Ena H. Thompson Lectures

2027 Ena H. Thompson Distinguished Lecture

Lauren Benton

Lauren Benton is the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History and Professor of Law at Yale University. Benton writes about global legal history and the history of European empires, especially British and Iberian empires. Her most recent book, They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence (Princeton, 2024) analyzes legal frameworks for imperial violence between 1400 and 1900. It won the Gustav Ranis International Book Award, received honorable mention for the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Cundill Prize in History. Benton's previous prizewinning books examine constitutionalism in empires, histories of imperial sovereignty, law in slavery and abolition, and legalities of piracy. They include Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850, (coauthored with Lisa Ford. Harvard, 2016); A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900(Cambridge, 2010); and Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400–1900 (Cambridge, 2002) In an earlier phase of her career, Benton conducted ethnographic research on the informal sector, urban change, and economic development in Latin America and Spain. Benton is currently writing a book about empires and islands in global history with Adam Clulow.

Benton is a recipient of the Toynbee Foundation Prize for significant contributions to global history and was elected to the British Academy as an international fellow in 2024. She delivered the George Macaulay Trevelyan Lectures at the University of Cambridge in 2022 and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Studies, the American Academy in Berlin, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.

Benton will deliver a campus lecture on Monday, March 8, 2027 at 5 p.m. in the Rose Hills Auditorium.

About the Lectureship

Endowed in 1980 through the generosity of Ena H. Thompson, these annual lectures encourage a broader understanding and appreciation of history. Generally held in the spring semester, the lectureship brings a distinguished historian to the Pomona College campus for a week of intensive interaction with students, faculty, and alumni. The visiting lecturers are elected both on the basis of their past contributions to the discipline and of the importance of their current research in advancing the field. Typically, they offer two public lectures on campus during the week of their residency and another lecture for alumni at a dinner event in the greater Los Angeles area.