During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, YouTube became a way to enjoy the outside world within the confines of my small three-bedroom house. I had just started back to undergraduate studies via online courses, and expected to go on to graduate school pending acceptance into my program of study. I never expected to find what would become the basis for the rest of my collegiate career on a YouTube channel but that is exactly what happened.

As someone who has always loved history, especially history that presented a challenge, I found the controversy that surrounded certain objects, memorials, and topics an interesting study. One such controversy that I became highly invested in is that of the Peacock Dress worn by Lady Mary Curzon at the 1903 Delhi Durbar. The controversy stemmed from a YouTube creator that wanted to recreate the dress as historically accurate as possible. This led me down the rabbit hole of British Imperialism and the controversy that seem to surroud it in modern day Britain.

So, I started learning as much as I could about the dress, what British Imperialism was, British Imperialist figures, and why it was all so problematic. What I found inspired me to center my academic studies and career as a historian around the topic. Hopefully my research will create more inclusive narratives to be used and taught when it comes to the topic of British Imperialism.

The words “Addressing the Dress” is a call back to what intially launched my interest in this topic. Eventually I hope to address the controversy behind British Imperialism and the one-dimensional narratives that currently exist.