Dr Nic Cheeseman suggests that a rise of racist incidents post-Brexit might be rooted in a colonial past

Nic Cheeseman has written and article for Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation (9 July) that reflects on the rise in racist attacks around the 'Brexit' referendum and considers the impact of the UK's colonial legacy on contemporary developments, as well as the changing contours of race and racism.

Nic writes, "Predictably and understandably, much of the recent commentary as focussed on the divisive referendum campaign and the fact that the UK voted to leave. But to understand contemporary race relations we need to go back a lot further than the events of the last few months. The seeds of the current crisis were sown generations ago in the failure of politicians and intellectuals to address the legacy of the British Empire and to speak positively about the contribution that immigrants make to the country."

The full article can be read here: http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/race-and-racism-in-dis-united-kingdom/-/440808/3287850/-/kdg0k9z/-/index.html

This article is also available on our department blog: http://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/post-brexit-wave-hate-laid-bare-tensions-divisions-britain/