BSECS Annual Conference
Last week I took part in some of the sessions of the on-line Annual Conference of the British Society for 18thC Studies, including asking questions of the speakers. For those readers who are not members or did not sign up to take part the sessions were recorded and can be seen on YouTube until 22 January.
My recommendations: Wednesday: Female Minds on the artists Rhoda Delaval of the Northumberland family whose brother became involved in slave plantation development in East Florida, and Angelica Kaufmann; Thursday: Teaching 18thC in the 21stC panel & keynote address re-18thC Indian history; Friday: Books and Libraries and the Aristocracy and Politics sessions. The latter includes a talk on 18th India.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLUpTzsbWL4&list=PLCgYTDUModmKLMXpx7bPsBaCslASyiwjd
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCgYTDUModmKhSQjIWarsZSNIc-8_bP36
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCgYTDUModmLxLub3JhrAxjkqYtn63Cfm
One those taking part in the Teaching panel was Croydon resident Karen Lipsedge, Associate Professor in English Literature at Kingston University, and Senior Adviser for Teaching and Learning (Access, Participation & Inclusion, Students). Her views on teaching about race at the July Advance HE’s Teaching and Learning Conference, can be heard on You Tube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=libC-rwJ8K
BSECS And 18thC Black History, Enslavement & Abolition
My involvement in the BSECS Conference has been reduced in the last couple of years. Because of overload of some normal and potential participants it was not possible to organise panels of talks and round table discussions on black history, enslavement and abolition and links for 2020 Conference. I had to pull out because of jury service. My immune condition problems meant I had to pull out of the 2021 Conference and my two papers had to be read on my behalf. I did not have new material to justify submitting proposal for a talk for this year’s Conference. A participant who is also a reader of my history blog posting has asked me to try and organise panels for 2023’s Conference. I will be starting discussions around ideas for on themes such as (1) The future of 18th Black History in the Black Lives Matters era; (2) Cultural Representations of 18thC Black History, Enslavement and Abolition; (3) Decolonising the 18thC University and Schools Curricula. I might offer a talk on either 18thC Croydon, Merton and Sutton or on the British slave owners in the Floridas 1763-83. I will be posting a discussion on my other blog site later this month. If any readers want to take part in this discussion please let me know at sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com.
I have started discussions with Durham University about doing another set of sessions on 7 and/or 8 February, and on 10 February I will be doing a session on John Archer with the 6th formers at Emmanuel School in Battersea. I hope to incorporate some of the approaches discussed at the BSECS Conference session on teaching.
The Colston Statue Verdict
The culture wars have hotted up given the jury’s not guilty verdict in the Colston statue criminal damage case. The Guardian has given good coverage including two pages on the verdict and its editorial (7 January), and front page lead (continued on page 9) on the Tory reaction (8 January). The Guardian Journal has had comment pieces by David Olusoga, This verdict puts Bristol on the right side of history – at last, and Nesrine Malik’s The Colston Four’s critics are deluded to think Britain owes no apology for its past (7 & 10 January). I do wonder whether the Tories objected to the ‘criminal damage’ involved when statues were torn down in the Soviet Union and Iraq.
Thursday 13 January. 7pm (US Eastern time). Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England
On line talk by Dr. Jared Hardesty about his book.
Mapping the Holocaust – 1 February .6.30pm
Online talk by Professor Tim Cole, University of Bristol
www.history.ac.uk/events/mapping-the-holocaust
Miscellaneous History Items
My blogs are partly dependent on information sent to me by readers. I have just received the link to the British Library’s page on the African Abbott in Anglo-Saxon England from 2016.
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/10/an-african-abbot-in-anglo-saxon-england.html
The historical importance of Croydon continues to find new researchers and authors. C.J. Schüler, author of The Wood That Built London: A Human History of the Great North Wood (Sandstone Press) discusses the Wood on the History News Network website of George Washington University.
The artist Lubaina Himid (born Zanzibar, 1954)who uses black history as an inspiration is beginning to get the recognition she deserves.
www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/himid-between-the-two-my-heart-is-balanced-t06947
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00132xf
The Daring To Hope – A personal History Of The Politics Of The 1970s talk by historian Shelia Rowbotham for the Socialist History Society last Saturday can now be seen on You Tube.
Black Cultural Archives has re-opened on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
In addition to teaching Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Charles Villiers Stamford left a larger legacy of influence.
www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/126656/stanford-was-masterful-in-the-way-he-wrote-for-orchestra
Black History Wallchart
https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/products/135855
Kandace Chimbiri
Kandace is a black history author for children: The Story of Afro-Hair and The Story of the Windrush.
https://resource-bank.scholastic.co.uk/resources/447340
https://content.yudu.com/web/1mjdv/0A1mjdx/BFK233/html/index.html
www.georgietalks.co.uk/kandace-chimbiri
She also comments on African artfects in museums.
https://ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/3/20/109
Her website is:
https://www.goldendestiny.co.uk/index.php
She also works with schools.
www.virtualschoolvisits.com/speakers/kandace-chimbiri
Reading
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