Research Seminars Winter/Spring Term 2020
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Institute of Classical Studies Institute of Commonwealth Studies Institute of English Studies Institute of Historical Research Institute of Latin American Studies Institute of Modern Languages Research Institute of Philosophy The Warburg Institute
sas.ac.uk
Welcome to the School of Advanced Study, University of London. The School of Advanced Study is the UK’s national centre for the support and promotion of academic research in the humanities. Its nine institutes offer an extensive programme of seminars, workshops, lectures, and conferences. Each year around 1,800 events are organised on humanities topics, attracting more than 68,000 participants from around the world.
Our research seminar series The School’s institutes host nearly 100 separate seminar series across all fields of humanities research, from ancient philosophy, James Joyce, and British maritime history to literary London, sports and leisure history, and maps and society. Scholars on the leading edge of their fields present papers, host roundtable discussions, and explore emerging issues. This guide provides descriptions of each series with meeting details for the 2020 winter and spring terms.
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All seminars at the School of Advanced Study are free and open to the public. No pre-booking is required – simply come along on the day. Dates, times, and venues are provided in this guide where known and were correct at the time of going to press. You can confirm details by checking sas.ac.uk/events or by contacting the institute offering the seminar. For more information on attending our events, read the University of London’s visitor regulations at bit.ly/uolvisitors.
Some seminars are recorded and available to view or download at sas.ac.uk/events, on iTunes U (Research at the School of Advanced Study), and on YouTube (SchAdvStudy).
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Join our mailing lists This guide to our research seminars is published twice a year, in October for the autumn term and in January for the rest of the academic year. We also publish a 'What's on' guide, which features upcoming lectures, readings, talks, conferences, and exhibitions. You can request to be added to our weekly events email list or add/amend/ remove your details from our postal mailing list by writing to sas.info@sas.ac.uk. 2
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Our venues
Access
Unless otherwise stated, events are held within the University of London precinct in Bloomsbury, central London. Most events take place in or around Senate House (north and south blocks) on Malet Street, WC1.
The University prides itself on making its events accessible to all who wish to participate. To that end, it will endeavour to make all reasonable adjustments to facilities to accommodate accessibility needs. If you have a particular requirement, please discuss it with the event organiser ahead of the event date, or contact our events team at sas.events@sas.ac.uk.
How to get here Euston, King's Cross, St Pancras
Assistance dogs are most welcome.
Russell Square, Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street, Warren Street, Euston Square
A large-print version of this guide can be viewed or downloaded at sas.ac.uk/events.
Bus routes 7, 10, 14, 24, 29, 59, 68, 73, 91, 98, 134, 168, 188, and 390 all have stops within walking distance of Senate House. To plan your journey within London, visit tfl.gov.uk.
Kings Cross
Station Bicycles: Bicycle racks are located throughout the University’s central precinct. Please note that we St Pancras cannot be held responsible for theft or damage toStation bicycles. The British Library Parking: Public car parking is not available at Senate House. The closest car parks are NCP at London Euston Station Brunswick Square and London Shaftesbury.
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Ancient Philosophy
Contact: ials@sas.ac.uk
The ICS Ancient Philosophy seminar series brings together papers on philosophical texts and authors from the Greek and Roman world with the theme this year of ‘Happiness, Language and Fundamental Metaphysics from the Presocratics to Hellenistic thinkers’.
Downloadable copies of the programmes for the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies regular seminar and lecture series are available from the Institute's website.
Mondays at 16:30–18:30 (except for Tuesday 26 May)
ials.sas.ac.uk/events
The theme of the papers given at the ICS Classical Archaeology seminar during the spring term will be ‘Ancient Iberia’. The seminar series will also run in the summer term with further details available on the website.
IALS Lunchtime Seminars
Dates: 13, 27 Jan; 10, 24 Feb; 9, 23 Mar; 4, 26 May
Classical Archaeology
The IALS fellows and visiting scholars present their work.
Wednesdays at 17:00–19:00
Wednesdays at 12:00–14:00
Dates: 29 Jan; 5 Feb; 4, 18 Mar; 1 Apr; 27 May; 3, 10, 17, 24 Jun
Dates: 16, 22 Jan; please check the website for further dates
Classical Reception This series will explore a range of topics relating to the reception of the ancient world. Mondays at 16:30–18:30 Dates: 27 Apr; 4, 11, 18 May; 1, 8, 15, 22 Jun
Contact: valerie.james@sas.ac.uk
Digital Classicist
Downloadable copies of the programmes for the Institute of Classical Studies regular seminar and lecture series are available from the Institute's website.
