Dr Dave Dee

David Dee is an Associate Professor/Reader in Modern History within the School of Humanities, having formerly held a Visiting Lecturer position within the School of History and Cultures at University of Birmingham. 

David is a social historian with particular interests in the history of race, ethnicity and immigration in Britain and sport/leisure history in Western society.

His first research monograph, entitled Sport and British Jewry: Integration, Ethnicity and anti-Semitism, 1890-1970 was published in hardback in January 2013 by Manchester University Press and as a paperback in November 2014. The book has been labelled the ‘best and clearest account of one of the missing links in the history of British Jewry’ (Prof. Sander Gilman), a ‘seminal work’ (Prof. Geoffrey Alderman), ‘rich in detail’ (Prof. Todd Endelman) and ‘an important piece of social and cultural history’ (Prof. Tony Kushner). 

His second monograph, entitled The 'Estranged Generation'? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry, published in hardback/E-Book in Autumn 2017 and paperback in Spring 2019 by Palgrave, investigates the social history of the British Jewish community in the interwar years. The monograph has been labelled 'well written and richly documented' (Prof. Susan Tanabaum) and 'an important and timely book... an engaging and lively study' (Prof. Tony Kushner).

He is currently working on his third monograph, provisionally entitled 'Insiders, Outsiders and Ringsiders: Migrants and Minorities and the History of British Boxing', contracted to Oxford University Press. This stems from a major, externally funded, project on the History of British Boxing - see 'Projects' below.

David has also written articles for numerous historical journals, including The London Journal, Immigrants and Minorities, Patterns of Prejudice, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Journal of Sport History, Labor History, European Judaism, Labour History Review and Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England.

He has spoken widely about his research to academic audiences and at public events held by organisations such as the Memorial de la Shoah, Paris, Jewish Book Week, Limmud UK, Jewish Museum, London and the Manchester Jewish Museum. David is also a reviewer and referee for several academic journals and has undertaken consultancy and advisory work for a number of museums, funding bodies and National Government bodies. To date, his research and consultancy work has attracted well over £100,000 of external and internal funding.

David is currently Programme Leader for the MA in Sport History and Culture, having formerly been Programme Leader for the BA History degree. He is a member of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture.

Institute of History, International Centre for Sport History and Culture

Click here for a full listing of Dave Dee's publications and outputs.

Books:

Sport and British Jewry: Integration, Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism, 1890-1970, Manchester: Manchester University Press, Hardback - 2013, Paperback - 2014.

The 'Estranged' Generation? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry, London: Palgrave Macmillan, Hardback/Ebook - 2017, Paperback - 2019

FORTHCOMING: Insiders, Outsiders and Ringsiders: Migrants and Minorities and the History of British Boxing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, c2025)

Journal Articles:

'“My attitude to sport is very simple – its something that Jews just don’t do” – The Lost (?) World of Sport in Jewish Manchester', European Judaism, forthcoming, 55, 2, 2022 (as part of special issue on British-Jewish author Howard Jacobson)

'British Jews and Anti-Fascism in the 1930s', Immigrants and Minorities, 38, 3, 2020, 151-183.

'A Means of "Escape"? British Jewry, Communism and Sport, 1920-1950, Labour History Review, 80, 2, 2015, 169-194.

'"Personality and Colour into Everything He Does": Henry Rose (1899-1958) - Journalist, Celebrity and the Forgotten Man of the Munich Disaster', Journal of Sport History, 41, 3, 2014, 425-446.

‘"Wandering Jews"? British Jewry, Outdoor Recreation and the Far-Left, 1900-1939', Labor History, 55, 5, 2014, 563-579.

'Sport, Recreation and British Labour' w/ Matt Taylor, Labor History, 55, 5, 2014, 539-546

‘”There is no Discrimination Here, But the Committee Never Elects Jews”’ - Anti-Semitism in British Golf, 1894-1970’, Patterns of Prejudice, 47, 2, 2013, 117-138 (article selected in 'Editors' Pick 2011-2013 collection)

‘Sport or “Shul”? Physical Recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath, c1880-1945’, Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, 44, 2012, 7-26

‘”The Hefty Hebrew” Boxing and British-Jewish Identity, 1890-1950’, Sport in History, 32, 3, 2012, 361-381 (article nominated for 'Best Sport in History article of 2012')

‘”Too Semitic” or “thoroughly Anglicised”? The Life and Career of Harold Abrahams, International Journal of the History of Sport, 29, 6, April 2012, 868-886 (article nominated for 'Best IJHS Article of 2012')

'"Nothing Specifically Jewish in Athletics?" Sport, Physical Recreation and the Jewish Youth Movement in London, 1895-1914', London Journal, 34, 2, 2009, 82-101.

Journal Special Issues

w/Matt Taylor (Eds), 'Sport, Recreation and British Labour', 55, 5, 2014, 539-653.

