News and Events in British Studies

BRITISH HISTORY UNIVERSITY SEMINAR

Jon Lawrence, "'Class', 'Affluence' and the Politics of Everyday Life in Britain, c. 1930-1964"

November 9, 2009

6-8 pm

411 Fayerweather Hall

Second meeting of the university seminar in British history: Dr. Jon Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Modern British Political History at Cambridge University, will speak on "'Class', 'Affluence' and the Politics of Everyday Life in Britain, c. 1930-1964." Lawrence has written widely on 19th- and 20th-century British politics; his most recent book, Electing our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair, was publishehd by Oxford UP last May. For a radio 4 interview about that book, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/8066305.stm

Guy Ortolano, "The Typicalities of the English"

October 5, 2009

First meeting of the university seminar in British history: Professor Guy Ortolano, from the NYU history department, on "The Typicalities of the English: W.W. Rostow, Modernization Theory, and the Model of English History." Ortolano specializes in twentieth-century intellectual history; his first book, The Two Cultures Controversy: Science, Literature, and Cultural Politics in Postwar Britain, was published by Cambridge UP in February 2009.

Aviva Briefel, "Amputations: The Colonial Hand at the Fin de Siècle"

February 27, 2009

British Studies at Columbia and the Columbia English Department Nineteenth-Century Colloquium present a paper by Aviva Briefel: "Amputations: The Colonial Hand at the Fin de Siècle." Prof. Briefel is Professor of English at Bowdoin College.

Lawrence Goldman, "Rewriting History"

October 29, 2008

Lecture and discussion by Lawrence Goldman: "Rewriting History: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography." Dr. Goldman is Fellow in Modern History at St. Peter's College, Oxford, and has been editor of the DNB since 2004.

Catherine Hall on the Macaulays

March 10, 2008

Catherine Hall, Professor of Social and Cultural History, University College, London, on: "An Empire of God or of Man": The Macaulays, Father and Son

British History Lunch

March 10, 2008

Open discussion about recent developments in British history with Prof. Catherine Hall over sandwiches on March 10, 12 noon to 1:30, in the IRWaG conference room, 754 Schermerhorn Extention.

Boyd Hilton on British History

March 25, 2008

Professor Boyd Hilton, University of Cambridge, on his work over the past decades in the field of British history. Scholars from several fields also participating.

British Studies at Columbia Inaugural Event:
Anti-Slavery as a Narrative for Our Time?

November 29, 2007

Simon Schama, University Professor, and Christopher Leslie Brown, Professor of History, reflect on the intellectual and moral challenges and rewards involved in writing about slavery and abolition in today's world.

In 2006, Simon Schama published Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction in 2007; the books has inspired a film, broadcast on television in the UK, and a play by Caryl Phillips.

In 2006, Christopher Brown published Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism which won the 2007 Frederick Douglass Prize of the Gilder Lehrmann Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, as well as both the Morris Forkosch Prize in British History and the James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History of the American Historical Association.

Click here to download the event poster

Methods and Practices in British Studies across the Disciplines

November 12, 2007

Why do we do what we do? A roundtable discussion of methods and practices in British Studies across the disciplines with Professors Nicholas Dames and Jenny Davidson from the English Department and Professors Emma Winter and Evan Haefeli from the History Department. Followed by a reception to meet graduate students and faculty interested in this field.

British History University Seminar

The British History Seminar brings together faculty and graduate students with an interest in British history at Columbia and other institutions in the greater New York area. The seminar meets monthly to discuss work in progress by a member of the group, a paper by a visiting speaker, or a recent book of interest to the group as a whole. In 2009-10, the seminar co-chairs are Susan Pedersen and Carl Wennerlind. If you would like to receive announcements of forthcoming meetings, please contact the seminar's rapporteur, Toby Harper, at tjh2121@columbia.edu.

Upcoming Meeting:

November 9, 2009: 6-8 pm 411 Fayerweather Hall
Dr. Jon Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Modern British Political History at Cambridge University, will speak on "'Class', 'Affluence' and the Politics of Everyday Life in Britain, c. 1930-1964." Lawrence has written widely on 19th- and 20th-century British politics; his most recent book, Electing our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair, was publishehd by Oxford UP last May. For a radio 4 interview about that book, go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/8066305.stm

Recent Meeting:

October 5, 2009: First meeting of the university seminar in British history: Professor Guy Ortolano, from the NYU history department, on "The Typicalities of the English: W.W. Rostow, Modernization Theory, and the Model of English History." Ortolano specializes in twentieth-century intellectual history; his first book, The Two Cultures Controversy: Science, Literature, and Cultural Politics in Postwar Britain, was published by Cambridge UP in February 2009.

Past Meetings:

Feb. 2, 2009: Mary Poovey, Professor of English at NYU, and Deborah Valenze, Professor of History at Columbia. Discussion of various themes on money explored in their recent respective books, Genres of the Credit Economy and The Social Life of Money in the English Past .

Apr. 3, 2008: Corrie Decker, Assistant Professor, Lehman College, and Aaron Windel, Doctoral Candidate, University of Minnesota, will discuss their current work on "Education and Empire in East Africa." Papers will be pre-circulated: please contact Susan Pedersen if you would like a copy of the paper.

Feb. 7, 2008: A discussion of Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis 1918-57, by Matt Houlbrook.

Dec. 1, 2007: Kathleen Wilson, History Department, SUNY Stony Brook, will present a paper, "Rethinking the Colonial State". Discussant: Christopher L. Brown, History Department, Columbia University.

Nov. 1, 2007: Ellen Ross, History Department, Ramapo College, will present a paper, "The Disgruntled Missionaries: Mary Neal and Emmeline Pethick at the West London Mission, 1888-1895." Discussant: Sharon Marcus, English Department, Columbia University.