The Digital Classicist seminar addresses the value and impact of digital and other quantitative methods in the study of classical heritage, material culture, and philology. Seminars are streamed online to a worldwide audience.
ics.sas.ac.uk/events/seminar-lecture-series
Fridays at 16:30–18:30
Ancient History The theme of the spring term series will be ‘Hellenistic Perspectives on the Greek City: New Research’ and for the summer term series it will be ‘Ancient Warfare’. Thursdays at 16:30–18:30 Dates: 23, 30 Jan; 13, 27 Feb; 5, 12, 19 Mar; 23, 30 Apr; 7, 14, 21, 28 May; 4, 11 Jun
Dates: 5, 12, 19, 26 Jun; 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 Jul
Fellows' Seminar The ICS Fellows’ seminar is an informal lunchtime meeting at which visiting fellows and researchers working in the ICS present their work to each other and to anyone else who is interested. Coffee and tea will be provided. Attendees are welcome to bring their lunches. Wednesdays at 13:00–14:00
Ancient Literature
Dates: 29 Jan; 12, 26 Feb; 11 Mar
Speakers on Greek and on Roman literature during the spring term will give papers on the theme of ‘Palimpsests’.
Mycenaean
Mondays at 17:00–19:00
The ICS Mycenaean seminar series presents papers on topics in Aegean prehistory and attracts an international audience of scholars.
Dates: 20, 27 Jan; 3, 10, 24 Feb; 9, 23 Mar
Wednesdays at 15:30–17:30 Dates: 15 Jan; 12 Feb; 11 Mar; 20 May
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Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Imagination Seminar (EMPHASIS)
Contact: iesevents@sas.ac.uk The Institute of English Studies runs an active programme of research seminars and reading groups. All seminars and reading groups are free and open to the public.
The EMPHASIS seminar focuses on the history of early modern philosophy (broadly construed), and the history of early modern science (including the occult sciences). It is one of the only seminars in London that addresses these themes together. Once a month on Saturdays at 14:00–16:00 | Room 246 (Senate House) Dates: 11 Jan; 1 Feb; 7 Mar; 4 Apr; 2 May; 6 Jun; 4 Jul
ies.sas.ac.uk/events/research-seminars
Finnegans Wake Research Seminar
Book Collecting Seminar
The seminar is a reading group that has been running regularly since 2007. It reads James Joyce’s final work, Finnegans Wake, at a close level of detail, which the allusive and multi-layered work demands. Discussion is focused on the text and attention is also paid to Joyce’s manuscripts (copies of which are displayed on a screen). PhD students working on a range of topics (ethics, space, psychoanalysis, Catholicism, America, textual problems, Islam in the 1920s and 30s, fashion and clothing) attend and bring their own concerns to the group. Established academics, graduate students, and nonacademics alike attend regularly. The group hosts a blog to record its discussions: finneganswakelondon.wordpress.com.
