MCR History Talks: Alcohol and Drinking Cultures

Posted on: July 27th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

Jessica White and Adam Waddingham from the University of Manchester talk about the history of alcohol and drinking cultures in the north west.

They examine why the north has such a reputation for drinking, why gender and alcohol are so entwined, and if our attitudes to drinking have changed over the past two hundred years. Jessica and Adam are joined by Dr Gemma Outen from Edge Hill University, and Dr Craig Stafford from the University of Liverpool.

This podcast was produced by Jessica White & Adam Waddingham for Manchester Lit & Phil in August 2020.

Interview with Professor Gary Younge

Posted on: July 27th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

In this short interview, Gary touches on his influences, the COVID-19 pandemic, and what he would do if he was Prime Minister for a day…

Q: Could you please share the inspiration behind the title of your talk, ‘I danced here on other peoples’ dreams’?

A: The primary inspiration is my mother who would dance me around the house on her feet as a child to Bob and Marcia’s “Young Gifted and Black”.

But it is also the numerous people, most of whom I don’t know, who fought for the rights that I have even when there was little immediate prospect of those rights being granted and even though they themselves would never have the chance to enjoy them.

Q: If you were Prime Minister for the day — how would you set about building the more ‘diverse, inclusive, and respectful’ society that you will be discussing in your talk?

A: In a day it would not be possible to do anything substantial to undo the things that took centuries to get us to where we are. So it would have to be something largely symbolic.

“In a day it would not be possible to do anything substantial to undo the things that took centuries to get us to where we are. So it would have to be something largely symbolic.”

I would release all the people in prison for minor drugs charges, invite all those who use foodbanks to Number 10 or Chequers for a garden party, and pay for mayors up and down the country to do the same, and I’d offer an official apology to every country we have bombed or oppressed in contravention of international law.

Q: Has the COVID – 19 pandemic taught us anything new, or has it just re-enforced inequalities within society?

A: Both. It has laid bare the inequalities and shown us how they work and whom they affect. What is new is that we have never seen it quite so clearly before.

Q: In October 2021, we were joined by Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu. Elizabeth is a very inspiring woman, and spoke with great passion about the influence of Mary Seacole on her own career. Who is the biggest inspiration in your career? In fact, is there someone in particular who instantly springs to mind as soon as you read that question?

A: In an immediate sense my mother. Raising three boys on her own while being thoroughly engaged in her community and instinctively drawing connections between race, class, religion and other identities. Beyond her it would be C.L.R. James, the Trinidadian-born activist, intellectual and writer who wrote beautifully and maintained a sharp, incisive critical analysis throughout his life.

Q: You’ve been Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester since 2020. Have you had chance to explore the city? How does it compare to London— both in its history, and today? Does Manchester inspire you in a different way than to London?

A: I started at the university a week after lockdown, so I have not explored the city half as much as I would have liked to. I’m not from London but lived there for 10 years before going to the US for 12 years. When I returned it had become prohibitively expensive and inhospitable, particularly for the young and those on low incomes. Manchester inspires me as a city where it is still, for now, possible, to be young and enjoy a halfway decent life and still be creative and not have to work all hours.

“Manchester inspires me as a city where it is still, for now, possible, to be young and enjoy a halfway decent life and still be creative and not have to work all hours.”

Q: What do you have planned for the future? Is there anything that we should be looking out for?

A: I studied French and Russian, then fell in love with an American and spent most of my journalistic career in America and/or writing about America. I am now shifting my research interests back to Europe, and more particularly the black experience in Europe, and will be writing more about that in the years to come…

Thank you to Gary for taking the time to answer our questions

Global Citizen: reporting for duty

Posted on: July 13th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

What role will today’s and tomorrow’s innovators play in helping us survive and thrive?

The global climate crisis. Famine and drought. Population growth. The battle for diminishing resources. These are no longer visions of some future nightmare. We are facing these challenges today.

Scientists have modelled where we are heading and it doesn’t look good. Protesters have taken to the streets. International targets have been agreed and Governments have laid out their plans.

But will they be enough? Pandemics and conflicts soon knock us off course; deadlines are missed and targets slip. So what can we do to protect our future, deal with today’s issues and learn to live with the extra challenges that are coming down the line?

Our world is evolving quickly. Engineering and Technology are right at the heart of the huge transformation we are experiencing. A career in STEM is becoming more than a career. It is a way of life – a consistent source of boundless creativity.

Yewande Akinola will share her discovery of the roles Innovative Engineering and Technology play in bringing progress and true Sustainability to our world. From the development of our built environment to more specific and intentional problem-solving.

This is a hybrid event, that can be attended in person or watched live online.

