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Africa in the making of modern Belfast

This lecture explores the role the African continent has had in the making of modern Belfast. It looks at how the city built connections to the continent, imported primary resources to develop its industry, and expanded African markets to sustain the development of the “Engine of the North”. I then look at the concomitant development of an ‘imperial culture’, with its botanic garden, zoo, and missionary organisations that deployed a singular view of the African continent and its people.

Eric Morier-Genoud is Professor of African history at Queen’s University. His research focuses on religion, politics, and armed conflicts in Southern Africa. His latest books include Towards Jihad. Muslims and Politics in Postcolonial Mozambique (London: Hurst and Boston: Oxford University Press, 2023); Catholicism and the Making of Politics in Central Mozambique, 1940-1980 (Rochester: Rochester University Press, 2019); and (eds) The War Within. New Perspectives on the Civil War in Mozambique, 1976-1992 (Oxford: James Currey, 2018).

Image: Belfast Rope Works: sorting sisal, October 1963.

Credit: PRONI Reference Number [INF/7/A/11/1/1] courtesy of The Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

This event is hosted by the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast.

For any queries, please contact Lorna O'Connor (lorna.oconnor@qub.ac.uk)

Description supplied by the event organiser.