Dr Timothy Riding

Tim Riding is an early career researcher into early modern Indian Ocean colonialism.  His work explores the origins of colonialism in Asia.  He completed his PhD on the English East India Company (1600–1780) at Queen Mary, University of London in 2018, since which he has taught at the London School of Economics, UCL and the University of York.  His thesis focused on how the East India Company controlled the spaces of long-distance trade, such as trading outposts, settlements and territories.  It argued that the company’s growing investment and entanglement in such spaces pulled the trading company into colonial activities.  In 2020 Tim completed a project on the construction of a colonial fort (Anjengo, Kerala) funded by the Royal Historical Society.  His work has been published in the Journal of Historical Geography and Itinerario, and he is preparing a monograph on Company Bombay.

Project Title: Decolonising Schools: The Darien Scheme, Colonialism and the Scottish Curriculum
As the drive to decolonise universities gathers pace, secondary education risks being left behind.  The approach to decoloniality in the UK is fractured: the UK government is actively attacking such concepts, while the Scottish government is disseminating advice on decolonising the curriculum.  Secondary history curricula remain focused on narratives of western nation-states.  This project explores the ways in which academics can intervene in this debate and influence school curricula.  It will develop and deliver a school course on Scottish colonialism focusing on one colonial episode: the Darien Scheme of 1698–1700.  The Scheme, traditionally taught as part of Scotland’s national history, will be presented from a global history perspective, challenging students to read sources against the grain to uncover indigenous agency.  Multiple placements in Scottish schools will produce an article for History Workshop Journal reflecting on the practice of teaching decolonised history in a secondary education context.

 

The project aims to influence Scottish education policy.  It does so in partnership with the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance.  The Scottish government is currently consulting on reforms to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland, so it is an apposite time to intervene in policy debates.  The project will produce an advice paper on the history curriculum highlighting the need for a broader range of colonial and non-western topics and a better reflection of the innovative research being conducted in the arts and humanities.