Poetry against Slavery: guided tours in October and November 2018

Poetry against Slavery: guided tours in October and November 2018

This guided tour takes place at 12pm and 3pm on Thu 4 October (National Poetry Day), Sun 14 October, Sun 21 October, Thu 25 October, Sun 18 November, Thu 22 November and Sat 24 November. Venue: Museum of London Docklands, No. 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4AL. The tour and museum entry are both free. All welcome with no need to book.

The London, Sugar & Slavery gallery at the Museum of London Docklands is a unique resource for exploring London’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, and for understanding the trade’s present-day legacies. As part of the museum’s Black History Month programme in October, and during the nationwide Being Human Festival in November, Matt Martin (Stuart Hall Research Scholar and PhD student in the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre at Birkbeck) will lead one-hour guided tours of the gallery, showcasing his research into how poetry has galvanised resistance against the oppression of African, Caribbean and Black British people.

From Africa’s rich heritage, through preservation of cultural legacies during slavery, to recent political activism, you will encounter and discuss poems that give voice to objects and images in the museum. Discover how African cultural origins have influenced language and poetry in the Caribbean, how poems inspired anti-slavery action in the Caribbean and the UK, and how later poets have drawn upon this history to oppose continuing racial injustices. The spoken and written word will emerge as powerful ways to build solidarity among and between communities. No advance reading required – all texts will be provided on the day.

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Apply Now: CHASE – ‘Objects in Space, Subjects in Time: The Material Cultures of Postcolonial History’ deadline 15 October 2018

INTERNAL COMPETITION FOR CHASE PHD PROGRAMME:

‘Objects in Space, Subjects in Time: The Material Cultures of Postcolonial History’

We have 1 place reserved for a Birkbeck PhD student on a fully funded CHASE

doctoral training programme entitled ‘Objects in Space, Subjects in Time: The

Material Cultures of Postcolonial History’.

This is a series of six workshops across the year which explore global, transnational and postcolonial pasts by engaging with material collections and texts or objects in museums and exhibition spaces across London, as well as training in creating vlogs and media projects. For full details see below.

Travel costs, participation costs and refreshments are all included and funded by CHASE.

To apply for this programme, please send the following to Kat Hill by Monday October 15th (midnight). (katherine.hill@bbk.ac.uk)

  • 1000word statement explaining why you would be a suitable candidate and how it will enhance your research.
  • Short supporting statement from your supervisor
  • Personal Information required:
    • Name
    • Email
    • Programme of Study
    • Department
    • Year of PhD
    • Title/Area of Research
    • Supervisor

Objects in Space, Subjects in Time: The Material Cultures of Postcolonial

History

Kat Hill and Rebecca Darley (History, Classics and Archaeology – Birkbeck)

Suzanna Ivanic (Kent)

Luke Lavan (Kent)

Liz James (Sussex)

A series of six workshops across the year which explore global, transnational and postcolonial pasts by engaging with material collections and texts or objects in museums and exhibition spaces across London. The journeys of objects or the changing shape and use of spaces can offer a powerful means of unpicking, understanding and then conveying meaningfully and compellingly to a range of audiences the processes and legacies of empires. Encountering the objects and spaces proposed in these workshops emphasizes not only the intellectual perspectives of post-colonial theory upon the past, but also brings to light in the most concrete terms those shadows of empire in the present that post-colonial theory was developed to expose and challenge.

These workshops will include one international conference, four object-based sessions making use of London’s unparalleled collections, and two sessions dedicated to the processes of translating research into different arenas. You will have the chance to examine a range of material and objects in dedicated study sessions with curators and experts, and over the course of the series, you will produce a video, blogpost or other public-facing reflection, drawing on your own research and the materials in these workshops. You will receive training from the Derek Jarman Lab, Birkbeck’s media department, on how to produce an effective media project and have the opportunity to contribute to a podcast with a top broadcaster, as well as present your ideas on the sessions to a non-academic audience.

The focus in all of the workshops will, therefore, be on the complex material histories of empires, as vehicles for migration, trade, translation and the imposition of political authority, and simultaneously on developing a constant awareness of the sub-structures of knowledge creation that underpin any approach to the past. They will combine to give you fresh ways to think with objects and to challenge categories and ideologies of colonialism, not only as they were historically constructed, but also as they continue to shape the world today.

Places are limited. Registration will be open soon via the CHASE website.

For any questions please contact Kat Hill (katherine.hill@bbk.ac.uk) or Rebecca Darley (r.darley@bbk.ac.uk)

What will you get from these sessions?

