Academic Events

The University of Notre Dame's London Centre and the London Undergraduate Program host a wide range of academic events, many of them co-organised with leading British universities and cultural institutions.

The Program encourages students to take advantage of these opportunities to extend their academic interests beyond the classroom and to meet prominent British and European scholars from the wider academic world.

Fall 2012 events include the launch of Prof Clive Bloom's book Riot City: Protest and Rebellion in the Capital, and a number of academic conferences.

Events during the Spring Semester 2012 included:

Inside London: Local/Global

Friday, 27 January, 10am-12.30pm History of London: Museum of London (Keith Surridge)

Friday, 3 February, 10am-12.30pm Waterloo Community/Part and Present: Lincoln, Chaplin, Bedlam and the Black Prince. (Heather Rideout)

Friday, 10 February, 10am-12.30pm African History in Britain: Docklands Museum
(Hakim Adi)

Friday, 24 February, 10am-12.30pm London’s East End: Religious/Ethnic History (Dom. Janes)

Friday, 13 April , 10am-12.30pm Camden Town (Hal Sinden)

Alumni-Student Lectures

“Music and the Olympics” Dr Kenneth Dye (Director, Notre Dame Band)
Tuesday, 20 March 6pm; London Centre, Trafalgar Hall

"London and the Olympic Games: An Historic Journey" Chris Renner (President, Helios Partners Europe)
Monday, 16 April, 6.30pm; London Centre, Trafalgar Hall

Conway Conversations

“Making Capitalism Responsible/Possible?”
Tuesday, 28 February. 6pm. Conway Hall Student Activities Centre

Our Conway Conversations series kicks off this semester with an event addressing one of the most toxic issues of our time, which affects all of us in the deepest of ways, the current world financial crisis and the perils and/or possibilities of capitalism. This event follows on a stirring debate held just last night at the Oasis Centre, five minutes walk from Conway Hall, in which the Secretary of State for Business and Innovation, Vince Cable, went head to head with Occupy London members on the question of the evils and goods of the world’s dominant financial system.

Our panel will follow up on that event with an even more controversial debate led by: Ken Boehner (Notre Dame Law Program alum and current partner in one of London’s oldest international law firms); Paul Fenton (Professor of Sociology and Principal of the Oasis Centre’s College for Community Service Training); and Indy Johar (Founder of The Hub, a Westminster based organisation dedicated to facilitating “civic business,” or the promulgation of new businesses that prioritise enhancing local community life).

(Photo by Alan Denney, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.)

Poetry Reading: Richard Blanco
Monday, 19 March, 6pm. Conway Hall Student Activities Centre

Richard Blance Richard Blanco was born in Madrid to Cuban parents and then moved with his family to America, where he grew up in New York City and Miami. His acclaimed first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, explores the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-American. His second book, Directions to The Beach of the Dead, won the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center for its continued exploration of the universal themes of cultural identity and homecoming. His poems have appeared in top literary journals, and he has been featured on national Public Radio. His deep engagement with cultural difference and transnational experience ideally matches top priorities in the academic agenda of the London Program.

We strongly encourage students to book a space now by emailing Christina Pehlivanos: Christina.Pehlivanos.1@nd.edu (Please put “Blanco” in the Subject line.)

Of course, a reception will follow. As an additional allurement, several students will enjoy the pleasure of dinner with Richard Blanco after the reading at the London Program’s expense. If you would like to meet him over dinner, sign up for our lottery by emailing Christina Pehlivanos: Christina.Pehlivanos.1@nd.edu (Please put “Ricardo Raffle” in the Subject line.)

World Music Concert. Melange
Wednesday, 18 April; 6.00pm;

The world acoustic music of Melange spans a huge range of styles from the Gnawa music of the south Moroccan desert, popular North African rai and chaabi songs, exotic Middle Eastern and Turkish melodies and improvisations, through Central Asia, and across to the fiery Tango of Argentina and the street Choro of Brazil. All their music is given fresh arrangements, and much space for jazz- influenced improvisations. This diversity of styles is brought together by the backgrounds and musical interests of the band’s members and a shared love of acoustic music, interest in music around the world, and improvisation.

This concert is part of the LUP “Music in London” class, and all LUP students are warmly invited to attend. No advance booking required.

More to be confirmed!

Flashpoints

Flashpoints is a series of informal discussions for small groups of students (15 max) led by LUP faculty on areas of faculty expertise linked to urgent social developments and controversies around the world.

Professor Robert Schmuhl, “Easter 1916”

Tuesday, 17 April; 5.30pm; London Centre, Senior Common Room

Professor Schmuhl is a leading authority on the Irish 1916 Easter uprising against British rule and the role of print media in the ways this tragic event was represented in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. He speaks regularly in Ireland on this and other political topics. This is a rare opportunity for anyone interested in the history of Anglo-Irish-US relations, past and present.

