Department Newsletter - Archive

Hello everyone

A day early I know, but in the hope of having a day of annual leave tomorrow, the department newsletter drops now!

This is the last newsletter of the academic year and what a year it’s been: Unprecedented, Unique, Unusual, Unbelievable – chose your U…

It’s certainly been quite a ride and one which, when I became HoD last year, I certainly didn’t expect to be on. Whether you are an academic colleague, an undergraduate or a MA or PhD student, this week, the last of term, marks a line in the sand and an appropriate moment to pause, catch our breath before beginning to reboot and prepare for what comes next.

Today saw the first ever alternative graduation for our finalists. It was not what was planned ( and next year there will be the traditional ceremony), but for now it marked an opportunity for me to express my pride and that of all academic staff, in our students, and what they have achieved in spite of everything. Such was my passion and enthusiasm that I managed to literally smash my champagne glass! It is perhaps, an apt metaphor for 2020. My graduation speech was followed by a ‘Who am I’ quiz run expertly by Dr Selena Daly and Dr Amy Tooth Murphy, the ‘Ant and Dec’ of the department. Who knew that among our academic staff we have someone who auditioned to be the milky bar kid; who is learning to roller skate during lockdown; who played rugby against Prince Edward and who used to work for a fashion magazine?? Answers at the end of the newsletter, you better keep reading….

A number of colleagues contributed to this video especially made for our graduates, its available on YouTube so do have a watch! 

Besides graduation celebrations, the department has remained a busy place with lots of other successes to acknowledge. Rebecca Swartz (who got her PhD with us in 2015) and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of the Free State, has won the 2019 Grace Abbott Book prize from the Society for the History of Childhood and Youth for the book of her thesis called Education and Empire: Children, Race and Humanitarianism in the British Settler Colonies, 1833-1880 (Palgrave). Two of Professor Francis Robinson’s students also deserve congratulations. Dr Neha Vermani has won a postdoctoral research fellowship on the Folger Institute's new programme 'From Farm to Table: early modern food cultures' and Dr Sudipto Mitra has got the Peter Marshall JRF at the IHR.

In other news, the latest Historians for History post features one of our MA Public History students, Daisha Brabham, who draws on some quite personal memories to reflect on the relationship between Black history and public history. Click to view this fascinating post.

And one of our PhD students, Jess Thorne, also has a blog post published this week, her article on the lessons we can draw from historical moments of international solidarity in the face of rising nationalism, can be read on the verso blog. 

Professor Kate Cooper has been busy throughout the pandemic working with History UK on the Pandemic Pedagogy handbook, which captures some of the good practice in online teaching both at RHUL and across the sector in the context of Covid-19. 'The Pandemic Pedagogy Handbook' has just been published and can be found here. Professor Cooper’s work is a really good example of how, as well as being active historical researchers, academic colleagues are also committed teachers and passionate about sharing and learning new ways of engaging students.

You may think the only events coming up are BBQs and socially distant garden parties, but, rest assured, there is much else to keep you busy.  One of our postdocs, Dr Victoria Leonard has organised the first #WCCWiki Colloquium, hosted by the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. It will take place online, 29 July 2020, 10-3.15pm (GMT). #WCCWiki is an initiative that aims to improve the representation of women classicists (very broadly conceived) on Wikipedia. The event intends to bring the community together, and to reach out to those interested in learning more about women classicists online and why that’s important. The event is free, and open to all. It includes five pre-recorded talks followed by live discussion, and a technical how-to? with Wikipedia discussion. Please register via https://ics.sas.ac.uk/events/event/22700, and search on Twitter for #WCCWiki2020. It would be marvellous if people within the History department (everyone!) would like to participate in the event. You can find out more about Wikipedia and editing, about gender bias online, about women's history and digital archives, about targeted activism and working with stakeholder organisations, and about how to run successful public engagement initiatives on inspiration alone.

18 July marks the beginning of the UK’s first South Asia Heritage Month @SAHM_UK. This year for obvious reasons it’s online and on 17 August Professor Sarah Ansari will be doing a couple of online talks). Details here (https://www.newasianpost.com/south-asian-heritage-month-goes-online-18th-jul-17th-aug-2020/ 

As a trustee of the IHR, I wanted to draw your attention to an upcoming event on Wednesday 29^th July at 5pm. Its free to attend online but you should book your place here https://www.history.ac.uk/events/hr-lecture-2020 The event called ‘writing histories of 2020: responses and perspectives’ will consider how future historians might write the history of 2020 and how today’s historians and record keepers should prepare the ground for this task. Four leading modern historians will share their thoughts: Professor Claire Langham, Professor of modern British History and Trustee of Mass Observation Archive, Sussex University; Professor Kevin Siena (Trent University Ontario, a historian of early modern disease and contagion); Professor Richard Vinen (KCL and a specialist in contemporary history) and Professor Jo Fox, Director of the IHR.

It wouldn’t be a newsletter without a spot of baking, and this week’s star baker is Dr Rob Priest. He has been on quite a baking journey during lockdown, and from that pasty white first attempt (as featured in an earlier edition) he has now excelled with this very professional looking loaf.

Well done Dr Priest. This year has been one of great achievement for you too!!

And finally, to our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of one of my PhD students, Rebecca Rideal:

“The short answer to the question is that I don’t really know why I do what I do. More than that, I don’t even really know what it is that I ‘do’ anymore. Twenty years ago, my answer would have been simple. I was doing my GSCEs so that I’d get good enough grades to be accepted on my preferred A level courses and then get into a good university. I would be the first of my family to do so. Ten years ago, my answer would have been that I was a TV researcher/producer, because I wanted to make important documentaries that would change the way people thought about science and history.

Now, what? Back in 2011, after several years working in television, I decided to return to academia and enrolled at UCL to study for a history MA part time. I’m still not sure why I did this, but it was a revelation. I loved reconnecting with my interest in the Restoration period and was lucky enough to be taught by Professor Jason Peacey, whose passion for the seventeenth century was infectious. I’d never intended to do a PhD, but following the MA I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I wanted to look at the way people used space in London during the 1660s when it was undergoing so much change. I wanted to have a reason to visit archives. I wanted to find things out and contribute to a new understanding of the period. I wanted to be a historian.

Yet instead of doing things ‘properly’ I wrote a trade history book first (1666: Plague, War and Hellfire) and began to develop an interest in public history. After a couple of years of stopping and starting at UCL, I finally spoke to Professor Justin Champion who was wonderfully encouraging and agreed to take me on as a PhD student at Royal Holloway. I was made up. Justin was (I hate to use the past tense) a giant when it came to my area of interest. His ground-breaking work into the Great Plague has shaped my thinking immeasurably. He is the reason I am studying at Royal Holloway today, and he is the reason my research focuses so much on the plague and the use of satire during the period.    

Alongside my PhD, I am also writing another trade book about the Stuart dynasty, run a podcast series looking at the darker aspects of history (Killing Time), work with heritage sites, and am the director of the history festival, HistFest. I’m not entirely sure why I do any of these things to be honest and what they make me. A historian? A student? A writer? A podcaster? A consultant? An event organiser? Whatever I am, I enjoy doing it more than anything else I have ever done in my life and I think that has to be as good a reason as any.”

Thanks to Rebecca for a really interesting read which demonstrates the very varied life of a historian!

And finally, finally, those ‘who am I’ answers. I am an identical twin (!!); Professor Andrew Jotischky played rugby against Prince Edward; Dr Alex Windscheffel auditioned to be the milky bar kid and Professor Kate Cooper is learning to roller-skate!

Ok folks that’s it for this week and indeed, this academic year. I will be back in September and the first newsletter of the new year will drop on Friday 4^th September. Do please keep sending in news in the meantime and I will be sure to include it in the first edition.

Most importantly, whether you are a member of academic staff, an undergrad, postgrad, post doc or visiting tutor, thank you for all you have contributed to the department this year. We have, I believe, together created a community which is very much more than the sum of its parts: a group of like-minded individuals who share ideas, enthusiasms and knowledge, who care about what they do and each other, who will be there in a crisis (box ticked!) and, if all else fails, will bake!  If the last few months has shown anything, it’s that our department doesn’t need a physical building to be alive, energetic, supportive and vibrant: History @ RHUL is a community of people who will always, whatever, however, stay connected.

Stay safe see you on the other side.  

Anna

Hello all

If only it were a normal year. If so, I would be preparing to don my gown and beret and, with great pride, lead our final year students to the graduation ceremony next week and present each of them to the Principal to receive their degree certificate. Alas that day will have to wait, and instead we will enjoy some alternative celebrations. Results will be released on Tuesday and then Thursday will be the focus of department activity with a HoDs address to finalists and their parents, and then a quiz for those who would like to join.  If you are a finalist and haven’t yet signed up, please do so. There will also be a video released by the college with messages from staff, students and the Principal. Do also have a look at the college’s Graduate Package which offers significant postgraduate study discounts and outlines the support online that the Careers Service. I am sure I can speak for the entire department in offering huge congratulations to this year’s graduates who have triumphed in the most incredible circumstances. Each and every one of them, has my utmost respect and good wishes for the future.

Although the academic year is drawing to an end, students and staff remain active and busy in a range of different ways. One of our second-year students – Fahmida Begum – has published a post about skin whitening treatments and their links to the colonial past on Dr Emily Manktelow’s student-led blog. It’s very timely and important, so do have a read

Fahmida’s post is a really good example of how things we learn about in our studies, can then inspire us to do more, either in writing like Fahmida, or with more direct action as in the case of Olivia Kew one of our third years . Having recently finished her dissertation about the victims and survivors of the AIDS crisis under Dr Amy Tooth Murphy’s supervision, Olivia decided she wanted to do something for the HIV+ community and especially the Terrence Higgins Trust who support them. She has therefore signed up for the Brighton Half-Marathon in February to raise money for the Trust. If you would like to support Olivia’s efforts, do follow the link here - uk.virginmoneygiving.com/OliviaKew

In other news, Professor Humayan Ansari yesterday gave a Zoom lecture on his current research concerning Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali (a South Asian revolutionary Pan-Islamist) and his cosmopolitan politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, to a cohort of c. 150 top ranking civil servants at The National School of Public Policy (relayed to its, Islamabad, Quetta, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar campuses).

And I have, as ever, been talking royals. This time on BBC Radio Surrey early this morning reflecting on the royals and their activities in the midst of the pandemic; on a Channel 5 programme on Saturday about Fergie and Andrew, and about George V for a programme which will be screened later in the summer.

The death of Professor Justin Champion is continuing to be covered in the media with many tributes being shared following his funeral on Monday. This obituary appears in this week’s Times Higher 

Its been a quiet week on the baking front, but jam making has continued aplenty. Following a day of berry picking in her garden on Sunday, Dr Amy Tooth Murphy produced 5 jars of black currant and 3 jars of cherry jam.

Last week I wondered whether Cherry Jam was widely available in shops as I had never seen it (although, to be fair, I am not sure I had ever looked). First year Laura Deacon helpfully enlightened me, and reported Cherry Jam is certainly available with the best one, albeit a bit pricey, on sale in Waitrose. She recommends it on breakfast crumpets! Now there’s an idea for the weekend. Talking of food recommendations, I saw on twitter yesterday Nutella on Malt Loaf?! Any fans of that? I think it sounds rather unappealing as does, another recommendation; peanut butter on malt loaf. Apparently that’s excellent for runners (take note Olivia). I think I’ll stick to marmite omelettes after my long runs.

Ok, that’s about it. Next week will be the last department newsletter until the beginning of September when it will return, never fear! 

Finally to our regular feature, ‘Why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of one of our first year’s, Emily Collins:

"Honestly, I don’t think I have ever asked myself this question before and it has set me on a path of self-reflection. History has always been a huge part of my life. As a child I was involved in one of the worst and deadliest atrocities of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and was present in town, with my sister, as the Omagh Bomb exploded. It is my earliest memory. Undoubtedly, this event has a significant impact on me and has shaped me into the person I am today. The trauma of the event led me to become an incredibly empathic person. As a child I struggled with it, becoming easily overwhelmed and being unable to separate emotions from ‘facts’ – this was especially apparent when I read history. I used be become incredibly upset when I read about how many people died or were injured in historical events – when I was 10 years old and learned about the Irish famine I struggled so much that I would burst into tears when I got home and tell my parents how much I hated history. My father, an historian, did not agree with me. My dad has been studying the holocaust for over 40 years and has inspired my journey with history. It was my dad  who helped me understand how history puts things into perspective – and he took away my ‘fear of the unknown’ by teaching me how history often repeats itself. As a child, I was surrounded by my dad’s reading materials and the documentaries that he would be watching. I was always intrigued by German history, though, I always knew that I would struggle to read the books that my dad did. Through my dad I met some incredible people and made wonderful connections. He was a friend of Sir Martin Gilbert, though I didn’t find out until after I had read his books – it was as though my dad was friends with a Rockstar! He also worked closely with the Anne Frank Educational Trust of Ireland – bringing the exhibition to Northern Ireland twice. Throughout my life I’ve had some amazing opportunities to meet truly incredible people, one of whom was Helen Lewis, a holocaust survivor who penned ‘A Time to Speak’ – a beautifully written memoire that became my introduction to Holocaust studies.

These studies stayed with me throughout my secondary education. As a ‘nerd’, my time was split between reading or practising music. As I came to the end of my school years I was told to choose – academics or music. I chose music. I was to become a cliched struggling musician living in the big smoke! However, after my first year of music studies at University I realised how much I missed academics. Upon completing the year, I decided to not continue the course and instead took a few gaps years to try and decide what I wanted to do. I worked and I travelled. In February 2017, I travelled to Hamburg as I had been booked for some gigs. Whilst there I visited some museums and my love for history was reignited. As soon as I returned to London, I decided to apply to study History. After making this decision I started reading again, easing myself back into studying – it was difficult to do this as I was juggling 3 jobs but I managed it! The more I read the more I realised my desire to combine my passions of music and history to discover my own voice. I realised that I wanted to explore the relationship between music and the nationalist movement in Germany. When listening to the speeches of Hitler I could hear the influence of Wagner’s music. I wanted the opportunity to explore this and understand the place of music in Nazi Germany.

I spent the first year of my History degree studying at UCL. I understood my fortune of being able to studying at a ‘Top 10’ university. However, it became apparent that my passions were not to be encouraged as to excel I had to change my writing style and I would be unable to pursue ‘strange’ or different ways of approaching history. My dream of combining history and music seemed further out of reach. As I was approaching the end of my first year, I had a sponsored advert on my phone that advertised a ‘Music and History’ degree at Royal Holloway – not only that, but it was also home to the leading Holocaust Research Institute in the UK – the dream!! I applied for a transfer and started studying at Royal Holloway in September 2019. It’s been an incredible journey so far and I’m thankfully to be surrounded by such amazing people in such a nurturing and understanding environment. I’ve been able to study the music of Wagner through the music department and have taken some incredible modules in the history department. My dream is to continue my music and holocaust studies – especially after visiting Neuengamme in North Germany. It was here that I was introduced to people such as Hans Peter Viau, a musician who was imprisoned in the concentration camp due to his love of jazz music and his participation in the Swing Youth Movement. I feel an affinity with these people, people who feel so passionately and speak through their music.

I feel like I’ve gone off on a tangent – I guess this question has been more challenging than I realised! History is such a significant part of who I am and has really helped me process a lot of my own life as well as aiding my understanding of mankind. We are capable of incredibly evil things but we're also capable of creating incredibly beautiful things. History is everything. I guess a shorter answer to the initial question would be: I do what I do because I love what I do. "

Thanks Emily for that really interesting and thoughtful response.

Ok that’s it, have a good Friday and a nice weekend when you get there. There may be sunshine!

Take care

Anna

Hello all

I hope you have had a good week; it has been rather a mixed one of sunshine and showers and not quite the blazing summer sun we all deserve. Hopefully that might return again soon. That said, a number of members of the department have been outside foraging, and harvesting, more on that shortly!

But first to other matters. Public engagement is, of course, at the heart of our department’s identity, and this week is clear evidence of that. Dilara Scholz, a second year PhD student has been quoted in the New York Times in a fun article about the social media subculture 'Dark Academia'. It’s a great read  And Dr Chi-Kwan Mark’s recent piece in the online magazine Conversation on the very topical issue of  Hong Kong and the UK has been read 39,000  times in the last month! You can have a read here Hong Kong: does British offer of citizenship to Hongkongers violate Thatcher's deal with China? 

And also on public engagement, I have been doing some more royal filming (at home, self-directed!) while Professor Jonathan Phillips has had the luxury of filming in an actual studio (albeit socially distanced of course) for an interview on Saladin and Richard the Lionheart as part of a CNN documentary on the city of Jerusalem.

Professor Phillips has also been busy with talks about Nur al-Din and Jihad, to Peter Symonds College, Winchester. Dr Danielle Park, formerly a PhD student in the department and this year one of our Visiting Tutors, also gave a talk about Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, and next week, Professor Andrew Jotischky will complete the series with a session on the Military Orders.

And finally on public engagement and indeed public policy, Dr Akil Awan has given a briefing on his research to the US State department and to counter-terrorism policymakers and practitioners from the FBI, NSA, Dept. of Defense, Justice Dept., Treasury, NCTC and other parts of the broader intelligence community. Counterterrorism officials from the Australian, British, Canadian and French embassies in Washington were also in attendance. Dr Awan's briefing focussed on how violent extremist groups, from Far-right groups to Jihadists like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, have successfully constructed both tendentious historical narratives and polarising identities, both of which have become central not only to their sanctioning of violence and terror, but to their very existence. This is clearly really important work and shows how research done in the department can have a real world impact.

In other news, I am delighted to say that Steven Franklin passed his viva yesterday afternoon with a thesis focused on the 20th century history, memory and commemoration of Magna Carta . Steven was Professor Justin Champion's last doctoral student and so Steven’s achievement is particularly poignant. Very well done to him.

And so to Lockdown Life and it’s been busy and colourful week. First to the baking. Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has produced what she describes, as a fairly traditional loaf. It’s 1/3 wholemeal, 1/3 spelt, 1/3 white. Fairly traditional maybe, rather professional definitely!

However, this week, our Star Baker is Dr Rob Priest who after his rather pale (by his own admission) loaf a few weeks ago, had produced these whole-wheat honey loaves. They look delicious although the key question is of course, can you put marmite on honey bread?!

Whilst perhaps being pipped to the Star Baker crown this week, Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has excelled with this Rhubarb Cordial which, on further enquiry, is delicious with gin! Given the half empty bottle, it looks like it really was very delicious!

Dr Tooth Murphy also had her first fruit harvest and what a harvest:, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, jostaberries. I have to admit I had to google ‘jostaberries’, it turns out they are a cross between a gooseberry and a blackcurrant.

Meanwhile, Dr Emily Manktelow has also been harvesting this week and can be very proud of her homegrown vegetable crop. I particularly like the curvy marrow!

Dr Cat Cooper found more ‘inventive’ ways to source a crop and  ‘scrumped’ (I love that word!) a load of wild cherries for jam. I’m not sure I have ever had cherry jam (indeed can you even buy it?!)

And check out what Maison de Jotischky produced this week - Palestinian maqluba, which for those who don’t know (ie me), is chicken poached in stock/wine with aubergine, roasted tomatoes, pine nuts.  However before we all look at Professor Jotischky with even greater respect, this is the work of his grown up son Christopher!

And finally on the cooking front, it looks like we are sorted for our next department gathering. Dr Akil Awan has built a wood fire oven and is now producing pizza and naan breads which he says are both ‘really tasty and surprisingly easy’. Lets hope he is still saying that when he’s fed all of us!

And so to our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’, and this week it’s the turn of Dr Daniel Beer:

“ My only formal qualification in History is a GCSE. I have a background in languages and literature and came to the study of Russian history through the works of great Russian writers such as Lev Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’ve always been interested in questions of crime and punishment and how they reflect and shape political culture. So my work on theories of social and moral disorder, the spread of crime and terrorism and regimes of punishment from executions to exile has grappled from different angles with a central question: how do ideas about the law, rights and sovereignty develop in Imperial Russia?

The nineteenth century is a fascinating period because it’s a time when the structures and values of the old regime are beginning to crumble and there’s a fiercely fought contest over what should replace them. The shape of the modern world was very much up for grabs and that sense of limitless possibility is one that I’ve always found very compelling. Besides, it’s not difficult to discern a foreshadowing of our own unsettling present in a world in which the pace of change is causing massive disruption and dislocation.

My Further Subject, “The Russian Empire in the Age of Reform and Revolution”, and my Special Subject, “Europe, 1900: Cultures of Conflict and the Shock of the New”, both emerge out of my own research interests. They allow me to explore with students the questions and arguments that first drew me to the study of Russian and European history and that have kept me hooked on it ever since.”

Ok that’s about it folks. However before I go, I am delighted to say we’ve had a baby !! Well, kind of. Our second year student Lucy Stevens and her partner Ciaran, are proud parents of Alex, born on the 14 June. This is wonderful news and congratulations to Lucy and Ciaran.

Ok that really is it, have a good Friday and nice weekend when you get there. If you are planning to head out to a pub or restaurant, do please take care. The virus is still around and, I can say with experience, it’s not something anyone would want to get. Please stay safe

Anna

Hello all

A few days of scorching weather signals the end of exams and marking and the start of, for some I hope, a few lazy days of well-earned rest. Even though the Lockdown is now easing, summer looks set to be a strange one and all of us will no doubt have one eye on the news about the ‘R number’ and how this might impact on our return to normal or ‘new normal’ for the next academic year. Fingers crossed there will be no second wave, and we can now prepare to return to campus in the autumn, albeit with all necessary social distancing and other necessary safety steps taken. The college/Principal has been regularly sending out updates on the preparations being made,  and these emails will continue in advance of the new term. Please rest assured that teaching will resume in any event with every effort made to ensure that, as far as possible, this will be on campus but if not, provision will be provided online. More details to follow from me and the college nearer the time.

Our finalists will have this week received notification of ‘alternative graduation ‘plans within the college and department. Whilst this is no substitute for the ‘real thing’ (which will take place, virus permitting, next year), it is an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge what they have achieved in extraordinary circumstances, and to mark the end of their undergraduate studies. I do hope that 3^rd years will be keen to participate on the day. I will be making a “HoDs address” and other colleagues will also be invited to say a few words. There will then be a department quiz. Sign up for celebrations here, and we’ll be in touch in early July with more details about how to join.

The college is also producing a celebration video and would love it if you could upload a video or photo of yourself. Copies will be sent to students on the 17^th July. 

This week, there’s been lots of writing going on, or at least publication of writing done. Dr Stefan Bauer’s article, ‘The forgotten father of Church history’ was published in The Tablet. 

Dr Daniel Beer’s reviewed Gregory Afinogenov’s ‘Spies and Scholars: Chinese secrets and imperial Russia’s quest for world power’ in an article for the TLS which explores Russia as a global player.

And Dr Emily Manktelow has written again on the Black Lives Matter Movement exploring ‘knee-jerk institutional reactions to the BLM movement that do more harm than good. It’s an important read.

On that theme, academic colleagues met this week to discuss our undergraduate curriculum. We discussed ongoing efforts to diversify reading lists; agreed to set up a working group from September (incl. both staff and students) on decolonising the curriculum with an agenda to  review module choice structures for 2021-22 and review the terminology used to discuss these issues. We all agreed that the key thing was to take time to 'reflect and review' so as to ensure that any actions taken are well thought-through and sustainable. 

A number of us recorded webinars with the Historical Association this week which will be used on their National Teachers Day. This is another expression of the department’s partnership with the HA which we have established. Its great PR for the department to link with schools and raise our profile and usefulness! In other news, I also popped up on Channel 5’s King George VI: The Accidental King on Sunday night.

Things have been a little quiet on the baking front this week, although Dr Madigan has promises that much anticipated first loaf of bread! Meanwhile, Dr Emily Manktelow gets the gold star this week not just for cooking but for actually growing her own dinner! Fried courgette salad which looks delicious.

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has taken a break from cooking and besides being a star baker, is also a a keen weightlifter! There is no end to her talent! Here’s some interesting reflections from her on exercise during Lockdown:

“While bars and restaurants will re-open on 4^th July, the UK’s gyms will not be joining them. Instead, the only solid reps you’ll be getting in will be raising that longed-for pint to your lips. We may be a pub-loving nation, but we’re also a gym-loving nation, with around 10 million of us having gym memberships, and many more being casual users. In fact, throughout Europe, only Germany has more fitness club members. The fitness industry is worth around £4.8 billion per year in the UK.

I’m a keen weightlifter and therefore a part of that gym-going public. Like the other 9,999,999 members I said a sad farewell to the gym back in March (and to my much-loved masochistic boot camp in my local playing field). Back in January I had set myself a number of weight-training targets, including some fairly hefty one rep maxes on the bench. Sadly, since lockdown these targets have had to go the way of professional haircuts, the availability of flour, and knowing what day it is. I was determined to stay active during lockdown and so I turned my attentions to running. It turns out I’m far from the only one. According to data gathered by Garmin via fitness devices, outdoor running has been one of the UK’s favourite sports over the last few months. On April 14^th there were around 50% more outdoor runs recorded in the UK than there were on March 9^th.