The focus of these lectures and seminars is on bibliophilia and the book trade. Book collectors, dealers, and auctioneers are invited to give a lecture on a subject of their choosing that relates to the practice of bibliophilia. Lectures may be anecdotal, academic, or purely for entertainment, with a special focus this year on widening access in book collecting. With this in mind, the programme is jointly coordinated and run by the University of London’s new Society of Bibliophiles. Tuesdays at 18:00–20:00 | Room 246 (Senate House) Dates: 11 Feb; 14 Apr; 9 Jun
Charles Peake Ulysses Seminar The Charles Peake Ulysses Seminar is devoted to the line-byline reading and analysis of James Joyce’s Ulysses. It has acted as a focal point for academic researchers and postgraduate students with research interests in Joyce across London and the southeast and beyond for thirty years. Over that time it has built up a dedicated following while also drawing in new participants year on year. It keeps in touch with seminarians past and present by way of a blog that disseminates the seminar’s findings each month. Fridays at 18:00–20:00 | Room 243 (Senate House)
The last Friday of the month at 18:00–20:00 | Room 234 (Senate House) Dates: 24 Jan; 21 Feb; 20 Mar; 24 Apr; 29 May; 26 Jun
History of Libraries This seminar series concentrates on examining all aspects of the provision of libraries during all periods of history and all countries. Talks are based on substantial original research and are usually by established researchers; but we do encourage new students to present their research as well. Tuesdays at 17:30–20:00 Dates: 4 Feb; 3 Mar; 7 Apr; 5 May; 9 Jun
Dates: 10 Jan; 7 Feb; 6 Mar; 3 Apr; 1 May; 5 Jun
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London Shakespeare Seminar Active for over a decade, the seminar seeks to showcase work in progress in the study of Shakespeare and early modern theatre, offering an environment that is open, welcoming, critically rigorous, and expressive of the contemporary state of play in the field. It welcomes anyone with an interest in the critical study of Shakespeare and early modern drama from across the UK and beyond. Mondays at 17:00–19:00 | Senate Room (Senate House) Dates: 20 Jan; 10 Feb; 2 Mar
London–Paris Romanticism Launched in 2016, the London-Paris Romanticism Seminar is an international research forum devoted to British Romantic literature, its European connections, and the broader culture of the Romantic period, 1760–1830. The forum is a collaboration between four colleges of the University of London and a number of Parisian institutions including Université Paris-Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure, which hosts a two-day symposium in Paris each spring. Fridays at 18:00–20:00 | Room G35 (Senate House) Dates: 24 Jan; 21 Feb; 20 Mar; 15 May; 12 Jun londonparisromantic.com
Medieval Manuscripts The seminar covers current research into the intellectual history of book production in the middle ages, into the history of medieval texts and script, and into manuscript culture more generally. The great value of the seminar, which was founded in the 1970s, is that it draws on a wide pool of expertise from the academic world, the British Library, and the commercial world of books. It is linked with the London Palaeography Teachers’ Group and so acts as the meeting place for many of those involved with the teaching of the London International Palaeography Summer School. Tuesdays at 17:30–19:30 | Seng Tee Lee Room (Senate House Library)
Contact: ihr.reception@sas.ac.uk The Institute of Historical Research continues to run the largest programme of seminars dedicated to history in the UK, with over 70 offered throughout the year, covering a wide variety of historical periods, places, and topics. Its seminars are open to everyone and are attended by more than 10,000 people each year. Many of the IHR’s seminars are also broadcast live and archived online at history.ac.uk/podcasts. All venues are subject to change. Please check online for latest details. history.ac.uk/search-events-seminar Architectural History Once a month on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Black British History Once a month on Thursdays at 18:00 Dates: please check the website
Britain at Home and Abroad Since 1800 The seminar covers all aspects of modern British history – social, cultural, political, and economic papers address domestic history as well as histories of empire and decolonisation, and transnational and comparative histories involving Britain. Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Dates: 14 Jan; 11 Feb; 24 Mar
British History in the Seventeenth Century
Open University History of Books and Reading (HOBAR) Seminar
The seminar is one of the UK’s leading centres for the dissemination and discussion of the latest research on seventeenth century British and Irish history. It covers all aspects of British and Irish political history, including print and manuscript circulation, British and transnational communication networks, parliament and political institutions, political and religious ideas, urban political culture, politics and memory, migrant communities in Britain, and British migrant and exile communities overseas.
The 2019–20 HOBAR seminar series, ‘Reading and Wellbeing,’ asks what this ‘bibliotherapeutic moment’ means for contemporary reading culture and the book trade. It will also trace the historical roots of the idea that reading and mental health are intimately connected. Drawing together a diverse range of speakers from psychology, the medical humanities, media and publishing studies, and literary history, as well practitioners in the field of bibliotherapy, the series will examine the various ways in which reading and wellbeing are connected, from the bibliotherapeutic principle that reading can contribute to healing to its corollary, the idea that reading might even be bad for one’s health.
Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Mondays at 17:30–19:00 | Room 243, Senate House Dates: 3, 17 Feb; 16, 23, 30 Mar; 6, 20, 27 Apr; 4 May
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British History in the Long Eighteenth Century
Digital History
This seminar provides an important forum for debate on all aspects of research into the history of Britain over the long eighteenth century. Papers cross thematic, methodological, and disciplinary boundaries, and the series often hosts panels on particular themes and outreach events across London. Following seminars, all are warmly invited to dinner at a local restaurant, with a pegged charge of £15 for postgrads and recent postdocs.
