About this Event
The study and teaching of history at Bristol began the very day the University College opened in 1876. At 11 am on 10 October, the first Professor of History, James Rowley, gave the inaugural history lecture. Importantly, moreover, this was a public lecture, attended not just by students but also by members of the local community. Much has changed in the intervening 150 years, though the belief in the value of history, and the department’s commitment to sharing its learning with wider audiences remains just as strong, if not stronger, in the twenty-first century.
Join a group of leading academics from the current History department for a discussion prompted by the questions that Rowley posed in 1876: ‘Why is History studied, and why should it be part of a liberal education’.
Dr Vivian Kong, a historian of identities and migration of colonial Hong Kong, and the author of Multiracial Britishness: Global Networks in Hong Kong 1910-45, will provide a keynote address, relating these questions to her own career, and her new research on a Hong Kong-born interracial woman and her journeys in Cornwall, London, and Singapore.
This will then lead into a panel discussion involving Professor Ben Pohl, Dr Mark Hailwood and Professor Victoria Bates, who will draw on their own recent research projects – relating to the Bayeux Tapestry, the world of work in early modern England, and the sensory histories of hospitals respectively – and their own experiences as members of the history department. They will also reflect on the continuing importance of the study of history and humanities more broadly, in universities and within society at large.
With cutting-edge research, fascinating insights, and student-led work on the history of the University, this event will demonstrate the very best of Bristol History’s research, and highlight how much has changed across the last century and a half.
Exploration Zone
You can also visit History at their interactive stand to discover more about research, partnerships and student initiatives, and to meet the people behind the work. You can find them at the Exploration Zone in the Arts Complex on the Clifton campus between 10 am and 2:30 pm.
Celebrating 150 years and the opening of TQEC
This event is part of a public programme of events on Saturday 10 October, to celebrate the University of Bristol’s 150th year and the opening of our new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus. The Clifton campus and TQEC will be open throughout the day, with opportunities to explore, discover and celebrate with friends and family. This is a free event and everyone is welcome.
You can see the full programme of events here.
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Event venue & nearby stays
Arts Complex, Room B.H05, 7 Woodland Road, Bristol, United Kingdom
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