I have never considered myself ‘a runner’, although I have been running sporadically, intermittently, and here and there ever since I signed up for a Race for Life 5k in around 2006. Since then I have pootled along, never going much beyond 5k, and at a fairly pedestrian rate. But I am not ‘a runner’. I am not built for endurance. But then again nor am I built for speed. Basically, I am built for squats. But needs must. And when else would I have the time at home and the empty roads to have a go at improving my running? So, for the past 12 weeks I have been diligently doing sprint intervals and progression runs, working towards the second-most popular race distance (after the half marathon), the 10k.

I set myself a goal of completing a 10k before my 39^th birthday in July. And this morning I did it! I ran 10k! And I did it ahead of the time I had projected for myself, coming in at a perfectly creditable 59 minutes and 6 seconds. That may not seem like anything spectacular for the marathon runners or triathletes among you. But I remind you: I am not a runner. (Why I decided to do it on the hottest day of the year is anybody’s guess. But see my earlier point re masochism). Despite not being a runner, I am now weighing up whether a half marathon might be a reasonable target.

Unlike my first 5k, there were no crowds, no finish line to power triumphantly through, no goodie-bag with branded rubber bracelets that no one is ever going to wear. Instead I had a shower and went back to my desk. But the sense of achievement is there. And in part that sense of achievement comes from knowing that running and staying active in general has given me targets and a sense of purpose during the messy haze of the last few months. Amy: 1, Pandemic: … well, still all the points, obviously. It’s a pandemic. But I’ll take a win where I can get one.

It took a pandemic to get me to a 10k, after 14 years of running a comfortable distance at a comfortable pace. I’m still not sure I’m ‘a runner’. I’m still pining for the free weights and I hear the squat rack calling. But running the roads and paths near my home has been nurturing and, at times, meditative. On my runs I’ve also witnessed first-hand the peaks and troughs of lockdown. In those initial weeks I could run for miles without seeing a single car. As things slowly eased, I found myself irritated by traffic on ‘my roads’. Now, with the psychology of the nation primed for the 4^th and the mass re-opening, I’m finding I have to turn up my music to drown out the cars. Life, it seems, is set to return to some kind of normal. Meanwhile, the gym is still closed, and the weights are getting dusty. But boot camp re-starts on Sunday…

I wondered what other #fitnessgoals, achieved or intended, the rest of our department community have set themselves, or if lockdown has led you to a new-found fitness love. Let us know!

And of course, as Historians, we need evidence, and so here’s proof of Amy’s achievement!

And finally, our regular feature, ‘Why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of PHD student Georgios Argiantopoulos. Here’s his answer to that most pressing question

“After completing a BΑ in history and archaeology and an MA  in Black sea and Eastern Mediterranean studies, at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at International Hellenic University of Thessaloniki respectively, I was awarded the 25th anniversary scholarship on Greek diaspora studies, to pursue a PhD at Royal Holloway. On September 2019 I moved to the UK, where I am discovering a top-level University and a very welcoming college, which provides great research, studying and teaching experience. I really admire, embrace and get motivated by the cooperative spirit of everyone in the college, from Professors to administrative staff and students. Putting aside any kind of discrimination the college has become a wide multicultural community, where you can live, study, work and excel and I am grateful for that.

My research explores themes around socioeconomic and cultural changes that occurred inside the Greek and Greek-Cypriot diasporic communities in several cities and towns in Egypt, after the establishment of the British rule in 1882. I am looking at archival material including institutional, public and ego-historical documents of Key figures of the time. The variety of nationalities and peoples is what makes in my opinion this research distinguishable, in combination with the fascinating British imperial-colonial history and the cosmopolitanism of the late 19th century Eastern Mediterranean. The indissoluble bonds and the mutual support between the Greek and Cypriot nation states and their diasporic communities, along with the investigation of similar to current situations events,  gives a topical and essential character in this history dissertation.  Currently I am preparing a paper in title: "The 1882 British bombardment of Alexandria and the foreign communities' response. Reconstruction and Philanthropy" for a workshop in Cairo called:Diasporas, charity and the construction of belonging: a connected history of practices of ‘goodwill’ in Egypt during the imperial age (19th–20th centuries)”

Thanks to Georgios, his research sounds fascinating.

Ok that’s it folks. Have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there. Remember to get those trainers on! Looking forward to hearing about your successes

Anna

Hello everyone

I hope your week has gone ok and you have enjoyed a little of the sunshine. My colleagues, your tutors, have been very busy in the final phase of marking of the alternative assessments and yesterday enjoyed hearing research presentations from shortlisted candidates for a new lectureship post in early modern interdisciplinary studies which we will be sharing with the English department. I am delighted to say that we have offered the job to Dr Alison Knight, currently an ECR Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Cambridge, and she has accepted. This appointment marks exciting new developments around interdisciplinarity within the School. It was great to see how many applications we got for this position; how many people want to come and join our department and who are attracted by our teaching profile, research strengths, the quality of our students and the work we do around public engagement. We are, I believe, a department that wants to engage with important issues in the wider world and ask ourselves difficult questions about how we need to ‘step up’, speak out and, when necessary, do things differently.

The campaign around Black Lives Matter is one such example. This has, quite rightly, dominated the news, public discourse and now the agenda of all those in education. As a department, we are determined to respond to this properly, with humility, careful reflection and authenticity. It is really important that both our department community, and our courses, reflect diversity and, of course, equality. Dr Selena Daly will lead our discussions on this for the rest of the academic year before Dr Shahmima Akhtar our new lecturer in the study of Ethnic Minority Britain study joins us in September. Shahmima is currently Past & Present Fellow: Race, Ethnicity & Equality in History  and works with the Royal Historical Society and the Institute for Historical Research to embed the aims of the RHS Race, Ethnicity & Equality Report in UK Higher Education History.  She will bring important experience and expertise to build on our work in this area which will be a key priority for next academic year. That said, we are determined to start this revaluation of our curriculum now, and academic staff will be having a meeting next week to consider our efforts to date to decolonise the curriculum and to plan our next steps. I know this issue is important to all our students and I welcome your thoughts on how we might take things forward and there will be an opportunity for wider department discussion in due course.

We are, of course, already doing a lot and have been for some time. Professor Justin Champion our former colleague who so sadly died last week has been a trailblazer in this area and in calling for Black Lives to Matter in education. He spoke in Black History Month three years ago.

Professor Humayan Ansari has been doing teach -ins via Zoom this week on the subject of  ‘Victorian Muslims. One was for ‘Everyday Muslim’, the excellent organisation that collects and curates British Muslim histories and archives and the other with Oxford University students (its Islamic Society).  Dr Victoria Leonard one of our postdocs, who co-organises #WCCWiki, which helps to improve the representation of women in classics (v. broadly conceived, and extends to all sorts of women including historians, archaeologists, theorists, philosophers, etc.) on Wikipedia, is having a targeted push to improve the representation of black women on Wikipedia on 22 June. Do have a look here about how you can get involved. .

And Dr Emily Manktelow has written about the specific issue of statues and their role in history in this week’s Prospect Magazine. It’s an important piece and is a great example of members of our department engage in wider public debate. Do have a read here 

Dr Selena Daly has also been bringing her expertise to pressing contemporary issues, with an interview for Royal Museums Greenwich conducted as part of Refugee week. She talked to Kurdish artist Shosh Saleh about refugee journeys across the Mediterranean and how art can respond to migration. The interview is available along with some other resources.

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy will be tackling the important issue of LGBTQ histories in an event co-organised with Dr Prue Bussey-chamberlain the School Director of Student Experience. It is  online, naturally, and will take place on 25^th June 11am-1pm. Dr Vicky Iglikowski-Broad (specialist in diverse histories at the National Archives and RHUL alumna) will be giving a talk on The National Archive’s Collection, with a special emphasis on LGBTQ+ Material. After the event, all historians (and other Humanities students) will have an opportunity to respond to the material, with the National Archives publishing a few of the selected submissions on their website. Please sign up if you’re keen to get involved. 

Dr Stella Moss is also keen for participants for a new project in the department co-organised with the History Society to create a Corona Archive of YOUR primary sources to be deposited for long-term use by historians in the College Archives. We'll be asking for your diaries, reflections, videos and audios of lockdown life and more. Student volunteers are working right now on the aims and design of the project and we'll will be in touch over the next few days with more information on how YOU can contribute. Watch this space! For further information contact Dr Stella Moss Stella.Moss@rhul.ac.uk

Reflecting on the ‘new reality’ of the coronavirus, I was on Sky News this week talking about a very different Trooping the Colour this year with the queen in Lockdown at Windsor Castle. Perhaps she like many of us, is using Lockdown to do lots of baking! Certainly our Bake Off continues. I did try to engage with the theme of Spain this week by making a ‘Spanish Chicken’ dish which basically was Chicken with paprika and Olives?!, others have continued their bread making and Dr Amy Tooth Murphy went all northern European and made this  100% rye sourdough. Impressive as ever.

Equally impressive was this first attempt at a loaf from Dr Rob Priest. He said it tasted better than it looked but I think its looks excellent. 

And Dr Cat Cooper continues to showcase her culinary acumen with this marmalade Babka. Definitely something we all need to try when we are finally reunited!

And so to our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of Anna Brown one of our first year undergraduates.

“Deciding to study history at university wasn’t always my plan. I studied English Lit for a year before realising it wasn’t for me. Instead, I kept being drawn to history, and I’m so glad I ended up here. One of the wonderful aspects of history is that it touches on everything: every single subject, hobby, area of interest, and part of the world has a history, so I feel that by focusing on this subject, I don’t have to exclude others. In addition, the more I learn, the more I realise how worthwhile studying history is, and this is especially apparent to me in these times, when there seems to be a greater awareness of how deeply unjust society can be. While the current world situation can seem overwhelming— with issues such as human rights abuses, climate change, not to mention the pandemic— I find that learning history helps me feel less helpless. I particularly love social history, to learn about ordinary people, as every single person from the past had a life as rich and complex as ours. The challenges they faced can be related to ours, especially in modern and contemporary history. To me, this brings empathy as well as understanding. Through these connections we realise that our present is deeply influenced by the past. Though we cannot change the past, and may only have a limited window into it, we have a say in how things play out now and in the future. Any action we take, however small, even if it is just listening, learning and sharing what we know with others, continues the conversation, and could lead to positive changes. If we can make any difference at all, it’s worth doing. The deeper our understanding of any issue, the more we can do to shape the future we want to create. That is one of the core reasons for my love of history. “

Great stuff from Anna reflecting, I’m sure, the view and feelings of many of us.

Finally I mentioned Professor Justin Champion and anyone on twitter will have seen the huge outpouring of grief and affection at the news of his death. There were so many tributes from academic colleagues and former students who all pointed to his kindness, his enthusiasm, his keen interest in each and every person he spoke to and of course his ferocious intellect. We are going to be showcasing some of these tributes on a special page on our department website. Do send any of your own memories or tributes and pictures too if you have them.

Ok that’s it folks. Have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there

Anna

Hello all

With the alternative assessments now over, I hope all our undergraduates have found some time to relax and reflect with pride on what they have achieved over the past few weeks. You have completed your year of study, and for some your degree, in the most extraordinary circumstances. The class of 2020 is truly impressive. I am proud of all of you, as I am our postgraduates who continue to work on their dissertations from home and away from the archives where they would have hoped to have been. Again, we applaud your resilience and determination. I hope we can also all take a moment to thank the department’s academic staff who have been working so hard to support you in the final weeks of teaching. Many have had to juggle their work with home schooling their children and that’s proved rather difficult at times. It’s been a tough few weeks for them as it has been for our students, and I am incredibly proud and appreciative of all their efforts and the way our department and our community has survived and thrived despite the Lockdown.

Last week, I suggested we went on virtual grand tour and suggested Italy as our first stop for culinary delights. I can certainly say I have embraced the Italian love of coffee and maintained my quota of rather too many shots a day! Dr Cat Cooper met the challenge with greater creativity and sophistication. Here’s her homemade orange and almond biscotti which she enjoyed – one imagines she dunked (do Italians do that?)  - into her Moka espresso.

Niamh Smith one of our undergraduates, also went to Italy this week and made, the very impressive sounding, sun dried tomato and caper focaccia, which was followed by a vegan chocolate zabaglione (a sort of creamy mousse). Check these pictures out! Wow 

Keeping with the Italian theme, Niamh has just finished reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, most of which is set in Italy during WWI. She’s also planning on watching Fellini’s La Strada over the weekend which sounds like a very good idea.

Perhaps we might all consider travelling to Spain culturally or culinarily next week?

This week I have the very sad job of sharing the news that our great friend, colleague, tutor, mentor and former head of department, Professor Justin Champion has died. He had been suffering for many years with a brain tumour but had showed remarkable fortitude and determination to carry on regardless and, until very recently, has remained very active in the department continuing his research and the supervision of his PhD students. Apart from perhaps those who have joined the department in the last year, everyone will know Justin and many, many of us will have been taught, inspired and supported by him. Justin was quite brilliant and, as will become clear in the many tributes that will be shared over the next few weeks, he was one of his generation’s most significant thinkers: a man of great intellect, prodigious talent, huge scholarly significance and one of the first of the country’s public historians. Despite being deeply immersed in the past, he was also a man ahead of his time. Throughout his career, he made the case for the importance of scholarship to be communicated outside the academy and for history to be used to mobilise, empower and engage a wider public.

Justin joined our Department in 1992. He published two monographs, three editions, and fifty essays. His first book was 'Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken: The Church of England and its Enemies, 1660-1730'; and the second 'Republican Learning: John Toland and the Crisis of Christian Culture, 1696-1722'. An edition of Thomas Hobbes on Heresy and Church History, co-edited with Mark Goldie will appear posthumously. In recent months he was working with customary enthusiasm on a new project on the eighteenth-century republican and bibliophile Thomas Hollis. As Head of the Department from 2005 to 2010 he established the MA in Public History, the first to run in the United Kingdom. He also led the College’s Magna Carta 2015 activity, and played a key role in the College winning substantial Leverhulme funding to establish its Magna Carta Doctoral School. Justin also played a major role in raising the College’s profile in the United Kingdom and abroad. He served as President of the Historical Association, the national 'voice for history', in 2014-17. In 2018 he was awarded the Medlicott Medal for outstanding services to History, which goes to some of the  most distinguished historians at work today. He appeared regularly on radio and television, and was a frequent contributor to Melvyn Bragg’s BBC Radio 4 ‘In our Time’. A programme on the Great Plague won a Royal Television Society Award in 2001.

As Professor Francis Robinson who was HoD when Justin joined RHUL describes, ‘Justin was one of nature’s gentlemen, humane, courteous, and above all kind.  In all he did his kindness was to the fore.’ He was also, as Professor Robinson describes,. ‘a passionate cricket fan, who was always ready to go to a test match, to listen half the night to cricket commentary from Australia, and played regularly for the College staff side, relishing the opportunity that matches against local teams gave him to mix with South Asians and eat their food.  In later life he greatly enjoyed playing tennis at the Englefield Green Club. There was also a period, when his daughter, Alice, was a serious footballer, when he coached one of the Abbey Rangers’ women’s teams. Justin loved music and loud tunes could regularly be heard blaring out of his office .  Justin was naturally sceptical of authority, and as a good C17th historian enjoyed the achievements of the Levellers, and not least when some modern Levellers set up camp in Cooper’s Hill woods above Runnymede!

Professor Sarah Ansari points to Justin’s role in promoting the importance of black history over many years. As President of the Historical Association, he made it an absolute priority to push hard in support of Black history and he lobbied passionately to raise awareness of the desperate need for more Black historians, both in schools and in universities.  At a time when white people are being reminded of the importance of ‘productive’ rather than ‘performative’ ally-ship, Justin undoubtedly epitomised the former.  He called out injustice and inequality for what it was – 100% unacceptable – no messing about!

This clip of him speaking in Black History Month sums that up

In 2018 when Justin was awarded the Medlicott Medal, he gave a powerful lecture entitled ‘Defacing the Past or Resisting Oppression?, in which he discussed removing or altering statues as well as the place of public art depicting controversial historical figures and past deeds. As the HA later put it, his talk took his audience on a tour of statues from those that had been defaced to others that had been updated, all “with the aim of exploring what the past and its physical representations can mean to current societies”.  As Professor Ansari writes, ‘ I can only imagine that Justin in other circumstances would have contributed forcefully to these current debates, willing us on to be actively engaged, to put our money where our mouth is!’

That is so true and certainly a challenge we should look to meet. Justin’s life was underpinned by a determination to challenge conventional thinking. He was a restless radical; always questioning, always curious, always challenging and never cowed by convention or expectation. He sounds a very intimidating figure given such intellect and achievement, but anyone who met Justin will know that he was anything but. He was funny, friendly, gentle and kind.  I think these two pictures sum up the two very different sides of Justin, the giant of a scholar and the man who loved life and people as much as they loved him.

Two of his most recent PhD students Dr Charlotte Young and Steven Franklin have penned a few words by way of tribute.

First Charlotte -

“The Oxford English Dictionary has multiple definitions for the word ‘champion’. One is ‘To fight for; to defend or protect’; another is ‘To maintain the cause of, stand up for, uphold, support, back, defend, advocate’. Justin Champion embodied all the facets of his surname and more. For hundreds of students at Royal Holloway over the years he was an inspiration, albeit a leonine and at times eccentric one. I am one of the lucky few fortunate enough to have him as a supervisor, and I count that as one of my greatest blessings. I owe him everything.

The word genius is thrown around a great deal in modern life, but it can be applied without hesitation to Justin. I never knew him before his diagnosis and that is a matter of deep regret for me. He used to apologise for the cancer slowing his brain down, but if the Justin I knew was the slowed down version then the full strength Justin must have been a typhoon. Ever since we met in 2014 when I started my MA he was the first person I would share my discoveries with, and the first person I would turn to with questions or problems. He would celebrate my discoveries, answer my questions, tell me to stop being so stupid when I began to doubt myself, and be my greatest advocate and cheerleader. Justin gave me the freedom to pursue whatever strand of research I wanted to, offering nothing but encouragement, enthusiasm, and positivity, no matter what bizarre ideas I came up with. Everyone who knew Justin can attest to his kindness, dedication, and genuine love for history. He was truly one of a kind, and he blessed the lives of so many people who will always be grateful to have known him.

Nobody on earth deserves to face the health problems Justin had to endure over the last few years, and him least of all. A phrase I’ve uttered a great deal when talking about him recently is ‘It’s just so desperately unfair’. But no matter what he was going through he never wavered in his determination to keep working, desperate to finish his epic text on Hobbes. Even that book’s completion didn’t mark the end of his work, and he launched straight into his next project. He leaves behind him an enormous body of work, and the fields of early modern religion and political thought have benefitted greatly from his scholarship.

I can’t imagine what my life would have been like with a different supervisor, and I’m deeply grateful to have had his unwavering support and guidance during the difficult years of my MA and PhD. Now I have to learn how to move forward without him at my side, but I know that his spirit will always be with me. I miss him desperately and right now adjusting to life without him seems almost impossible. He has been taken from us far too soon, but we can all take comfort in the knowledge that his suffering is over. Rest now, my dear friend. Your memory will live on in the hearts of everyone who loved you.”

And now Steven.

“It goes without saying, but there are some tasks in life that are much easier than others. As writers, we are all too aware of the difficulties of committing words to paper, and these struggles are exacerbated when faced with the task on reflecting on the life of your friend and supervisor. To put it simply, it’s impossible to summarise the impact that Justin had on my academic and personal life. No words that I write at this point will ever be enough; seem fitting and suitable; or indeed do Professor Justin Champion justice. But here goes.

I first arrived at Royal Holloway in September 2007 and Justin was at that time Head of Department. He was famed for his luscious golden locks and revered for his engaging lectures, filling Monday 9am lectures with consummate ease. Students were there because they wanted to be; everyone knew they were witnessing a master of his craft at work. However, Justin was not just master of one craft, confined by either the boundaries of historic periodisation or limited to one medium of communication. He could do it all: an exemplary model of the 21^st century historian.  

Justin will forever be remembered for his ability to make the most complex sound extremely simple. Whether it was through his written prose or during conversation, Justin was engaging and inspiring in equal measure. When Justin spoke on any historical subject, his enthusiasm and passion for his subject was infectious and I can only begin to imagine the sheer number of people he inspired throughout his life.

As one of his PhD students, I can say he was without doubt one of the best. Every time I met with Justin to talk about my work, I left with renewed energy and enthusiasm, a sense of purpose, and belief. Whenever Justin told me that he enjoyed reading my work, I could barely contain my excitement. I’d sit there beaming with pride because Justin was a SERIOUSLY good historian, thinking to myself that ‘if he thought it was good, it must have been.’  Sometimes it was these levels of reassurance that kept me going - even just knowing he believed in me and thought I would succeed was enough. He was always inspiring, supportive, and encouraging. He was also a reassuring presence and voice during the tougher times of writing a PhD. But, most importantly, he was always there – either in his office listening to his music or at the end of an email – always up for a chat and prepared to talk through ideas regardless of how developed they were.  I don’t think it will ever feel normal not to see Justin around the History Department or knock on his door and say hello – he was almost a permanent fixture of the Department and central to its culture.  We have all lost a brilliant historian, colleague, and friend. Justin’s life is one we should look to celebrate for its many positives. Strong and principled; remarkable and kind; intelligent and creative – the superlatives could go on and on. I will always be proud and fortunate to call Professor Justin Champion my supervisor and friend. May you forever rest in peace. “

As a department we will need to think of a fitting way to celebrate Justin’s life and enshrine his legacy, and we will consider what’s appropriate in due course. In the meantime,  do send any memories or reflections on Justin which I will gather together and then circulate.

It is only right to acknowledge the influence Justin had on me personally. He was on my appointments committee (yes it’s his fault I’m here) and he has proved something of a mentor ever since. More recently, he encouraged me to become head of department. Stepping into shoes that he had previously worn with such swagger, made me feel rather intimidated, but also hugely proud. Professor Francis Robinson rightly points to the ‘conspicuous qualities of leadership, imagination and kindness’ which Justin displayed when he was HoD. That is so true, and Justin will remain my inspiration and example as I continue in this role. 

Finally, our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do? but this week with a difference,   dear Justin, ‘why did you do what you did?’ ( this response was first published in the newsletter in November 2019)

“I do what I do because, ever since I was a small boy growing up in the mid to late 1960s In Cambridge, where my father attended as a mature student to read English Literature at King’s College, I had been surrounded by human beings committed to exploring the world of books, the past and and the vibrant culture of conversation and intellectual debate. Whether I understood what was at the core of discussion seems unlikely, but the cut and thrust of argument and disagreement was spell-binding. This engagement was nurtured by weekly trips to the then famous Heffer’s children’s book shop where I was allowed (in exchange for not requiring any pocket money) to choose the classics of young people’s history written by authors like Henry Treece, Alfred Duggan and Rosemary Sutcliffe (although these were also supplemented by every Famous Five books (especially Five go to Smugglers top!). Other standout titles, set in the C18th were Leon Garfield’s Devil-in-the-Fog (1966); Smith (1967), and Black Jack (1968) all set in the grim violence of London. That fiction, enabled me to become inquisitive. 

The next impetus was driven by a series of sources folders called Jackdaws with contained facsimiles of primary documents, so I realised it was possible to get to read about real lives and conflicts (my favourites were on the Trial Of Charles I, the Magna Carta, and The Jacobites. I still have copies of these books and folders: and they have become important relics of childhood memory.
Although the pathway to the future as an historian was not predetermined, I was very lucky to have a brilliant set of young historians at school (who conducted their teaching along the lines represented in Allan Bennett’s History Boys, which resulted in me against the odds winning an entrance Exhibition at Churchill College, Cambridge, where I was fortunate enough to read for History degrees and a PhD in the 1980s.  It has been a privilege to have been able to pursue such a deep enquiry into the lives of past communities: its a glib thing to say, but with access to a good library, archives and digital resources, what I do ought not to be thought of as ‘work’, but as a form of curiosity and pleasure. There are never enough hours in the day, and always something more to read!”

That’s it for this week folks. Forgive the sombre tone, but I hope you understand the significance of Justin’s’ passing for our department. He was a seminal figure and whilst we mourn his loss, we can take comfort in the fact that we knew him, he touched our lives and he shaped our department as a radical place of agitated and ambitious thinkers and of kindness and community. We will be sure to maintain that and do him proud as we go forward together.

Anna

Hello everyone

I hope you have had a good week. Lookdown life certainly seems bleaker without the sun shining doesn’t it? Such a weird time with little prospect of foreign holidays, and the opportunity to be relaxed  and restored by the European sun. Perhaps we all need travel gastronomically and culturally. How about a different country each week with all of us eating and drinking, reading and watching all things from that country? Maybe this week we might go to Italy?  If you decide to board our virtual flight, do send pics and details of what you consume, watch or read. Might be the only kind of travel we’re going to get although, I guess as historians we also have the luxury of time travel...

Besides the coronavirus, the news this week has been dominated by the murder of George Floyd in America and the protests there and around the world. This has prompted important and long overdue discussions of what it means not only to be a non-racist but also to be anti-racist. It is an important question for all of us and clearly words are not enough. I know many of you have been feeling frustrated, concerned and angry about what is happening or not happening, and individually, and as a department, we should rightly feel challenged. We need to speak out and act in any and every way we can.