The Digital History Seminar has been running since 2012 and focuses on the discussion of historical research that has been made possible by the use of electronic tools and resources. The seminar is offered in association with the IHR's Digital History team and welcomes anyone with an interest in digital history, including academics, students, cultural heritage and digital humanities practitioners, and other researchers.
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15
Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15 (with simultaneous live broadcast)
Dates: please check the website
Dates: 7 Jan; 4, 18 Feb; 3 Mar
Christian Missions in Global History
ihrdighist.blogs.sas.ac.uk
Once a month on Tuesdays at 17:30
Disability History
Dates: please check the website
Once a month on Mondays at 17:15
Collecting and Display
Dates: please check the website
Once a month on Mondays at 18:00
Earlier Middle Ages
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:30
Comparative Histories of Asia Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Contemporary British History Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:00 Dates: please check the website
Conversations and Disputations Fortnightly on Fridays at 17:30 Dates: 4 Feb; 10 Mar
Crusades and the Latin East Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Dates: please check the website
Economic and Social History of the Early Modern World Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Education in the Long Eighteenth Century Once a month on a Saturday at 14:00–16:00 Dates: please check the website
European History 1150–1550 Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:15 Dates: 9, 23 Jan; 6, 20 Feb; 5, 19 Mar
European History 1500–1800 Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: 6, 20, 27 Jan; 17 Feb; 2, 16 Mar
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Film History
History of Gardens and Landscapes
Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30
The seminar provides a forum for historians and researchers, artists, practitioners, and interested members of the public to explore and discuss issues related to the history, use, and meaning of gardens and the designed landscape and their importance in the public realm today.
Dates: please check the website
Food History Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30
Fortnightly on Thursdays at 18:00
Dates: 30 Jan; 13, 27 Feb; 12, 26 Mar
Dates: please check the website
Gender and History in the Americas
History of Libraries
Once a month on Mondays at 17:30
These seminars are jointly sponsored by the Institute of English Studies, the Institute of Historical Research, the Warburg Institute, and the Library and Information History Group of CILIP.
Dates: please check the website
History Acts HISTORY ACTS is a radical history forum, affiliated to the Raphael Samuel Centre, and based at the Institute of Historical Research. Its goal is to bring together radical and left-wing historians and contemporary activists. HISTORY ACTS workshops are led by activists, who give a short talk or presentation about their work. A historian or historians working on a relevant topic will then respond, before opening it up to group discussion.
Once a month on Tuesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
History of Liturgy Once a month on Mondays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:30
History of Political Ideas
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15
History and Public Health The History and Public Health IHR Seminar Series is organised by the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Previous themes have included the history of emotions in public health. As well as historians, the seminars draw an audience of anthropologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians. Wednesdays at 12:45–14:00 | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT and 15–17 Tavistock Place, WC1H 9SH Dates: please check the website
History Lab Seminar History Lab is the national network for postgraduate students in history and related disciplines. It is an intellectual and social forum designed to meet the needs of the postgraduate history community. In this seminar series, PhD students at any level in their studies present their current research, thus covering a diverse range of topics and time periods of historical research and exploring the most recent trends in historiography.
Dates: 15, 29 Jan; 12 Feb; 11 Mar
History of Political Ideas / Early Career Seminar Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
History of Sexuality The history of sexuality is a diverse area of study that focuses broadly on men and women as sexual beings in the past, on the categories of heterosexuality and homosexuality through which sexual selfhood has been experienced, and, moving beyond this binary, on other historical expressions of gender identity, queerness, and sexual experience. Once a month on Tuesdays at 17:15 Dates: 28 Jan; 25 Feb; 24 Mar
Imperial and World History
Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30
The Imperial and World History Seminar has been an international hub for researchers in global, transnational, and imperial history for decades. Its fortnightly meetings welcome senior and early career scholars, and graduate students from across the universities of London.
