History News

Emeritus Professor Bernard Capp joins Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, A S Byatt, Julian Fellowes, Philippa Gregory, Anne Widdecombe, and Clarissa Dickson Wright in exploring the differences between the Cavaliers, representing a Britain of panache, pleasure and individuality, and the Roundheads, representing modesty, discipline, equality and state intervention. The show aired on BBC4 on Tuesday 15th May 2012, and can be viewed for the next two weeks on the BBC iPlayer.
 

The Institute of Advanced Studies is inviting applications for the Warwick Global Research Fellowships. If you might be interested in these posts, please read the Departmental Guidelines for further information on how the Department of History will conduct the nomination process.

According to the Health Survey for England, it is generally ethnic minorities in the UK who experience a lower standard of health than the overall population. Evidence suggests that the poorer economic position of BME groups is the main factor driving ethnic health inequalities and yet, despite WHO and NHS initiatives, successive governments have not managed to tackle this issue.

Following on from a series of IDEA-network events held last year, Roberta Bivins and the Industry and Parliamentary Trust co-ordinated a policy event dinner on the 21st March 2012 in order to review the evidence on ethnic minority health and reflect on what can be done by business and government to address the challenges. The report from this dinner has recently been published (many thanks to Martin Moore, PhD student at the Department of History/Centre for the History of Medicine, for his collaboration) and is now available in print and online from the IPT.

Booking is now open for The Tales Things Tell: Charmed Goods in the World of the Arabian Nights, a lecture by guest speaker Marina Warner as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture takes place at 6pm on Monday 5 March 2012.

Marina Warner is a writer of fiction, criticism and history; her works include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols, and fairytales. Since 2004 she has been a professor in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex. She gave the Reith Lectures on the theme of Managing Monsters in 1994. She is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London and a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art in London, in the Department of Animation. Her books include a study of the cult of the Virgin Mary (Alone of All Her Sex, to be re-issued by OUP next year) and, more recently, Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media. A new book ‘Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights’ will be published in February 2012. Marina was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2005 and was made a CBE for services to literature in 2008.

The Department of History and the Department of Classics and Ancient History, together with the Centre for the History of Medicine and the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, are delighted to present 'The New Vesalius', a guest seminar from Honorary Professor Vivian Nutton. The seminar will take place on Wednesday 14th March 2012 at 5pm in MS05 (Maths & Stats Zeeman Building).

Even before its appearance in print in 1543, the De humani corporis fabrica of Andreas Vesalius was regarded as marking a new stage in the understanding of the human body. Its emphasis on human dissection challenged prevailing orthodoxies, while the beauty of its illustrations has ensured its place as the most famous of all anatomy books. A second, enlarged edition followed in 1555, but little further is known about Vesalius, by now an imperial physician, until his death in 1564. The very recent discovery of his hundreds of notes for a never-published third edition, including changes to the plates as well as the text, throws new and unexpected light on his interests and activities after 1555.

Professor King's project, entitled 'Writers and cultural change in Argentina, 1960-2010. A study of three journals', has been awarded a two-year Major Research Fellowship by The Leverhulme Trust. These fellowships have run for over ten years, and they are seen as a particularly valuable part of the Trust's portfolio. They enable well-established and distinguished researchers to devote themselves to a single research project of outstanding originality and significance.

The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £60 million every year. For further information about the schemes that the Leverhulme Trust fund visit their website at www.leverhulme.ac.uk.

British Exchange Student Receives MLK Social Justice Award

The Basics:

Columbia, SC-- The USC Study Abroad Office is pleased to announce that British exchange student Alex Rutherford received USC’s prestigious Martin Luther King Day Social Justice Award this past Monday. Alex is a History major with a concentration in African American Studies, currently on exchange from Warwick University in Coventry, England. The Social Justice Award is offered to recognize individuals who have exemplified the philosophies of Dr. King through acts of community service, social justice or racial reconciliation.

More Details:

According to the nomination form for the award, its objective is “to recognize individuals who have exemplified the philosophies of Dr. King through random or ongoing acts of community service, social justice or racial reconciliation. Social justice endeavors to work for a world which gives individuals and groups equal treatment and an equal share in the benefits of society. It also can refer to the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society.”

Alex was nominated for the Social Justice Award by his Gospel Choir professor, Dr. Carl Wells, for his positive impact on the organization. Alex’s energy and enthusiasm for Gospel Choir have attracted almost ten new members for the semester. Not only is he a vocal advocate for Gospel Choir, he has extensive community service experience, both here in South Carolina and even more so back in London.

His community service efforts are admirably diverse, working with both children and the elderly. He has served as a class mentor, a teacher’s assistant for severely disabled children (mental and physical), and a tutor for children with severe learning difficulties. He has also worked in a senior citizens home and participates actively in church services.

As a history major with a focus on African American studies, Alex has taken numerous courses on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and says he hopes to “ensure social justice just like him” in the future.

A new MA module, "Culture, Society, and Religion in Renaissance Venice", to be taught entirely in Venice during the Autumn term has been launched for the 2012/13 academic year. This new module can be taken by students on the 'MA in History' and the 'MA in Religious, Social, and Cultural History'.