To book a space, pleased email Christina.Pehlivanos.1@nd.edu (put “Easter 1916” in Subject line. )

Keith Surridge: Britain in Afghanistan

Date TBA 5.30pm; London Centre, Senior Common Room

Mark Tebbit: Problem of Evil and Theodicy

Date TBA 5.30pm; London Centre, Senior Common Room

Conference / Cultural Events

“Internationalisation and the University”A one-day conference to celebrate the dedication of Conway Hall.

Saturday, 21st January.

Poetry Reading/Book Launch; Shearsman Publishers

Thursday, 2 February 6pm; London Centre, Senior Common Room

Prof Kathy King (University of Montevallo) “The Other Eliza Haywood”
Annual Notre Dame/Chawton House Lecture on British Women’s Writing
Thursday, 1 March 6pm; London Centre, Trafalgar Hall

Nights Out: Life in Cosmopolitan London Book Launch/Round Table
Professor Judith Walkowitz (Johns Hopkins University)
Thursday, 29 March 6.00pm; London Centre, Trafalgar Hall

Annual Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture;

Wednesday, 11 April 6.00pm; London Centre, Trafalgar Hall

Shakespeare Lecture - Stanley Wells

Global History Seminar Series

Co-hosted by the London Program and the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research, this seminar series features world leading authorities on the topic of global history. Seminars are held Wednesday evenings from 25 January 15 March at the London Centre, beginning at 5.30pm, followed by receptions. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this special opportunity to engage in a seminar setting with world class scholars.

25th January: Stefan Halikowski-Smith (Brown and Swansea), “Pirates”
The Vasco da Gama Visiting Professor at Brown is the author of an acclaimed book on the Portuguese in Ayutthaya and is at work on a global study of early modern piracy. His new book on Portugal in the global spice trade is imminent.

1st February: Peter Burke (Cambridge), Steve Fuller (Warwick), and Felipe Fernández-Armesto in a panel on Burke´s The Social History of Knowledge: Encylopédie to Wikipedia
Professor Burke is one of the most influential and admired living historians. He joins the Auguste Comte Professor at Warwick University, whose books include Science vs Religion and New Frontiers in Science and Technology Studies.

8th February: Chris Bayly (Cambridge), “A Passage to India, 1965-2012”
Sir Christopher Bayly is the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial History at St Catharine´s. His books include Imperial Meridian and The Birth of the Modern World.
15th February: Surekha Davies (Birkbeck), “On Kings and Cannibals: Ethnography, Ethnology and Mapping the Americas in Early Modern Europe”
Dr Davies´s articles on early modern cartography, ethnography, and mirabilia have attracted much admiration. Having completed a book on New World ethnography and maps, she is working on the global history of colonial science.

22nd February: Simona Valeriani (LSE), “Urban water supply and knowledge systems: a case study in comparative global history”
On behalf of Research Officers Dr Mina Ishizu, Dr Ting Xu, Dr Anjana Singh, and Dr Khodadad Rezakhani, and Professor Patrick O’Brien, Dr Valeriani will present work in progress from the School´s project on “Useful and Reliable Knowledge in Global Histories of Material Progress in the East and the West.”

29th February: Patrick Griffin (Notre Dame), topic tba
The Madden-Henry Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Notre Dame is the author of American Leviathan and The People with No Name and other important contributions to Atlantic history.

7th March: Jeremy Black (Exeter), topic tba
By popular acclaim, the holder of the Established Chair in History at Exeter, who is probably the world´s most productive historian, returns to the seminar.

14th March: Lucy Badalian and Victor Krivorotov (School of Advanced Study), “The Market Pendulum: the Persistent Pattern of Globalizations, Past and Present”
In response to popular demand, the Russian Academicians return to the seminar with an update of their wide-ranging interdisciplinary study of the growth of the global knowledge economy.

Events during the Fall Semester 2011 included:

Monday, 17 October Symposium on “Academics Stand Against Global Poverty: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?” An international symposium co-hosted with the University of Birmingham and featuring, among other distinguished scholars, Thomas Pogge (Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale University) and Baroness Professor Onora O'Neill (Cambridge University). Reception to follow.

Thursday-Saturday, 20-22 October. “New Approaches to Medieval Studies.” A groundbreaking international conference co-hosted with Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute.

Wednesday, 16 November. “400 Years of the King James Bible.” A lecture presented by Professor Gordon Campbell (University of Leicester), author of Bible: The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011.

Thursday, 17 November. “Alcohol and Affliction: A Global Health Crisis.”
Lecture presented by Professor Kathryn Graham (University of Western Ontario), co-hosted with the Finnish Academy and linked to a two-day seminar at the London Centre on “Gender, Alcohol, and Culture.” Reception to follow.

Events during the London Summer Program 2011 included:

Creaturely Lives: A Symposium in Animal Studies
(25 May 2011, 6-8pm)

Global Citizenship Roundtable
(10-11 June)

Poetry reading : Carrie Etter, John Matthias, and Peter Robinson

(14 June 2011, 6-80pm, reception to follow)

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Events during the Spring 2011 semester included:

Shakespeare's Portraits
18th April 2011
Professor Stanley Wells, Emeritus Professor at The Shakespeare Institute, and Dr Paul Edmondson, Director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust discuss Shakespeare's Portraits.