As one of our students wrote to me powerfully and movingly, ‘we are historians, and a vast part of contemporary history has been based on social movements and people dictating change when minorities are oppressed and silenced. What we forget as historians is that everything is bound to be history. We will one day be studied. And I don’t think I am the only person who wants to be on the side of history that fought for good things when others couldn’t.’  I would welcome thoughts about how we might do this over the new few months and show our determination to promote social justice, equality and respect for all. One initiative which might be of interest to you was brought to my attention to one of our PhD students Katie Mortimer. A group of activists are keen to promote change in the British education system and in the first instance have launched a survey to gauge the state of education in the UK concerning racism, colonisation, empire etc. Their aim is to collate what’s taught, and more importantly, what isn’t and then present this to schools and lobby the government for a more representative curriculum. 

Clearly education is key to change and Dr Emily Manktelow has compiled some suggested readings for those who may be interested in learning more or want to prompt a conversation with family and friends:

• Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Bloomsbury, 2018).
• Nikesh Shukla, The Good Immigrant (Random House, 2016)
• Robin Deangelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism (Beacon Press, 2018)
• David Olusoga, Black and British: A forgotten history (Pan Macmillan, 2016)
• Afua Hirsch, Brit (ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging (Jonathan Cape, 2018)

In other news, congratulations are in order. Professor Dan Stone has won the college’s Annual Doctoral Supervision Award. This award recognises excellent performance and conduct in doctoral supervision, and now gives Professor Stone the opportunity to enter the national Times Higher Education Outstanding Supervisor of the Year Award 2020.This is wonderful, and very well deserved. Well done Professor Stone.

Research is key to what we do here in the department be it our own research, research supervision of postgraduates or research led undergraduate teaching.

Dr Weipin Tsai who is currently the recipient of a Leverhulme fellowship has launched her new project website on the history of Chinese private letter hongs with you. 

As Dr Tsai explains, ‘long before the Imperial Chinese Post Office was set up in 1896, a postal system had existed for centuries. This was made up of a myriad of local, privately-owned courier firms, known collectively as ‘letter hongs’.  These family firms were rooted in their local area but collaborated extensively and by their peak in the late 19^th century was able to provide services across the whole of China, and indeed beyond its borders to the Chinese diaspora across the region. While there has been a huge amount of scholarship on China’s modernization in this period – largely focused on institutionally directed or foreign-influenced developments – one area only now receiving attention is the network of communications that knitted the Qing Empire together. The letter hongs formed the largest and most significant element of that network, a web of family-owned companies that established vital supply lines for information, money and goods, with a reach more fluid, adaptable and extensive than even the government’s owned military information relay service. Yet little is known of their history and methods. In the course of my work on the establishment of the Chinese Post Office, I came across many references to letter hongs, and in 2018 I submitted a grant proposal to the Leverhulme Trust, for funding to study them in depth. Being mainly small, privately held organizations, source materials are scarce. One of the key sources of information lies in the collections of letter-covers (and letters) in the hands of philatelists.

The web site launched this week is focused on making information gleaned from their collections available to the public and to other scholars. Decoding the covers – quite literally, the journeys taken by the letters are recorded in code on the covers themselves – is a very useful source of material on how the hongs operated, routes taken, transit times, charges and so on, while the letters themselves are fascinating social documents recording the intricacies of family life as husbands and wives, sons and fathers, siblings and business partners corresponded over distance.

The content of the website will continue to expand, including adding more collections and a ‘notes’ section for some of the entries with more context in English, intended to help non-Chinese speakers understand more about what they are looking at. 

Lockdown life has been punctuated for me this week, by an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s World at One to discuss the new image of the queen (at 94!) on horseback and by some filming on the Queen: Duty V Family for an upcoming documentary. Professor Jane Hamlett has also been on our screens in the BBC series A House Through Time talking about domestic violence in the nineteenth century with David Olusoga. 

And, most importantly, the department’s bakers and cooks continue to be hard at work. Dr Amy Tooth Murphy, firmly established as our Head Baker produced this impressive looking baton loaf this week

And Dr Becky Jinks, the ultimate ‘alternative’ cook produced this nettle ristto with home grown rocket and spinach which looks both interesting and ( I think) delicious!

I am hoping next week to bring news of Dr Edward Madigan’s first attempt at breadmaking. I believe it is set to happen this weekend and I for one will be holding my breath in the hope of a full report (with pictures) of what he manages to produce. Dr Madigan all eyes are on your oven….

And finally to our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of 2^nd year undergraduate Rebecca Mowbray:

‘My interest in history really began with historical fiction. Strangely, I didn’t like history lessons at all in my early days of secondary school, but somewhere along the way between Goodnight Mr. Tom, the BBC series Merlin, and eventually reading Les Misérables I found that it was suddenly quite interesting to think about how people lived in the past – and how that still impacts the world we live in today.

For me at least, this impact of history on the world today – and our knowledge of the past more generally, with all its developing ideas and consequences – is central to understanding our own lives in the twenty-first century. Popular media is just one of the many ways in which someone might increase that understanding - and since coming to Royal Holloway, my interest in it has only increased, asa tool not just to improve my own understanding of the past but to think about the wider relationship between the public and history, and the responsibilities around that. Whether through this kind of media, the memorialisation of history all around us, or the use of historical allegories in the press, it’s fascinating to consider how we interact with history every day. Over the last three years, I’ve really enjoyed getting to explore this in more depth, and I hope to continue to do so even after I graduate this summer.

I’ve also enjoyed getting to find out for the first-time which parts of history I gravitate towards. At school, it’s not always easy to figure that out since you don’t really have any choice over what you study – but I’ve found since then that my interest lies predominantly in modern history, especially the First and Second World Wars. Having grown up surrounded by Second World War history (my hometown is where the Guinea Pig Club was founded), it’s been fascinating to explore this period in more detail – and I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to do so over the course of my degree. ‘

That’s it folks. Have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there. Do continue to send me news and views for the newsletter and do get in touch if you have worries or questions which I might be able to help with.

Look after yourselves

Anna

Hello everyone

I am glad to say I am back after suffering with the virus. I am still struggling a bit with fatigue but am very thankfully through the worst. I would like to thank Dr Amy Tooth Murphy and a number of other colleagues for taking on the newsletter last week and would like to thank those of you who sent get well messages. It was particularly nice to hear how much the newsletter is valued as a weekly event and for the sense of community it brings.

I know many of you are in the midst of assessments and I am delighted to hear positive reports from colleagues about the quality of the work. For some of you these will be your final exams and our third years will have received an email outlining how the college will offer support over the next weeks and months. There are plans for an alternative graduation (a small gesture in lieu of the formal graduation which has been delayed until next year) as well as lots of advice around work and careers. I would also urge third years to consider Masters study. The college is currently offering significant discounts on some of our MA History, Public History and Medieval Studies so do have a look at these and our other Masters programs and consider applying.   As a department we are also determined to support are undergraduates and postgraduates in any way we can, so if there is something, we could that we are not currently doing please let me know.

Internships may be cancelled but lots of History students are finding ways to build their skills from home. If you'd like to discuss how you could do the same, you could make a 20-minute 1:1 appointment with the Careers Service to help you generate some ideas. Here are some examples...

• To improve her CV, Ellie, who wishes to have a career in archaeology but is unable to go on practical excavations this summer, has been taking online courses on FutureLearn and Coursera with multiple universities including Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Pennsylvania. She has also taken part in a six week virtual excavation with the Dig Venture team and has been working on improving her language and translation skills.
• To improve her CV during lockdown, Amelia has been attending online panels and discussions hosted by professionals in the events industry which she is looking to go into. This has been useful since these events directly address how the industry will continue to be shaped by the current pandemic, providing new and interesting options to explore.
• To improve his CV, Dan is working as an Upreach Associate as he explores different job sectors. He has also attended online insight days to have a greater exposure to companies where he can access potential graduate scheme opportunities in the future.

The college is also working hard to plan for next academic year with an approach that allows face to face teaching as the government guidelines allow and, if necessary, online teaching and resources too. Details on this and all other social distancing and virus-related precautions will come in due course when we know what will be required of universities to comply with scientific and government advice. Rest assured the college is hard at work to do everything it can to allow us to get back on to campus ASAP.

We have all had to rethink our research plans because of the virus, and many libraries and archives have put resources online and are now beginning to think about how they can reopen with social distancing arrangements. Many of us depend on the IHR library and they have created and launched an online Guide to free and open access historical resources to help historians — especially MA students writing theses — to find research materials. They have also opened up other digital resources, such as the 200 volumes of premium content within British History Online and will continue to extend and update a range of  digital resources — including a growing number of Open Access publications. They have also begun to plan a new online events programme. In September, the IHR will be launching a funded scheme to extend the IHR seminars nationally. They will be inviting bids for new online seminars series that may be convened from anywhere in the UK, that bring together researchers from a minimum of 3 institutions (one may be international, and would welcome cross-sector partnerships, from for example, the heritage or GLAM sectors). These seminars will be renewable for up to three years. Further details of the scheme will be announced via this blog and the IHR’s social media channels shortly and it would be worth considering how we might  get involved.

So what’s been happening in our department?  Dr Victoria Leonard one of our postdoctoral researchers, was a keynote speaker for the AHRC South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership Late Antique, Early Medieval and Byzantine Colloquium at , Cardiff University. Her paper titled ‘Risk and Shift: Historical Approaches, Critical Identities and Making the Network Work’ talked about historical categorisation, periodisation and networks, and explored some of the tensions surrounding the shift from PhD to post-PhD stage.

One of our MA Public History students Chloe Binderup has written a post for the Historians for History blog in which she explores the motives of the women who campaigned against female suffrage in the years before the First World War. This aspect of the story of the campaign for women's votes will be well known to historians of the period, but was largely overlooked in the recent centenaries and hopefully provides something of fresh perspective. 

If any of you would like to contribute a blogpost on any aspect of public history, please do get in touch with Dr Edward Madigan.

Dr Madigan has also been pondering summer reading, and has selected six memoirs, As Dr Madigan writes. ‘Many of us are drawn to the study of the past through our interest in the simple drama of human endeavour. Novelists often capture the quotidian highs and lows of life brilliantly, of course, and the best of them impart great insights into the human condition. The memoirist, by contrast, can potentially offer us something much more personal and intimate, and it’s hard to beat the sheer thrill of reading a well-told, first-hand account of one individual’s lived experience. With that in mind, I’ve selected six memoirs that portray very different aspects of British life in the twentieth century that should provide some thought-provoking and hopefully inspiring summer reading.’

• Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth (1933)

In the middle of July 1914, a nineteen-year-old Vera Brittain attended the annual speech day at Uppingham, the public school at which her brother Edward was a pupil. Edward and his best friend, Roland Leighton, who would soon become Vera’s fiancé, paraded with the school’s officer training corps and the headmaster told the boys and their families that if a young man could not be useful to his country, ‘he was better dead’. Within a few short weeks, a world war of unprecedented violence had erupted and, in less than a year, Roland was dead, shot by a German sniper in France. In 1915, Vera shelved her studies at Oxford and volunteered to serve as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. By the war’s end, Edward and two of her closest male friends had been killed in the fighting. This searing account of love and loss tells of a very different war to that experienced by Siegfried Sassoon and the male memoirists and stands as a remarkable tribute not to the men who died but to those they left behind.

• Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy (1958)

At the age of just 16, Irish Republican Army volunteer Brendan Behan was arrested in Liverpool and found to be in possession of a gelignite bomb. It was 1939, the Second World War was looming and Behan’s youth essentially saved him from the hangman’s noose (two other IRA men were hanged in England that year for similar offences). Charged with attempting to bomb Liverpool docks, Behan spent the next few years in English borstals (juvenile detention centres). Written in the mid-1950s, when he was on his way to becoming a world-renowned playwright, Borstal Boy draws readers into the dark and often brutal world of the British prison system at a time when young offenders had few public champions. Ultimately, though, it’s quite a moving story of friendship between young men who retain a powerful lust for life in spite of their imprisonment. The later stages of his career were marred by the alcoholism that finally killed him at the age of 41, but this is Behan at his best and the writing just roars of the page.

• Lore Segal, Other People’s Houses (1964)

In December 1938, nine months after the Anschluss that joined Austria with Germany to form a National Socialist super-state, ten-year old Lore Segal boarded a train in Vienna that was bound for England. Along with 600 other boys and girls, Segal had managed to escape in the first wave of the Kindertransport project, a rescue mission designed to deliver Jewish children from Nazi occupation. Although she spoke little English when she arrived, she learned the language rapidly as she stayed in the homes of a whole series of different families, from a variety of backgrounds, across the country. ‘I was an anthropologist’, Segal said in an interview years later, ‘An unwilling anthropologist.’ This unique autobiographical novel is thus both a moving account of escape from Nazi persecution on the eve of the Holocaust and an often-amusing study of the English class system as seen through the eyes of an intelligent and highly perceptive young girl.

• Peter O’Toole, Loitering with Intent (1992)

I bought a second-hand paperback copy of this remarkable book in a shop in Brighton a few years ago because I liked Lawrence of Arabia and some of O’Toole’s other films. I think I expected a British acting memoir in the vein of David Niven’s The Moon’s a Balloon (which is also well worth a read), so I wasn’t quite prepared for a work of such extraordinary literary merit. O’Toole was born in 1932 to an Irish father and a Scottish mother and grew up in humble circumstances in Leeds during the Second World War. The narrative takes us from his earliest childhood to the moment he is accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1952, but most of the narrative focuses on his childhood during the war years. Indeed, every second chapter opens with the spectre of Adolf Hitler glowering over the author and every other child in wartime Europe; a tale of boyish hope told in a highly inventive prose style by one of the most charismatic actors of the twentieth century.

• Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal (2012)

Jeanette Winterson’s first novel, the highly autobiographical Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, was published in 1985 and tells the story of a young girl who is adopted by fundamentalist Christians and raised in the small town of Accrington in Lancashire. The girl’s parents want her to grow up to be a missionary, but instead she falls in love with a woman and defiantly leaves home, after years of abuse, at the age of sixteen. Before she goes, her adoptive mother asks her ‘why be happy when you could be normal?’ In the opening pages of this extraordinary book, Winterson writes that she wrote her first account of her childhood as a novel because it was a story ‘she could live with. The other one was too painful.’ Yet although this is at times a very painful story, it’s also a beautifully honest and often comic account of one woman’s irrepressible spirit and determination to find a place for herself in a world that constantly tells her she doesn’t belong.

• Colin Grant, Bageye at the Wheel (2013)

Colin Grant won much-deserved acclaim for his ground-breaking 2009 biography of Marcus Garvey, Negro with a Hat (a must-read for anyone interested in Caribbean or African-American history). This much more personal book paints a wonderfully vivid picture of his experiences of growing up as the child of West Indian immigrants in the Luton of the 1970s. Much of the narrative focuses on his relationship with his feckless but rather likeable father – the ‘Bageye’ of the title – and his mother’s constant efforts to impose a sense of respectable normality in the home.  Grant effortlessly evokes the simple struggles of working-class family life, the defiant ambition of an immigrant community, and the all the passion and frustration of adolescence. The author’s keen eye for detail and his ability to capture mixed emotions make Bageye at the Wheel both a valuable slice of black British history and a deeply personal account of English suburban life in the ‘70s.

Following last week’s Pet’s Corner, and, as I believe was promised, here’s any update on the  lockdown activities of Dr Emmett Sullivan’s bunnies. Last week, Binky and Bucky bunny starred in the first episode of of ‘Well, You Join Us Live’. The YouTube video is produced by Nick Heath, who has featured on Have I Got News for You, This Morning and many other things.  This isn’t the bunnies first public appearance – they are regulars on the Egham social scene and the student History Society have previously run ‘bunny therapy sessions’ at The Crown. Last term Binky and Bucky were the ‘Bunnies 4 Peace’ at the Amnesty International event at The Packhorse on 7 March; Leah Jayne (History) is the AI President for 2020/21, replacing Jess Weeds (also History).

While further plans for ‘bunny therapy’ in the Packhorse have had to be put on hold we hope that some of this can be resumed when we return to campus – although the bunnies may have to keep a safe distance! Here’s some pics from when Bunnies took over the Packhorse

And what of the Bake Off? Well this week Professor Kate Cooper wins the star baker accolade with these brioche buns, suitable, as Professor Cooper attests, with jam for breakfast, or for ambitious sandwiches (in her case, lentil burgers).They look and sound delicious.

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has tried her hand at coffee making this week, or, more specifically cold brew coffee which is perfect for a summer’s day. She says it is ‘Very easy to make if you’ve got a decent coffee grinder and some cheesecloth (or, in her case, an old pair of tights)!

I too had culinary success this week, at least of a sort. Craving marmite and eggs I created a marmite omelette, a first for me and, rather delicious. Undoubtedly my greatest baking achievement to date!

And finally our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of our of our third year undergraduates, Leah Biggs.

“From a young age I have been submerged into history without wanting to escape. I found myself completely at awe with the past, even if it was a day trip out to local heritages or travelling on holidays to see different cultures, historical landmarks or even just simply beautiful ruins- I was obsessed. Whether it was the Pyramids of Gyza, Valley of the Kings, the Taj Mahal, Pompeii or Olympia, anywhere I would go I was excited to learn and challenge my imagination. Through studying History into my A levels, I learnt to somewhat replace my active learning through visiting places of historical significance into reading and studying them instead through historians’ words.

It was specifically during 2015 after becoming a successful applicant at Bristol University for ‘Access to Bristol’ that encouraged me to further my learning in History. This course, weekly, would hold seminars and lectures giving a taster of University life and studying which I wholeheartedly embraced. There was no second thought needed to understand that the right degree for me to study was a BA History, I knew it would not only challenge my independence and academic skills, but would give me the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge that surrounded the subjects that hold my interest. Mainly, throughout the three years, I opted for subjects that involved social aspects of life, i.e Victorian life, Georgian society, and the Versailles environment, as I knew this held my interest and attention.

A BA History degree not only allowed me to carry on my hobby, but also taught me many skills that can be transferred into the world after University. The challenging deadlines and the masses of reading, writing, analysing and researching has confirmed to me that I do truly enjoy the subject of history. Whether I am looking to focus upon heritage work or museum volunteering, or even pursuing a different sector in Law or Government, I believe all my skills and learning at Royal Holloway will aid me in the future. Three years of studying History I have understood why I do what I do, I have been fulfilled throughout the years and have thoroughly enjoyed every single bit of learning History to the extent I would now like to further my education into a masters.”

Ok folks that’s it for now. Do please get in touch with me if you have any questions and concerns or indeed ideas for the newsletter. Stay well, work hard and enjoy the sunshine when you can.

Anna

Dear all,

The observant among you will have realised that I am not Dr Anna Whitelock. For one thing I have far less hair. Although having said that, with barbers now closed for 9 weeks and counting, my quiff is taking on hitherto unknown proportions. Anna is still recovering and resting and so a few of us have decided to form a guest editorial team and hijack the newsletter in her place. In the thick of the exam period, and in testing times, it seemed that a light-hearted newsletter was in order, so read on for a bumper ‘Bank Holiday supplement’ edition.

First up, a few words from Dr David Gwynn, our Deputy Head of Department, who is ably steering our ship while Anna is recovering:

"My deepest thanks to everyone for all your ongoing hard work. We are now very close to the halfway stage in the exam period, so do please keep looking after yourselves and remember that we are still allowed to have some fun under the lockdown! Best wishes to all, especially of course Anna for her recovery. And I would just like to add that it is very heartening indeed to see the quality of some of the material our students have been able to produce even under such difficult circumstances. They make us proud".

I also wanted to give a quick update on how Anna is getting on, and I’m sure many of you will be keen to hear. Our Head of School, Professor Juliet John has sent this note:

“To all the staff and students in History, I’m pleased to say that Anna is showing signs of recovery and has begun to eat. However, she has had a ‘nasty dose‘ and full recovery may take some time. The most promising sign is that she is not listening to common sense and sending the odd quick fire email - in other words, she is showing signs of impatient eagerness to get back to work. Although she has been reprimanded by her line manager (me) for this, it is a sign that Whitelock-style normality should return down the line. But let’s not hurry her - it is only a few days ago that she was in a very bad way and recovery takes time. Thanks from her to all the History community for the messages of support, Juliet.”

Well, I think many of us will recognise that Whitelockian style that Juliet mentions. Rest up Anna. We look forward to having you back, but not before you’re ready!

Research news

Roving reporter Professor Andrew Joticshky sent this despatch from the latest departmental research seminar, led by Dr Paris Chronakis:

“On Tuesday 19^th Dr Paris Chronakis, who joined the Department in September 2019, gave a brilliant talk to the School of Humanities Research seminar on his ongoing research on nationalism and antisemitism in the eastern Mediterranean in the 19^th century. In ‘Navigating Dark Waters: Diaspora Greeks, Port-City Jews and a Mediterranean History of Modern Antisemitism, 1830-1912,’ Paris explored the spread of antisemitictropes such as the blood libel through a developing print culture in the newly independent state of Greece, showing how poisonous ideas gathered force and momentum by transmission through transnational communities of Greek speakers from the Black Sea to Alexandria. The talk was ‘attended’ by about 25 colleagues from across the School, and led to a lively and engaged online discussion. This was the first of the School of Humanities Research Seminars to be held remotely, and we are grateful to Paris for fronting up what looks as though it will be the normative means of delivery for the foreseeable future.

Paris’ talk was a reminder that research by staff and PG students is continuing in the Department even in difficult times. PhD students in History are used to working alone, but the circumstances are especially challenging for them, and for MA students the closure of libraries and archives has come at the worst possible moment, just as they are embarking on their dissertation research. We are all trying to negotiate the obstacles presented by lack of access to the resources we take for granted in normal times. But whether academic staff or PG students, we are continuing to research, write and develop grant proposals in the realisation that high-quality teaching and learning feeds off and in turn stimulates live research. It is more important than ever that we make a renewed commitment to learning and scholarship in the Humanities at a time when the foundations of normal life are changing in such drastic ways. As always, it is the Humanities that reminds us of enduring human and social values and anchors us in an understanding of why we are where, and who, we are.”

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has been working with colleagues at University of Plymouth on a Covid-19 response that uses oral history to facilitate school pupils’ engagement with history during school closures, while also providing much-needed social interaction for shielded elderly people. The project, entitled ‘Oral History During Lockdown: Homeschooling History for KS2/KS3/KS4 and Well-Being for the Elderly in Isolation’ will provide a toolkit to enable pupils to conduct oral history interviews with their grandparents or isolated elderly people over the phone. The toolkit will be complemented with webinars that train teachers to run this as a lesson plan delivered remotely.

An exciting glimpse into new possibilities of global cooperation was offered by a webinar delivered by Dr Markus Daechsel at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). 'A few weeks ago I got an online e-mail out of then blue from the Vice Chancellor of the Institute who had read my book Islamabad and the politics of International Development. Very flatteringly, he said he liked it and wanted to put me on as one of their lecture schedule at short notice', Markus recalls. PIDE is Pakistan's oldest and most prestigious research institution in this field, with close links to the world of policy making, and their webinars attract an audience that includes senior members of the Planning Commission and Government. Under the banner of introducing new thinking into development policy making, PIDE was particularly interested in what development history can teach economists and other social scientists, and how it can help to develop critical approaches that challenge standard assumptions about consultancy and aid. 'It was amazing to see how well such international link-ins now work', Markus observes further, 'it was a large virtual audience with lots of thought provoking questions that gave me the feeling that Pakistani readers really got what I was trying to argue in the book. And they all joked around about the virtual backgrounds one can display on zoom!' An exciting post-COVID 19 and climate sensitive future of virtual collaborations beckons.

Dr Charalambos Dendrinos was invited to give an online paper (in Greek) on “Greek Palaeography and Editing of Texts in the Digital Age” to students and staff of the Department of Byzantine Philology, University of Patras, Greece on 8 May 2020. The paper included a presentation of the online electronic edition of an Encomium on Henry VIII addressed to Elizabeth I composed in Homeric and Attic Greek by George Etheridge, former Regius Professor Greek at Oxford University, on the occasion of Elizabeth’s Royal visit to Oxford in 1566. This interactive edition was prepared by a team of postgraduate students, academic and research staff and technical advisors of The Hellenic Institute, History Department, and was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in remembrance of her Royal Visit to the College in March 2014 . The edition provides a new source for the history of Greek Studies in Tudor England in particular and for the cultural policies of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in general. The Greek text of the encomium is accompanied by images of the manuscript, an English translation and supplementary material that places the author, the manuscript, and the text in context. This innovative project has been designed to provide a useful tool not only for students and scholars but also for the general public. It is accessible free of charge!

Dr Stefan Bauer’s latest book, The Invention of Papal History: Onofrio Panvino between Renaissance and Catholic Reform (Oxford UP, 2019) was reviewed in History Today, Professor Peter Marshall commenting, ‘This thoughtful and judicious monograph is to be welcomed for the considerable light it sheds on confessionalisation of historiography and the cultural politics of papal Rome.’ For more info on Stefan’s book, see here.

Careers

Many of you will find your thoughts turning to life after university (there is such a thing!) and your future careers, and so you may be interested in the next History Lab, organised in collaboration with Careers on Friday 29th May, 10am - 10:30am and will run through MS Teams. Please Book Online. 

