For this edition of New Histories, we wanted to encourage students to engage with the topic of ‘decolonising the curriculum’. By no means is this an attempt to provide an all-encompassing account: some of the articles here are the authors’ first time engaging with topics outside of those prescribed by our current curriculum. But, by providing …
Indian Removal in Antebellum America – A Destiny Fulfilled?
In discussing the antebellum period of American history, you will be hard-pressed to find a historian who does not emphasise the narrative of slavery, and its ultimate abolition in the mid-1860s. The historiography surrounding slavery in America – particularly in the context of the Civil War – continues to be expanded upon and enriched with …
Resistance and Negotiation: Reclaiming the Voices of Colonised Women
In the middle of the nineteenth century, single women missionaries began travelling to India in increasingly large numbers to evangelise Indian women, contributing to the imperial ‘civilising mission’. Over the decades, these women missionaries produced a vast amount of colonial knowledge and discourse about Indian women concerning their overall ‘condition’ and their characteristics. Their writings …
History in Film – to what extent do filmmakers have a responsibility to be historically accurate and inclusive?
The portrayal of historical events in film is by no means a novelty, for not only does it serve as a foundation for imaginative storytelling but also enables the public to access history in a recreational way. However, as the line between creative license and historical accuracy becomes blurred it does draw into question…how far …
Decolonising the British Museum: where do we start?
If you say yes to one, you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. It is going to have to stay put. (David Cameron, asked to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India in 2010) It’s been a year of reckoning with power. #MeToo, of course, but also an interesting (if small) exhibition at Birmingham …
Betsy Ross and Rosie the Riveter: Mothers of America
The legend of Betsy Ross is a well-documented one, known by every American. The story goes that George Washington, William Morris and George Ross – representatives of the Continental Congress – arrived at Betsy’s house requesting her skills to make a new standard for the British colonies. While the stars and stripes design had already …
Mr Five Per Cent: The Forgotten Oil Tycoon
When we think of modern history’s most notable business leaders, names of Western businessmen such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates immediately spring to mind. However, arguably one of the most influential and historically overlooked business minds of the twentieth century hailed from the Middle East. Calouste Sarkin Gulbenkian, otherwise known as …
The Lesser-known Atomic Bomb Testing: The tragedy of Maralinga
The nuclear testing of Maralinga was, and remains to a lesser articulated example of the nuclear atrocities conducted by the Western superpowers of the 20th Century. Coordinated by the British Royal Commissioners in Nuclear Testing, with the permission from the Australian Government, the British tested their nuclear weapons on the Anangu County and discarded the …
How fear of conspiracy shapes US politics
JFK, the moon landing, Area 51. A tragically short-lived president, a globally acknowledged pinnacle of scientific achievement, and a key site during the height of Cold War tension and technological competition.
The medieval beverage of choice: alcohol or water?
There is a strong misconception that people living in medieval times would primarily drink alcohol as it was believed that water was unsafe to drink.