Geographies of violence: black power, jihad, and the (re)-making of anti-colonial radicalism among Muslims in Britain (1976-1995)

This thesis traces the evolution of anti-colonial radicalism among Muslims in Britain from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, examining how Black Power–inspired politics gave way to Islamic radical ideologies and why these shifts produced different forms of violence, from street vigilantism to war volunteering abroad. It argues that Black and Islamic radicals competed to lead a post-imperial struggle for recognition within Britain, shaped by local resettlement dynamics and transnational actors. By bridging scholarship on Black and Islamic radicalism through post-1945 anti-colonialism, the study challenges terrorism-centred narratives and repositions Europe as a key site and object of postwar anti-colonial conflict.