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DFG Research Training Group 2571 "Empires. Dynamic Change, Temporality and Post-Imperial Orders"
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Dr. Morag Wright

Portrait of Morag Wright, postdoctoral researcher, wearing a pink shirt, in front of a neutral background

Dr. Morag Wright

PostDoc

Project: “Sugar in the Blood and the Guano of History. Pacific Labour Routes c.1860–1970”

I am a historian of capitalism and empire with a focus on histories of movement, labour, gender and the law. My academic training was focussed on histories of South Asia and I remain invested in understanding empire not from the perspective of Europe. I completed my PhD at SOAS, University of London, in which I analysed the archival traces of Indian indentured labour in London and argued that by engaging with archival methods uncritically, historians have been guilty in naturalising the temporalities of the archive.

In my new postdoctoral project, I explore the histories and ligaments of coercive labour regimes in the Pacific and their lasting impact on today’s global labour systems. Focusing on the sugar and guano industries from the 19th to 20th centuries, I uncover how colonial powers used racialised migration and transnational labour routes to build empires—systems that still shape how work, migration, and citizenship function today.

This research reframes the Pacific as a central site of colonial and global economic transformation, challenging Euro-Atlantic centric histories of capitalism. It expands the geographic and conceptual scope of global labour history by tracing how colonial logics of labour, land, and race continue to underpin present-day labour migration regimes—from Gulf State labour policies to hospitality and service industries worldwide.

Combining archival research with community storytelling, this project bridges academic and public histories. I draw on postcolonial, feminist, and the theories of radical traditions to challenge how colonial archives have shaped our understanding of freedom, race, and labour. More broadly, I am interested in tracing the role the discipline of modern history has played in producing colonial knowledge structures and I aim to use a more expansive history to create new imaginaries.

Publications