Your 2020 Career Toolkit

This year has brought some unexpected challenges for anyone looking for work, or work experience. In this 30-minute online session we'll cover some key tools to support your success in 2020, including:

·             An overview of the jobs market and what employers are telling us

·             The basics of CVs and applications 

·             How to practise video interviews, which have become much more important this year

·             Things you can learn or do right now from home to boost your employability

This session will be delivered online using Microsoft Teams via this link. A version of this session will also be recorded for those who can't make it on the day.

Alright, now on with the really important stuff. What do academics get up to when they’re not working? As we’re learning, there’s more to some of our academic colleagues than meets the eye. This week, gardening, brewing, furry friends, and more!

Exam Time Playlists

Avid readers of the ‘Why do you do what you do?’ section of the newsletter will know that Dr Edward Madigan had a former life as a DJ. This week he’s gone back to his record collection to bring us a couple of summer playlists. First up, for some perfect summer vibes, an old-school reggae playlist to soothe jangled exam nerves and set the tone for a sunny evening. And for those of you getting through lockdown by pounding the pavement, here’s a high octane running playlist, The Man Machine (true to form, I’m going to advocate for the gender neutral ‘The Person Machine’, although I appreciate the alliteration is lacking). Thanks Edward! 

Pets Corner

Being famously fond of four-legged friends, Professor Jane Hamlett and Dr Emily Manktelow have curated a ‘Pets Corner’ of the newsletter. They say that owners grow to look like their pets. I pass no further comment.

“In these dark and unpredictable times one thing has become certain. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a lecturer with a pet will have to show it to you on MS Teams. Here in History we have more pets than you can shake a stick at – and you’re pretty likely to lose the stick in the process. Dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, a horse and even a peacock – we have it all! So welcome to pets’ corner. Draw up a chair and prepare to immediately lose it to a furry friend (or a peacock?)

A perennial department favourite (according to the twitter likes back in February) is of course Dr. Andrew Jotischky’s Wanda. Known for her ability to stand on hind legs, and her joy of long walks in the Lancashire country side, Wanda is known to wander with Dr. Jotischky around sights of historical heritage. Take a peak at the departmental twitter feed for pictorial evidence. Of course, when it comes to grande-dames of the department, we can’t forget Dr. Alex Windscheffel’s beautiful matriarch Lady Bella, and her companion Monty. Monty, a now ageing (nearly 15) West Highland terrier may be remembered by some colleagues as a puppy when he used to venture into the department, and enjoy chasing cricket balls thrown by Justin Champion up and down the corridor of McCrea - now as you can see he has to suffer the indignities of being dressed up. And [Lady] Bella, a very rare Sealyham terrier, who is more reclusive and enjoys nothing better than sleeping. Or chasing - and occasionally catching - rats and squirrels in the garden. 

Slightly ironic that our colleague Dr. Cat Cooper is a fan of dogs, but who can blame her when her clever pooch Pickle can even brew his own ale? Pickle’s Pride looks to have gone down a treat… 

Speaking of pickles, many of you may be familiar with Dr. Hannah Platts’ beautiful mini-piggies, Pickle and Willow. According to Hannah, Pickle lives up to his name and is gorgeously naughty! He loves to play a game of tipping up his house or food bowl whenever possible and then running around squeaking - very proud of himself! Willow, meanwhile, is a rather more timid lady, except for when she thinks there is a prospect of food or treats (of any sort!!), then she will stick her nose in the air and shout for attention for all she is worth.

We couldn’t have pets corner without any cats! Here are Kim and Kelley who have consented to share a home with Professor Jane Hamlett. Kelley likes sleeping the sun, snuggles and squaring up to other cats on the road. Kim likes sleeping in other people’s beds, licking water from taps and bombing zoom meetings. The cats are named after a famous pair of twins… Prof Hamlett also researches the history of pets – find out more on the project blog.

While this is not of course a competition, honourable mention must be made of Dr. Akil Awan’s peacock Captain. Apparently he likes nothing more than to strut around courting the chickens (who pretty much ignore him). He is incredibly vain, and his second favourite pastime is to display in front of any reflective surface and just stand there for hours revelling in his own glory! Honestly, who can blame him? In terms of unusual pets, we must also glory in the beauty of Dr. Nicola Philips’ horse Mel. What a beauty, and quite the jumper as well I’m told!

Finally, two new additions have arrived in the department in the shape of pandemic puppies!

If there is anything historians at Royal Holloway love as much as history it has to be dogs! So Dr. Kate Cooper is feeling very lucky to have a new family member: Niko, a ten-week-old Border Collie. Collies are incredibly intelligent working dogs, but it isn't clear whether Niko will be much good at marking essays or researching digital collections. At the moment he is a tiny scragamuffin who spends as much of his time as possible (a) sleeping or (b) causing mischief - he has not yet learned how to do both. Watch this space!

Dr. Emily Manktelow, meanwhile, has been joined by toy poodle Penny. 10 weeks old and perfectly pocket-sized her favourite games include climbing the stairs and then crying because she can’t get down, chewing the hosepipe during garden watering, and creeping up as close to big brother Teddy as she can before he gets cross. Luckily, he hasn’t eaten her yet, so they seem to be getting along swimmingly! 

That’s it from pets’ corner this week! Just wait until next week when you will hear about the exploits of Dr. Emmett Sullivan’s bunnies… they’ve been out and about (pre-lockdown) on adventures of their own!

Stay safe and snuggly out there.”

Academic Gardeners’ World

When not knee-deep in archaeological digs, Dr Cat Cooper is, well, knee-deep in her allotment. And she’s not the only keen grower amongst the academic staff. Cat has curated a produce corner for us this week. With a reported huge upturn in sales of seeds, compost, and plants, it seems gardening is up there with baking as a lockdown must-do. Sit back and learn from our departmental Monty Dons…

“As the sun has made it harder and harder for us to stay at our desks and commit to marking our gardens have been getting that extra bit of attention. Dr Becky Jinks has had success at growing artichokes from seed (no mean feat!).

Teddy has been working on his very best Nigel L impression helping Dr. Emily Manktelow keep her mangetout healthy and her squashes are looking very strong! 

Up in York the first yellow courgette has been spotted up at Dr Cat Cooper’s allotment and her garden trugs are looking nice and tidy as if they had been planted by someone who really understands the importance of a straight section.

Stay tuned for the resulting gluts and what we all do with them!”

And a special thanks to Cat for formatting our newsletter this week so we could include all these lovely photos!

Given the beautiful weather it’s perhaps not surprising there’s been less slaving over a hot stove this week. However, Dr Becky Jinks is planning for those balmy summer evenings by brewing up some homemade elderflower champagne. Don’t worry, she’s using plastic bottles to avoid explosions. Still, a pith helmet may not be a bad idea. 

A new feature this week: ‘Academics of the Future’! With our academic staff working from home there’s an opportunity to see where our next generation of scholars might come from. In the Zipser household a budding linguist emerges… Dr Barbara Zipser writes, 

‘I have something of great beauty for you. For this morning, I gave my little boy the task to build something with his Meccano set for me. He did this: “I made the letters a and c for you in Hebrew." I am not sure whether the concept of mater lectionis came across, but I do note that he placed the dagesh correctly. And he spelled it in right to left orientation. So proud! I thought he would build a car or something like that.’

For anyone, like me, left somewhat behind by this, Barbara also sent a video should anyone else want to brush up on their introductory Hebrew. 

Finally, I wanted to share exciting news of a collaborative interdisciplinary research project I have been involved in this week. This highly sophisticated, complex project was pulled together by a tireless team of researchers. Who says the Humanities and the Sciences can’t work well together? The project is entitled, ‘Queering bottle rockets: Community tensions when vinegar and bicarb collide’.

We are now seeking a £1 million research grant to test the impact of using cider or white wine vinegar. My thanks to my dedicated Research Assistant, without whom none of this nonsense would even have been thought of.

If you’d like to make your own bottle rocket (queer or otherwise) you will need:

·          One bottle (soda bottle works well)

·          A cork that fits snugly into the bottle

·          Bicarbonate of soda

·          Vinegar

·          3-4 pencils

·          Sellotape

·          Tissue or paper towel

Use the tape to stick the pencils to the bottle to make legs for your rocket (neck of bottle facing down, leaving room between the bottle and the ground)

Make sure the bottle can stand on its own

Pour some bicarb into the tissue and fold it to make a little packet (a few teaspoons worked for us)

Make sure the tissue packet can fit into the bottle (but don’t put it in yet!)

Pour some vinegar into the bottle (a couple of inches worked for us)

Now quickly drop the tissue packet into the bottle and push the cork in tightly (tight, but not too tight!)

Stand your rocket on its pencil legs and stand back

Depending on the thickness of the paper, your rocket might take anything from 15 secs to a minute or so to take off. If you use very thick kitchen paper, you may even need to give it a little shake to help it along.

And, to show that we haven’t become completely anarchic during Anna’s absence, here’s our familiar feature, ‘Why do you do what you do?’. This week, third year undergraduate student and budding public historian, Chloe Storer gives us an insight into what drives her in her studies and career plans:

“History is something I’ve always loved from a very young age, as a result of visiting heritage site with my parents.... said all of our undergraduate personal statements I’m sure! However, this is true for me, having always had an interest in history which developed into a love for public history since studying a module in first year. Since then, I have always tried to direct my academic work towards public history through the use of films mostly, and I’ve undertaken some work experience in television to see how history is translated into our screens. Terribly generic I know; we all do what we do because we enjoy it! But that is why I like history so much as it is integrated into everyday life without people even realising often, and this is what makes public history so important as it is how they interpret the past. I have always been driven to change the stereotype of history from boring and removed to fun and accessible, and as a result I have applied to do the MA in Public History here next year!”

Thanks Chloe! It's been my pleasure to know Chloe throughout her time her at RHUL. I remember her arriving in 1^st year as one of my personal tutees and I saw then that she was a passionate public historian in the making. I’m delighted she plans to join us again next year as a postgraduate student.

That’s it from our guest editorial team. Take care everyone. Stay safe and well, and look after yourselves.

Best wishes from all of us in the History department, and have a lovely weekend,

Amy

Hello everyone 

Please forgive what is going to be a limited, and probably badly written, newsletter this week. Unfortunately, I have got the virus and so am feeling rather unwell. I very much hope to be better next week and for the newsletter to return to its usual standard (insert your own joke.) However, since becoming Hod I haven’t missed a newsletter yet and decided now is not the time. Times are tough and we all need to hang in there and just keep going.

Being poorly has, however, really brought home to me, how horrid things can be at the moment but also how well you are all doing regardless. Whether you are doing the alternative assessments, writing MA or PhD dissertations or are one of our academics teaching, marking and supporting our students, everyone is determined to succeed regardless, and, I am absolutely confident you are and will. I am also very aware that this virus is hitting people in different ways; some of us are unlucky enough to get it, others have family or friends that get sick, others are at home with young, rather demanding children or siblings or, are isolating away from our families. All of us, I’m sure, are desperate for normality, of some sort, to return. It will, and then, as now, our department will continue to thrive and our community will be more vibrant, noisy and brilliant as ever.

A History degree is so necessary and valuable. We all know this, but the findings of a British Academy report show just that;

“The arts, humanities and social sciences will be vital in building the society we want to live in, with individuals able to tackle the challenges we face and shape the future. These subjects give us the tools to examine and explain human behaviour, understand how society functions, learn from the past and apply those lessons to the present, and analyse the drivers and implications of a changing world and how different countries, places and cultures interact."

Historian Margaret Macmillan has also reflected on the value of History in an article in this week’s Prospect Magazine in which she writes about what history can teach us about managing crises and coming out stronger

Over the last few weeks we have all had to get  used to life online. We are really keen to know what’s gone well, what less so. Could I direct students to this survey being run by the SU designed  to capture student experiences of digital education: 

It will be fantastic to get as many responses as possible. The survey closes on the 22^nd May

This is your newsletter and this week, more than ever, I rely on your contributions. And first, and most importantly in these difficult times, the Bake Off. This week baking aficionados Dr Cat Cooper and Dr Amy Tooth Murphy are in the frame for Star Baker.

Maison de Tooth Murphy produced this spelt and ale loaf and choc chip cookies made with sourdough starter discard (whatever that means, way beyond me)

Now we all know Dr Cat Cooper is clever with tech and all that kind of stuff, but she’s cleverer than perhaps even I realised. Spot the submininal message she’s sending with these cheesy STARS

I’ll leave you to decide who gets this week’s award.

And finally for this week, our regular feature ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of Dr Kaja Cook who has just returned from a period of sabbatical:

“Despite being the daughter of historians, I didn’t immediately know that I wanted to study history. Having academics as parents did mean that although I grew up in the US, I spent several years of my childhood overseas while my parents conducted research. We lived in Seville for three years, where I wandered the narrow streets of the city centre, taking in the architecture that attested to the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities who lived there in the medieval period. Walks along the Guadalquivir river brought home Seville’s role as a major port city that had close connections to the Americas during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The city was steeped in the complicated legacies of colonialism – from the conquest by Christian forces of the Islamic city of Isbiliya in 1248 to Seville’s role as a center for mercantile and administrative activity that supported the expansion of the Spanish Empire. In this context, the massive cathedral bell tower, built atop the minaret of a former mosque, and the uneven steps of the House of Trade where enslaved people were sold at auction, posed unsettling questions that were often overlooked by the throngs of tourists on holiday.

At the age of twelve or thirteen, I was paying attention, but I also scoffed at my parents for how I imagined them spending their time - sneezing in dusty archives. I much preferred being outdoors. I planned to study biology or zoology but took a history class during my first year as an undergraduate at Bryn Mawr, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania that encouraged close contact between students and faculty, and interdisciplinary coursework. Madhavi Kale who was my professor in the course “The Historical Imagination: An Introduction to Global History,” inspired me to question received narratives about the past. Discussing Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History in her course opened my eyes to the ways that unequal power relationships can shape how histories are told. I also learned that archives, museums, and monuments can silence as much as they reveal about people who lived in the past. How sources are collected, catalogued, and labeled in archives – those multiple acts of selection and organization – can influence whose stories are remembered by future generations, or whose voices are silenced.

History students in their final year at Bryn Mawr write theses based on original research, and I was able to obtain funding from my university to spend three weeks in Spain researching my thesis about Moriscos (Spanish Muslims who converted to Christianity, often under duress) who were tried by the Inquisition for practicing Islam in secret. Before traveling to Madrid to consult inquisition records at the national archives, I stopped briefly in the Archive of the Indies in Seville which houses judicial and financial records concerning the Spanish Empire. The archivists quickly informed me that due to religious prohibitions on emigration, Moriscos never traveled to the Americas and I would find nothing. By this point in my coursework, I was aware of the extensive historiography on converts from Judaism who faced similar restrictions but nonetheless settled in Mexico, Peru, and the Caribbean. During my few days in Seville, I was able to locate a handful of thought-provoking sources that suggested Muslims and Moriscos did emigrate to the Americas. I became determined to return to the archives and find out more.

With the encouragement of my professors at Bryn Mawr, especially Madhavi Kale and Ignacio Gallup-Díaz, I applied for and was granted a Fulbright Fellowship to spend the year after graduation in Spanish archives researching a history of Moriscos in Spanish America. I arrived in Madrid on September 10, 2001. I spent the following weeks in shock, not only disoriented by jet lag and separation from family but trying to make sense of the rapidly unfolding aftermath of 9/11, the US led invasion of Afghanistan, and the surge in Islamophobia and hate crimes committed against anyone perceived to be Muslim. Each morning after reading the newspapers, I walked to the national archives where I read eerily familiar narratives about Moriscos in the sixteenth-century trial records and correspondence. As political tensions increased between Spain and the Ottoman Empire, Moriscos were cast as potentially disloyal subjects who could ally with the Ottomans and pose a security threat to Spain. Crown officials restricted their movement across borders and scrutinized their behavior for anything they associated with Islam. Even Moriscos who identified as Catholics and whose ancestors converted voluntarily to Christianity were regarded with suspicion. This had important implications for how people in the early modern Spanish world defined citizenship and eventually race in a rapidly expanding empire.

Struck by the contemporary relevance of the questions I was researching, the archives no longer appeared a remote, dusty place. The archives filled with the heaping files of trial records, immigration papers, and correspondence between Crown officials told a story about the interests of the various actors in the empire and I wanted to pursue the question of how labels such as ‘Morisco’ carried legal implications that could affect an individual’s social status and mobility. The following year I was accepted into the PhD program in history at Princeton University and the thesis I wrote there became the basis of my first book, Forbidden Passages: Muslims and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America. I continue to be engaged in researching and writing about these issues and exploring them in conversations with students and colleagues.”

Thanks very much to Dr Cook for that really interesting reflection.

That’s it folks. I very much hope to be back and recovered next week. Please take care of yourselves and have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there

Anna

Hello everyone

Because of the bank holiday tomorrow – which is of course to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of VE day – the newsletter comes a day earlier. What a treat I hear you cry! It marks the end of the first week of term, and the first week of alternative assessments for our undergraduates. I hope these have gone ok.

Amid all the revision and for our postgraduates the continued work on dissertations, the department continues to be a busy place with lots of things going on.

Dr Stefan Bauer had an article published in the Spectator this week which has the very intriguing title: ‘How Onofrio Panvinio made the popes history: The forgotten story of a Renaissance pioneer’. It’s well worth a read.

Professor Jonathan Phillips award winning book on Saladin has started to invade European lands with the publication of the Danish version pictured below. Any ideas on the Danish subtitle? (Indeed, do we have any Danish speakers in the department?)  It is 'A Middle Eastern Legend')

I did some filming for an upcoming Channel 5 programme on the Queen’s grandmother Mary of Teck this week. And, would you believe, I did this from my house! Rather amazingly a Samsung phone, microphone and tripod were couriered to me, the producer gained remote access to set up and away we went. Apparently, the quality is so good (the filming not me) that you wouldn’t know it wasn’t filmed in the usual way. Another example of the world changing around us and how things we didn’t think possible can be.

Talking of the world of work and amid all the uncertainty of the virus and the impact of the virus, I thought it opportune to flag up the prospect of MA study at RHUL next year. We offer a range of courses and I would encourage you to have a look and get in touch with the course convenor if you have questions of might be interested in applying. As everyone considers how they might usefully spend their time over the summer, you might also want to consider the fantastic online volunteering opportunities that the careers service are advertising including e.g. transcribing documents for the Imperial War Museum and transcribing anti-slavery manuscripts for the Boston Public Library . There are some other activities students can do from home listed too. These are great ways to boost your CV so well worth checking out. Indeed,  there are lots of ways you can develop your CV from home from online courses, volunteering opportunities and updating your social media accounts. Have a look here Discover more.

We all know a History degree matters, indeed it is hugely important perhaps never more so in a world of alternative facts and short-termism. On that theme, you might be interested in this article in Prospect magazine which makes the compelling case that government departments need historians

It’s been a quiet week on the baking front, although last weekend I did manage a birthday cake for a friend pictured below (not very pretty). It wasn’t too bad (for me) although I totally underestimate how much carrot you need in a carrot cake. Quite a lot it turns out!

Despite the start of term, or maybe because of it, lockdown life doesn’t get any easier. Each day brings fresh challenge and a different way of feeling about it. One of our undergraduates Izzy Barrett-Lally has been reflecting on lockdown life with a number of really interesting pieces including this one called ‘Infinite Regressions';

“All problems are relative. When you lock yourself away from the world these problems become even more relative. In lockdown, my worst current problem is about a box.  This box turned up at my door again yesterday. The box has been a problem in my life for several weeks. Today, I sat up heroically with my coffee, like Helen of Troy, staring into space and contemplating my box - I mean, lot. I thought to myself, 'I don't have to post the box again.' I could leave the box next to the door where I put it yesterday when I took it in from the same blonde, slightly rotund post person who looks like she is trying to hide her bemusement from me.  This box has been ruling my life on a three day cycle of coercive control for several weeks (this is my current analysis). I post the box with a new, slightly updated address and cycle to the nearest post office that is still open, pay my £11.50, and two days later the box turns up on my doorstep.  Today, I told myself, with my second cup of coffee, I do not have to post the box again. I am a strong, independent woman. I can summon the strength of my inner warrior (thank you, TedX)can show the box who's boss. I will not post the damn box today.  Inside there is a bag of coffee (strength 2), some chocolates and a coffee pot I took from the cupboard in my rented flat.  My mother thinks the coffee pot is dictating my life in a maddening cycle that brings it back to my door every third day due bad karma from:  1. Taking my landlord's coffee pot from the cupboard and trying to post this to a friend in another country. I told my friend I thought it belonged to my old housemate. 'You lied to her as well?!'  2. Being a horrible daughter for not posting her rouge kitchen appliances.  3. Being silly enough to waste all that money on postage. (Aren't I broke I, she reminds me.)  Maybe I will post the box again today...  “

It’s a great piece isn’t it? And captures brilliantly how lockdown can make small things, big things. We all have the really difficult challenge of looking after ourselves, mentally, physically and emotionally but also trying to be productive. I found this article on the BBC website really useful with 10 tips to help us get through lockdown life.

IF you have little people in your life, your children, brothers or sisters, things can be even more challenging. However, never wanting to miss the opportunity to generate enthusiasm for History and indeed with an eye on our long-term recruitment of new undergraduates, you might want to encourage them to enter this competition being run by the BBC History magazine. Its designed for those aged 6-13 and involves writing a postcard, pretending that you are a historical character living in a historical lockdown.

If one of your little people decides to take part, let me know and I would love to feature some here.

Also for kids of about the same age, is this special quiz designed to test historical knowledge in a fun way (or at least I found it fun!). Not going to reveal how many answers I got right!

And finally our regular feature, ‘Why do you do what you do’ and this week it’s the turn of Dr Andrea Mammone:

“I realised I wanted to become an academic while I was writing my master dissertation (Tesi di Laurea). I remember the specific moment this happened. I was in Strasbourg (France) for a 3-month language course and commercial training. The latter was the most boring (and tiring) part: data, numbers marketing. I had no time to deal with my studies. Given this, I took some days off. I immediately went to a university library to gather material for my dissertation on the French far right. Once I got in the actual building, surrounded by books … well it was clear to me that it was my world. I also own a debt of gratitude to a number of people who have shaped my overall academic career. Paul Corner, at my alma mater Università di Siena, never taught me a university course, but, implicitly, he has taught me a lot. When I first met him in Siena as an undergraduate student, I was impressed by his kindness; therefore, I soon realized that England was the place that I had eventually to explore for postgraduate studies. In sum, if I became a historian, it was particularly because Paul was a historian. However, if I am a “transnational” historian, I must thank Gerd-Rainer Horn. I firstly came across Rainer when he was at Warwick University, and I was looking for a PhD scholarship. He was a living academic example of transnationalism: born in Germany, university degrees in the U.S., and fluent in an incredible number of languages. After some time, I learned this “transnational galaxy” was the perfect theoretical frame for my own research goals. It was   also the actual frame of my life: a southern Italian with a life that brought me to live (sometimes for job and research) in nine cities, four nations, and two continents. 

After a while I realized that my research on extremism (and xenophobia) could have a sort of impact also outside academia. This led me to engage with the media, state agencies, associations, local councils, and similar etc. Over the years, I wrote roughly 100 op-eds in different languages. I believe that, especially today, historians have a civic duty. We might contribute to shape public opinion and public debates. This is particularly relevant in the age of fake news and demagogic politics, but we can also to show how the past can be really useful to understand the present era. “

Ok, that’s about it for this week. Given the long weekend, I hope to receive lots of baking news for next week or indeed pictures and reflections on life in lockdown.

Please look after yourselves, and amid your studies, take some time off and away from your computer!

Anna

Hello everyone

An odd start of term, on that we can agree.  I have certainly missed seeing everyone back on campus with all the expectant energy of the summer term, upcoming exams and long days working and playing hard. I miss human contact, chatting in corridors to staff and students, even queuing up for rather overpriced coffee! For all of that, and more, I am nostalgic. I wonder what you are missing most?

I wanted to begin this week’s newsletter, by acknowledging a number of our students who, alongside their studies, are key workers. Many are taking on long hours in shops, doing deliveries and in some cases working as NHS volunteers. I am so proud that you have stepped up and are making a difference in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Please do get in touch and tell me if you are one of those working in this way and give us a glimpse of what life’s been like. Your efforts are, in every sense, appreciated and acknowledged, and as a department we will support you in any way we can.

I am also very aware that, whilst the pandemic has had an enormous impact on all of us and the way we live our lives, it has impacted some of us very directly and very personally. Inevitably we shall know people who have been very sick or have even died as a result of the virus. Indeed, these might be members of our own family or our close friends. If you are in this position, please accept the heartfelt sympathies of the entire department and if a listening ear or indeed just someone to tell, would be helpful in a small way, do please contact me. Teaching and research lie at the heart of our department but so too does community and people. In the midst of all talk of alternative assessments, online teaching and the like, I am very aware that there will be hearts aching and, perhaps, breaking with sorrow and grief. Please do reach out if you need to talk to a friend, a tutor or to the college’s wellbeing service. We are all in this together.

