“Angels without knees, mermaids with two tails and Margaret of Antioch in the dragon’s belly: Bodies in a medieval church”
Laura will be taking small groups to a medieval church in Uxbridge. Please note that this will include a short bus trip, for which you will need a credit/debit card or an oyster card.
Limited numbers, registration essential. Please enquire at the main registration desk
Dr Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist
Laura Agustín is a cultural historian and walking-tour guide in London, long known as The Naked Anthropologist. Her 2007 book Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry changed the global conversation on trafficking in women by putting the lived experiences of migrant women in the foreground. Explaining how women might prefer sex work to being a maid caused all manner of hell to break loose, and Laura hopes her walking tours will also blast to bits a few stereotypes, as she tells histories omitted from the canon by focusing on Gender, Sex and Class. This has included walks on mistresses, maids, navvies, actresses, sex workers, sailors and the 14th-century proletariat in locations all over London. The wealthy, aristocracy and monarchy shine by their absence.
At the conference she’ll lead a walk in Uxbridge that relates mainstream historical events to actual places and the ordinary people who lived them in their material bodies. Topics include a woman who outlived 3 husbands, camp followers to the army who served as laundresses and prostitutes, a wonderful pile of skulls and a monster of a building.
More info at www.lauraagustin.com