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:15
History of Education
Dates: please check the website
This seminar is convened by ICHRE (International Centre for Historical Research in Education) members. The seminar attracts speakers from around the world, providing a forum for established historians as well as early-career researchers to present their work. Once a month on a Thursday at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
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Colonial/Postcolonial New Researchers’ Workshop
Latin American History
The workshop is an informal forum for postgraduates and new researchers to meet and present finished pieces or works in progress on any aspect of colonial or postcolonial history. The workshop features papers that address specific methodological, interdisciplinary, or theoretical concerns as well as colonial/postcolonial case studies from throughout the world. The workshop draws an audience from scholars at different stages of their research.
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Institutions of British Government – in partnership with The Strand Group Focusing on seminal moments in the contemporary history of British government and fusing academic papers with expert respondents, this seminar series examines how British government really works in practice as well as in theory. It highlights and assists government in understanding its own institutional history, providing a forum where current and previous government officials can learn from and help academics' research. Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:30
Life-Cycles This thematic seminar series addresses issues relating to the life-cycle including age and ageing, intergenerational relationships, parenthood, rites of passage, childhood, and youth. We are captive neither to chronology nor particular country, welcoming instead topics pertaining to any historical era or setting, and interdisciplinary perspectives. The seminars offer a friendly and welcoming space for discussion for all, including postgraduates and early career scholars. Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
London Group of Historical Geographers The London Group of Historical Geographers was originally established in 1981 and since 1989, it has organised fortnightly themed seminars across the academic year. Interdisciplinary in focus, the seminar brings together scholars and practitioners from the arts, humanities, and social sciences to examine geographical themes across a range of historical periods. Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15
Interdisciplinary Seminar on Medievalism
Dates: 28 Jan; 11, 25 Feb; 10, 24 Mar
Medievalism is the study of responses to the Middle Ages at all periods since a sense of the medieval began to develop. The seminar discusses such responses, ranging from the robustly academic to the overtly political, to the whimsical, frivolous, and downright silly. What is significant is the way in which the idea of the Middle Ages functions as a consensually understood tool of reference and legitimation, and as a part of the modern cultural imaginary.
London POTUS Group
Once a month on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: 8 Jan, 5 Feb; 18 Mar; 6 May
International History Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 18:00 Dates: 7, 21 Jan; 4, 18 Feb; 3, 17 Mar
Jewish History Seminars consist of a 40–50 minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:15 Dates: 6, 20 Jan; 2 Mar
Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Late Medieval Once a week on a Fridays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
The London POTUS Group is dedicated to the study of modern US politics with a particular emphasis on the role played by the White House. Its seminar series will present cutting-edge research on the presidency. There will also be distinguished speakers from the Fourth Estate and Government in order to generate a fruitful dialogue with those groups. Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 18:00 Dates: please check the website
London Society for Medieval Studies Founded in 1970, the London Society for Medieval Studies fosters knowledge of, and dialogue about, the Middle Ages (c.500–c.1500 CE) among both scholars and the wider public in London. Organised by postgraduates and early career academics, these fortnightly seminars showcase the latest advances in all areas of medieval studies, including history, art, politics, economics, literature, and archaeology. Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 19:00 Dates: please check the website
Low Countries History The Low Countries Seminar is an interdisciplinary group with wide-ranging interests in the history of the Netherlands and Belgium. The topics of the papers range chronologically from the Middle Ages to the present, with a majority focusing on the Golden Ages of Flanders and Holland in the early modern era. Fortnightly on Fridays at 17:15 Dates: 17, 31 Jan; 14 Feb; 13, 27 Mar
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Maritime History and Culture
Modern Italian History
Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15
The Modern Italian History Seminar brings together scholars working on nineteenth- and twentieth-century history of Italy and acts as a focal point of academic debate in that area. It features a mix of established and junior scholars from the UK, Italy, and elsewhere. When there are links with other fields and seminar series, the seminar organises joint sessions.
Dates: please check the website
Marxism in Culture This seminar series was conceived to provide a forum for those committed to the continuing relevance of Marxism for cultural analysis, with both 'Marxism' and 'culture' broadly conceived. We understand Marxism as an ongoing self-critical tradition, and correspondingly the critique of Marxism's own history and premises is part of the agenda. From this perspective, conventional distinctions between the avantgarde and the popular, the elite and the mass, the critical and the commercial are very much open for scrutiny. All historical inquiry is theoretically grounded and theoretical work in the Marxist tradition demands empirical verification.
