history

Department of History Seminar Series

‘A Model of Engagement Between Artwork and Architecture- The Use of Transitional Space in Suzanne Lacy’s Between The Door And The Street (2013)’ – a seminar by Donna Yamani (Reading)

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1917-2017: the social legacy of a socialist revolution

By Andy Willimott, Lecturer in Modern Russian and Soviet History, University of Reading

With the centenary of the 1917 October Revolution approaching, historians who focus on this period, like me, find ourselves in demand. As well as highlighting the facts of Russia’s second revolution that year, we often find ourselves focusing on the turning points, the personalities, and the politics.

Of course, it’s impossible to view the events of 1917 without considering those that followed. The popular uprising of that momentous year could be viewed as a mere punctuation mark in a story that takes in five-year plans, Stalin, the Gulag and a reign of Terror.

But the socialist revolution in Russia was about more than just Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and the birth of a new state.

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War Child

Dr Teresa Murjas from the University of Reading will introduce audiences to her project ‘War Child’.

This inspiring project examined the creation of the Evacuee Archive at the Museum of English Rural Life as a means of reflecting on wider experiences of children ‘on the move’.

Teresa will show films from the project and answer questions about her wider work which responds creatively to migrant experiences. There will also be a pop-up exhibition of items from the Evacuee Archive.

Admission is free, booking is required

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#UoRLostandFound

Stenton Lecture: The Russian Revolution: A hundred years on

The Russian Revolution transformed the face of an empire, established the world’s first socialist state, and profoundly affected the course of world history for the rest of the twentieth century. A hundred years on, the master historian Professor Stephen Smith reflects on the tumultuous events of 1917 and our attempts to understand this epochal moment in history.

Lost and Found: Excavating the world’s first farmers in Iraq and Iran, 10,000 – 7,500 BC

Professor Roger Matthews and Professor Wendy Matthews

Forming part of the Being Human Festival, this richly-illustrated lecture delivered by Roger and Wendy Matthews will present the latest discoveries from their ongoing excavations at the World Heritage Tentative List site of Bestansur, dating to the Neolithic site of Sheikh-e Abad, 10,000-7,500 BC. Bestansur and Sheikh-e Abad were among the first farming settlements of the Middle East, and excavations there are investigating all aspects of life during the transition from hunting to farming, and from mobile to settled life-ways. A special feature of Bestansur is a large building with more than 70 human individuals buried under the floors, providing a wealth of new information about ancient life and and death during this period. Roger and Wendy will discuss the special experiences, opportunities and pleasures of working in Iraq and Iran with their Iraqi and Iranian colleagues.

Roger and Wendy have co-directed archaeological projects in the Middle East for over 30 years, in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.