  • Engage with materiality and object-based history
  • Engage with diachronic global and transnational histories
  • Think about place and space as historical concepts
  • Develop presentation and public engagement skills
  • Broaden knowledge of heritage spaces and public museums
  • Network with other researchers, senior scholars and other stakeholders

What’s included?

  • All the sessions, time and resources
  • Lunch and refreshments for each day
  • Travel to and from the workshops
  • Overnight accommodation if coming outside London for session 1 (Conference and Mithraeum)
  • Payment for 2 students to tweet and blog about the Late Antique Archaeology conference

 Indicative Programme (all are full day events)

Workshop 1: November 30 and December 1 2018: Tour of the Mithraeum and Archaeology Conference

  • Opportunity to attend the Late Antique Archaeology (this is not compulsory)
  • Tour of the Mithraeum site
  • Discussion with a researcher who has worked with the Mithraeum of the moveable objects found within the site and the decision to house these in the Museum of London
  • Panel discussion on the role of Bloomberg in the conservation and future of the Mithraeum site

Workshop 2: January 2019: Training with the Derek Jarman Lab

  • Training session on vlogs, blogs and media

 Workshop 3: February 2019: The British Library

  • Tour of the map room of the British Library
  • Discussion with a researcher working on the British Library collections and on maps of the Middle East in particular
  • Opportunity to see and spend time examining, collectively and in small groups, a sequence of maps showing the Middle East and to discuss their changing representations of this space

Workshop 4: March 2019: The British Museum

  • Tour of the Waddesdon Bequest, the Renaissance treasures (and some fakes) collected by Baron Rothschild
  • Discussion with a researcher working on the Renaissance collections at the British Museum about the origin and nature of this collection, in relation to the wider Renaissance holdings of the museum
  • Opportunity to see and spend time examining, collectively and in small groups, a selection of objects in the Waddesdon Bequest, chosen to reflect contested, disruptive or hidden histories of colonialism.

                                                                      

Workshop 5: May 2019: The V and A

  • Tour of the photographic archive of the V&A examining material from the nineteenth century, such as Creswell photographs of Syria, Palestine, and Cairo, albums of missions and expeditions to Pacific Islands, and records of hierarchies in India
  • Discussion with a researcher working on the digitization of the photographic archive
  • Opportunity to see and spend time examining, collectively and in small groups, images from the Tripe collection. To investigate the unique nature of photographs as documentary sources constructed out of intentional and unintentional preserved elements, and the value of this in developing new narratives of past spaces.

Workshop 6: June 2019: Westminster Kingsway College

  • presentation of blogpost/video-post (to a group of students from Westminster Kingsway College, a sixth-form college in partnership with Birkbeck and a panel discussion to include Nigel Warburton (Philosophy Bites and AEON magazine founder) and Dr. Charlotte Joy (lecturer in anthropology at Goldsmiths and curator of the Horniman Museum)

 

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Senate House: Publishing Queer / Queer Publishing 11 October 2018

Following the ‘Queer Between the Covers’ season earlier this year, Senate House Library is hosting a one-day conference on October 11th 2018 entitled ‘Publishing Queer / Queer Publishing’.

Papers will be presented exploring queer publishing from the 19th century onward, encompassing canonical authors, fan fiction and artistic interventions.

For a full list of papers, speakers, and how to book see here https://bit.ly/2N4zC9G

Lunch will be provided.

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Apply Now: Birkbeck Institutes Internships – deadline Monday 1st October 2018

Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
and
Birkbeck Institute for Social Research

Generic Skills Training for PhD Students: Two Part-Time Internships

The Birkbeck Institute for Social Research (BISR) and the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities (BIH) are cross-School interdisciplinary research centres that act as a hub for research at Birkbeck and beyond. We are currently recruiting for interns to take part in our 2018/19 paid internship programme. We are looking for two current Birkbeck PhD students from the Schools of Law, Arts and SSHP who will be required to work for approximately 3.5 hours per week during term time, which equates to 30 weeks total over the academic year.

