By probing the tensions between competing visions and practices of anti-colonialism, the workshop aims to produce a nuanced analysis of how anti-colonial efforts, including their failures, contributed to reconfiguring strategies and solidarities across Africa and Asia. Ultimately, this approach moves beyond comparative frameworks to reveal the complex entanglements and ongoing legacies of urban anti-colonial protest, connecting historical struggles with contemporary debates over urban space and colonial heritage. Application and funding To express your interest in the workshop, please submit a title and abstract (max. 300 words) matching one of the aforementioned areas and a brief CV to the organizers Norman Aselmeyer (norman.aselmeyer@history.ox.ac.uk) and Eric Burton (eric.burton@uibk.ac.at). The deadline for submission is 30 September 2025. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by mid-October 2025. The workshop is jointly organized by Norman Aselmeyer (University of Oxford) and Eric Burton (University of Innsbruck), in collaboration with Wadham College, Oxford. Meals and accommodation for all accepted participants will be provided by the college. We are currently seeking funding to support travel costs; please indicate in your application whether you would require financial assistance for transportation. The workshop will be held in person at Oxford. A publication of the proceedings is intended.https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20120547/cfp-cities-and-decolonization-anti-colonial-struggles-urban-protest