Once a month on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: 22 Jan; 5 Feb; 4, 12 Mar; Sponsored by ASMI (Association for the Study of Modern Italy)
Modern Religious History Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Fridays at 17:30
North American History
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30
Media History Seminar
Dates: 23 Jan; 6, 20 Feb; 5, 19 Mar
Jointly hosted by the Institute of English Studies and Institute of Historical Research, this series aims to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working on a range of media including print, radio, film, and digital communications technologies from various time periods. Tuesdays at 18:00 Dates: please check the website
Military History The Military History seminar considers wars and warfare in the modern era, since the 1780s. Papers address the themes of the history of armed forces (land, naval, and air); strategy and operations; military theory and practice; commanders and campaigns; and the social and cultural impact of warfare.
Oral History Fortnightly on Thursdays at 18:00 Dates: please check the website
Parliaments, Politics and People This seminar provides a national forum for new research on all aspects of parliamentary and electoral politics, from the people and processes to the records and physical settings. Most papers concern the United Kingdom and Ireland from the sixteenth century onwards, but it also welcomes presentations on the medieval period and the wider world. Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Forthnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Modern British History Postgrad Reading Group Once a month on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Modern French History Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:30 Dates: 13, 27 Jan; 10, 24 Feb; 16 Mar
Modern German History The Modern German History seminar draws scholars from all around the UK, Europe, and the wider world. We focus on the history of the German-speaking lands and Germans overseas since the nineteenth century, exploring themes in political, social, economic, intellectual, and cultural history. Wednesdays at 17:30 or Thursdays at 17:30 | German Historical Institute, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2NJ Dates: 22 Jan; 20 Feb; 18 Mar
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People, Place and Community
Socialist History
The Centre for the History of People, Place and Community (CHPPC) seminar series builds on IHR strengths in both local history and in urban and metropolitan history, bringing together academics, heritage professionals, creative practitioners, and others to present new work and forge new approaches to making histories of place and people. It seeks to bridge disciplinary silos and foster comparative, connected conversations, and to identify opportunities to make both theoretical and practice-led interventions in contemporary debates around space and place.
The seminar's core remit is to promote new research in the area of socialist history broadly defined. This can range through labour struggles to women's history and anti-racism both in the UK and elsewhere in the world. The focus is on work either in progress or recently published either in a journal or as a book.
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: 15, 29 Jan; 12, 26 Feb; 11, 25 Mar
Philosophy of History The Philosophy of History seminar series offers a forum for reflection on the nature of historicity as such, both in sociocultural formations and in individual human existence. It explores the nature of historical understanding, interpretation, and explanation, thereby fostering reflective and critical reappraisal of the enterprise of historical research and writing in all its forms. Founded in 2000, it has always welcomed all those with an interest in the philosophy of history, broadly and diversely construed. Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Psychoanalysis and History The relationship between psychoanalysis and history is longstanding, productive, and controversial. This seminar series has a dual focus: on the impact of psychoanalytic ideas and practices on historical writing, and on the history of psychoanalysis as a body of theory, an international movement, and a clinical tradition. Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Public History Once a month on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Religious History of Britain 1500–1800 Fortnightly on Tuesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Rethinking Modern Europe This seminar hosts discussions about cutting-edge research on modern and contemporary European history. Speakers ‘rethink’ Europe through comparative, global, transnational, local, national, and regional perspectives. ‘Brexit’—and, more generally, the rise of populist, right-wing, and anti-immigration political options in Europe and globally—mean that there is a need for historically grounded, intellectually innovative and socially engaged discussions on Europe, perhaps more than ever in recent history.
Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Society for Court Studies An annual programme of seminars, run by the Society for Court Studies, in which new work in the field is presented and discussed. The seminars are free (except the guest lecture) and open to everyone. Mondays at 18:00 | NYU London, Bedford Square Dates: please check the website
Society, Culture and Belief, 1500–1800 Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: 9 Jan; 6 Feb; 5 Mar Sponsored by Mark Storey
Sport and Leisure History The Sport and Leisure History Seminar is organised by the British Society of Sports Historians. Further details of the Society’s activities and its journal, Sport in History, can be found at sportinhistory.org. Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Studies of Home Once a month on Wednesdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Transport and Mobility History Once a month on Thursdays at 17:30 Dates: please check the website
Tudor and Stuart History Fortnightly on Mondays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Voluntary Action History Fortnightly on Mondays at 18:00 Dates: please check the website
War, Society and Culture Once a month on Wednesdays at 17:15 Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 17:30
Women's History
Dates: please check the website
Fortnightly on Fridays at 17:15
Sponsored by Lord Tugendhat
Dates: please check the website
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Latin American Anthropology
Contact: modernlanguages@sas.ac.uk Two of the Institute of Modern Languages’ research centres run seminar series: the Ernst Bloch Centre for German Thought and the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies. modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/events Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies Seminars The series, run by the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies at the IMLR, brings together speakers on writers, artists, and other topics related to exile from Germanspeaking Europe. Wednesdays at 18:00–19:30 Dates: 12, 19 Feb; 29 Apr; 20 May; 3, 17 Jun modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/research-centres/research-centregerman-and-austrian-exile-studies
This seminar offers a forum in which anthropologists in the early phase of their careers working on Latin America can present their work and get feedback in a supportive and collaborative environment, as well as build connections between researchers and departments. It is jointly run by the Institute of Latin American Studies and several London-based anthropology departments, including LSE, Goldsmiths, and UCL. Fortnightly on Thursdays at 17:00 For further details and meeting dates, please visit: anthropologyseminarilas.blogs.sas.ac.uk
London Andean Studies A global academic forum for advanced interdisciplinary research on the past, present, and future of the Andean region of South America, broadly defined to include Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. The seminar seeks to promote interdisciplinary research and debate that connects cutting-edge, transnational Andean and area studies scholarship with global issues and theoretical questions of significance to the wider academic community and public. Wednesdays at 17:30 For further details and meeting dates, please visit: andeanstudiesseminarilas.blogs.sas.ac.uk
Latin American Music (LAMS)
Contact: ilas@sas.ac.uk The Institute of Latin American Studies hosts a broad range of seminar series throughout the academic year. These events are usually free and open to the public.
LAMS is a UK-based interdisciplinary forum and network for Latin American music research that brings together scholars, students, musicians, and the public to share interest, knowledge, and critical perspectives. Since 2000, LAMS has met twice each year on a Saturday for a day of presentations, discussion, and live music. Presenters include a mix of scholars, research students, and musicians, alongside international visitors and members of the UK Latin American community. Fee applicable.
ilas.sas.ac.uk/events
Two Saturdays per year (usually May and November) plus occasional small-scale events
Latin America and the Global History of Knowledge (LAGLOBAL)
Saturday at 10:00–17:00
This seminar is a global academic forum for advanced interdisciplinary research on the contributions of Latin America to the global history of knowledge. LAGLOBAL aims to facilitate knowledge exchange by providing a metropolitan venue for the dissemination of new work in such fields as the history of natural history, expeditions, cartography, medicine, historiography, anthropology, archaeology, statecraft, theory or philosophy, and related practices.
For further details and dates, please visit: ilas.sas.ac.uk/events/ seminar-series/latin-american-music-seminar
Dates: 30 May | Room 349
Wednesdays at 17:30 For further details and meeting dates, please visit: laglobal.blogs.sas.ac.uk
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Curatorial Conversations
Contact: philosophy@sas.ac.uk philosophy.sas.ac.uk/events Epistemological Pluralism 16:30–18:30 Date: 24 Feb
London Aesthetics Forum
Curatorial Conversations bring the museum directors and makers of recent exhibitions at world-leading museums and galleries to the Warburg to discuss their work. The conversations, led by academics at the Warburg Institute, discuss the issues of setting the directorial or curatorial agenda and staging meaningful encounters with objects. The series is designed to draw out discussion of the discoveries made, challenges tackled, and the lessons learned in heading a collection and putting together internationally renowned exhibitions. For dates and details, please check the Institute website
Director’s Seminar
With lectures on topics in aesthetics and philosophy of art, the Forum aims to stimulate philosophical reflection on art.
The Director’s Seminar brings leading scholars and writers to the Institute to share new work and fresh perspectives on key issues in their fields.
