Why?:
Over the past few years the history of popular protest, collective action and resistance in Britain and Ireland has undergone a renaissance. We now know much more about the Captain Swing riots, enclosure disputes, poor law debates, and a whole other range of protests and tactics used by the aggrieved and the subaltern. There are two distinctive elements of this new research:
- It has not been guided by any single source or ‘school’ of history, but draws from a range of influences as wide as geographical, ecological and anthropological approaches.
- Much of the most innovative research has been undertaken outside the traditional realm of urban and modern history. 18th and 19th century historians have much to learn from early modern and rural historians and geographers.
This workshop seeks to bridge the centuries, methodologies, frameworks, and links with other disciplines and public heritage institutions.
Aims:
1. To help consolidate and expand knowledge of and methodological frameworks for understanding protest and resistance in Britain over the longue durée.
2. To facilitate a wider and deeper dialogue between historians of a wide variety of topics and time periods.
3. To develop a new and lasting network of historians, cultural geographers, and those involved in public history institutions on the topic of popular protest and resistance in Britain.
Proposed discussion topics:
- How divided was urban from rural society and protest? Can urban historians learn from historians of rural protest and vice versa?
- Labour history has diversified in order to accommodate identities other than that of class. How do protest historians learn from this shift?
- Why are medieval historians comfortable with using the term ‘class’, while modern historians now shy away from it?
- Is James C. Scott’s model of ‘everyday resistance’ and ‘hidden transcripts’ a useful model for the history of popular protest and collective action? Or does it stray too near to the old notion of ‘social crime’?
- How do public history and heritage institutions understand and explain popular protest, and what relationship do historians need to develop with them?
More information: http://protesthistory2011.org.uk/