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“A Special Law Just for Us:” Negotiating Gender Recognition in Postwar Britain

"Harford’s call for a “special law”—a neat statutory solution to the problem of his dual identities—highlights the fact that bureaucratic gender recognition in 1950s Britain was far from straightforward."

Adrian Kane-Galbraith

2 days ago

“Not totally gay, I suppose”: Bisexuality and Multiple-Gender-Attraction in the Archives

“The instability and fragility of bisexuality as an identity category in this period means that limiting my analysis only to people who used the term for themselves would be unhelpfully restrictive.”

Martha Robinson Rhodes

5 days ago

A detail shows a close up of the fireplace mantle and chandelier in the smoking room. The fireplace features carved marble and the chandelier is a bright gold.

Hyacinth at the End of the World: Queering William Burges, Eschatology, and Cardiff Castle

"Although orientated around the end of the world, the designs in the room suggest that after la petit morte, or the end of times, viewers will be sublimated to a divinely queer and beautiful afterlife. "

Katrina-Eve Nasidlowski Manica

7 days ago

Princess Seraphina: Queer Visibility at the Old Bailey

"In 2025, when queer and trans people face a new wave of public scrutiny, legal surveillance, and violent erasure, Princess Seraphina’s story challenges the notion that queer lives were always hidden, always punished, and always alone."

Scott Terlouw

Jun 16

A black and white image shows the side of a house, flanked by two trees. The house is a Gothic Revival style, and the design appears to be mirror-imaged down the center, with identical pairs of windows on both sides.

Pride and Its Paradoxes: Settler Queer History and Indigenous Calls for Truth-Telling

"The way forward, then, can only be through an honesty that challenges us to look back and tell a more robust and complicated truth."

Jacobin Bosman

Jun 11

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Broadsides Series

British Studies Outside the Anglophone Academy

A dramatic seascape painting titled by Carl Neumann, depicting the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. The scene shows British and Danish warships engaged in intense naval combat amidst turbulent seas. Explosions and smoke rise from the ships, with cannon fire illuminating the dark sky. The Danish fleet is anchored near the coast, while British vessels maneuver in the foreground. The painting captures the chaos and scale of the battle, with detailed depictions of the ships' rigging and the surrounding environment.

Teaching Incidental British History around the Globe

"The global reach of the British empire, which touched and transformed societies across continents, also creates natural resonance in sometimes unexpected ways. "

Jessica Hanser

May 8

A stylized oil painting depicting a fairground scene from 1931. The central figure is a Black man dressed in a bright red coat and white gloves, standing in front of a velvet-draped entrance to a carnival ride. The background features a shadowy, indistinct figure, adding to the mysterious atmosphere. The composition reflects Philpot's modernist approach, characterized by flattened forms and bold color contrasts, capturing the allure and intrigue of the fairground setting.

Teaching Black London in Pandemic Paris

"I have learnt that keeping the political stakes of Black Britishness at the fore requires constant vigilance."

Laura Carter

May 6

The Prospects for British Imperial History: The View from Macau

"Rather, the view from Macau prompts a reassessment of the prospects for British imperial history; it raises different questions from those currently dominant in the field."

Joshua Ehrlich

May 1

"Detailed black and white engraving showing San Domingo Street in Santiago, Chile, in 1822. The scene features colonial-era buildings with tiled roofs lining a wide, unpaved street. Several figures in period clothing walk or stand along the street, including women in long dresses and men in coats and hats. In the background, the Andes mountains rise prominently, partially veiled in haze, anchoring the setting in a South American landscape. The perspective draws the viewer's eye down the street toward the distant mountains, capturing the architectural and natural elements of 19th-century Santiago."

Addressing the Inequality of Languages: a proposal for teaching and writing British History from Latin America

“But to truly disrupt the inequality of languages, we need to do more than just artfully consider how to incorporate British imperial history into courses in the Spanish-speaking world. We should also consider how to let ideas, studies, literatures and experiences outside the Anglosphere impact how we write about British history itself.”

Laura Tavolacci

Apr 29

Britain and the US Presidency

Washington, US Revolution, and the British Atlantic

"Of all the American Presidents, George Washington was perhaps best known to the British at the time of his inauguration. "

Troy Bickham

Jan 24

In the Graveyard of Empires: The United States, Britain and the Afghan War

"It remains, as it has been for over 150 years, the graveyard of empires."

Sarah Burns

Jan 22

Public Utterances and Private Thoughts: A Perspective on the Eisenhower and Churchill Relationship

For Churchill and Eisenhower, private opinions differ from public perceptions.

Justin Olmstead

Jan 20

London & the Making of Herbert Hoover

What began for Hoover as a British imperial career and a life in London finance circles eventually took him to the White House...

Tammy Proctor

Jan 17

British Studies: State of the Field

A Way Forward: Look Local

"This is a call to work locally and from the bottom-up ..."

Priya Satia

Feb 16, 2024

A Teachable Moment?

“Any effective strategy to nurture and grow our field is dependent on being transparent with our students…”

Catherine Chou

Feb 13, 2024

British History, Once and Future

"More than a quarter of a century of gnashing of teeth has accompanied the decline of British history in American higher education."

David Cressy

Feb 9, 2024

British History in Canada: No Jobs, No Field

Ted McCormick outlines the state of British Studies in Canada.

Ted McCormick

Feb 6, 2024

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Historiography of Ireland/Northern Ireland Series

"The Irish do not live in the past rather Ireland’s history lives in the present"

"One cannot deny that the maintaining of “peace” after conflict has not been a straightforward or linear process."

Laura McAtackney

Nov 3, 2023

Why the Inertia? Situated Knowledge and Action in Northern Ireland

I enter this discussion with some caution. My interests lie in the broad field of ethnicity, boundaries and identity, my research on the...

Jennifer Todd

Oct 31, 2023

The Start of the Troubles and Real Politics

In this piece, Simon Prince reflects on his article “Against Ethnicity” and how his work emphasizes a short time span and contingency.

Simon Prince

Oct 25, 2023

Consensus and Debate: Walking the 'New' Northern Ireland

"Walking as methodology can add weight and texture to historical study."

Elizabeth DeYoung

Oct 20, 2023

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Broadsides is the official blog for the North American Conference on British Studies. This digital forum offers an accessible, communal space to host scholarly discussion of interest to our membership. You can read more about this NACBS initiative here.

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