We are delighted to welcome Dr Ryan Handley of the University of Oxford to give a talk on Black Preachers in Georgian Portsmouth. The talk is supported by Dr Jodi Burkett’s Citizenship, ‘Race’ and Belonging (CRaB) network and raises some interesting ideas about migration and cultural clashes in a naval port town. This is especially […]
Tag Archives | maritime history
Maritime Masculinities conference – book now
Registration is open for the Maritime Masculinities conference which takes place at St Anne’s College Oxford on the 19th and 20th December. Maritime Masculinities covers the period from 1815 – 1940, which saw the demise of the sail ship, the rise of steam and oil-powered ships, the erosion of British naval and maritime supremacy […]
The Coastal History Blog 38: Sea Blindness, or Ocean Optimism? (part 3 of 3): Epiphany among the Manta Rays
In my last post, I discussed problems of scale. How can we visualize (and discuss) ocean-sized problems from our modest vantage point? Is the “oceanic selfie” a path to a higher level of consciousness, or an anthropocentric dead end? When that post went online, I was in Hawaii and had just finished a couple […]
The Coastal History Blog 37: Sea Blindness, or Ocean Optimism? (Part 2 of 3): A Tale of Four Tweets
In my last post, I discussed why sea blindness is not the most useful way to characterize twenty-first century sensibilities. Let’s face it, it just doesn’t make much sense at a time when beachgoers have to be warned, “Don’t take selfies with seals.” Instead, I argued, we should think critically about sea visibility, which is […]
New: Port Towns & Urban Cultures Edited Book
Port Towns & Urban Cultures: International Histories of the Waterfront, c.1700 – 2000, Eds. Brad Beaven, Karl Bell and Robert James, (Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 2016) Despite the port’s prominence in maritime history, its cultural significance has long been neglected in favour of its role within economic and imperial networks. Defined by their intersection of maritime […]
The Coastal History Blog 36: Sea Blindness, or Ocean Optimism? (Part 1 of 3)
The average Briton is unaware that 95% of the goods they buy arrived on a ship. When asked to name a “well-known British maritime personality,” most respondents said, “Captain Jack Sparrow.” These results are set forth by the Maritime Foundation as evidence of sea blindness.[i] Duncan Redford is one of the few people so far […]