Wednesday 19th April saw the second of Global Lives’ Research Salons—opportunities for members of the Centre, PGR students and external guests to meet in interesting locations off-site to discuss their work, to develop new contacts and to consider how the work of the Centre can be developed.
This event was hosted at the Battle of Britain Bunker, located on the site of the former RAF Uxbridge base. Appropriately enough, one of the presentations on the evening was given by Dr Chris Ince, who reported on research undertaken by a group of researchers in the Department of Education at Brunel, looking into the educational experiences of children from military families.
The evening ended with another military themed presentation, as Dr Max Kinnings spoke about Wireless Operator – a play he has developed with Bob Baldwin, recording the nightmarish experience of participating in World War II bombing raids. The play, following a highly successful premiere at The Edinburgh Fringe, is shortly to have a run at The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park.
We were fortunate to receive a fascinating tour of the original bunker. This was central to the defence of London and the South East of England during the Battle of Britain and, indeed, throughout World War II.
Other presentations were given about three different projects connected by the theme of experiences and representations of different aspects of motherhood. Jessica Cox spoke of her forthcoming book Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-century Britain, exploring the experience of motherhood in Victorian England.
Adrienne Barnett introduced her connections with the FiLiA Legacy Project Hague Mothers (https://www.hague-mothers.org.uk/), outlining the ways in which The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of 1980 has become a good law gone bad.
Sara de Benedictis introduced us to current work towards the completion of a monograph provisionally entitled Reproduction, Representation and Resistance.
Watch this space for future Global Lives Salon events that will showcase our research efforts and the adventure that London itself can be.
Reported by
Dr Andrew Green