Historians' Watch

Boycotting the Olympics

Malcolm MacLean 5 September 20245 September 2024

How does a sports boycott work? Malcolm MacLean reflects on the place of the sports boycott in Olympic history.

Britain’s ‘Bespoke’ Borders

Michaela Benson 29 August 202428 August 2024

Michaela Benson unpacks the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa, and how it has contributed to redrawing humanitarian protection and migration policy after Brexit.

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‘We Are Not Far Right, Just Right’

Nigel Copsey 20 August 202426 September 2024

Nigel Copsey reflects on the most recent race riots in Britain, and the changing shape of the far-right from the 1970s until now.

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Where They Hurt The Most

Susie Banks 13 August 202415 August 2024

In a visual culture of televised mass violence, what is the role of images in the making of mass shootings and notorious figures in the USA?

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Is There a Radical History of Eurovision?

Catherine Baker 10 May 20243 June 2024

With Eurovision 2024 facing renewed calls for boycott, Catherine Baker reflects on the 'radical' history of the song contest - and the alternatives that might shape its future.

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The Ancient History of the WAG

Grace Whorrall-Campbell 20 September 202320 September 2023

Footballers' Wives and Girlfriends exploded into British pop culture at the turn of the millennium, but what does the WAG tell us about feminism, football and pre-credit crunch Britain? Grace Whorrall-Campbell explores.

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75th Anniversary of the NHS

Agnes Arnold-Forster 5 July 20233 July 2023

The National Health Service’s 75th anniversary offers an opportunity to radically rethink the welfare state. Agnes Arnold-Forster explores.

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Land Acknowledgement of Crimea

Christian Raffensperger 27 June 202318 December 2023

Crimea is at the centre of the current Russo-Ukrainian war, but with its two-thousand-year history, ownership is complicated. Christian Raffensperger explores.

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Policing the Margins

Adrija Dey & Greg Sproston 20 April 202320 April 2023

As repressive legislation to restrict protest is passed in India and Britain, how can we understand its historical roots and how can this inform activism today?

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Mask Ambivalence in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Caitjan Gainty & Jesse Olszynko-Gryn 30 March 202329 March 2023

To mask, or not to mask, that is the question. Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and Caitjan Gainty explore the instructive history of an embattled technology.

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The ‘Criminal’ People Smuggler and the Illegalisation of Refugee Flight

Ruth Balint & Julie Kalman 28 March 20233 April 2023

The UK Illegal Migration Bill is inhumane and ineffectual. Australia knows.

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‘Not proven’ and building a better Britain

Valerie Wallace & Tommy Boyd 5 December 202221 January 2023

As the Scottish Parliament considers the ‘not proven’ verdict’s future, Valerie Wallace and Tommy Boyd look back at the nineteenth-century debate on the verdict in colonial New Zealand.

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On Hearing and Not Hearing Air-Raid Sirens

Olena Styazhkina 14 September 202229 October 2022

What happens to historians and their research in a time of war? Historian Olena Styazhkina reports from Kyiv.

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Abortion Before Roe

Rosa Campbell 30 June 20224 January 2023

How did US women have abortions when it was illegal? Rosa Campbell explores an archive of US women's testimonies of abortions across borders, in Japan, Puerto Rico and Mexico, with resonances for today.

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A War on History? Patriotism and Propaganda in Contemporary Russia

Hubertus Jahn 29 April 202219 January 2023

How can we understand the true forces behind Russia’s expansionist aspirations today? Hubertus Jahn traces the long ideological roots of Putin's propaganda.

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Ukraine: Histories and Boundaries of a Refugee Crisis

Jo Laycock 9 March 202229 October 2022

As its people flee Ukraine following Russia's invasion, Jo Laycock offers a historical framework through which to understand displacements from and in Ukraine. Can exploring longer trajectories of displacement help refugees make sense of…

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It Doesn’t Have to Be the End for US Abortion Rights

Lauren MacIvor-Thompson & Kelly O’Donnell 3 February 20224 January 2023

In the US, abortion rights are under threat. But, as Kelly O'Donnell and Lauren MacIvor Thompson explore, if Roe is lost, we must go back to the beginning, turning to history and what it can reveal about potential paths forward.

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Working Class Heroes?

Laura Schwartz 24 November 202129 October 2022

Why, since Brexit, have working class people in Britain come to be thought of as not just white but also male? Laura Schwartz suggests to understand this, we must look at history.

