The British Academy is running a Virtual Summer Showcase from 19 – 20 Jun.
Free and online.
They are throwing open their “virtual doors” for their annual British Academy Summer Showcase, a free festival of ideas for curious minds.
It will feature live and recorded talks, performances and demonstrations, drawn from across the liberal arts areas of arts, humanities and social sciences.
“Tune in to meet the brightest minds in history, psychology, music and more, and enjoy eclectic content designed to educate and inspire.”
Programme Highlights
19 Jun -18:30-19:30, The digital dinner party
Join food historian and artist Tasha Marks for a unique taste of the Summer Showcase. Inspired by the work of three British Academy researchers, this cook-along and conversation is sure to be food for thought. The pairings start with a cocktail, influenced by Sue Miller’s work on Latin American music, then Rachel Rich will join Tasha to discuss her research into royal menus over the main, a pie fit for a king. Finally, a dialogue over dessert, as we join Tasha in the kitchen to create an edible homage to Emma Bond’s research on the 19th century sugar industry in Greenock, Scotland. Tune in for a historic dinner party like no other, with discussion and delicacies aplenty.
19 Jun – Did you know… you can’t see your own eyes move?
The way humans use their eyes to process information is an important part of everyday life, yet it is a surprisingly unconscious action. Studying the thousands of tiny movements our eyes make can inform technical developments from video gaming to medical equipment, but did you know you can’t actually see your own eyes move? Join experimental psychologist David Souto to test this for yourself.
Dr David Souto, University of Leicester
20 Jun – 11:00 – 11:10, 10-Minute Talk: America first and American fascism
The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.
As ongoing protests against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States are met with militarised police action, tear gas, the National Guard, and threats of military intervention from representatives of the Trump administration and U.S. Congress, many observers are asking if this is what American fascism looks like. It is a question the Trump campaign itself raised when it decided to revive a forgotten political slogan, “America First” in 2016. In this 10-Minute Talk, Sarah Churchwell offers a brief history of “America First” and answers the perennial question of American fascism: can it happen here?
20 Jun – My research in three minutes: how can music move you?
In the early modern period people believed that music could have a powerful effect on their bodily, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Tune in as Bettina Varwig explores how listening to music became primarily an experience of the mind, not the physical one it had been, and considers how we can use these insights for our own appreciation of classical music today.
Dr Bettina Varwig, University of Cambridge
20 Jun – How can poetry bring communities together? Poetry readings by Duduzile Ndlovu
South African cities such as Johannesburg have grown faster than those in other countries in the region, and this has made creating a cohesive society challenging. Duduzile Ndlovu has been inviting women from a range of communities and backgrounds to create poetry together. Here, she shares some of that work and reflects on how this can offer a more nuanced view of the city and the people who live there. Thank you to BongiM, Diana Chiyangwa, Rato Hlongwane and Zinhle Nkosi for allowing their poetry to be shared.
Dr Duduzile Ndlovu, University of Witwatersrand
See the Full Programme
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