Essays in Edited Volumes:

'"Ironing Out the Ghetto Bend" - Football, Integration and Jewish "Anglicisation" in Four Four Jew: Football, Fans and Faith, London: Shire Books, 2013

‘‘The Sunshine of Manly Sports and Pastimes’ - Physical Recreation, Sport and the ‘Anglicisation’ of Jewish Refugees in Britain, 1881-1914’ in Stefan Manz and Panikos Panayi (Eds), Refugees and Cultural Transfers to Britain, Abingdon: Routledge, 2013

History of sport and recreation in Britain, Europe and the USA; history of race, ethnicity and immigration in Britain.

• Historical methods, public history, heritage and memory; 
• History of ethnicity/immigration in Britain, Europe and USA;
• History and Employability
• British sport history.

• Fellow  - Higher Education Academy
• BA (Hons) History, De Montfort University, Leicester
• MA Sport History and Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester (Funded by AHRC 'Research Preparation Master's Scheme)
• PhD History, De Montfort University, Leicester (Funded by AHRC 'Doctoral Scheme')

• HIST1003 Modern Britain since 1800
• HIST2043 Multicultural Societies in History
• HIST3000 The Dissertation
• HIST3032 Jews in Twentieth Century Britain (Module Leader)
• HIST5000 Dissertation (Module Leader)
• HIST5021 Social and Cultural Themes of Sport (Module Leader)
• HIST5024 Writing Sport History (Module Leader)

DMU 'Future Research Leader' - 2014

Vice Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, De Montfort University - nominated 2011, 2012, 2014, 2019

Richard Cox Postgraduate Prize, British Society of Sport History, September 2010, best postgraduate conference paper delivered at the BSSH annual conference.

Jewish Historical Society of England  - Advisory Board Member (2024-) https://www.jhse.org/

UKRI - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus - 'Equity Champion' (2024-) https://edicaucus.ac.uk/equity-champions/

British Association of Jewish Studies, 2014 -

British Society for Sport History, 2007 -

European Association for Jewish Studies, 2014 -

North American Society for Sport History, 2014 -

Social History Society, 2013 -

Immigrants and Minorities and British Boxing: A History

The project will document the involvement of immigrants and minorities in boxing within a British context, from the late eighteenth century (when Daniel Mendoza – aka ‘Mendoza the Jew’ – was the Heavyweight Champion of England) to the turn of the twenty-first century (when the British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan first came to prominence). As well as investigating the participation of boxers, trainers, promoters and spectators of Jewish, Irish, African-Caribbean, Italian and South Asian heritage, it will analyse the impact of race and ethnicity on British boxing and examine the social, cultural, political and economic impact that boxing had on minority communities and ethnic identity.

A series of 5 short documentaries on themes of the project were commissioned in Spring 2021 and released in Summer 2021.

Funded by a €115,000 grant from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung 'Research Scholarship' scheme, Dr Dee will be working on this project between Autumn 2019 and Spring 2022.

'Insiders, Outsiders and Ringsiders: Immigrants and Minorities in British Boxing', Parkes Institute Seminar Papers, University of Southampton, 1 February 2022 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tvE2ciwZ3k

'British Jews and Anti-Fascism in the 1930s', Historical Association, Nuneaton branch, Warwickshire, 15 December 2021

'The "Undisputed Sports King of the North": The Life, Journalism and Untimely Death of Henry Rose', Limmud, 7 February 2021 - https://limmud.org/event/limmud-manchester-2/

Invited participant in ‘Jews in Modern Britain: Within, Without and In-Between’ seminar – Jewish Historical Society of England, 10 January 2021

'British Jews and anti-Fascism in the 1930s', Hinckley Holy Trinity Church, 1 May 2019

“A Game Was More Than A Game” – Sport, Integration and Interwar British Jewry', Institute of Historical Research, 10 December 2018

'The "Estranged" Generation? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry', De Montfort University, Cultural Exchanges Festival, 28 February 2018

'The "Estranged" Generation? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry', Jewish Historical Society of England, Leeds, 5 February 2018 

'"I Wanted to be a Rebel, not a Rabbi" - Religion, Social Change and Interwar British Jewry', Social History Society annual conference 2017, IHR, London, 5 April 2017 

'Ethnic Reactions or "Reactive Ethnicity"? British Jews and anti-Fascism in the 1930s', Radical Histories/Histories of Radicalism, Raphael Samuel History Centre, Queen Mary University, London, 1-3 July 2016

'Sport, Integration and Interwar British Jewry', North American Society for Sport History, Annual Conference, University of Miami, Florida, 22-25 May 2015

'An "Estranged" Generation? Politics, Social Change and Interwar British Jewry', British Association of Jewish Studies, Annual Conference, Trinity College, Dublin, July 13-15, 2014

'"Personality and Colour into Everything He Does" - Henry Rose: Journalist, Celebrity and the Forgotten Man of the Munich Air Disaster', Manchester Jewish Museum, Manchester, 18 May 2014.