Fortnightly on Wednesdays at 16:00–18:00
For dates and details, please check the Institute website
Dates: 15, 29 Jan; 12, 26 Feb; 11 Mar; 29 Apr; 20 May; 3, 17, 24 Jun
The Practical, the Political and the Ethical Established in 2015, the PPE series was created to discuss work in progress from visiting speakers. Talks are usually 50 minutes, followed by discussion. Usually on Fridays at 16:30–17:45 Dates: 24 Jan; 7 Feb; 6 Mar; 1, 15, 29 May; 5, 19 Jun
From Devilry to Divinity: Readings in the Divina Commedia This series aims to introduce the beauty, complexity, and continuing significance of Dante’s Divina Commedia through readings of the text, in the original and in translation, and through commentary on it. The readings are accompanied by a rich visual display of medieval illuminations, while the commentary explores and invites discussion of some of the leading ideas of the poem. Mondays from 13 January at 18:00–19:30 For dates and details, please check the Institute website
Maps and Society
Contact: warburg@sas.ac.uk The Warburg Institute hosts research seminars on ideas, images, and society across time and space. They are open to the public and (unless otherwise noted) take place at the Warburg Institute in Woburn Square. warburg.sas.ac.uk/whats-on Bilderfahrzeuge Reading Group This annual series is organised by the international research project ‘Bilderfahrzeuge: Aby Warburg’s Legacy and the Future of Iconology’. By employing the term 'iconology', Warburg sought to distinguish his own methodology from the pervading art historical practices of his time, generating a starting point for new approaches in art history at the beginning of the twentieth century. This reading group will study texts and authors that have similarly expanded the field of art history and visual studies over the last 20 years.
These lectures focus on the history of maps and mapping worldwide, from earliest times to the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the social and cultural factors of the maps’ context, production, and use. Many speakers are internationally well-known scholars in the subject, but early-career speakers are also encouraged. The meetings advance understanding of non-current maps both through formal proceedings and informal encounters with established practitioners, who include academics, librarians, map collectors, and dealers. The style of the well-illustrated lectures is scholarly but accessible to an audience whose own interests and expertise range widely. Occasional Thursdays at 17:30–19:30 | Warburg Institute Dates: 16 Jan; 20 Feb; 19 Mar
Neoplatonic Studies In collaboration with University of Westminster and UCL. Occasional Thursdays at 17:00 For dates and details, please check the Institute website
For further details and meeting dates, please visit: bilderfahrzeuge.hypotheses.org
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Work-in-Progress The Work-in-Progress seminar series explores the variety of subjects studied at the Institute. Papers are given by third-year PhD students, research fellows studying at the Institute, visiting fellows, and occasionally invited international scholars. Occasional Wednesdays at 14:00–16:00 For dates and details, please check the Institute website
Reading Groups Reading groups cover a range of topics in the fields covered by the Warburg Institute, including advanced Classical Greek, Latin palaeography, Arabic philosophy, the works of Aristotle in English translation, and occult sciences and esoteric traditions. These groups are typically open to postgraduate students, research fellows, Library readers, and interested scholars. For a full list of reading groups and upcoming dates, please please visit warburg.sas.ac.uk/whats-on/reading-groups
Contact: rli@sas.ac.uk The Refugee Law Initiative hosts a broad range of events throughout the academic year, addressing issues of both refugee law and refugee protection. These events are usually free and open to the public. rli.sas.ac.uk/events Humanitarian Accountability in Displacement Contexts This series provides a forum for discussion open to academics, practitioners, and those with an interest in humanitarian and forced displacement issues. Dates: 29 Jan; 26 Feb; 31 Mar
RLI International Refugee Law The series provides a public space for discussion, promotion, and dissemination of research between academics, practitioners, students, and others with an interest in the refugee and forced migration field. The 10th International Refugee Law Seminar Series is run in conjunction with UNHCR UK with the overarching topic of ‘shaping the future of refugee protection in a global community’. Dates: 10, 25 Feb; 6, 21 Apr
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How to find us
How to find us
School of Advanced Study University of London Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU United Kingdom E: sas.info@sas.ac.uk T: +44 (0)20 7862 8833
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twitter.com/ @SASNews
blogs/ talkinghumanities.blogs.sas.ac.uk
sas.ac.uk This publication is available in other formats. Please write to sas.info@sas.ac.uk. Cover image: A panel from the surviving ceiling painting in the former Small Refectory, on the third floor of Senate House, which was carried out by students of the Royal College of Art in 1936.
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