Confronting the Past in the Present

A special day of research and community conversation aimed at tackling the most pressing topics of history today. Join us in Confronting the Past in the Present. 

Exhibition: Brunel in 20 items – Meet the Curators From a rare book compiled by enslaved children in the West Indies to a piece of rock excavated from the Chalk Marl under the English Channel, explore Brunel in twenty objects. Which is your favourite?

Picturing the Past Our understandings of the past are shaped by representations across cultural realms: literature, film, visual culture, museums. But who makes the decisions about who is depicted and the form these representations take?

History and Video Games How is the past represented through games? What do these representations tell us about contemporary society? What role is there for scholars in shaping these representations?

Silenced and Marginalised Voices Whose voices have been silenced throughout history, and by whom? In giving ‘voice’ to marginalised voices, whose voice is being heard and who is listening now?

Hidden Histories: Memory and Multiculturalism How do the stories we tell influence the way we think about society and community in contemporary Britain? What are the legacies of Empire? What place do diversity, multi-perspectivity and contention have in our study of the past?

See the full programme HERE for more details and to register your place.  

This event is one of many lively sessions at the Brunel Research Festival in May. Explore the full programme at brunel.ac.uk/BRF