Manchester Voices

Posted on: July 13th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

Dr Rob Drummond explores the accents, dialects and identities of Greater Manchester.

Dr Rob Drummond is the man behind ‘Manchester Voices’, the largest sociolinguistics project to examine the spoken language of Greater Manchester.

His talk tackles intriguing questions such as: Does the way we speak relate to who we are? How different are accents and dialects across Greater Manchester? Do our voices suggest older loyalties to Lancashire and Cheshire? He’ll also explain why understanding how language works is valuable to everyone.

Rob’s research team used online research and Geographic Information System software to examine archive recordings of local people born around 1900. At the same time, they collected and investigated current linguistic data in the Accent Van, their mobile recording booth.

The findings reveal a deep, complex relationship between spoken language and a sense of identity. They offer new insights into how acutely aware many people are of how they use language. And they show that accent diversity is alive and well across the region. Although sadly, some cherished dialect terms are beginning to fade.

Rob’s research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The Northern Powerhouse: where are we now?

Posted on: July 13th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

The Northern Powerhouse launched over a decade ago, to boost northern economic growth and to rebalance the UK economy. But where are we now?

The government doesn’t talk much about the Northern Powerhouse now, preferring the broader ‘levelling-up’ concept.  But the challenges, and the opportunities, remain. We can’t recreate the old industries. We have to somehow re-invent and re-invigorate areas that have suffered long term economic decline. And it’s not going to be easy.

From here in Manchester, reaching out to Liverpool in the West and Leeds and Sheffield in the East, we have a population of about 8 million.  This is not too dissimilar to London. Could this area become an integrated single market for producers and consumers, with spin-off benefits for the whole of the North?

Lord Jim O’Neill is one of the Northern Powerhouse’s original architects and a major contributor to its early successes. He names six individual challenges that have to be solved: education; skills; devolution; business connectivity; transport; and technology infrastructure.  And he is clear that all six will need to be solved if the Powerhouse objectives are to be achieved. So, is the government serious?

Lord Jim is a free spirit now and pulls no punches.

Manchester: what changed, and what comes next?

Posted on: July 13th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

How has Manchester changed to such an extent? And what lessons does its journey hold for other places?

Guardian columnist John Harris and Sunday Times journalist Hannah Al-Othman both have a long-standing interest in how Manchester has been revived and regenerated over the last 30 years, and the big social issues its transformation has highlighted.

Where is Manchester and its surrounding region now heading?

With Boris Johnson’s ideas about “levelling up” apparently fading and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham using his new job to carve out a different kind of politics, there are huge questions to address. Not just for Manchester, for the whole of the country.

John and Hannah will share and explore their personal perspectives in this ‘in conversation’ style event.

Legacy of Empire

Posted on: February 17th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

How much of what we consider to be modern Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past?

Award-winning author Sathnam Sanghera talks to historian Dr Michael Taylor.  In this highly anticipated event, Sathnam and Michael seek to unravel the extent to which Empire has shaped our history, perception and understanding of the world.

Their conversation touches on Sanghera’s experiences of growing up in Wolverhampton as the son of Punjabi Indians. It explores the role of Commonwealth immigrants in shaping modern Britain. And considers the legacies of some of the most traumatic incidents in imperial history.

Their exchange seeks to address some of the most pressing questions facing Britain today. What should we do with the statues of slaveholders such as Edward Colston and imperialists such as Cecil Rhodes? Is it ‘woke’ to regard British imperial history with scepticism? How should we teach imperial history in schools and universities? And who is going to win the ongoing ‘culture wars’ about history and memory?

Slavery and Manchester in the fight for Abolition

Posted on: January 25th, 2022 by mlpAdmin

What role did Manchester and Mancunians play in the fight over slavery and emancipation?

Manchester, with its strong Dissenting tradition, was a hotbed of abolitionist enthusiasm which produced some of the largest anti-slavery petitions of the day. But that fact alone does not tell the full, complex story.

When Parliament outlawed the British slave trade in 1807, it did nothing to set free more than 700,000 enslaved people in the British West Indies. In fact, it was not until 1823 that the Anti-Slavery Society, which pursued the abolition of slavery itself, was even founded.

A decade-long battle was fought between British abolitionists and the powerful slaveholding lobby known as the ‘West India Interest’. This fight took place on battlefields as diverse as the Houses of Parliament and the pages of the London and regional press. In churches and chapels, and even in the Caribbean colonies themselves.

Dr Michael Taylor’s talk examines Manchester’s part in this complex story. He describes the role of prominent north-westerners, such as George Hibbert and Robert Peel, in defending slavery from 1823 until the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

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