SASiety 
We feel like when we wrote our Weekly Favourites last week we lived in an alternative universe. US elections have been happening for the last few days and we are all a bit sleep deprived as we await the results. Lockdown has been reinstated in the UK, but thankfully no one seems to be stocking toilet paper this time round. Last week, we had a very intellectually stimulating time and we were glad to be able to be part of some very interesting discussions. This week, we are featuring events from the Institute of English Studies, the Institute of Historical Research, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and finally, Institute of Modern Language Research. We hope we see you there!
Don’t see anything you like? Here’s a list with all the events across the institutes for this week.
Literary London Reading Group
10th November 2020, 18.00 – 19.00, Book Here
Join Dr Christopher Webb to Literary London Reading Group’s second meeting about the Arts Council of Great Britain and Post-War Fiction. Though we recommend this event to everyone, we think it would be of particular interest to our history buffs, our art historians as well as literary critics, and philosophy scholars. Dr Webb will be exploring “the aesthetic assumptions and principles that informed the Art Council’s approach of disbursing grants […] before going on to look at how the Arts Council appeared to extend the project of literary modernism at this moment in British history”. Find more details here!
Latin American Anthropology Seminar
12th November 2020, 17.00 – 19.00, Book Here
Join Vítor Lopes Andrade (University of Sussex) in a discussion about Brazil and asylum on the basis of sexual orientation. Andrade will be discussing Brazil granting “refugee status for foreign people with the founded fear of being persecuted in their countries of origin because of their sexual orientation”. Andrade will be exploring the ways in which the asylum claimants and refugees adjust in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, the trauma and consequences accompanied by being persecuted in one’s country and fleeing to a different country to seek asylum.
A discussion of Paul Roth’s latest book The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation
12th November 2020, 17.30 – 19.00, Book Here
We are particularly looking forward to Paul Roth’s (Distinguished Professor, UC Santa Cruz) discussion of his book, The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation; a conversation that will make you think twice about the social function of history and the way it is constructed. Professor Roth argues against the predominant nineteenth century ideas about the scientific status of history and instead, proposes the idea of historical explanation in form of narration. He, moreover, claims that no one fixed past exists, but many paths. This refreshing perspective is certainly going to make us think twice about (pre)conceptions we may have on how history functions and is produced.
The Politics and Ethics of Black British History
12th November 2020, 18.00 – 19.00, Book Here
Join this very challenging and thought-provoking panel on a conversation about the production of Black British History. The panel consisting of Nadine Chambers (PhD candidate at Birkbeck, University of London), Nicole Jackson (Associate Professor at Bowling Green State University, Ohio) and Meleisa Ono-George (Associate Professor at University of Warwick) will be discussing a set of challenging questions: Who gets to write Black British History? Who is given funding? Should history be made to speak to the present? We think for all disciplines, that’s an essential conversation to have.
Law And Humanities in a Pandemic: Life, Death and Health During the Pandemic
13th November 2020, 12.00 – 13.30, Book Here
Contextualizing the present has always been important. Let alone now, that our present is intertwined with the experiencing of a pandemic. Hui Yun Chan (University of Huddersfield) will be discussing grieving in the shadow of Covid-19. Chan will examine the extent “to which the emergency law balances the caution to protect public health and the opportunity for people to have closure, taking into account the impact on the surviving families and the wider community.” Sabrina Germain (City, University of London) will be discussing how Covid-19 is reshaping healthcare law and policy in the UK. Germain will be looking at how “the first wave of the pandemic […] may signal a more permanent shift from an egalitarian to a utilitarian approach for the delivery of healthcare and redefine the policy and clinical role of medical professionals”. The panel will conclude with Marc Trabsky (La Trobe University) who will be looking at “a tension between governmental representations of the pandemic as an anomaly and techniques for normalizing death as an inevitable outcome of life,” wh itile also exploring how “the Covid-19 pandemic exposes how governmental, medical, legal and financial institutions harness normalizing technologies to define the limit point between life and death.”
Being Human Festival Launch with David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell
10th November, 18.00 – 19.00, Book Here
The annual Being Human Festival has returned for another year of stimulating discussion! Join festival patron Professor David Olusoga in conversation with festival director Sarah Churchwell on decolonisation and “new worlds.” There will be a preview of this year’s festival, which tackles some of the most important issues of our time.
Being Human, “On the Trail of Refugees in 1930s Bloomsbury”
12th November, Audio of the tour will be posted here!
Though this event was originally meant to be delivered in form of a walking tour, unfortunately owing the british national restrictions, it had to be cancelled. Still, you can follow the trail of the 1930s refugees from Nazi Europe around Bloomsbury, “a magnet for the new arrivals due to its its cheap boarding houses and Bohemian reputation.” An essential conversation to be had, events like this remind us of the atrocities of the not so distant past that need to be remembered and recalled, no matter how uncomfortable.
SASiety and University Challenge
12th November 2020, 20.00 – 21.00, Email angharad.mountford@postgrad.sas.ac.uk
You are cordially invited to join our try-outs for the legendary show, University Challenge. A fun evening of niche, eccentric questions will be ahead of us, where by the end of it all, your head will be in a daze with all the newly-acquired facts! This is a great opportunity not only because you will get to test your knowledge, but also, you will have to meet more of your SASiety comrades. We look forward to seeing you there!