I am delighted to say that has seen some joy and successes this week. Indeed, first thing on Monday morning, I received the news that Muhammad Altaf who was supervised by Dr Markus Daechsel, passed his viva with flying colours for a thesis on colonial development policy in the Princely State of Bahawalpur. Altaf came to us from Punjab University, Lahore, jointly funded by the Pakistan Higher Education Commission and RHUL. Can you believe that the viva, online of course, took place at 7 o’clock on Monday morning to ensure a secure internet connection?!. Wonderful news and congratulations to the new Dr Altaf.

Congratulations are also in order for two of our former students (both did their BA, MA and PhD here) whose books were published this week. The first by Nicholas Morton, The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187 (OUP) and the second by Osman Latiff, On Being Human: How Islam Addresses Othering, Dehumanisation and Empathy (IERA). A great achievement for both of them and excellent to see our former students being so productive.

Talking of which, two other former students Chris Hobbs and Laura Neff were delivered of a healthy boy, Theodore James in Washington DC earlier this month. Lovely, happy news at such a difficult time.

The latest Historians for History blog post was published this week and one of our MA Public History students, Tom Farrell, tells the fascinating story of the ill-fated plans for an American-history themed theme park that Disney planned to build back in the 1990s. Historians were so aghast at the idea that they formed a specially-dedicated pressure group to oppose the park, which never ultimately got off the ground. You can read the post via the following link:

As always, if any of you would like to contribute to Historians for History, do get in touch with Dr Edward Madigan.

Dr Emily Manktelow has also published a new student post on her Teaching Empire blog. In which Alex Gingham-Lake writes about the controversial series The British Tribe Next Door. Definitely worth a read.

I was pleasantly surprised, although now very self-conscious to report, that I have been shortlisted for a National Diversity Award which celebrates positive role models in the UK. I wouldn’t have mentioned it but it found its way into the college newsletter so seemed churlish not to put it in our department news.  I am hugely thankful to those that nominated me, whoever they may be. I feel very unworthy to be in the running but if you are bored and inclined to vote for me or any of the other nominees. 

Last week I warmed you up for the new term with a history quiz. It was rather difficult wasn’t it? This week I will put you out of your misery and allow you to mark your answers. They are:

1. What did the Romans call Scotland? Caledonia

2. Who was made Lord Mayor of London In 1397, 1398, 1406 And 1419? Richard (Dick) Whittington

3. Who was Henry VIIIs last wife? Catherine Parr

4. Who was the youngest British Prime Minister? William Pitt (the younger)

5. In which year was Joan of Arc burned at the stake? 1431

6. Which nationality was the polar explorer Roald Amundsen? Norwegian

7. Who was the first female Prime Minister of Australia? Julia Gillard (2010-2013)

8. Which English explorer was executed in 1618, fifteen year after being found guilty of conspiracy against King James I of England and VI of Scotland? Walter Raleigh

9. Which English city was once known as Duroliponte? Cambridge

10. The first successful vaccine was introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796. Which disease did it guard against? Smallpox

11. What was the name of the baker in whose bakery the Great Fire of London of 1666 apparently started? Thomas Farriner (or Farynor)

12. The Spanish Civil War started in 1936 and ended in which year? 1939

13. The horror of Guernica was portrayed in a painting by which artist? Pablo Picasso

14. Which US President had the middle name Milhous? Richard Nixon

15. Which two students founded Google in 1998? Larry Page and Sergey Brin

16. In 1870 the Third Republic is declared in France after which leader was deposed? Emperor Napoleon III

17. In 1958 the first artificial satellite launched in 1957 fell back to earth. What was its name? Sputnik 1

18. In 1918 Finland declared its independence from which country? Russia

19. Which iconic structure began its construction in California in January 1933? Golden Gate Bridge

20.  Which long distance train had its first run in October 1883? Orient Express

21. What colour were the pyramids at Giza originally? White

22. The first televised address from the Oval Office was made in 1947 by which President? President Truman

23. In November 1921, the Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi was assassinated in which city? Tokyo

24. Who found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Nov 1922? Howard Carter

25. On the 4th November 1956, Soviet troops entered which country in order to quell a rebellion? Hungary

26. Which Apache leader in 1886 after 29 years years of fighting finally surrendered in Arizona? Geronimo

27.  In 1904, the area that is known as "Times Square" in Manhattan was renamed to Times Square, what was it called before? Long Ace Square

28. Who is the Roman god of agriculture? Saturn

29. Manchester United players and 15 other passengers were killed in February 1958 in an accident that became known as what? Munich air disaster

30. What was the name of the mythological monster that had nine heads? Hydra

Let me know how many you got right!

I invited views of the ‘rooms of your own’ or the views beyond last week, and was delighted to receive the following from one of our students Johanna Holmes:

“The view from my desk on the sixth floor in North Kensington, looking north-west.  An unremarkable scene, like most urban landscapes, but rich in historical association both industrial, social and sporting (the Wembley stadium arch is just visible on the horizon).  Among the relics of a Victorian liminal space, the gasometer is the most obvious (uneconomic to demolish and decontaminate the land for decades after decommissioning), but invisible from here both the Grand Union canal and Brunel's Paddington Great Western line run in parallel from right to left.  This is the site of the Paddington rail disaster in 1999, in some ways an indicator of the deterioration over decades of the infrastructure and working practices of a previous age.  Beyond them, the mass of trees visible behind the gasometer are in Kensal Green Cemetery, where several of the central subjects of my dissertation are buried, including the redoubtable Anna Jameson (art-writer and feminist, 1794-1860) and Elizabeth Eastlake (1809-1893), with her husband Charles (Director of the National Gallery) and her baby daughter, and Louisa Twining (social reformer, 1820-1912).   In the foreground, the red-brick relics of GLC social housing are awaiting demolition and replacement with new. Between them and our building a newly built park and children's playground are empty during lockdown - very unsettling.  It would normally be a different soundscape to accompany this view! 

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy sent a very different image of the deserted coastline near where she lives:

And explains, “Anyone who knows me will know I’m often complaining about my commute. But living on the North Norfolk coast has its benefits at the moment. This is a photo taken on the Norfolk Coast Path, an 84-mile National Trail that stretches from Hunstanton in West Norfolk to Hopton-on-Sea on the East coast. The trail takes in a diverse and shifting topography of salt marshes, sand dunes, shingle beaches and seaside villages. I haven’t yet walked the whole trail, although I’ve walked large chunks of it many times over. I’m now determined to do the rest once lockdown is lifted!”

Dr Tooth Murphy has also continued with her baking success this week and made these very professional looking burger buns. She is a great stickler for quality control hence the missing one on the middle…

Dr Dilara Scholz, one of our visiting tutors, also joined the bake off this week with these cinnamon buns

And, in what can only be described as an embarrassment of rich talent, Dr Cat Cooper produced this amazing array of bagels and loaves. If we don’t see Cat back in the department, we will know she’s gone and set up her own bakery. I would be first in the queue!

Moving beyond the kitchen. Professor Sarah Ansari has turned her talent to needlecraft, and produced this most beautiful piece of embroidery with the names of various herbs around the edge:

And finally, our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’  This week it’s the turn of Professor Jane Hamlett who has just returned from sabbatical. Here’s her response:

“I’ve been enjoying reading this column a lot and have particularly liked hearing about the places and people that have shaped what historians in our department do, especially in their early days. So, this is what I’ve attempted here – apologies for length!

My interest in history was first sparked by some very lively schoolteachers – one particular teacher, a Miss Shotlander, really stood out – and I remember the great glee with which she related stories about sanitary conditions in Victorian Britain – telling us about streets running with filth etc. When I studied history at A-level I was lucky enough to be taught by John Boughton, who recently wrote Municipal Dreams – John was an excellent teacher (I still use his anecdotes about Gladstone to this day!) and importantly, he taught history with a social conscience. I wrote my A-level coursework on the German resistance movement during the Second World War and was fascinated.

After that, I went to Mansfield College, Oxford, to read history. I always felt that I got in because David Rundle, the rather fierce early modernist, was late to the interview and instead I had a lovely chat with James Raven, a gentler book specialist, who asked me what I wanted to talk about – which turned out to be how historians might understand feminism by reading novels. However, in fact, Mansfield, then as now, stood out among the Oxford Colleges as it had an unusually high ratio of state school students and an inclusive and accepting culture. It had a much less intimidating and formal environment than some other colleges and both James and David turned out to be great teachers in different ways.

I enjoyed reading history at Oxford enormously (my favourite subjects were English Baroque architecture and Anglo-Saxon England) but there was something missing. During my three years there I think I had one tutorial with a female tutor. I remained interested in feminism but there was little scope to apply this within the history curriculum at Oxford in the late 1990s. After my first degree I wasn’t sure about carrying on with history – and instead went off to London – as did most other recent graduates. After a few dodgy job interviews, I eventually got a graduate post on a financial newswire.

This turned out to be surprisingly interesting, I learned a lot and made some great friends (although, because of I was in charge of writing the daily bond market round ups, my colleagues referred to me as ‘Jane Bond’, which was rather trying...). But I was still interested in feminism, and in history. In 1999 the best place to study feminist history in the UK was Royal Holloway, where the history department ran a fantastic MA in Women’s History led by Lyndal Roper and Amanda Vickery. I applied for a place and got a scholarship. The course was amazing. For the first time I felt fully engaged by the subject and as if I really had a stake in it. I became very interested in the material world (harking back to architectural history) and how it can be used to frame identities. This led to a PhD on material culture and gender in Victorian homes – and where I am today.

Since PhD days I’ve retained my commitment to feminist history – which started me off on the study of the home – a terrain often strongly associated with women and overlooked for that reason. Since then I have written domestic life in different forms. My last project explored asylums, schools and lodging houses in the Victorian and Edwardian age and what life was like for their inmates. At the moment I’m looking at the home in a new way – by researching the history of pet animals. Over time, public history has become a more important part of what I do. Given my interest in material and visual culture it makes sense to work closely with museums and heritage organisations and I’ve co-curated several exhibitions. At the moment this work as become more difficult for obvious reasons – but we’re all looking for new ways of working in the current environment.”

We certainly are!

Ok that’s about it for now, except to wish a very happy birthday to our Admission Tutor Dr Rob Priest. Many happy returns Rob and I do hope lockdown celebrations are all that they might be.... (whatever that means!).

Do have a good Friday afternoon everybody and a relaxing weekend, as far as is possible, when you get there.

Anna

Hello everyone

Henry James was ahead of his time: ‘“It’s nothing to come to Europe,” she (Henrietta) said to Isabel; “it doesn’t seem to me one needs so many reasons for that. It is something to stay at home; this is much more important.”’ The Portrait of a Lady (1881). And, so much more difficult! I don’t know about you, but Lockdown is feeling ever harder, and as the sun shines the desire to go out, see friends, and properly relax is so hard to resist. Yet, of course resist we must, aside from our daily exercise outings.

Next week is the start of term. It will feel odd and rather sad for many of us who won’t get to see our friends and colleagues and enjoy summer term activities. I totally get this, and empathise in particular with our finalists. That said Dr Prue Chamberlain, the School Director of Student Experience, is working with heads of department to explore ways of ‘socialising’ online. I can also reassure final year students that the college’s senior management team are working hard on plans for the postponed summer graduation to take place next academic year. I will, of course, share information as soon as it becomes available although of course nothing can be confirmed until the government advises that such gatherings are permissible. And if in the meantime you are missing campus, one of our alumni Dr Michaela Jones, who completed her PhD with Dr Stella Moss last year, has recreated Founders Building in the computer game The Sims.

Whilst the new term will be like nothing before, students should be in no doubt that tutors will continue to support you in office hours, revision classes etc and will be in touch with details of how and when they will be available. I too will be available during working hours on email and for MS Team chats. Do get in touch if you need to and we can correspond by email or arrange a time to speak. And, as I said in last week’s newsletter, I would absolutely encourage everyone to devise a timetable  for the upcoming  weeks so you can mark the transition to term time work, help structure your day and ensure you do the work required whilst also having meaningful time away from your desk.

I should also like to pass on to all students and staff the thanks of the Principal Paul Layzell for everyone’s patience, understanding and hard work over the past few weeks and their flexibility in adapting to the unprecedented circumstances. He is also very aware of the costs to everyone’s wellbeing. The senior management team are working on all kinds of initiatives to support students and updates and information will be shared on the college intranet.

In other news, our Research Associate Dr Greg Jenner, who was a guest contributor to the ‘Why do you do what you do’ section a fortnight ago, is doing a series on Radio 4 Homeschool Histories full of facts and jokes which bring to life a broad range of historical topics, many linked to the school curriculum. Some of us may enjoy listening to these as might any mini historians we are responsible for! 

Of course, I know the most pressing question is, who has been cooking what this week? Well there have been a couple of very notable successes:

This white chocolate, almond, and blueberry brownies - with some extra brownie bites, made by one of our former PhD students and visiting tutors, Dr Charlotte Young.

And these amazing caramel and chocolate muffins made by Dr Emily Manktelow

These were the notable successes, there was however, one notable failure. Flushed with the success of my banana bread last week, I decided to make a banana and chocolate cake. I followed the recipe precisely, or so I thought, until upon tasting it, I discovered that ‘a pinch of salt’ doesn’t mean a pinch of rock salt! Back to the drawing board.

In an effort to keep you amused, and to warm you all up for the new term, I have posted below a short History quiz which you might like to have a go at. If I can trust no googling, I  will happily award a prize to whoever gets most answers right!

Questions

1. What did the Romans call Scotland?

2. Who was made Lord Mayor of London In 1397, 1398, 1406 And 1419?

3. Who was Henry VIIIs last wife?

4. Who was the youngest British Prime Minister?

5. In which year was Joan of Arc burned at the stake?

6. Which nationality was the polar explorer Roald Amundsen?

7. Who was the first female Prime Minister of Australia?

8. Which English explorer was executed in 1618, fifteen year after being found guilty of conspiracy against King James I of England and VI of Scotland?

9. Which English city was once known as Duroliponte?

10. The first successful vaccine was introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796. Which disease did it guard against?

11. What was the name of the baker in whose bakery the Great Fire of London of 1666 apparently started?

12. The Spanish Civil War started in 1936 and ended in which year?

13. The horror of Guernica was portrayed in a painting by which artist?

14. Which US President had the middle name Milhous?

15. Which two students founded Google in 1998?

16. In 1870 the Third Republic is declared in France after which leader was deposed?

17. In 1958 the first artificial satellite launched in 1957 fell back to earth. What was its name?

18. In 1918 Finland declared its independence from which country?

19. Which iconic structure began its construction in California in January 1933?

20.  Which long distance train had its first run in October 1883?

21. What colour were the pyramids at Giza originally?

22. The first televised address from the Oval Office was made in 1947 by which President?

23. In November 1921, the Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi was assassinated in which city?

24. Who found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Nov 1922?

25. On the 4th November 1956, Soviet troops entered which country in order to quell a rebellion?

26. Which Apache leader in 1886 after 29 years years of fighting finally surrendered in Arizona?

27.  In 1904, the area that is known as "Times Square" in Manhattan was renamed to Times Square, what was it called before?

28. Who is the Roman god of agriculture?

29. Manchester United players and 15 other passengers were killed in February 1958 in an accident that became known as what?

30. What was the name of the mythological monster that had nine heads?

Before our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’, I wanted to return to my opening remarks about the appeal of the outside and showcase some photos from colleagues taken on their daily walks. I don’t know about you, but never has the countryside seemed more inviting and necessary as the ultimate antidote to hours online.

And this one taken by Dr Selena Daly from the Greenwich observatory.

Do feel free to share glimpses from your lockdown life, both your moments outside but also too your working spaces, your desks, the views from your window etc. It would be nice to have a collection of images – ‘ rooms of one’s own’.

Finally, why do you do what you do? and this week it’s the term of Dr Simone Gigliotti,  

“The invitation to n to contribute to this rather confessional column is a welcome pause from the ever-fluid operational to do list which includes meeting the Government-mandated daily exercise quota, which I undertake along the Thames River, and then returning for the late afternoon BBC Coronavirus briefing. Thereafter I refrain from watching or listening to Coronavirus coverage but I do not go so far as watching Tiger King on Netflix to keep me current with the decline of humanity. The Coronavirus and its devastating effects are despairing enough.

Constant media coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic has made me rethink how we curate our daily lives of reading, learning, and interacting with the past. What features constitute an archive of the body in pain and resilience? We see it everywhere: the oral histories of suffering, the family loss, separation, and deaths in isolation. Conversely, technology has enabled the creation of new friendship groups, fundraising events, and global learning platforms that testify to the privileged age of virtual intimacy. How does this preamble translate to what I do and why I do it?

As a Holocaust historian, ruminating on the dark and difficult past is not just the centre of my professional life and teaching focus, it has been, also, and invariably, my constant companion. What I am doing at the moment, apart from reading about whether extroverts or introverts will ‘win’ the psychological war against confinement, is reflecting quite a bit on comparisons in the media about interpreting the lockdown with experiences of shelter and survival during the Holocaust (or germs vs. the Germans, as one friend put it).

These comparisons were all too apparent this past week when several major events of Holocaust commemoration took place. While I had never forgotten the Holocaust during the pandemic, I was really eager to watch two commemorative events about it: ‘Return to Belsen’, a documentary by Jonathan Dimbleby about the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp by the 11^th Armoured Division of the British Army on 15 April 1945, and the live streaming of the National Yom HaShoah UK Commemoration, the annual Jewish Remembrance Day for victims of the Holocaust. The theme of this year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration, ‘Remember Together: We Are One’ immediately elevated what is normally an uncomfortable historical comparison of survival, but which in these times, enabled a shared, if momentary, emotional space of resilience.

A highlight from the Yom HaShoah live stream was an interview between the TV judge and barrister, Robert Rinder, himself the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, and Mala Tribuch, a survivor of Bergen Belsen. With unreliable internet connectivity, it was Robert Rinder who was suddenly, if not uncharacteristically, quiet. Mala kept asking, ‘Robert, are you there’? She persevered into the silence. But he, like us, was there and listening. Mala motivates me to do what I do, mooring me to her history and what it can and cannot teach us in these unprecedented times. “

Some really interesting thoughts there from Dr Gigliotti.

Ok that’s it folks, have a good Friday and a good weekend once you get there. Please remember this is your department and newsletter so do send in suggestions for things we should be doing or ideas or events to share.

Monday is the start of term so don’t forget to sharpen your pencils and polish your shoes (make that slippers!). Do get in touch if you need to

Anna

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a ‘good’ Easter weekend albeit one that was, I suspect, not what you had hoped for or imagined. Whilst the sun shone, we were asked to stay at home where we will remain for at least the next 3 weeks.  For some of us, this might mean welcome time with family, for others a very hard separation from those we love; our family, our friends, our normal lives. Some of us might also be experiencing difficulties as we remain in lockdown either with relationships, with work or with our own physical and mental health. It is for everyone, a very challenging time and once again, although it is the vacation, I write the department newsletter as an attempt to maintain a semblance of routine and connection, both of which are really important at a time when so much is uncertain and in flux. It is important to have things we can rely on, can plan for, look forward to and structure our days around. Our department does, I hope, provide a structure of sorts, a schedule of things that happen and a community of people who care and who share similar concerns, experiences, interests and ambitions.

Over the weekend and next week, I would encourage all of us to reboot and consider the things we can control, that we know will happen and that we can and should plan and work for. All our students, undergrads and postgrads, have now received information on the alternative assessments that will take place and can now focus and organise their time to ensure they are fully prepared. The new term will start on Monday 27^th April and tutors will be available either in online revision seminars and/or office hours to answer questions and provide additional support or direction. Everyone now has the dates when work is due or assessments will take place, so again plan and use those to create a structure of work, and play, over the next few weeks.  As I said last week, whilst the circumstances are unprecedented and difficult in many ways, ‘Lockdown’ does also provide an opportunity to really focus and commit  to working hard.  For those of you working on dissertations, undergrads and postgrads, there are particular challenges given the closure of libraries and archives. Once again, I urge you to explore online resources but also to talk to your supervisors who can advise on alternative material at least for now. MPhil and PhD students will also have received specific advice from the doctoral school.

So I guess, my message is to reflect on the things we do know will happen, organise your time accordingly and use that structure over the next few weeks to help you stay focused, to stay well and hopefully give you a small sense of control and wellbeing.

Ok, that all said, what else has been going on? Well,  it has been the Easter holiday so this week we are going to focus on non-academic pursuits in Quarantine Corner which have, as ever, involved a lot of baking! So here goes, prepare to get hungry and maybe a little inspired.

First off, a wholemeal sourdough loaf, a first, from the House of Windscheffel. Looks like a pretty good rise to me.

Professor Andrew Jotischky also made his first sourdough loaves this week using starter as recommended on BBC Food.

Dr Amy Tooth Murphy is officially, at least this week, the department’s head baker, Not only did she produce this Black pepper rye loaf.

But also ,  produced these sourdough loafs which I think look amazingly flexible and so, so ready to be eaten!

And besides bread, Dr Amy Tooth Murphy made these Rye and raisin (and a bit of cocoa) cookies. They look fantastic and sound both healthy and delicious!

Others also moved from bread to cakes and cookies. Professor Jane Hamlett’s household produced this, carrot and walnut cake, which looks delicious!

Also using vegetables in perhaps unexpected ways was Dr Selena Daly who baked this very nicely decorated courgette and lime cake complete with lemon curd icing! I didn’t know you could still get Lemon curd! I remember eating it on bread when I was about 5 for a special treat!

Now we all know Dr Rob Priest our admission tutor is a pretty smart guy, but so too is he a lucky one. Look what came out of his kitchen this week! (NB Dr Priest was not responsible!)

Amazing! Equally impressive is this,

Dr Cat Cooper’s first ever Pork Pie!! Who knew, we had such talented bakers among us.

And last and very definitely least, my attempt to compete with my colleagues: a banana bread. Very modest indeed but, I think, I have caught the baking bug, it really is rather thrilling to actually make something! Not sure what to try next week but watch this space..

And it’s not all been baking in Quarantine corner, Dr Emily Manktelow, she of the jigsaw (update please Emily!) has also been busy knitting and selling her rainbow bears for NHS Charities Together.

Head to Etsy if you would like to buy one.

Dr Selena Daly has been working as part of Migration Collective Team, the non-profit organisation that runs the London Migration Film Festival.

As a response to Covid-19, they have put together a retrospective of some of their favourite films presented at the festival over the past four years, all free to view online. They will have a rotating programme of films over the next six weeks with a different migration-related charity promoted every two weeks if you wish to make a donation. 

From 15–28 April, they are showing three feature-length films and three shorts. A favourite of Dr Daly’s is the documentary, The Art of Moving, follows a group of Syrian refugees in Turkey as they produce anti-Isis comedy sketches. Our three short films follow migrants in London, including a North Korean defector, an Iranian postman and an Afghani girl going on her first date. 

And finally, our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week we have two entries, one from Charlotte Geer one of our third year students, and another from Paul Moore an MA History student. First Charlotte, why do you do what you do?

“After four joyful, stressful and life-changing years, I have found that it is good to reflect and remind myself of why I am here, not in a Nihilistic existential crisis way, more so a positive reflection of what I have achieved throughout my undergraduate degree. As I am coming to the final hurdle it makes me sad to see this chapter end, especially under these current circumstances. But, I would not trade a single minute of it. I chose a degree in History simply because I loved it at school, I could never see myself choosing another route in life, and I am happy I didn’t. I remember my first lecture in my first year and we were asked ‘Is History a Science or an Art?’ Quite honestly, at the time I never truly understood this question or how I would answer it. Then I reached my third year, where I had the opportunity to study abroad at the University of Melbourne, and this is where it clicked that History can be both and it can be neither; that is why I love it so much. History can be intertwined with the deepest roots of political science, from Plato to Augustine to Locke, whomever you read, history is the foundational core of each political text. Yet, History can flourish into a beautiful art form, rooting itself in television, fashion or architecture. History surrounds us, it shapes who we are and teaches us to better with every step we take in life.

Final year for anyone is tough; for me, moving back to the United Kingdom and trying to re-settle, strike action and now the Coronavirus. It has been strange, but it is an experience I would not change and I know you’re probably reading this and wondering why? Well it makes me proud to be sat here now, planning my future studies and realising what I can achieve, even in the toughest times. Royal Holloway has not only taught me, it has opened my mind to history. If I had told my 18-year old self that she would be excited by studying the history of political thought or economic history or even the concept of space in a historical context (which has quite possibly been the most fascinating and in-sighting modules I have ever taken) she would have laughed and thought ‘impossible’. Yet, here I am, 21-years old and excited to take my next step in life and whilst my pathway has led me to studying in the field of gender, history will always have a special place in my heart. This is all why I do what I do, throughout my degree I have had my mind opened further than I could ever imagine. I love the weird and wonderful conversations I have with my tutors and fellow students, with the chance to think out loud without the fear of being judged. Learning is one thing, but growing is another, and I truly thank Royal Holloway for letting me flourish in both. ““After four joyful, stressful and life-changing years, I have found that it is good to reflect and remind myself of why I am here, not in a Nihilistic existential crisis way, more so a positive reflection of what I have achieved throughout my undergraduate degree. As I am coming to the final hurdle it makes me sad to see this chapter end, especially under these current circumstances. But, I would not trade a single minute of it. I chose a degree in History simply because I loved it at school, I could never see myself choosing another route in life, and I am happy I didn’t. I remember my first lecture in my first year and we were asked ‘Is History a Science or an Art?’ Quite honestly, at the time I never truly understood this question or how I would answer it. Then I reached my third year, where I had the opportunity to study abroad at the University of Melbourne, and this is where it clicked that History can be both and it can be neither; that is why I love it so much. History can be intertwined with the deepest roots of political science, from Plato to Augustine to Locke, whomever you read, history is the foundational core of each political text. Yet, History can flourish into a beautiful art form, rooting itself in television, fashion or architecture. History surrounds us, it shapes who we are and teaches us to better with every step we take in life.

