Brett Bebber

Ph.D. in Modern European History, The University of Arizona, (2008)

M.A. in Modern European History, The University of Arizona, (2004)

B.A. in History, Religious Studies, Hope College, (2000)

Expertise

Research Interests

Dr. Brett Bebber specializes in modern British history and the history of the British empire. In particular, he is interested in the ways in which the decline of the Empire and the surge in migration to postwar Britain reshaped national identity and social relationships in the metropole. He has written on the intersections of race, gender, and violence in postwar Britain, and studied the cultural implications of social control, working-class violence and political racisms in modern British culture. He is also interested in analyzing the cultural struggles that emerge in sport and leisure in Britain, and has analyzed how forms of leisure mediated and catalyzed broader social conflicts. His newest research threads include a study of migrant integration and black civil rights activism in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, and an examination of how civil liberties and anti-racist organizations made transatlantic connections with American and Canadian civil rights groups. He regularly teaches courses on modern British history, the history of the British Empire, European imperialism, transatlantic history, and sport and leisure.

Articles

Bebber, B. (2020). "The Architects of Integration: Research, Public Policy, and the Institute of Race Relations in Postimperial Britain". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 48 (2) , pp. 319-50.

Bebber, B. (2018). "'Standard Transatlantic Practice': Race Relations and Antidiscrimination Law across the Atlantic". Journal of Civil and Human Rights 4 (1/2) , pp. 5-36.

Bebber, B. (2017). "Model Migrants?: Sikh Activism and Race Relations Organisations in Britain". Contemporary British History 31 (4) , pp. 568-592.

Bebber, B. (2015). "'We Were Just Unwanted': Bussing, Migrant Dispersal and South Asians in London". Journal of Social History 48 (3) , pp. 635-661.

Bebber, B. (2014). "The Short Life of Curry and Chips: Racial Comedy on British Television in the 1960s". Journal of British Cinema and Television 11 (2-3) , pp. 213-235.

Bebber, B. (2014). "Till Death Us Do Part: Political Satire and Social Realism in the 1960s and 1970s". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 34 (2) , pp. 253-274.

Books

Bebber, B. (2024). A Cultural History of Leisure in the Modern Age. Bloomsbury.

Bebber, B. (2012). Leisure and Cultural Conflict in Twentieth-Century Britain. Manchester University Press.

Bebber, B. (2012). Violence and Racism in Football: Politics and Cultural Conflict in British Society, 1968-1998. Pickering and Chatto.

Book Chapters

Bebber, B. (2023). "South Asians in Britain: Migration, Settlement, and Conflict" Routledge Handbook of South Asian Migrations (pp. 32-42) London: Routledge.

Bebber, B. (2019). "The Rise of the Runnymede Trust: Enoch Powell and the Media Wars" The Lives and Afterlives of Enoch Powell: The Undying Political Animal (pp. 81-96) London: Routledge.

Bebber, B. (2015). "Unwanted Consumers: Violence and Consumption in British Football in the 1970s" Consuming Behaviours: Identity, Politics and Pleasure in Twentieth-Century Britain (pp. 103-118) London: Bloomsbury.

Bebber, B. (2012). "‘The Misuse of Leisure’: Football Violence, Politics and Family Values in 1970s Britain" Leisure and Cultural Conflict in Twentieth-Century Britain (pp. 129-56) Manchester University Press.

• 2020: University Professor, Old Dominion University
• 2017: Royal Historical Society Fellow, Royal Historical Society
• 2016: Phillip K. Stern Excellence in Teaching Award, Old Dominion University
• 2015: Alumni Association New Faculty Award, Old Dominion University
• 2015: Batten College of Arts and Letters Research Fellowship, Old Dominion University
• 2013: Summer Research Fellowship, Old Dominion University
• 2007: Edwin S. Turville Dissertation Fellowship , University of Arizona
• 2007: Richard A. Cosgrove Research Scholarship, University of Arizona
• 2007: USA Funds Access to Education Scholarship , USA Funds Access to Education