History Professor publishes new book
by Laurence Georgin
Southampton historian Professor Mark Cornwall has published his latest book ‘The Devil’s Wall, The Nationalist Youth Mission of Heinz Rutha’.
Legend has it that twenty miles of volcanic rock rising through the landscape of northern Bohemia was the work of the devil,who separated the warring Czechs and Germans by building a wall. The nineteenth-century invention of the Devil’s Wall was evidence of rising ethnic tensions. In interwar Czechoslovakia, Sudeten German nationalists conceived a radical mission to try to restore German influence across the region.
Mark Cornwall tells the story of Heinz Rutha, an internationally recognized figure in his day, who was the pioneer of a youth movement
that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czech space.
LGBT History at Southampton
by Laurence Georgin
The annual Southampton Stonewall Lecture on 21 February 2013 was delivered by Professor George Chauncey (Yale University) on “Gay Culture in Postwar New York”.
This was a highly innovative exploration of the world of the gay male in New York’s cultural and commercial scene, explaining how men fashioned their identity in a vibrant but often hostile environment, and the codes and manoeuvres they used to avoid persecution. It was a tantalizing glimpse into Professor Chauncey’s forthcoming book on the shaping of American gay identity between 1945 and the Stonewall riots.
We had an extremely diverse audience of about 100 for the event (academic and non-academic), and a lively Q & A session ensued, chaired by Dr Kendrick Oliver. In short this fully fulfilled the Southampton Stonewall lecture’s remit of publicizing a facet of LGBT history to a public audience while promoting the university principles of equality and diversity. It is expected that next year’s lecture will be on an early modern history theme in order further to diversify the audience.
History also ran the 3rd LGBT History Workshop on 20 February, with a very varied programme of talks and some of the best discussions we have had at this annual event. This year it was truly interdisciplinary, with papers ranging from US gay poets (Peter Middleton), to homosexual Stalinist crooners (Dan Healey); from the music of the Pet Shop Boys (Eve Colpus), to an analysis of the German lesbian film ‘Aimee und Jaguar’ (Neil Gregor). A special highlight was the paper of English PhD candidate James Cole who read to us vividly from his own short story ‘Be My Lennon’. The quality of the discussion/debate owed much to those who were able to attend for the whole workshop (including the incisive commentators Joan Tumblety and Julie Gammon).
Listen to George Chauncey speaking about the history of Gay New York.
Welcome to the LGBT Research Community
by Laurence Georgin
The LGBT Research Community website is the hub for LGBT research, teaching and enterprise at the University of Southampton.
We want to engage with researchers from across the University and we invite you to get in touch with if you want to share your LGBT-related work with the wider University community.