Event details

This talk introduces the argument of Dan’s forthcoming book World War Zero, which will be published in June 2027. Tracing the history of colonial violence from the 16th century to the present day, through artworks and material culture in museums, the talk offers a new periodization of what counts as ‘world war’ - moving beyond the oddly Eurocentric convention that this term is applied only to conflicts that included fighting in Europe. Offering an overview of the development of Dan’s writing from The Brutish Museums (2020) through Every Monument Will Fall: a story of remembering and forgetting (2025) to World War Zero (2027), as debates about restitution and public memory have developed against shifting historical consciousness of militarist colonialism, the talk reframes ‘world culture’ museums as indexes and sites of commemoration for an unfinished conflict - rethinking how we see colonialism, and how wars are named.

References
Dan Hicks 2020. The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, colonial violence and cultural restitution. London: Pluto Press
Dan Hicks 2025. Every Monument Will Fall: a story of remembering and forgetting. London: Penguin
Dan Hicks 2027. World War Zero: how colonial wars made our world. London: Penguin.