'"Personality and Colour into Everything He Does" - Henry Rose: Journalist, Celebrity and the Forgotten Man of the Munich Air Disaster', Jewish Museum, London, 2 February 2014 (talk part of Museum's 'Four Four Jew: Football, Fans and Faith' exhibition)

'Jews and British Sport, 1890-1970', Jewish Historical Society of England, Birmingham branch, 24 November 2013

‘A Means of “Escape”? British Jews, Communism and Sport, 1920-1950’, paper at Social History Society Annual Conference, 25 March 2013

'Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here? The Hidden History of British Jews and Sport?’ session for Jewish Book Week, London, 24 February 2013 - http://www.jewishbookweek.com/past-events/310

‘Sport and British Jewry: Integration, Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism 1890-1970’, paper for the Jewish Historical Society of England, Leeds, 3 December 2012

‘Muscular Jews? Sport and British/Manchester Jewry, 1890-1970’, 28 June 2012, Manchester Jewish Museum, Manchester, opening public lecture in series alongside ‘Jews and the Sporting Life’ exhibition

‘British Exceptionalism? British-Jewish Sporting Organisations: 1890-1939’, 8 November 2011, Memorial de la Shoah, Paris, France, part of public lecture series on ‘Jewish Sports Associations in Europe before 1939

’‘Jews and British Sport: Integration, Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism since 1800’, 8 September 2011, keynote paper for Historical Perspectives on Jews and British Sport symposium, De Montfort University, Leicester

‘The British Union of Fascists and the “Sporting Jew”, 1935-1939’, 9 May 2011, Institute of Historical Research, Sport and Leisure History seminar series, academic paper

‘Shul’ or the Sixteenth Green? – Anglo-Jewry, Sport and the Jewish Sabbath, 1890-1945’, 11 Sept 2010, British Society of Sports History Annual Conference, Wellcome Collection, London, academic paper

“I’m afraid we have a Jewish quota’: Anti-Semitism and Golf in Britain, 1894-2000’, 13 April 2010, European Social Science History Conference, Ghent, Belgium, academic paper

‘Sport and the Manchester Jewish Community, 1900-1939’, 3 July 2009, Anglo-American Conference of Historians, Institute for Historical Research, London, academic paper

Academic consultant for:

- Manchester Jewish Museum, ‘Jews and the Sporting Life’ exhibition, June 2012-December 2012

-  Jewish Museum, London, ‘Four Four Jew: Football, Fans and Faith’ exhibition, October 2013-February 2014

- RichMix, London, 'Passing Gloves' exhibition, March 2022- (in conjunction with Orion Isaacs, funded by Arts Council England)

I am available for consultancy work on the sporting history of the British Jewish community.

First Supervisor:

• Ben Duncan-Jones (PhD) - 'A Study of Prize-Fighting in England, 1800 to 1870: Mapping the Changing Attitudes, Perceptions and Reception'

Second Supervisor:

• Barbara Horley (PhD) - 'Speedway Racing in the Midlands 1932 - 1965'
• Lisa Jenkel (PhD) - 'The Depiction and Discourse of Jewish Athletes and Jewish Sports in the English Press, 1890-1945' - NB - based at University of Basel, Switzerland. Funded by Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft [Foundation of German Industry].
• Hazel Perry (PhD) - 'Peterborough Trades Union Council 1949 - 1979'
• Melanie Reid (PhD) - 'A History of Caving in Inter-War Britain'

David would welcome applications for PhD studies in modern British-Jewish History, the history of British sport/leisure and immigrant/minority involvement in British sport.

'Immigrants and Minorities and British Boxing: A History', Gerda Henkel Stiftung 'Research Scholarship' scheme (€114902.01) - 2019-2023

'Ethnic Reactions or "Reactive Ethnicity" British Jews and Anti-Fascism in the 1930s', Marc Fitch Fund 'Research Grant' scheme (£500) - 2017

‘Jews and British Sport: Integration, Ethnicity and anti-Semitism, c1880-c1960’, Arts and Humanities Research Council, PhD research project funded by Doctoral Scheme - 2007-2010. 

Early Career Research Fellowship funding for 'The "Estranged Generation": Social Change and British Jewry, 1918-1939', October 2013-September 2015 (£6000)

Consultancy support for Jewish Museum, London ‘Four Four Jew’ exhibition, De Montfort University HEIF support, February-June 2013 (£1200)

‘Jews and Communist Sport, 1919-1939’, School of English and History Research Committee, funding for archival research, June-July 2012 (£200)

David is currently a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's 'Peer Review College' (1/3/2022 to 31/12/2025).

Refereeing activities:

• Sport in History, September 2010-
• Jewish Culture and History, August 2011-
• Patterns of Prejudice, September 2011-
• Contemporary British History, January 2014-
• Urban History, January 2021-

‘Exercises in Changing Identities’, Jewish Chronicle 8 February 2013 - http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/comment/102249/exercises-changing-identities