Summer Scholars Lunchtime Talks

Join us for two lunchtime talks.Forefathers: Four Jamaican Fathers, Four Countries, One DaughterThrough four Jamaican father figures in her family, whose ancestry extends across Scotland, China and India, Jacqueline Crooks explores a personal story of how fatherhood was shaped by colonial power. Blending literary practice with archival investigation, she examines fathers made – and constrained – by history, and the emotional costs that echo across generations. In so doing, she shows how literature offers a way to read what the archive cannot hold.Chinese Labour Recruitment for the British CaribbeanFrom 1852 to 1874, over 13,000 Chinese migrated to the British Caribbean, mostly as indentured labourers. They came through a global labour network that emerged in response to crippling post-emancipation labour problems in the British Caribbean. In contrast to the recruitment of Chinese labour for Cuba, indentured Chinese migration to the British Caribbean operated as a system of both voluntary migration and unfree labour. Samuel Niu explores the challenges posed by this unusual combination, the implications this held for the labour regime, and why Chinese migrants voluntarily entered a system of unfree labour.

Join us for two lunchtime talks.Imperial Ties: Women and the British EmpireMisha Ewen discusses her latest book Imperial Ties: An Intimate History of Women and the British Empire. What do we see when we put women back into the history of the British Empire, and what does it mean to follow in their footsteps and write this history when you yourself are descended from women who were tightly bound with the story?Talk two: Latin American Collections at the Library – A Counter-GuideBy mapping the Latin American holdings at the Library, Santiago Valencia Parra reflects on the questions and limitations involved in working with materials grouped under this geographic designation. He focuses on exploring the collections and on how this process is opening up new ways of thinking about research guides, their content, purpose and audience.