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Afghan Civil Wars and the Location of a Nation

Elisabeth Leake 19 August 202129 October 2022

The stories of Afghans themselves are frequently overlooked in reporting on the country, reflecting a long history of Western engagement. Elisabeth Leake explores the past and future of Afghan nationhood and citizenship, forged by…

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The past and future of live animal exports

James Bowen 19 May 202129 October 2022

As the government considers banning live animal exports, James Bowen unpicks the contentious history behind this practice. How have activists, farmers, and government policy converged on this economic and ethical issue since the…

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Black & Asian soldiers and the ‘White Man’s War’

John Siblon 26 April 202113 January 2023

Following the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's apology for the non-commemoration of Black and Asian soldiers in the First World War, John Siblon explores how and why their memory was deliberately hidden by Britain.

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Shared Heritage

Matthew Stallard 23 April 202120 January 2023

In our series on 'Radical History after Brexit', Matt Stallard of the Legacies of British Slavery project reflects on the ongoing politicisation of heritage.

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Racial Trauma & Structural Harm

Molly Corlett 24 February 202120 January 2023

Molly Corlett reflects on the links between her research on racial trauma in the eighteenth-century, and her work for youth justice reform in Britain today.

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White Supremacy as Daily Practice

Micah Jones 17 February 202129 October 2022

As Donald Trump is acquitted for inciting the Capitol riots, Micah Jones asks what justice looks like in a legal system that privileges whiteness. To understand the roots of the spectacular events at the Capitol, she argues, we must turn…

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No uterus, no opinion? Travestis, Gays & Maricas’ Activism for the Abortion Legalization in Argentina

Marce Butierrez & Patricio Simonetto 10 February 202120 February 2023

How did the movements for bodily autonomy by those without the capacity to conceive - travestis, maricas, and gays – contribute to Argentina's recent legalization of abortion? Marce Butierrez and Patricio Simonetto trace the genealogy of…

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Refugee resistance and the persistence of ‘ingratitude’

Becky Taylor 3 February 202129 October 2022

The deplorable conditions and refugee protests at Napier barracks in Kent are not without precedent. Becky Taylor traces the twentieth-century history of 'squalid' military camps in Britain, and refugees' acts of resistance .

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‘A Dark, Difficult, and Shameful Chapter’

Ciara Breathnach 21 January 202120 January 2023

Dr Ciara Breathnach on the Final Report of Ireland’s Mother & Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Despite the fact that […]

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Referendums Yet to Come

Colin Murray & Aoife O’Donoghue 30 November 202020 January 2023

In the latest from our 'Radical History after Brexit' series, Aoife O'Donoghue & Colin Murray explore Northern Ireland's Brexit dilemma, and consider referendums yet to come.

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Honouring Trans Lives, Historicising Trans Death

Jamey Jesperson 20 November 20205 November 2022

November 20th marks Trans Day of Remembrance, an annual day of mourning for trans lives stolen by violence in the past 12 months. While many remembrance ceremonies are now moving from community centres to online platforms, the central…

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Of, or For Mary Wollstonecraft?

Vic Clarke 16 November 202024 November 2022

Is Maggi Hambling's 'A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft' attuned to the intellectual accomplishments of the woman it was created for, or to the particular struggles of women in the present? Vic Clarke investigates.

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Historians' Watch

What

Where

When

Series

Boycotting the Olympics

Britain’s ‘Bespoke’ Borders

‘We Are Not Far Right, Just Right’

Where They Hurt The Most

Is There a Radical History of Eurovision?

The Ancient History of the WAG

75th Anniversary of the NHS

Land Acknowledgement of Crimea

Policing the Margins

Mask Ambivalence in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

The ‘Criminal’ People Smuggler and the Illegalisation of Refugee Flight

‘Not proven’ and building a better Britain

On Hearing and Not Hearing Air-Raid Sirens

Abortion Before Roe

A War on History? Patriotism and Propaganda in Contemporary Russia

Ukraine: Histories and Boundaries of a Refugee Crisis

It Doesn’t Have to Be the End for US Abortion Rights

Working Class Heroes?

Afghan Civil Wars and the Location of a Nation

The past and future of live animal exports

Black & Asian soldiers and the ‘White Man’s War’

Shared Heritage

Racial Trauma & Structural Harm

White Supremacy as Daily Practice

No uterus, no opinion? Travestis, Gays & Maricas’ Activism for the Abortion Legalization in Argentina

Refugee resistance and the persistence of ‘ingratitude’

‘A Dark, Difficult, and Shameful Chapter’

Referendums Yet to Come

Honouring Trans Lives, Historicising Trans Death

Of, or For Mary Wollstonecraft?