Staff profile

Liam J. Liburd studies the history of 'race' and racism in modern Britain. His research and teaching explore Black British history. He understands 'Black British history' not just as historical subject matter but as a theoretical lens. Using this lens, his research reappraises the role of the white supremacist movement within the wider politics of race in modern British history. 

His current and ongoing research focuses on the relationship between institutional racism and what is typically regarded as "extremist" racism. At the moment, this has focused on the history of racism in British prisons in the twentieth century.

He was mostly recently published in the collection The Truth About Empire: Real Histories of British Colonialism (Hurst, 2024), which features a chapter of his on the history of comparisons between imperialism and fascism in Black political thought. He is also revising a journal article for publication on the long history of Black British theorisations of British fascism and is in the process of trying to turn his thesis into his first book. His thesis (completed at the University of Sheffield in 2019) interrogated the relationship between British fascism and British imperialism between 1918 and 1968.

Research areas & clusters

• Modern
• Britain and Continental Europe
• History on the Margins
• Political cultures

• Black British history
• History of whiteness and the white supremacist movement in modern Britain
• History of institutional racism and racist institutions (prisons, police, immigration service) in modern Britain

Book review

• Turn Again, Fascist Studies: New Perspectives on British Fascism
  
  Liburd, L. J. (2021). Turn Again, Fascist Studies: New Perspectives on British Fascism. Twentieth Century British History, 32(3), 462-466. https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab015

Chapter in book

• ‘Rights for Whites’: White victimhood and white supremacist movement in contemporary Britain
  
  Liburd, L. (in press). ‘Rights for Whites’: White victimhood and white supremacist movement in contemporary Britain. In S. Crook & S. Kenny (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary British History.
• White Against Empire: Decolonisation, Immigration and Britain’s Radical Right, 1954-1967
  
  Liburd, L. J. (2023). White Against Empire: Decolonisation, Immigration and Britain’s Radical Right, 1954-1967. In J. Doble, L. J. Liburd, & E. Parker (Eds.), British culture after empire: Race, decolonisation and migration since 1945. Manchester University Press.

Journal Article

• ‘Institutionalised fascism’: Race and the politics of English prisons, 1971-1985
  
  Liburd, L. (in press). ‘Institutionalised fascism’: Race and the politics of English prisons, 1971-1985. History Workshop Journal.
• Working out whiteness in modern British history
  
  Liburd, L. (2025). Working out whiteness in modern British history. Patterns of Prejudice, 59(4-5), 345-354. https://doi.org/10.1080/0031322x.2026.2658995
• The Lost Pillar of British Political Culture: Black Constructions of British Fascism, 1930s–1970s
  
  Liburd, L. (2025). The Lost Pillar of British Political Culture: Black Constructions of British Fascism, 1930s–1970s. Journal of British Studies, 64, Article e91. https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2025.10129
• The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History
  
  Liburd, L. (2023). The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History. The Political Quarterly, 94(2), 244-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.13259
• Debate: Decolonising Fascist Studies
  
  Liburd, L., & Jackson, P. (2021). Debate: Decolonising Fascist Studies. Fascism, 10(2), 323-345. https://doi.org/10.1163/22116257-bja10039
• Thinking Imperially: The British Fascisti and the Politics of Empire, 1923–35
  
  Liburd, L. J. (2020). Thinking Imperially: The British Fascisti and the Politics of Empire, 1923–35. Twentieth Century British History, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwaa009
• Beyond the Pale: Whiteness, Masculinity and Empire in the British Union of Fascists, 1932–1940
  
  Liburd, L. J. (2018). Beyond the Pale: Whiteness, Masculinity and Empire in the British Union of Fascists, 1932–1940. Fascism, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1163/22116257-00702006