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November 2020
The Spice of Life: Opening up New Worlds Through Taste
This is an online event A simple meal of pitta, crackers, chutney, daal, rice and spices virtually served by three actors: a sailor; an East India Company man; and an Indian traveller who each deliver a monologue on trade, empire and culinary crossings. The scene: an 18th century Mogul court complete with live Indian music - vocals, instrumental and tabla. The music and monologues unveil the seasons and emotions of the time through the Raga and the song lyrics. New…
Find out more »Making a Home Away From Home
This is a socially distanced in-person event Come along and explore a replicated United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tent decorated by a Syrian refugee and discover more about the interior and exterior space. Try Arabic coffee as you chat with the researchers behind the project and reflect on what ‘home’ looks like for the people who have been forcibly displaced for years. Last year, the UN Refugee Agency revealed that the number of people fleeing violence was the…
Find out more »Being Human in Conversation: Returning to Our Senses
This is an online event During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people suddenly found themselves losing their sense of smell. How does the loss of this vital sense affect health, wellbeing and our relationship with the world around us and to others? How does it change us, and how does it feel to recover and to 'return to our senses'? Professor Barry Smith and guests investigate. This event will also include some simple try-at-home sensory experiments that will make you think…
Find out more »Can Old Philosophy Help Build Our New World?
This is an online event In turbulent times, many are looking for new solutions for our new problems. Is there any benefit still in the wisdom of the ages? In the age of Me Too and Black Lives Matter, many canonical philosophers are having their reputations reviewed and the historical dominance of white men is becoming increasingly problematic. So can old philosophy be any help in creating a better world? Speakers: Prof. MM McCabe (King's College London) Shahidha Bari (University…
Find out more »Smoke Screen
This is an online event What is the aroma of colonialism? In this event you will be introduced to the pungent history of tobacco cultivation and trade, slavery and colonialism, by academic Professor Nick Ridout from Queen Mary University of London. Learn about the Atlantic Slave Trade and the interlinked histories of tobacco cultivation and export in the USA and the UK. Guyanese and Scottish poets Sandra Agard and Miriam Nash will guide you in a smelling workshop, in which…
Find out more »Sugar, Sugar
It may taste delicious and sweet but how sweet is the history of sugar? Learn about the interlinked histories of slavery, sugar plantations, processing, export and consumption from academic Dr Malcolm Cocks, Dulwich College and the University of the West Indies. Taste sugar in its different states and see what raw sugar cane plants and sugar beet looks like. Appreciate the art of spun sugar and sugar sculptures as created by Bahamian artist Lynn Parrotti. Meet Jamaican British poet Keith…
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