And Paul, why do you do what you do?

“I am mature student (78) trying to get the education that I never had. I had an Irish father, Czechoslovak mother, went to a Roman Catholic school in Slough. Took no GCEs whatsoever, no one in the school did either. We were thickos. I had an intense boyhood interest in aircraft and with extreme luck managed to secure an engineering apprenticeship with BOAC (note not BA). That entailed five years at Southall technical College and I came out with a Higher National certificate in aeronautical engineering. I became a flight engineer on an aircraft called a Bristol Britannia operated by an airline called British Eagle. At 21 I was flying “£10 poms” to Australia, in 1967/68 I flew David Attenborough to the Nike Zeus base on Ascension Island, and scientists to the Maralinga atomic testing range during the radioactivity clear up Operation Brumby. British Eagle went broke and in 1969 I joined Middle East airlines (MEA) based in Beirut. We lived there for seven years, my daughter who is now history teacher in Australia was born there. After being shot at a couple of times in the Lebanese civil war we decided it was time to leave.  I converted to pilot and had various jobs including living in Hong Kong for five years when I was employed by Cathay Pacific airlines. After Cathay I joined Virgin Atlantic eventually becoming a management captain on Virgin's jumbos and Airbuses. Since enforced retirement in 2002 I have tried to get the education that I was missing. I managed a BSC from the Open University with various science diplomas but distance learning isn’t the same as attending an institution (as we are currently finding out!). So when I got accepted by Royal Holloway (I am currently doing an MA in history) I got a thrill, even at my advanced age, when I felt I was actually at university. I never thought it would happen.”

Ok that’s it folks, please stay well, stay safe, look after yourselves and those around you. And, as ever, if you need to talk or to get support, please reach out and ask. You may be self-isolating but no one is alone. We are, and remain, the sum of all our parts.

Anna

Hello everyone

A break from tradition, with a brief and midweek department newsletter ahead of the holiday weekend. Despite the vacation, the department continues to operate, and our community survives and thrives. Colleagues across the department have been working hard to finalise arrangements on assessments and exams for UG and PG students. This has been a mammoth task and is, of course, hugely important. I reassured everyone at the start of this crisis that students would absolutely not be disadvantaged by this situation. I am really gratified, pleased and relieved to see that this has absolutely proved to the case and the ‘safety net’ policy that has been announced, protects students from any negative impact on their grades. Research students have also received notification of adjustments that will be made to timings and deadlines to again acknowledge the circumstances. Do please read see the college intranet for key information about these assessments including the type of alternative assessment that will be used to for each course module. Your individual tutors will be then able to respond to any particular queries as to what that means for their module.

My general advice to all our students is continue to work hard, prepare carefully, do your best and be ambitious for the grade you might achieve. Quite simply you have nothing to lose and I would really encourage you to use the time in lockdown to focus, work hard and go for it! We, the department and the college, are rooting for you. Make this year, a year when you excel in spite of the circumstances, it will make your achievement all the sweeter and more significant.

As well as working hard, it is absolutely critical of course to have time away from your desk, from all screens and to exercise (as the government recommends) and relax. My friend who is a physiotherapist and Pilates teacher, has made a really helpful little video to help those of us who are spending so much of our time sitting at a computer. Do check it out. Its only 15 minutes, very simple stretches and she has an incredibly calming voice which also helps! 

Something else you might want to try, is this, a suggestion that was passed on to me. Every time you wish you could do something, go somewhere, treat yourselves, see someone you love, visit a new place, invite people to visit, write it down on a post it note and put it in a jar. When all this is over this will be your bucket list and you’ll be able to work your way through the jar and be more grateful than ever for the little and lovely things in your lives. Until then watch the jar fill up with lots of things to look forward to…

And of course, chronicling life in lockdown is useful both for our own wellbeing perhaps but also for future historians. As a department we are planning on setting up a Corona Archive to capture experiences in lockdown for students and staff. Dr Stella Moss is going to lead on this and her and I will be in touch in due course but, in the meantime think about a daily diary or some short video diary entries recorded on your phone describing your day, feelings, small accomplishments (e.g. flour at the supermarket) or dismal failures (cooking, home fitness etc ).

Finally, in terms of suggested things for life in Lockdown, you might want to sign up and ‘attend’ this event on 20^th April 7pm on Zoom. Its free and looks like it will be a real interesting evening. I’ve been to some of the 5 x15 ‘normal ‘events and they are really good so worth checking out.

In other news, members of the department have been on the airwaves this week talking about various topics. On Sunday evening and then on Monday morning, I did various tv and radio interviews to discuss the Queen’s speech and on Wednesday Dr Emmett Sullivan was on BBC Radio Surrey talking about previous times in history when the country’s leader has fallen ill. Dr Amy Tooth Murphy also appeared on BBC Radio Surrey, talking on the breakfast show last Friday along with Professor James Daybell of University of Plymouth (one of the department’s external examiners) and of the Histories of the Unexpected podcast series. They were discussing the value of oral history as a tool to get kids talking to their grandparents about their lives and about history. With schools closed this is a fantastic opportunity for children to learn about history, and often histories that are overlooked in the national curriculum, such as histories of the everyday and the histories of marginalised communities. As many elderly people are having to self-isolate it’s a very lonely time, and many are missing spending time with their families. Encouraging kids to pick up the phone and call their grandparents and great-grandparents to ask them about important moments in their lives is a great way to build some intergenerational bonds while also being hugely educational. There’s also lots of scientific proof that reminiscing about the past can be very beneficial for mental wellbeing, especially for the elderly. So, although our lives are hugely constrained at the moment, with lots of us suffering from anxiety and sadness, using oral history to talk to elderly relatives can be a really positive experience for all involved. This is so true and maybe something we could all consider doing over the phone or skype.

Talking of thing we should all consider doing, the department’s Bake Off goes from strength to strength and the competition gets ever fiercer. This week Dr Amy Tooth Murphy has also been very busy baking. In an update entitled ‘Adventures in Sourdough’ she announced success with pizza, pancakes crumpets and bagels, (pictured here).

Wow, she really is quite the baker!

Dr Becky Jinks who we’ve already spotted as a serious (cheese)cake and pastry chef, showed her talent once again this week with this amazing wholemeal flan

And this Pear frangipane tart which both look amazing! 

Dr Cat Cooper, who besides being our digital guru is very good at bread and cake, this week produced this excellently described ‘Two person Victoria sponge.’

And just as the newsletter was going to press, Dr Edward Madigan sent in a picture of a rather wonderful looking Banana Bread.

How inadequate do I feel? All I managed to make this week was, a coffee – in fact several!

In other news, Dr Emily Manktelow has embarked on the ultimate challenge: recreating the British Empire. Well, at least, as a jigsaw. You can follow her progress on her ‘live tweets’ on twitter @EManktelow.

Good job it’s a bank holiday weekend and she’s got plenty of time…

And finally, our regular feature, ‘why do you do what you do?’ and this week, as its Easter,  we have a special guest contribution from Honorary Research Associate and friend of the department Greg Jenner. Greg is the research brain behind Horrible Histories and the author of a new book Dead Famous which explores the history of Celebrities. Do find Greg on Twitter, he’s a mine of great facts, wisdom and would love to hear from any of you,

https://www.gregjenner.com/

So, Greg Jenner, why do you do what you do?

“I love my job, but it’s quite difficult to explain it in a short sentence, and few people understand my job title. I’m a public historian. My day-to-day life is spent working on various creative projects that are built with a broad audience in mind. But it’s not the usual audience that most historians aim for; whereas most of my colleagues – in both academia and popular broadcasting – tend to pitch their work towards history enthusiasts, I’ve dedicated my career to making History accessible and enjoyable to the large swathe of people for whom the subject is tediously dull, intimidatingly vast, or utterly irrelevant. Sadly, these people are many. They range in ages from teens to octogenarians, but History was often their least favourite lesson in school. Either that, or it’s a subject they’re barely getting their head around because they’re only just turning 7 years old.

I have always loved the deep, theoretical side of historical scholarship, but I’ve always bent towards comedy too. My undergraduate essays were laced with gratuitous irony, my MA thesis managed to crowbar in large chunks of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, and my intended PhD – which I sadly was unable to afford – would have examined satirical humour in medieval romance literature. I’ve always found jokes where others didn’t, and my instincts for comedy were perhaps unsuited to the academe. But they seem a better fit for communicating the fascinating complexity of the past to the public. Having gone into TV production in 2005, I was lucky to land the job of a lifetime in 2008, as the only historian on the Horrible Histories team. It allowed me to not only work alongside funny people, but to learn from them. After twelve years on the show and having watched a generation of children turn into a generation of young adults, I’m now also the author of two books, the host of two BBC podcasts, and I work as a consultant on historical dramas and films. I’m also an obsessive Twitter addict. Many of the people who now listen to my podcast and radio programmes, and chat along with me on social media, grew up with HH on their TVs. It gives me enormous pride to have been a small part of their journey towards enjoying History.

So, why do I use humour in my work? Well, apart from the fact it brings me great pleasure to collaborate with funny people, I see comedy not as the antithesis of seriousness, but rather as a tool for communicating that very seriousness. Getting the public to engage with History is enormously important, for its own intellectual sakes and for society as a whole and demystifying the subject’s dusty grandeur can often be the key to grabbing people’s attention. Moreover, laughter isn’t flippant. Inspiring passion in audiences for whom a subject was once lifeless and drab takes all the weapons in our arsenal, and comedy is one of the best at aiding memory retention. Jokes work as neural anchors in our brains; you can attach any peace of useful information to a gag and, if you deliver it well, that information will hang around in someone’s mind much longer than if it is delivered in a more sober, conversational style. Songs do this too. Tell a kid all the Kings and Queens of England, and they’ll forget it in minutes. But sing it to them, and they’ll be singing it back to you for years to come. I know this for a fact, because I was once a kid inspired to enjoy history by Tony Robinson’s sitcom Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (and yes, I can still sing the theme tune!)

But, in recent years, I’ve also been interrogating my responsibilities as a public historian. As well as working on historical dramas – which long with video games are undoubtedly the most influential shapers of public attitudes towards the past – in 2013, I began writing books, and I considered myself well-read in all sorts of historical subjects. But, as I started to socialise more with other historians, I realised I knew very little about a lot. My skillset was in making things entertaining, but I didn’t have deep expertise in anything. Aware that I had built a small platform from which to support others, I decided that I would try and change my career priorities towards not just speaking on behalf of academics but instead finding ways to bring expert scholars into those public conversations.

My BBC podcast You’re Dead To Me is the result. It’s a comedy show that gives top comedians and expert historians the same weighting, and finds room for both dick jokes and historiography. I’ve been delighted by the public response. Within 2 days of its launch it was the number 1 podcast in the UK charts, and we’ve covered all sorts of historical subjects that don’t usually get much primetime coverage, including Byzantine history, medieval West Africa, LGBTQ histories, the history of chocolate, Mughal South Asia, and plenty more. We also give opportunities to early career scholars, particularly women, who don’t usually get phone calls from journalists. It’s meant that we’ve not only tried to introduce the public to a wide variety of global histories, but we’ve also  started to change how the public perceives what historians look like and sound like. This in turn might help us recruit a greater diversity of young History students to help enrich the future of the discipline and reflect our society.  So, in conclusion, I do what I do because I love History, and I want it to be accessible by all. But that means making it feel welcoming to all. “

Great sentiments which, I think, we can all support and which, I hope, underpin our identity and ambition as a department.

Ok folks that’s it for now. Please find some time over the Easter weekend to switch off and have some ‘safe’ fun.  Everyone needs a break so please lets all understand if our emails are not responded to until after the bank holiday. If you are struggling with your health, physical or mental, please reach out to wellbeing – all contact details are on the college website.  Please remember we may be self-isolating but we are not alone. Everyone is part of this community, and we all plan to get through this successfully together. And I want to hear news of what you’ve been up to for the newsletter next week!

Be kind to yourselves, good to others and stay well.

“We will meet again” 😊

A

Hello everyone

Yes it’s out of term but, given the unusual circumstances, and by popular demand (ish), the department newsletter continues.

‘Humans are by nature social animals … anyone who cannot live as part of community or is so self-sufficient as not to need to … is either a beast or a god.’ So remarked Aristotle in his Politics. The challenge for any community is how to stay connected. Or better put: a community is only as strong as its connections. And, I am happy to say the department continues to demonstrate its strength as a community with, digital coffees, lunch and drinks continuing as well as lots of meetings! And among students, Netflix parties, online feedback and consultation hours with tutors as well as skype and email interactions continue. This is really good to see, and I hope we can continue to look for ways to stay connect even if we remain apart. I am particularly keen to think about how we can ‘celebrate’ virtually the end of the academic year especially for our finalists. I am open to any and all suggestions.

In lots of ways, the normal working life of the department continues, with students preparing for assessments and exams (information to come from college later); or writing theses, and academic colleagues marking, giving online talks and writing articles along with juggling childcare responsibilities and many other domestic challenges. (please bear with your tutors if they take a little longer than usual to respond, or send emails out of normal working hours – we all need to be flexible and understanding at the moment)

Dr Andrea Mammone wrote a piece for the independent this week which argues that many European citizens – particularly those in Italy – will pay a huge price because of the pandemic, and public opinion will not forget the EU’s failure to help. 

Professor Helen Graham also appeared in the press this week with a review in the Guardian of Paul Preston’s new book on the history of modern Spain, A People Betrayed. 

I am delighted to say that after a hiatus of several months, the popular department blog Historians for History is now back up and running. This week, Professor Andrew Jotischky in a highly topical piece, highlights the sense of threat medieval Europeans felt as they looked to the unknown, exotic East and draws parallels with some of the more reactionary responses to the spread of Covid-19 in our own time. You can read this fascinating post via the following link:

For many of us, the closure of archives and libraries, poses a real problem for our research, however more and more institutions are responding by putting archives online. The IHR have opened up content at British History online that was previously parked behind a paywall.

And the National Archives are set to make digitised content that is currently pay per view access unless you are physically at Kew will also be made free to view in the next few days. The Bodleian library has also provided links to the following sites which may be of interest,

National Emergency Library – temporary free access to 1.5m ebooks

British Online Archives – full access until 20 April 2020

Tips for locating digital resources & ebooks (this will be kept up to date so do revisit)

There is a list of additional resources available through the Senate House Library

But beyond work, what news from Quarantine Corner? Well first after a steward’s enquiry, it seems a cheesecake is not a cake and so the winner of last week’s Bake Off is Katy Mortimer with that amazing Black forest cake. Apologies to Dr Becky Jinks whose cheesecake just missed out.

This week it seems bread remained the theme of many people’s culinary efforts and Dr Amy Tooth Murphy impressed with her first, and very successful, attempt at focaccia

Many of us also turned to drink (quite literally) and one curious tipple that stood out was this one, an Orange Natural wine which Professor Jane Hamlett sampled (on behalf of the department of course). Not sure about you, but that makes me think of 1980s Lucozade or Fanta but, who knows, when Lockdown is lifted, perhaps I’ll try and get a bottle

The bar (no pun intended) for activities in Quarantine corner was set rather high this week by a historian, not from our department but from the University of Kent. Dr Ben Marsh and his family became an internet sensation

Gauntlet thrown down I think!

And finally, our regular feature, ‘Why Do You Do What You Do?’ and this week we have two entries, the first from Chris Nicholls who is studying for an MA in Medieval Studies (proving that it’s never too late to return to study) and Professor Humayan Ansari. First Chris why do you do what you do?

‘In short, for Fun!  I am a (very) mature student at Royal Holloway, taking up an entirely new field of work after a lifetime in the law.  I had studied history for O level and A level back in the 1960s (when the rise of Nazism, the Holocaust and the Second World War were recent events and not regarded as history for studying in schools!) but my mother advised that the law would pay better than history – she was definitely right!  I first went to university (actually, a specialist law college in Holborn) in September 1968, almost 50 years to the day before I started at RHUL.  Having graduated in 1972 and been formally admitted as a solicitor in 1976, I pursued a career in the law but continued to read various history books.  When, in February 2018, I sat in a rather cold tribunal training centre in Northamptonshire watching the snow fall, which had been brought by the ‘Beast from the East’, I saw my 70th birthday and enforced retirement from my last role as a tribunal judge fast approaching.  To prevent rapid deterioration of my elderly brain cells, something had to be done.  I found details of the MA in Medieval Studies at RHUL, was attracted by the, then, emphasis on medieval London (the city where I was born), realised that it was not too far to travel from my home in East Hampshire and went along to an open evening where I met Peregrine Hordern, from whom I received nothing but encouragement.  I applied for a part-time place on the course, was accepted, gave notice to retire, finished my legal career at the end of August and entered, with some trepidation, the groves of academe. Now I approach the end of my second year and, hopefully, graduation, having had nothing but ‘fun’ along the way.  The emphasis on London has changed but it has brought me the Crusades (via Women, the Crusades and the Frontier Societies of Medieval Christendom 1000 – 1300) and the Anglo-Saxons (via Old English Riddles), as well as medieval manuscripts and their intricacies and medieval theatre, which should form the basis of my final dissertation.  I am immensely grateful to Peregrine, Jenny Neville, Clive Burgess, Helen McKee and Andrew Jotischky for all their patience, help and guidance.  I have no idea what I shall do when it is finished, a problem that will have to wait until after the time of Coronavirus and social distancing

And Professor Humayan, why do you do what you do?

‘First a confession.  As a teenager, I had always dreamed of studying History but, under family pressure to become an accountant (!), I ended up as an undergraduate studying Mathematics at Exeter University.  I even trained as a maths teacher and taught in an inner-city London comprehensive for a year in the 1970s, before moving back to Pakistan where I bit the bullet and joined the higher ranks of the civil service, in due course becoming Assistant Postmaster General for a couple of provinces whose combined territory encompassed nearly 200,000 square miles! 

But this was definitely not what I wanted to do with my life!  In many ways, I was (and remain!) defined by the Sixties.  These were my formative years, when, on the one hand, I experienced direct racism at school and in wider British society, but, on the other, was hugely educated and energised by the wider politics of the decade – anti-Vietnam War protest, the Six Day conflict in the Middle East, opposition to Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, women’s liberation, new sexual freedoms, ‘flower power’ (as a student, I witnessed first-hand the protests in Chicago in the summer of 1968), exciting developments in music, the advent of black power (Malcolm X’s ‘The Ballot or the Bullet’ speech and iconic raised fists at the Mexico City Olympics), support for Bangladesh’s struggle for independence, the list goes on!  Thinking about this, I now understand why I later became involved in radical politics (not easy as a Pakistani civil servant at the time of General Zia ul-Haq’s military dictatorship), and why I tried to channel my frustrations with the status quo into productive social activism. 

Eventually, my personal priorities led me back to the study of History, albeit with a determination to address my deep concerns with the challenges facing the poor, the dispossessed, and communities of colour. I was particularly interested in the voices of the historically subordinated, such as women.  I also wanted to give expression to my belief that ordinary people must stand up to injustice and struggle to bring about a fair society.  So, in many ways, my motivation for being a historian stemmed from my belief that an understanding of the past presents solutions to problems that the public should know about; hence, why it is useful to explore and understand -responsibly and with integrity - how (through the complex interplay of cultural norms, socio-political practices, and economic institutions) change can and does happen. 

So, to sum up, as a radical dissenter (even if this label makes me sound like I belong in seventeenth- or eighteenth-century Britain!), I regard myself as an academic outsider, though I do not see this as a bad thing necessarily.  Throughout my scholarly life, I have striven to create a space for grassroots human agency and for moral dissidence against the arrogance of the powerful.  I have tried to demonstrate that society’s downtrodden should not be seen, or see themselves, as helpless and passive objects of History.  I really do believe that the world can be changed through the study and practice of History.’

Ok that’s it folks, have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there. Stay safe, stay connected and stay in touch with news or if you are struggling and need some support.

Anna

Hello everyone

Well, we made it to the end of term! And what a term it’s been. At the end of January, I think it would have been very safe to predict that leaving the EU would have been the most defining feature of the last three months. Evidently not. Coronavirus, the global pandemic has changed everything and will, undoubtedly, be one of the defining events of the decade and, quite possibly, the century. We shall see. The Historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari has written on just this theme and suggests that "Humankind is now facing what is perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come." 

In any case, the virus is certainly defining our lives at the moment in ways that, just a few weeks ago, would have been unimaginable.  I have suggested somewhat flippantly, that we should perhaps all be documenting our lives during this period Pepys style and the Mass Observation Project (MOP) is keen for people to do just that. For those of you who have never heard of the MOP, it is a unique national life writing project about everyday life in Britain, capturing the experiences, thoughts and opinions of people in the 20^th and now 21st century. The organisation was founded in 1937 and began collecting from then until the mid-1960s. In 1981 it was revived and continues today. It’s a really valuable resource for research, teaching and learning. If you are interested in becoming a Mass Observer and writing about everyday life particularly during this extraordinary time, you can find out more here our writing page.

Everyday life in the department has of course continued, albeit now online. Again, I want to thank all of you - students, academic colleagues and the admin team -  for your brilliant attitude, patience and understanding over the last two weeks. In what has been an entirely unprecedented, disruptive and hugely stressful time for all of us, business has, as far as possible, continued. Classes, lectures and seminars have been delivered, essays, assignments and dissertations written and, in my case, and for many others, lots and lots of meetings have been attended. As you would expect, these have all been about the necessary arrangements and support we need to give all our students – UGs and PGS- over the next few weeks and months to ensure they are not adversely affected by the disruption. I have now seen close at hand how, across the college, everyone is working tirelessly to formulate plans, arrangements and get decisions made asap. The absolute guiding principle is to make this situation work to students’ advantage and to ensure this unprecedented period is acknowledged in every way and at every level. You will have begun to receive specific emails this week about arrangements affecting you and these will continue today and through next week. Again, please be patient but keep checking your inbox and the college website for updates. I am absolutely confident that we will get everyone – UG and PG -through the year and, taking into account the very real difficulties many of you are experiencing, will ensure you achieve the very best you might have in normal circumstances. Again, you have my word on that.

One of the meetings I had this week was with academic colleagues in the department! Now you may think that some of us are dinosaurs when it comes to technology but, look at this, –we did it online (!!) and, in the case of some colleagues, from rather interesting locations…. Certainly, this will go in the department’s Coronavirus archive!

And yes, of course, David remained, as ever, the ultimate man of mystery…

In other news and before total Lockdown was enforced, I did some filming for an upcoming programme on the Queen Mother and the Blitz. It was rather odd to have been in London with the streets so deserted and was also made even more bizarre by the fact that  I was initially dropped off at the wrong location and sat down ready to film with a team who, just before the camera rolled, realised I wasn’t there to do an interview for Panorama on the Coronavirus but actually on the queen mother! Could have been interesting…

I also took part in a StoryFutures event this week. For those of you who don’t know, Storyfutures which is an adjunct of the Media Arts department, is part of the AHRC’s Creative Industries Cluster programme and works with companies to develop immersive technologies for storytelling in one form or another. The project which I am involved in, explores the role next generation technologies can play in enhancing people’s passions for collecting in modern Britain and looks to develop a new programme/format or ‘immersive experience’ for the Discovery Channel It was an interesting online conference and I talked about the importance of our homes as ‘museums of us’ and everyday objects as being portals to the past to explore social histories. It is good to have the History Department involved with Storyfutures and I know Dr Hannah Platts has also worked with them on another project.  Hopefully more opportunities will present themselves. I have stressed that Historians are storytellers in all kinds of ways and we should therefore be involved in lots of what goes on in their swanky suite of rooms in the Shilling Building!!

Our of our longstanding VTs, Dr Hannes Kleineke who also works for the History of Parliament Online has asked me to plug their blog. The HoP are producing lots of extra content during this time of captivity and the blog covers all periods, and offers more general entries on parliamentary history as well as topical stuff (eg the plague!). The blog is updated every couple of days and  is written by experts in their field. And, one of our graduates from the Public History MA Connie Jeffrey is currently curating it! 

Talking of online resources, I wanted to point you in the direction of a website put together by the charity, Survivors Network Brighton, which brings together loads of great information  as we all remain isolated.  There’s all kind of resources listed from crisis support to meditation apps to mental health resources to physical self-care to creative self-care to entertaining kids at home. It really is an amazingly comprehensive list and thanks to Dr Amy Tooth Murphy for drawing my attention to it. 

In a more intellectual vein, its great to see that the BBC history Magazine has made their History Extra archive of articles free to access for the next fortnight. This is fabulous for all of us and is full of really interesting articles. Well worth having a look.

