Histories of Activism lunchtime sessions on 2 May and 16 May

The 'Histories of Activism' research group at Northumbria University is pleased to announce two forthcoming lunchtime sessions. These are one-hour meetings, consisting of brief and relatively informal presentations, with plenty of scope for discussion. We’ve deliberately conceived these sessions as bringing together scholars from different disciplinary background.

These meetings are taking place at 12h30 pm at Northumbria University's Institute of the Humanities. For information on the venue and format, feel free to contact Daniel Laqua.

Histories of Activism Lunchtime Sessions

Tuesday 2 May

• Victoria Bazin (Senior Lecturer in American Literature) – ‘A Hidden Heritage: Women’s Activism and Feminist Periodical Culture’

• Sophie Roberts (PhD candidate in History) – ‘Margaret Stanton and the Birmingham Campaign for Peace in Vietnam: A Case Study in Local Activism’

Tuesday 16 May

• Paul Griffin (Lecturer in Geography)– ‘Clydeside’s Working-Class Presence: Political Identities and International Connections’ 

• Jasmine Calver (PhD candidate in History) – ‘French and Soviet Anti-Fascist Collaboration: A Case Study of the Visit of the Comité Mondial des Femmes contre la Guerre et le Fascime to the Soviet Union, 1935’

Seminar Paper on the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

On Wednesday 14 October, Sarah Hellawell - a PhD student and member of the Histories of Activism group - will give a paper as part of the History Seminar Series at Northumbria University.  The event will take place at 4:30 pm in room 121 of the Lipman Building (building no. 15 on the campus map). Here are some further details regarding the subject of her talk:

'Peace is not a mere denial of war': 

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

In April 1915 over 1200 women gathered at The Hague in the Netherlands to discuss the issues of war and peace. This women's peace congress ultimately led to the formation of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which still exists today. The paper will demonstrate how WILPF used the rhetoric of motherhood to demand a place for women in the sphere of international politics, linking its feminist and pacifist aims. In other words, for these internationally-minded women, peace meant much more than the absence of war. This paper will highlight some of the organisation's campaigns for peace, internationalism and women's rights during the 1920s and 1930s, with a particular focus on the British section, known as the Women's International League (WIL). 

LSRG Seminar on 21 April: Yann Béliard on Labour and Decolonisation

On Tuesday, 22 April, the Labour and Society Research Group - a research forum that brings together Northumbria's 'Histories of Activism' staff and colleagues from Newcastle University - will hold its next event. We are delighted to welcome Yann Béliard, who lectures in British History at the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle - Paris III. His paper is entitled 'Labour and Decolonisation: The British Experience'. Back in November 2013, Dr Béliard organised a conference on this subject, and his paper will build on these earlier discussions. For details of the earlier event, including audio files of the papers, please consult the event's website.

Yann Béliard holds a PhD from the Université Paris XIII, where his research dealt with social relations in Hull between 1894 and 1913. His work has appeared in journals such as Labour History Review, the Cahiers d'Histoire and the Revue Francaise de Civilisation Britannique as well as various edited collections. In 2014, he edited a themed Labour History Review issue on 'The Great Labour Unrest'. He is currently preparing a volume in French on the British labour movement before 1914.


The  talk will start at 5:00 pm and take place in room 2.20 of the Research Beehive (Old Library Building) at Newcastle University. A campus map can be accessed via this link.