Contact Details:

Office: G.01 26 St Michael's Park

Phone: +44 (0)117 455 4346

Email: robert.skinner@bristol.ac.uk

Consultation Hours: Please sign up for a meeting here.

I work on the social and political histories of activism and social movements and have published work on the anti-apartheid movement, peace and decolonization. Alongside these ongoing interests, I am currently developing projects exploring local and transnational forms of activism focused on the global food system. While I am drawn to explore these histories from a global perspective, my work has focused on modern South Africa and Britain. I am also interested in the connections between local and global activism, and ways of fostering collaborative research between academics and activist communities.

My most recent book is Peace, Decolonization, and the Practice of Solidarity (Bloomsbury, 2023), an exploration of the relationships between anti-colonial and pacifist activism in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I have also co-edited A Global History of Anti-Apartheid (Palgrave, 2019) with Anna Konieczna, which assessed the connections and networks that sustained the movement on a global scale, My earlier works include a history of South Africa since 1800, Modern South Africa in World History (Bloosmbury, 2017) and The Foundations of Anti-Apartheid (Palgrave, 2010).

Teaching

I contribute to a range of units across the History undergraduate programme, including units examining histories South Africa, decolonization, and global history. I also teach postgraduate units exploring approaches to the history of colonialism and histories of food activism and food ‘counter-cultures’.

Research Supervision

I welcome proposals to supervise research on any areas of transnational activism, but more particularly on the histories of social movements engaged with food justice and/or decolonization and global solidarity. I also welcome proposals from students working on more general themes in the histories of modern South Africa, and am especially keen to work with students interested in co-produced research and public history. Please get in touch to discuss your research plans.