I asked colleagues for any book recommendations to help us find a degree of escapism and Dr Rob Priest has pointed to two books, one fiction and one nonfiction, which he has been enjoying over the past week. The first, the fiction is  Emily St John Mandel's novel Station Eleven. This imagines a world changed overnight by the arrival of a mysterious new flu strain. Rather than your classic postapocalyptic misery-read, it is a rich exploration of the webs that bind us across the globe and the place of art and culture in a changed world. Second, the nonfiction: Laura Spinney’s Pale Fire: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. This is a panoramic history of the most transformative pandemic of modern times. Reading as politicians’ debate whether to close schools and wear masks, it is hard not to be struck by the contemporary resonances. Dr Priest is  of course a French historian, and so remarks that ‘ it would be remiss of me not to point students to a classic: Albert Camus’s The Plague. There is never a bad time to read Camus, but it would be hard to find a better one.’ Indeed, but escapism? Not so much.

Certainly for others, escapism comes in the form of food and the Department’s Bake off competition has continued apace this week. You will remember I set the challenge of CAKE, which I soon realised was to be even more difficult as flour is now very hard to find! Nevertheless, we have submissions. The first from the House of Windscheffel, is a classic: the Victoria Sponge. An excellent rise I would suggest and two even halves sandwiched however by just jam and not butter cream. For me that’s a slight flaw in what otherwise looks very, very good.  Dr Alex Windscheffel did however admit that, this was very much a family effort, and his wife and son Felix played a not insignificant part.

The next submission was from one of our PhD students Katy Mortimer who we also featured in a previous ‘Why do you do What you do?’. Now, check this out.

This is, apparently a joint Mother’s Day/dad birthday Black Forest Cake. It was done over the course of 2 days and looks AMAZING. Katy might have been pretty confident about being Star Baker this week but then, just under the wire, Dr Becky Jinks landed this on the judge’s table

Now this looks as much MasterChef as Bake Off and is, I am told, a Blueberry and Lime Cheesecake. I think this looks incredible however, I need to defer to all of you, does a Cheesecake count as a Cake? I’m not sure. Let me know and this week’s Star Baker will have to be announced next week after a steward’s enquiry.

Incidentally, you might think that as it’s the end of term it’s the end of this series of newsletters. Well, I’m not sure it is. I think we need to keep together over the next few weeks and so, I propose, to continue our weekly newsletter as long as there is plenty of news to put in it. So, please send, news, announcements, submissions for Quarantine Corner etc and the publication will, whether you like it or not, continue!

Next week’s BakeOff Challenge? A creation using vegetables. Interpret as you like, and everyone is welcome to send in a submission.

I chose vegetables because our department gardeners have continued to go a bit crazy, and dare I say it very competitive this week. Whilst Dr Becky Jinks, she of the cheesecake, has planted seeds for courgettes, cucumbers, squash, beans, peas, delphiniums, hollyhocks and lupins, Dr Emily Manktelow hit the ground running (I’m sure there’s a more apt metaphor) and planted squash, runner beans, broad beans, tomatoes, spinach, peas, aubergines; and, Dr Amy Tooth Murphy went foraging and made garlic pesto!!  It is she says, perfect to ensure the 2m social distancing rules are maintained. Dr Markus Daechsel also picked nettles for dinner (Markus what did you make?) and, and, and, Professor Andrew Jotischky not only continued to make bread (a lovely Spelt loaf), he also crafted a spoon from driftwood from the River Lune?!?

How inadequate do you feel?!?  Well I certainly do…the best I can say is that I read Noddy goes to Toy town to the children of some of our academic colleagues as part of my daily Storytime in Quarantine Corner. 3.30pm on MS Teams. If you have a little person who is in captivity with you and possibly driving you made, do log on and join me each day.

And finally, our regular feature, ‘Why do you do what you do?’  and this week it’s the turn of a department legend, Dr Emmett Sullivan:

History was bound up in my childhood, directly or otherwise: memories of my Dad complaining of inaccurate depictions of biblical clothing in a Ladybird book remain with me.  When my Mum and Nan went to Bingo I was packaged off to stay with my Granddad, and we watched together the first showing of The World at War in the early 1970s. He was a Royal Artillery Captain at the time of D-Day and landed on Juno beach as a liaison officer with the First Canadian Army; the documentary series gave him an opportunity to open up about his experiences which he otherwise found difficult.  It is about this time I watched the QB VII mini-series with my Mum, with a young Anthony Hopkins starring.  That was my introduction to The Holocaust and impressed upon me the potential and power that Public History through television could have.  Secondary school set me off on a different course: feudalism from 1500, followed by the Industrial Revolution and British Economic and Social History to c.1950.  Good teachers can have an impact: here, four years of Mr Bispham saw me go off to Kent (Economic and Social History), the LSE (Economic History) and the ANU (their economics programme).

For 25 years I taught the advantages of free trade and need for social redistribution through the History of Britain and the World at Leicester, the ANU (Canberra), La Trobe (Melbourne) VUW (in the New Zealand capital) and RHUL.  However, as the Econometric History I had learned ‘killed’ Economic and Social History as a separate stream, I started specialising in an adjacent area: the Cold War and Atomic Weaponry.  ‘The Bomb’ is now over ten years old and still going strong; and with ‘Armageddon Postponed’ and the new ‘Reagan’s America’, they form a block of courses around these themes and an era I partly lived through as a kid.  However, my years learning econometrics did not go to waste: I knew how to turn on a computer, and that was a gateway into Digital History.  Principally that involved developing our distance learning programme with the University of London Worldwide and then into the world of MOOCs with ‘The Camera Never Lies’ and ‘The RAF in the Cold War’. Having pro-spec cameras and lenses – mainly Nikon and Fujifilm – I learnt how to film HD and 4K video, and I am now getting up to speed with Davinci Resolve for editing.  So this last turn combines both my educational background and another family passion – my Dad and Uncle Tommy were Carnaby Street photographers; and my Uncle Charlie was a proper ‘paparazzi’ around the same time in the 1960s.

Ok that’s it folks, Please keep your news, announcements, achievements – big and small – coming.  Have a good day and a nice, off line weekend when you get there.

Take care, stay at a  safe distance and look after yourself

Anna

Hello everyone

Well, that was quite a week wasn’t it? Our department moved, just for now, online and our community showed its true value. Whether you’re an undergrad, postgrad, researcher, visiting tutor or member of academic staff, you have been brilliant; stressed yes, frustrated possibly, but wonderful too. It’s been such a tough week, and we got through it. Details about assessment arrangements, online classes and consultation hours have come and will continue to do so. Once again, I ask for patience and trust in me and the college, that all decisions made, and actions taken are entirely student -centred and fully appreciate the challenging and entirely unique circumstances of this academic year.  We will ensure, if you work hard and play your part, that you will do well.

I’ve been sending morning updates in an attempt to keep everyone in the loop but today, I want to keep our newsletter as a ‘business as usual’ space and this week it’s a bumper edition with a few new and surprising features.

So, that all said, what else has been going on?

Hot off the press and in a UK first, news from Dr Amy Tooth Murphy who is one of the co-editors of the latest issue of Oral History, one of the leading oral history journals globally, and also the longest-running in the world (celebrating 50 years!). This new special issue, ‘LGBTQ+ Lives: History, Identity and Belonging’ is dedicated to explorations of the ways in which oral history can bring to light the historical experiences of LGBTQ+ people, which have so often been silenced by traditional archival documents, and by dominant discourses.  Amy says, ‘I’m so proud of this special issue, which is the first of its kind in the UK. The queer oral history world is a collegial and tight-knit one, and it was a joy to work with my friends and co-editors George Severs (Cambridge University), Emma Vickers (Liverpool John Moores University), and Christine Wall (University of Westminster). As we say in our editorial intro, ‘Disseminating LGBTQ lives is a radical act, one that not only has the potential to disrupt the assumed heterosexuality of the past and the archive, but also to transform future and current generations’ view of the past’.

Professor Jane Hamlett and I both did webinars for year 12 and 13 students this week as part of the department’s partnership with the Historical Association and, hot on the heels of Dr Stella Moss’s triumph last week, Dr Rob Priest has also won an SU You’re Valued Award. These are student-led awards that recognise members of University staff for having a positive impact on student life and embodying the values of the Students’ Union and the University. Here’s why the students said Dr Priest was nominated:

“I think he meets these criteria because he was brave taking on a very different mature student as his one of his first research candidates - I am old, deaf and returning to education after 30 years ago, he could have simply said that this was too much and looked out for an easier (straight from BA/MA) student; he also encouraged me to be a lot more courageous in the direction of my research and in my conclusions.  Rob is very good at the detail (high-quality), simply will not let even the smallest thing go unchallenged - one chapter of my thesis went through 27 different versions until we we’re both happy with what it was saying.  In the three years that I have known and worked with Rob - probably 50 different one-to-one interactions - I never once had the impression that he was anything other than completely focussed on my work (although I know he has many other issues and concerns to deal with).  He was always encouraging and helpful in his suggestions of other research areas to look at (student-focused).  Before I started by PhD and older ex-colleague who had been in the academic system warned me that academics would steal my research and use it themselves - I never thought that Rob (or anyone else at RHUL) would do such a thing and I trust him completely… He encouraged me to write papers for presentation at conferences and to apply for grants, he has already discussed publication of a book based on my thesis.

 …He really has made my last three years incredibly challenging and enjoyable and deserves to be recognised for it.”

Dare I say that Dr Priest makes my life incredibly challenging too?!  Well done Dr Rob Priest, very well deserved.

In these odd and different times, our department are finding new ways to socialise and de-stress. Last night the History Soc run a Netflix Party and watched Horrible Histories and department staff enjoyed ‘digital drinks’ to wind down after a busy day. And members of the department are also beginning to reveal hidden talents, who knew that Dr Akil Awan is something of vegetable grower with a poly tunnel no less! Here’s this week’s harvest.

And, not to be outdone, Dr Emily Manktelow is stepping up vegetable growing, whilst Dr Amy Tooth Murphy is working on cultivating her raised beds.

Not only has Dr Catriona Cooper been dragging the department into the 21^st century and moving us online this week, she has also been doing a bit of quarantine baking. Here’s her latest offering –

Once she shared that, it all got a bit competitive, with Dr Amy Tooth Murphy posting this

But the winner of the Bake Off this week, is bread from a medieval polish recipe made by one of Professor Andrew Jotischky’s students a few weeks ago. Its so good, there’s hardly any left.

I am very keen to receive entries for next week’s department bake off. All welcome! The theme is CAKES. All other ideas for news and features for ‘Quarantine corner’ would be gratefully received.

And now, finally, our regular feature, ‘Why do you do what you do?’ which this week has two entries to keep us all entertained.  One from Professor Sarah Ansari and one from Leo Carter one of our PhD students. So first Leo, why do you do what you do?

I am currently undertaking a regional study of Crusading enthusiasm in South East England during the twelfth to fifteenth centuries using, amongst other primary sources, bishops’ registers, cartularies and chronicles. In this regard, I particularly focus on the Crusading-related interest shown by the Dioceses of Winchester, Chichester, Rochester and Canterbury of the Kingdom of England regarding the affairs of the Holy Land and the Byzantine Empire, as well as other Levantine sites and even some Western European locations. I have so far found evidence of a significant response to the Fall of Acre and the loss of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, clear interest in the welfare of Palaiologan Byzantium in its struggle against the Ottoman Empire as well as sympathy towards the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes during their conflict with the Ottomans. I am passionate about my research because it allows me to pursue my deep interest in the Medieval world and more specifically it enables me to explore the interfaces between different cultures and civilisations of the Middle Ages, shining new light on some of the complexities of Medieval geopolitics.

And now Professor Ansari:

In a nutshell, I am a historian of nineteenth- and twentieth-century South Asia, with a focus on what is today Pakistan. But for me, like a lot of us, being a historian has been driven by personal factors.  Growing up I was always interested in far flung places, something that was helped perhaps by me living in different countries at a young age thanks to my father being a soldier in the British army. Coming from a family some of whose members had worked in India also encouraged me to be curious about that particular part of the world. For instance, I loved old Edwardian children’s classics like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (the latest film version has just been made!) and The Little Princess (it helped in this case that the main character was another Sarah!), whose plots both involved girls returning to ‘boring’ Britain from what seemed like a much more ‘exciting’ place, India. Like Jonathan Phillips last week, I too was a big fan of The Silver Sword (being introduced to momentous historical developments through the experiences of children caught up in them really hit home). But the book that made the single biggest impression on me was Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time. Through its exploration of who may (or may not) have been responsible for the death of the Princes in the Tower (it is framed as a detective story, which probably explains why I now enjoy this literary genre so much), it helped me understand from a relatively young age that history was all about competing interpretations of the past, and that it was often manipulated to serve the needs of those in power. Not huge revelations I suppose, but for a 11-year old it was pretty mind blowing!

And like many of you no doubt, I was extremely lucky to have great history teachers at secondary school, who between them whetted my interest further still.  One, Miss Young, would give us a 20-question quiz at the start of every history lesson to make sure that we were keeping up to speed on current affairs. (As I am pretty competitive, I always wanted to get as many of them right as possible …) The other, Miss Swain (a straight-talking New Zealander), opted for O and A level curricula (yes, we are talking about pre GCSE days ...) that included the histories of twentieth-century China, India and Southeast Asia, as well as different parts of Africa and Latin America (the Cuban Revolution for instance). A summer spent in India immediately after my A levels, followed by a gap year in Italy, gave me the confidence to take on new challenges, rather than gravitating towards more familiar ‘safer’ modules, once I reached university. 

But if I am honest, when I decided to study history (at Royal Holloway as it happens!), I certainly didn’t have a well thought-through long-term plan of action (after all, it was Thatcher’s Britain, with high unemployment and loads of uncertainty). And considering the kind of historian that I eventually became, I realise that I probably only did about three weeks’ worth of South Asian history in the whole three years of my undergraduate degree! My Special Subject, for instance, was on the Vietnam War.  So, the next logical step was an (interdisciplinary) MA in South Asia Area Studies at SOAS, with History as my major and Urdu and Social Anthropology as my minors. Again, I was lucky to have inspirational people teaching me, including my history tutor Professor Kenneth Ballhatchet, who had written about ‘Sex, Race and Class under the Raj’ (aka prostitution and venereal disease!) way before others started to do so in greater numbers. Following my PhD (which took me to Pakistan for nearly a year’s worth of fieldwork as I tracked down material in archives and tried to hone my language skills), I secured a three-year postdoctoral fellowship (working on the historical roots of ‘ethnic’ politics in Pakistan), so it was only when that finished that I finally ended up with a ‘proper’ teaching job.  This happened very fortuitously to be back at Royal Holloway, and here I have remained ever since... incidentally something that made Royal Holloway stand out from the crowd when I joined the teaching staff was that the History department boasted many more female colleagues than were to be found in most other History departments around the country - it was practically a 50:50 split!

My most recent research project was a collaborative one, involving colleagues at the University of Leeds and LSE.  Together we explored citizenship and the role of the everyday state in early postcolonial South Asia, looking at parallel developments on different sides of the new international borders that were drawn up at independence there in 1947. More broadly, we established a network of historians and academics from other disciplines with shared interests in how new states navigate the challenges involved in the transition from colonial rule to independence.  This collaboration also produced my most recent book (with William Gould) Boundaries of Belonging: localities, citizenship and rights in India and Pakistan, which we co-wrote using one voice.  Its publication in late 2019 coincided with the passing of (and reactions to) India’s highly controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, reinforcing for me just how crucial it is to have informed historical perspectives on contemporary developments.

If I were to sum up why I do what I do - which is researching and teaching history – it would be that for me robust and rigorous historical understanding is absolutely vital for making sense of the world in which we are currently living. It may be a bit of a cliché, but history doesn’t just provide us with answers about the past, it also teaches us how to pose very necessary questions regarding the present, and possibly the future too!

And there’s a lot of questions to ask at the moment that’s for sure!

Ok folks, that’s it for now. Have a good day and a restful, offline weekend when you get there.

Well done everyone. This week we have definitely shown we are more than the sum of our parts and I am so proud of all of you.

Anna

Hello everyone.

Hope you have had a good week.

We all study history, but so too do we live through it and, on particular days, we can be sure that, in future times, that day will start or end the reflections of historians, will be cited in exam questions, and frame countless PhD theses and books. So today – 31 January 2020 - is one of those days. Whatever our political stance, it’s the end of something, and, for good or ill, the beginning of a Britain apart, separate, redefined. In the spirt of reflection, I cite a few quotes from those who also wondered and reflected on Europe and our place within it;

“We hope to see a Europe where men of every country will think of being a European as of belonging to their native land, and...wherever they go in this wide domain...will truly feel, ‘Here I am at home.” Winston Churchill

“The English will never develop into a nation of philosophers. They will always prefer instinct to logic and character to intelligence. But they must get rid of their downright contempt for 'cleverness'. They cannot afford it any longer. They must grow less tolerant of ugliness, and mentally more adventurous. And they must stop despising foreigners. They are Europeans and ought to be aware of it.” George Orwell, The Lion and The Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius

“European identity, it seems, is only perceived by educated people. And that is sad, but it is a start.” Umberto Eco

Our own Dr Andrea Mammone has also been reflecting on our departure from the EU 

In other news, this week has been notable for the visit of Universities Minister and historian the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, author of books including Edward VI: The Lost King of England; Bosworth: the Birth of the Tudors and Richard III: Brother, Protector King. Chris came at my invitation but, at his own request, gave a lecture on Richard III to a number of staff and students. He was an animated and passionate speaker, and described himself as a ‘frustrated historian’. He signed a book which I will be awarding as a prize later in the year!  His team filmed the lecture and once I get a copy, I will let you know. He tweeted his thanks after the visit which was good to see!

Talking of twitter and the like, Dr Cat Cooper, our Senior Fellow in History, Heritage and Media and the department’s Head of Digital, is working hard to drag us all into the 21st century. To help her,  please make her aware of any and all activities from all members of our community and send her content, pics, commentaries etc of work, visits, activities etc. She has also organised four History Lab sessions over the next few months on the following themes. Please sign up via the links provided or email Catriona.Cooper@rhul.ac.uk for more information.  

Digital Accessibility and working with large Word documents Wednesday 19^th February 13-15.00pm INTER-005 PC Lab – Dr Catriona Cooper

A digital session that focuses on preparing accessible documents and presentations (Word and Powerpoint). While accessibility will be at the heart of the session this session will also teach you how to use MS Word’s inbuilt tools to structure and manage very large documents and speed up processes like Content’s Page creation, Lists of Figures and Citations. Sign up via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/92241343341

Social media for History and the Humanities Wednesday 18^th March 13-15.00pm INTER-005 PC Lab - Dr Catriona Cooper

A quick session on using social media as a professional within the Humanities. It will include a quick introduction to different platforms and how it is applied as a research, public engagement and networking tool. Sign up via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/92244167789

History Lab: Selling Your Skills When Applying For Jobs Thursday 28^th May 10-11.30am Davison Events Space - Careers

For many people, the idea of having to "sell themselves" when applying for jobs or further study is quite uncomfortable, and something to be avoided.  We don't normally talk about ourselves using the kind of language or details that are needed on a CV, cover letter, or in a job interview, so it can feel quite strange when we have to "big up" our achievements. Like it or not, when making applications it's essential to sell your skills. This doesn't mean you need to exaggerate what you've done or change your personality. It does mean that you need to demonstrate how what you've done is relevant to what the employer or institution is looking for and use professional language to show how well you match.  This session will look at real job adverts to extract what the employer is really looking for, and we'll create statements that can be used in your CV, applications and interviews that demonstrate to the employer that you have what they want. We'll consider the skills you develop on your History degree, as well as from part time jobs etc, and learn how to talk about these skills with impact.Book here https://careersportal.royalholloway.ac.uk/leap/event.html?id=2911&service=Careers+Service

Filming History for Social Media and Engagement 11^th June Venue tbc – Dr Emmett Sullivan & Dr Catriona Cooper

A full day’s workshop introducing the practice of filming for social media and engagement with a workshop producing our own content. This workshop will open with a lecture covering the practical considerations of filming and thinking about content and use, followed by a practical session learning to use the kit before going out and capturing your own content which we will help you process. Booking is limited please email.

These events are open to all, but we particularly have in mind our final year students who we are keen to support, not only through the next few months in terms of their studies, but also to prepare them for what comes next. On that note, we are doing very well in the college rankings for NSS survey completion but there are still a few people who have not taken part. PLEASE DO. If we manage a top 3 finish, final year UGS can petition me for some reward! I’m open to any and all ideas. The link is here https://www.thestudentsurvey.com/

Dr Stefan Bauer and Dr Markus Daechsel took some of our 3rd year students to visit the British Library’s Buddhism exhibition this week as part of their Concepts in History: Belief module. The students found the trip really useful and an engaging way to think about religion and belief as seen by their comments: "I appreciated the opportunity to take in another culture and way of being that I wouldn’t normally cover, either day-to-day or in my wider studies here. In particular, I found the use of present cultural tropes in contemporary artefacts produced through ancient techniques striking, for its frank departure with Western European representations." And another "The main aspect of the field trip that I liked were the relating questions that were given to us so that we didn’t go into the exhibition with a blind eye, and knew what we were looking for. I really enjoyed the exhibition and it definitely helped spark an interest in researching further about Buddhism." And finally, "It was very insightful! I learnt a lot about the artwork, as well as its history, which encouraged further discussion on whether Buddhism is a religion, way of life or philosophy." For some of the students this was their first visit to the British Library as researchers and they got their first British Library reader's pass in preparation for writing their dissertations. I love this picture from their visit:

Visits such as these are an important part of our curriculum and part of the benefit of being the ‘country campus’ of the University of London just a short train ride to the city!

In a roundup of activities across the department, Prince Andrew’s ‘zero cooperation’ forced me back into royal pundit mode, with a few interviews with the BBC and Sky and Professor Jonathan Philipps has been at the Jaipur Literary festival discussing his book The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin. You can listen to the podcast here

https://podfollow.com/jaipurbytes/episode/8d947e1454359de7ab11388dcf56ba15043db0bb/view

Closer to home, but equally noteworthy, was Dr Amy Tooth Murphy’s workshop delivered as part of the Student Union’s series on ‘Inclusive Education’. Her session which was entitled ‘Queer History: Who Gives a F**k’, was attended by a diverse audience of students from across the College. Feedback on social media included: ‘a fantastic session!’; ‘An amazing workshop that really looked at queer history through the perspective of real people’. Here’s a snippet from the event blurb: We’ll ask questions such as, ‘whose business is queer history?’; ‘what’s at stake when we present the queer past to wider publics?’ And, perhaps the most pressing of all: ‘whose boobs are those? And why are they in that jar? Never let it be said that this department doesn’t ask the important questions!

More seriously, 1^st February is the start of LGBT History month and so can I point all staff and students to the Introduction to Trans Awareness course available through the Moodle. It takes about 15mins to complete and would be great if we could do something that would have impact to all staff and students who identify as LGBTQ+. https://intranet.royalholloway.ac.uk/staff/your-employment/human-resources/organisation-development/your-development/training-courses/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/introduction-to-trans-awareness.aspx

In other news, Dr Alex Windscheffel interrupted his research sabbatical this week to give a sixth form talk on Thursday on c19 political protest at Collyer’s college in Horsham. Just in case we’ve all forgotten what he looks like, here’s a pic of Dr Windscheffel in action!

There was also a huge turnout last week to a Humanities school careers panel event, which included a video producer from the British Museum, a teacher, paid search specialist from Google, a PR Manager, a Rights Executive from the BBC and a marketer/writer. If you missed it but have questions you would like to ask these former students, most of them are very happy to be contacted. Email louise.ogle@rhul.ac.uk if you’d like to be put in touch.

The careers service also ran two workshops this month for 2^nd years on finding work experiences this summer by making speculative applications. If you missed it, the “10 point plan” is attached – useful for 1^st years, 3^rd years and postgrads too!

And coming up next week, the History Society together with the Jewish society, have invited a Holocaust survivor to Royal Holloway to give an account of her life and experiences within the war and Holocaust to mark the 75^th centenary of the liberation of Auschwitz and also answer any questions. The talk will take place on Friday 7^th February from 5pm-7pm in the Shilling auditorium and promises to be an interesting and moving event. Its wonderful to have such an energetic History Society doing important things in our community. If you are not a member already, do think about joining. In fact, here’s a question, can I join??! I am certainly looking forward to attending History Society’s annual dinner on Wednesday evening and hope to see many of you there.

So finally our regular feature, Why do you do what you do? and this week it’s the turn of Professor Kate Cooper to answer that question:

“I first became interested in history via movies. When I was growing up in Washington, DC in the 1960s, we had a tiny black-and-white television ( about the size of a modern laptop), and on Saturday afternoons we would sit around it watching grainy broadcasts of classic films. Two of them loomed large in my imagination – The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). They were both films set in the Great Depression of the 1930s, which was the world my parents had grown up in. I was especially fascinated by the strange world of 1930s Alabama, which was where my mother came from. Somehow it seemed as if all the stories had come to life. (American Southerners are amazing story-tellers!) It may seem like a remarkable jump from there to ancient history, which is what I teach and write about these days, but I find that ‘making sense’ of a different world is in some ways just as challenging when you are studying a world close to your own as one farther away. Also, I still love historical films and novels – even if now, as a professional historian, I often find myself wanting to send a list of corrections to the writer! If you are interested to hear more, I have a podcast on how families tell stories (including some of the stories told by my mother and grandmother! on the Backdoor Broadcasting website) https://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2018/10/kate-cooper-history-and-fiction-in-the-age-of-fake-news/And if you have a favourite historical film or novel that has influenced your curiosity as a historian, please send me an email – I’d love to hear about it! (kate.cooper@rhul.ac.uk)”

Ok that’s it folks, have a good Friday and a good weekend when you get there. Student office hour next week is Tuesday 1-2pm. Do feel free to drop by or of course email.

Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen, Yasou, Arrivederci, Żegnaj …

Anna

Hello everyone

Week 2 almost done and now just one week to go before the end of the month and our departure from the EU…Perhaps a reflection or two about that next week.

Talking of departures, the royal saga continued this week, with the Duke and Duchess set for an ‘independent’ life largely away from the UK. The media circus continued, and so too did my attempt to introduce some historical context and, dare I say it, more informed commentary across the BBC, Sky, ITV and indeed on channels across Canada. I for one (and I suspect many of you too!) hope all this dies down and ‘news normality’ (whatever that is!) now returns.

One of our postdoc researchers, Dr Victoria Leonard was also on the airwaves this week on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking on a programme called 'Pioneering women: academics and classics' in which she  talked about women in education. 

You can also listen again to the conversation between Daniel Hahn, the British writer, editor and translator and former chair of the Society of Authors and Vayu Naidu, Royal Holloway’s Royal Literary Fund Fellow. This event, which took place on Wednesday, explored writing and publishing in translation in the UK today. They talked about what it’s like today working in the writing and publishing sector, and about the many kinds of work Daniel does with a range of organisations which support literature, reading and free expression.

And, something else to listen to. A new bitesize radio 4 series starts next week called ‘All is Revision’. Here’s the blurb for the series:

“The school history text book has always been a potential minefield. Every nation setting its histories before its children makes choices. The textbook is frequently used as a primer for the story of the nation when young minds are often unlikely to question or even pay attention to a story that may go on to shape their understanding of their place as citizens so what do we want children to make of their own national past? Should we even teach them a history of the nation? Are facts and dates the stuff of critical understanding? Historian Priya Atwal explores the global issues in telling textbook national history from Lebanon to Japan to Northern Ireland & India as she explores history's many uses as pedagogy and sometimes propaganda.”  Sounds interesting doesn’t it? Well worth a listen.

In other news this week, the History Society held its first student vs academic quiz. It was a fantastic event and a great time was had by all with students competing against team of academics in a variety of rounds on topics from Sports to music and Love Island! Congratulations to the winning team of academics Dr David Gywnn, Dr Amy Tooth-Murphy, Dr Selena Daly and Professor Andrew Jotischky and thanks to all of the students who took part!  The varied success of academics in answering on a whole range of topics highlights the rich diversity of knowledge we have in the department…. whilst Dr Selena Daly excelled with her knowledge of Love Island, Professor Jotischky thought the programme was ‘a reference to a medieval chanson de geste.’ Need I say more?

In other news, Dr Rob Priest has been selected as the supervisor for an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the British Library on ‘Caricatures from the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune (1870-71)’. This gives us a fully-funded PhD student to start in autumn 2020, co-supervised between History and the BL. This studentship will use the BL’s extraordinary collection of popular printed images to explore contemporaries’ engagement with 1870-1 as a ‘European’ event.

The department’s PG seminar series in central London kicks off on 5^th February with a Keynote lecture from Dr Toby Bromige entitled 'How to be considered Roman in the Byzantine Empire, c. 800-1100 A.D.: Identity, Image and Ideology'!  The lecture will be at 11 Bedford Square, Room 1-03 at 5.45pm with Wine, snacks and discussion to follow. The PG Seminar organisers have also issued a call for papers for contributions to the series. The deadline for submission is 31 January 2020. Each paper should be 15-30 minutes and this is always with reception to follow with wine and further discussion! For more information, do email the Convenors at rhulhistory.pgseminar@gmail.com and follow the seminar on Twitter @pgseminar! 

The annual Holocaust lecture will take place next week, this year to be delivered by Professor Shirli Gilbert from UCL. The lecture is entitled 'The Holocaust, Apartheid and Dilemmas of Jewish Victimhood' and takes place on Monday 27 January at 6.15pm in the Shilling Auditorium.

Also on Monday, is the special lecture on Richard III being delivered by the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP and Universities Minister. As well as his role in government, Chris is an Oxford trained historian who has written widely on the medieval and early modern period. He is coming to RHUL at the invitation of the History department and he specifically asked to deliver a lecture. Do take advantage of the opportunity to attend. The lecture and Q and A will take place on Monday morning at 10.30am (note change from original time) in the Shilling Seminar room 004

Who doesn’t love a survey?? This week our third-year students have the opportunity to have their say about their time in the department and the college in the NSS survey. I would love our department to shine in the survey (obviously!) but also to beat all the other departments in achieving a 100% completion rate. So do take 5 minutes to complete the survey and let’s see how high we can go! If we achieve 100% we shall celebrate. I will take suggestions on how!

And finally, our regular feature, ‘Why do you Do what you Do?  This week we have two contributions, one from Dr Chi -Kwan Mark and the other from Megan Zander who has just joined the history department for PhD study with me. First Dr Mark, ‘Why do you do what you do’?

“I am a diplomatic/international historian with a focus on Hong Kong, Britain and China in the Cold War period. When I did my Ph.D. many years ago, my approach was more of traditional diplomatic history than what is now called ‘International History’. By consulting the tens of thousands of documents in the U.K. and U.S. archives, I examined how the British and American governments discussed, debated and disagreed over Hong Kong’s role in the Cold War, and revealed the dynamics of the Anglo-American alliance and the dilemmas of vulnerable allies in a global conflict. In recent years, I have been moving closer towards new international History by embracing the ‘cultural turn’ in the study of diplomatic relations. In exploring Anglo-Chinese relations between 1950 and 1972, I drew on the concept of ‘the everyday’ to argue that Britain and China were engaged in an ‘everyday Cold War’, characterised by diplomatic ritual, propaganda rhetoric and symbolic retaliation. Whatever the approach, I am fascinated with Hong Kong history not only due to my personal background but also because Hong Kong is an important lens through which I can study a range of topics and themes. Just as a prominent scholar describes  ‘Asia as method’, so too Hong Kong can be ‘used’ to illuminate diplomatic history (Sino-British, Sino-American, Anglo-American), global history (economic globalisation, flows of refugees and tourists, cultural transfer through movies), and other sub-fields of history.”

And now Megan, ‘Why do you do what you do?

“I’ve always enjoyed putting myself in other people’s shoes. As a child, I played pretend with neighbourhood friends – we recreated movies or envisioned dramatic scenarios in which we were each the hero. I read fictional diaries and novels of historical women as adolescents and contemplated what I would do in their circumstances. In particular, a fictional journal of Elizabeth I set during the final years of her father’s life was reread again and again. I discovered unexpected sisterhood in this young future queen: we’re both redheads, our fathers have turbulent marital histories, and we both have sensitive teeth. It is fascinating to me how centuries can separate two people and yet despite cultural, societal, and technological gaps we can find something in common with one another.”

That’s it folks, see you at the lecture on Monday morning. Student office hour next week is Tuesday 3-4pm or do email if you have questions or worries. Remember, my job is to help and support everyone in the department so use me!

Have a good day and a relaxing weekend when you get there!

Anna

Hello all

Yes, it’s back, we’re back, term is in full swing and this is the first departmental newsletter of the new year- indeed of the decade! I hope everyone had a good Christmas (doesn’t it feel ages ago already?) and are feeling refreshed and ready for the year ahead.

At the end of last term, when some of us had left campus to begin roasting chestnuts and drinking eggnog (look it up for those who don’t know or tell me what it tastes like for those who do!), others were still hard at work and we need to celebrate their successes.  During the week before Christmas, Daniel Edwards passed his PhD viva with a thesis entitled 'Finance and the Crusades: England c.1213-1337' supervised by Professor Jonathan Phillips. Daniel is a ‘homegrown’ talent having been an undergraduate and MA student in the department. Not only should we congratulate the new Dr Edwards for his PhD success, but also for the fact that in the same week he got married to a former English Undergraduate Myfanwy Marshall! That must be the School of Humanities’ first wedding! Congratulations to both of them.

Talking of cross-School collaboration, Lyndsay Galpin, a student of Dr Alex Windscheffel and of Professor Ruth Livesey in English, also got a doctorate for Christmas, having been awarded a PhD for a thesis entitled' By His Own Hand: Suicide and Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century Britain'. And she is another home-grown talent, Lyndsay has been with us at Royal Holloway since 2011 as an undergraduate, then as a graduate of the MA Public History programme. Her study was funded with a full three-year PhD studentship from the Friendly Hand Trust, whose assistance and generosity supports a number of students in the department.

And finally, in our line-up of new doctors, just last week Johanna Holmes was awarded her PhD for her thesis entitled 'To use our talents and improve them: women’s careers in the London art world 1820-1860'. Johanna is another student of Dr Alex Windscheffel, and returned to academia after a successful career in management consultancy. Lyndsay is an excellent example of the range of people we have in our academic community, and shows it’s never too late to come back into the scholarly fold. Well done to her!

It has certainly been a busy week for many of us, me included. As Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties, you will be glad to know I have stepped up and have been rather busy on the airwaves talking about the historical precedents – or not – and future implications of their decision. It has been interesting – and rather surprising perhaps – how far this has engaged the public, and I would be very interested to know of attitudes among our students about the monarchy. Is there, as many suggest, a divide between the over and under 39s with support centring on old people? I would like to hold a dept poll to capture attitudes, so do complete it when it comes into your inbox!

In other perhaps more important news, I was delighted to welcome our Principal Professor Paul Layzell to the department for a ‘show and tell’ and discussion about our activities. A number of colleagues made short presentations to showcase our teaching, research, support of students, and recruitment strategy. The Principal was very supportive of all that we are doing and our plans to for the future. I was grateful for the presence of some of the History Society who also shared their views and perspectives.

Professor Sarah Ansari was representing the department rather further afield. She was the keynote speaker at a two-day public conference in Karachi in late December celebrating the life and work of Dr Mubarak Ali (Pakistan's 'premier' people's historian who is now approaching 80) and this week gave a keynote lecture at a conference on the 'Social and Economic History of Sindh' held at the University of Sindh.

In other news, Dr Stefan Bauer’s book “The Invention of Papal History” has just been published with Oxford University Press. Congratulations to Dr Bauer and indeed to Dr Selena Daly who had been elected a member of the Royal Historical Society. And, Dr Daniel Beer has this week reviewed a new book by Jay Bergman entitled ‘The French revolutionary tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought and Culture’. 

As the new term gets under way, so too does our department schedule of events. On Wednesday next week at 5pm in the Boiler Auditorium, Daniel Hahn, the British writer, editor and translator and former chair of the Society of Authors will be in conversation with Vayu Naidu, Royal Holloway’s Royal Literary Fund Fellow, 2019-20.  They will talk about what it’s like today working in the writing and publishing sector, and about the many kinds of work Daniel does with a range of organisations which support literature, reading and free expression.  Much of his own work has to do with international writing, and Daniel is himself the prizewinning translator of many innovative and trailblazing works: among these A General Theory of Oblivion, by Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa, deals with the ghosts of empire which become those of decolonisation. It was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and won the International Dublin Literary Award.  Daniel will discuss being both a writer and translator, and what the ‘point’ of literature/creative work in translation is, and why it has just become even more vital to our sanity and social peace. Daniel Hahn’s conversation with Vayu Naidu will be followed by a Q & A with the audience. Wine and soft drinks will be served.

This Saturday, 18th January, Dr Charlotte Young, former student of Professor Justin Champion and now visiting tutor, will be giving a seminar paper at the Women's Studies Group on 'Women's involvement in Canterbury sequestrations, 1643-1650'. The WSG awarded me their 2018-19 bursary and I'll be talking about the research I was able to do with their support. The seminar will be from 1-4pm at the Foundling Museum in London, and all are welcome to attend. 

And finally our weekly feature, ‘Why Do You Do What You Do?’ returns this week with Dr Paris Chronakis providing his thoughts:

“What defines our identity as historians is a near-obsession with context and change. Rarely, however, do we talk that way about why we do what we do. My relation to history changed significantly over time. In my BA days I closely followed the fierce debates on class and gender that were then tearing our discipline apart. The theory of history fascinated me and still does. Later on, during my MA studies at the University of Essex, a module on the middle classes in Europe and another one on imperial Britain led to a sustained interest in ethnicity and middle-class formation. Consequently, my PhD examined the Jewish, Muslim and Christian middle class of the cosmopolitan port city of Salonica/Thessaloniki as it transitioned from the Ottoman Empire to the Greek nation-state in the early twentieth century. The places I have studied and worked very much shaped why I do what I do. As a BA student at a conservative university, I found the theory and philosophy of history liberating. Then, pursuing a PhD in Greece made the study of my country’s Jews and Muslims politically meaningful: I was challenging the dominant nationalist narrative and was bringing a long-silenced past back to life. For the first (and last?) time, I felt my work mattered for more than a handful of academics. Later, working in America for seven years made me realise the limits of my own ethnocentrism. I had to think big if I were to be heard by anyone outside the tiny field of Modern Greek history -hence my ongoing research on the Mediterranean currents of modern antisemitism. Finally, the new colleagues I befriended at Royal Holloway have shaped my research agenda anew. History is built on friendships and so together with Dr Markus Daechsel we are putting up a collaborative project on post-conflict cities in Eastern Mediterranean and South Asia. Probably more than anything else, however, it is the arrival of my son that has radically changed my perspective. I now do what I do not least in order to put food on the table. New lives matter more than past ones. Context and change, structure and conjuncture have thus framed my choices as much, I believe, as they have done for every other historian. To paraphrase Karl Marx, we write history, but we do not write it as we please; we do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, to which we find ourselves as we move across time and space.”

Much food for thought there, thanks to Dr Chronakis.  

I think that’s it for now, it’s been a rather long newsletter but there was much to catch up on. Remember to keep sending news and events and details of all that you are doing to share with our academic community each week.

My student office hour will be Tuesday at 11am but do get int touch if you need to see me at any other time.

Have a good day and restful weekend when you get there!

Anna

Hello

We made it! It’s (finally) the last day of term. Well done everyone – admin staff, academics, UGs, PGs, postdocs, visiting tutors – you are all part of the history department and have contributed to what, I believe, has been a very successful term.

As you know, this has been my first term as Head of Department. It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to get to know the department inside out. Before coming HoD I knew this place was a hive of activity, of talent and full of seriously talented people at all levels and that has absolutely been the case.  Each week as I prepare the newsletter, I receive all kinds of news and notices about what’s going on, about people’s research, their successes and upcoming events. I have also been truly impressed and not a little humbled to meet students of all sorts, who have come to tell me about things they are doing and also about their lives, background and, sometimes, the difficult stuff that goes on outside of the classroom but which they also have to deal with. It’s sometimes easy to forget that time at work or in the classroom, is only part of our lives and sometimes getting that essay written, presentation done, chapter drafted, lecture delivered, is just one of very many things we have to juggle. Sometimes life – family, health, money, friends – gets in the way, and staying on track can be a real challenge. To all those that have come and shared their stuff with me this term, thank you. As I have said to each of you, you have my total respect and should be really proud of what you have achieved by getting through the term.

Next term I want our agenda to be ‘Show and Tell’. To project our department even further into the wider world, showcase the activities and talents of all of you, encourage more ambitious students to join us, support A level students with new resources and webinars, use our website to celebrate our successes and to draw attention to the things we are all doing.  Our new member of the department Cat Cooper (Senior fellow in history, heritage and media) who we featured in an earlier newsletter, is going to be working on all of this. She will be making short films to record things that are going on across the department. I would love to capture some of your work, thoughts, ideas on camera in short film clips. So do contact Cat if you are keen to be involved. Some of you will have seen the election films that Cat produced with members of the History Society encouraging people to vote and that have been on social media, we would love to do lots more of this. Ultimately this department is the sum of its parts [that’s ALL of us] so let’s all return from the holiday reenergised and ready to, yes, you guessed it, Show and Tell.

In that spirit, I am very pleased to let you know that PhD student Michaela Jones passed her viva this week. Supervised by Dr Stella Moss and the College curator Dr Laura MacCulloch, Michaela's thesis was a study of artist, critic and writer Christiana Herringham (1852-1929). Although Herringham's works form a major part of the College's art collection, they had yet to receive full scholarly attention. Michaela co-curated an exhibition of Herringham's work earlier this year:  Michaela has been with us since 2010 for her BA and MA prior to her doctorate, and has also taught on numerous courses including 19c and 20c British history modules and Doing History. She has also done sterling work in bringing the College's Gallery to the attention of our students as well as the wider public, including in her current role as assistant curator.  I'm sure you'll join me in offering Michaela congratulations and best wishes for the future! 

Karen Burch supervised by Professor Sandra Cavallo also passed her viva this week, for a thesis titled: The Magnificent Interior: Emotion, Gender and Household in the Life of Lorenzi de’ Medici. And she’s already a published author! Her first publication, based on a chapter of her thesis, just came out the other day in a special issue of Carte Italiane. Well done to the new Drs Jones and Burch, do keep us posted on your future endeavours.

Talking of which, Dr Mike Carr, who got his doctorate at RHUL in 2011 and is now a full-time lecturer at Edinburgh, has been given one of the British Academy's 23 Rising Star Engagement awards.

Just goes to show where a PhD at RH will lead!

And there’s more, Dr Jan Lambertz, who received her Ph.D. from the department earlier this year, under the supervision of Professor Dan Stone, has just won the 2019 Prize of the German Historical Institute London for her dissertation 'Early Postwar Holocaust Knowledge and Jewish Missing Persons'. Not only did Dr Lambertz tell me that Professor Stone was an ‘exemplary supervisor’, she was also thankful for the fact that RHUL offered a flexible programme, which allowed her to complete the degree on a part-time basis. Very good to hear and well done to Dr Lambertz.

As part of our formation of the next generation of rising stars, RHUL’s History Postgraduate seminar invites researchers to submit papers for its 2020 seminar series. The seminar is run by postgraduate students for postgraduate students. It provides an informal, friendly atmosphere for students to present their work and receive feedback from other students. The seminar meets on the first Wednesday of the month (starting 5 February) at RHUL’s Central London campus at 11 Bedford Square. Each session consists of papers of 15-30 minutes followed by refreshments and further discussion. All proposals from researchers of all historical backgrounds are welcome. In the past there have been papers on topics ranging from Medieval Byzantium and Scandinavia to Colonialism, mission history, and modern British politics. Please submit abstracts of 200-250 words, along with a brief biography, to the convenors at rhulhistory.pgseminar@gmail.com by 31January2020.

And finally, for this term, our regular feature, ‘Why do you do What you do?’ and this week it’s the turn of Dr Amy Tooth Murphy –

“When it comes to why I do what I do, one simple but genuine response is ‘how could I not?’ I grew up in a politically engaged household, and my path to oral history began there, learning that ‘having a voice’ in society meant the difference between inclusion and exclusion. Later I realised that such platforms are not given freely to the marginalised. They have to be won. I went to school during the days of Section 28 of the Local Government Act (1988), which prohibited the ‘promotion of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’ in state schools. So, in part I do what I do as an act of defiance against a political system and an education system that told me that my identity and my life were not as valid as other people’s. For me, oral history is a tool that breaks down barriers and builds communities up. It is a way in which we can speak truth to power. My research and my teaching are political acts. I do what I do because I am an activist and a scholar. Academia enables me to be both these things.”

And that’s a pretty good place to wrap up. I write this, as the BBC flashes up the Breaking news of Conservative Majority Confirmed (forgive any typos its been a long night!) Whatever your reaction to that news and hopes or fears for the next few years, lets stick together as a department and by looking back in our work, look forwards together. You’ve all been fab this term, so I’m confident in our future regardless.

Have a wonderful restful Christmas and happy, healthy and peaceful new year. See you on the other side!

Anna

Hello everyone

Its Friday again, and time to open door/chocolate/gin miniature number 6 on our advent calendars! Just one more week until the end of term! I am sure you are all very ready for some rest and time off over Christmas but do make the most of the next week on campus. All classes will be back on, and academics will also of course be available in their twice weekly ‘feedback and consultation’ hours, so do make sure you drop by if you have any questions ahead of the end of term.

This week I enjoyed lunch with some of the History Society committee. It was great to spend some time getting to know them all a little better and to hear about what they have been doing including their weekly history pub chats and also the upcoming quiz next term. If you aren’t a member but would like to get involved do contact President Ellie Clarke. I really enjoy meeting students – UG and PG – and hearing about your interests inside and outside the classroom. If you would like to join me for a coffee and chat next term, do drop me a line. Next week my student office hour will be Tuesday 4-5pm or do email to arrange another time.

In other news around the department, Dr Hannah Platts’ book which we featured in a previous newsletter, was the subject of a RHUL podcast this week. It’s definitely worth a listen and is a fascinating insight into how the Romans lived.  here is the link. Also, in book news, Professor Francis Robinson's 'The 'Ulama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia' (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001) has just been republished in Rudrangshu Mukherjee's Hedgehog and the Fox Series devoted to Classics of Indian History and Politics.  Mukherjee is Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University, India's leading Liberal Arts institution. And, Professor Jonathan Phillips’ book, ‘The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin’ was listed in Books of the Year by The Times and in the New Statesman. Professor Phillips also gave the Simon Barton Memorial lecture this week at Exeter University. Dr Daniel Beer went further afield and flew across the pond (no doubt metaphorically hi -fiving President Trump as their planes criss-crossed), to give a talk entitled, “Civil Death, Radical Protest and the Theatre of Punishment in the Reign of Alexander II”  to the History Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Next Tuesday lunchtime (1-2pm in Windsor 002) artist and artist educator Scarlett Crawford, will be giving a talk on  ‘Rewriting the State: new views on race, class and gender’ in which she will share some of the work from her recent exhibition, 'First Waves', commissioned by and exhibited at the Houses of Parliament in January 2019.In this exhibition Scarlett worked with communities across the UK who were impacted by early race discrimination legislation, which was her response to a commission by the Houses of Parliament to mark the introduction of the Race Relations Acts. Do go along on Tuesday to hear Scarlett reflect on the project and her exhibition, and to learn more about the fascinating individuals and stories her exhibition details. 

For this week’s Why do you do what you do? feature we have two contributions.  The first is from Dr Selena Daly, and the second from one of our second year undergraduates Amelia Cook who is also on the committee of the History Society.

First lets here from Dr Daly who answers the question ‘why do you do what you do?

“From a young age, I’ve loved learning languages, first Irish as a child in Dublin, and then later, French, German, and Italian. If we want to truly engage with the history and culture of another (non-Anglophone) society, then English isn’t enough. I have a very strong sense of being European, something that was only strengthened by living in Italy for 3 years in the mid-2000s and in California in the mid-2010s. I passionately believe in the need to study the history of modern Europe in order to understand the world we live in today. All the topics I work on have a contemporary resonance, whether it’s studying historical migration in the Mediterranean region or the afterlives of Fascist art and architecture in the 21st century. I do much of my research at the intersection between history, art history and literature and I think that we can learn as much from paintings and poetry as we can from official papers and political speeches.”

And now from Amelia Cook, ‘Why do you do what you do?’

“History wasn’t the subject I thought I would study when I decided I wanted to go to university after finishing school – I fancied myself an English student, an aspiring novelist perhaps, but something shifted, and I realised that looking into the past was really what I was interested in. I think this started through what I like to call my feminist awakening in 2013 and from that moment on, looking into the history of women and gender became something that I was really interested in. In particular, I love the women’s suffrage movement and looking at the right to vote, for both men and women, across time. I think it’s really important to look into the history of those who might not have been given a voice at the time or who are often forgotten from traditional narratives. Especially in today’s society where there are still inequalities being fought – one example being the pay gap that still exists at Royal Holloway itself.

But whilst the pay gap is certainly an issue, Royal Holloway itself and its history played a major part in helping to define my particular interests in the past. I remember researching universities and when I discovered RHUL with its amazing history I knew that if I was going to study history then this was the place for me. I mean, Emily Davison went here and for a suffragette fanatic that’s kind of a big deal. Of course, famous alumni were not my only draw. The idea of a pioneering institution for women’s education really appealed to me and I would love to get to look more into the college’s history – something I got a taste of from visits to the Picture Gallery and Prof. Jane Hamlett’s research into the Victorian photos from the college which we explored in a Doing History lecture last year.

I know a lot of people say it was visits to castles that got them into history but for me it’s what was missing from these castles, particularly the voices of women, which really pulled me to the subject, and my interest has only grown through my time at Royal Holloway.”

Some really interesting thoughts from Amelia and from Selena, thanks to both.

Next week is a big one for all of us, with the election of course on Thursday. Do lets all ensure we vote and encourage all those around us to do the same. Being informed and involved in the political process is a critical responsibility for all of us.

That’s it for this penultimate week of term, the final department newsletter of 2019 will be with you next Friday (do send anything to be included by Thursday please)

Have a good Friday and a lovely weekend when you get there.

Anna