“Empires” are large, analytically unwieldy, and complex transnational entities. But they exist only “on the ground.” Empire is realized, constituted and reconstituted in specific places and spaces; it is manifest in diverse forms of colonial rule and projects; it is exercised through multiple strategies in diverse cultural contexts; and its long-standing legacies are felt in both metropole and colony. It follows that the study of empire demands multifaceted lenses, covering different countries and regions from diverse disciplinary perspectives. The purpose of this proposed workshop, “Empires, Colonialisms, and Contexts,” is to meet this imperative. The goal is to explore different forms, histories, exercises, and legacies of empire by focusing upon the places and spaces that empire has aimed to manage. As the work of Harvard Academy scholars and friends has always been interdisciplinary, based upon grounded knowledge of particular countries and regions, the workshop will yield stimulating cross-regional and interdisciplinary discussions, thereby bringing context-specific insights to the high abstractions of contemporary “empire talk.“