The interns will work both independently and alongside the Manager of the two Institutes and the three Directors to gain experience of working within a professional environment with a variety of academic and professional staff. Their tasks will include:

  • Assisting with the organisation and promotion of events, workshops, and conferences for the Institutes.
  • Organising the Birkbeck Graduate Conference alongside your fellow interns, with the support of the Institute Manager.
  • Event logistics – ensuring the Institutes’ events run smoothly on the day (including meeting and greeting visiting speakers and guests, setting up seminar rooms, assisting with audio visual requirements.
  • Writing for and maintaining the Institute blog, including interview and event posts, and the organisation and editing of guest posts from other students and academics.
  • Website maintenance for both Institutes; maintaining comprehensive online resources and archives of the work that we do.
  • Producing monthly email campaigns and newsletters and using social media platforms to publicise BISR and BIH events.

The internship provides an extensive training programme covering the entire process of disseminating research across multiple platforms, helping students to develop invaluable generic skills that will contribute to their future academic careers.

The deadline to apply is 10am on Monday 1. October 2018.

Prospective candidates are expected to familiarise themselves with the work of both Institutes. For more information, required skills, salary, and details on how to apply, please visit the BIH or BISR websites:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bih/aboutus/bih-bisr-interns

Birkbeck is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all candidates irrespective of their sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief. Birkbeck is a member of the ‘positive about disability’ two ticks scheme and guarantees to interview all candidates who meet the essential criteria for the post.

For enquiries please contact Lou Miller, Birkbeck Institutes Manager (lou.miller@bbk.ac.uk)

Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities
Birkbeck Institute for Social Research

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CFP: BRAKC Research Centre 2018-19: Deadline 30 September 2018

Birkbeck Research in Aesthetics of Kinship and Community (BRAKC) is a research centre based in the School of Arts. We study the artistic representation of human belonging, of the human bond, in literature, film, photography, paintings, and other art forms. How is this bond presented across time and cultures, how is it analysed, deconstructed, reinvented? BRAKC was established ten years ago and since then we have organised many conferences, symposia, seminars, reading groups, exhibitions, interrogating the concepts of “family”, “kinship”, and “community”.

We would like to encourage interested research students in the School of Arts to play a prominent role in the activities of the centre. We invite proposals for research events in 2018-19. Some funding is available if needed for the organisation of these events. Although organisers will not be paid, they will have something to add to their CVs!

Please send proposals of no more than 300 words to Dr Nathalie Wourm, Director of BRAKC, by 30 September 2018. Selected proposals will be announced shortly after that, and the events will be organised in cooperation with BRAKC.

Email: n.wourm@bbk.ac.uk

Website: http://www.brakc.bbk.ac.uk/

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CFP: Annual Tennyson Society Conference, Christ Church, Oxford – Deadline: 12 October 2018

Annual Tennyson Society Conference, Christ Church, Oxford

30-31 March 2019

Keynotes: Professor Michael O’Neill (University of Durham)
Professor Leonée Ormond (King’s College, London)
Professor Seamus Perry (University of Oxford)
Dr Jane Wright ()
Convenor: Dr Michael Sullivan (University of Oxford)
Location: Christ Church, Oxford
Deadline: 12 October 2018

The 2019 Annual Tennyson Society Conference will be hosted at Christ Church, Oxford – the college of Henry Hallam and of William Gladstone, who was instrumental in securing Tennyson’s peerage.
The conference will include keynote lectures by Professor Michael O’Neill (Durham), Professor Leonée Ormond (King’s College, London), Professor Seamus Perry (Oxford), and Dr Jane Wright (Bristol).
Their lectures will be accompanied by three panels of twenty-minute papers on topics relating to any aspect of Tennyson’s works, reception, and literary circle. Those interested in speaking are invited to submit proposals of no more than 300 words, alongside a short biographical statement, to the conference convenor by 12 October 2018 (at michael.sullivan@chch.ox.ac.uk).

Christ Church has a rich literary history, including links to W. H. Auden and to Lewis Carroll, collections of whose manuscripts are kept in the Upper Library. Founded in 1546, the college is home to Oxford’s cathedral and houses a picture gallery, which displays paintings by Filippino Lippi, Tintoretto, Anthony van Dyck, and Frans Hals. On 30 March there will be a workshop in the college’s Upper Library, and a conference dinner in the college Hall. Accommodation in the college will be available for the nights of the Friday and Saturday (29th and 30th March).
We are especially keen to encourage postgraduates and early career academics, and plan to convene a panel for new researchers. All speakers and delegates would be asked to join the Tennyson Society (£14/€20/$40 for personal membership), which includes access to the latest Tennyson research through the Tennyson Research Bulletin, the society’s occasional papers, and digital delivery of its newsletter.

If you would like to receive a notification when registration opens, please let us know at
michael.sullivan@chch.ox.ac.uk.

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