Southampton Stonewall Lecture 2018, Thursday 15th February: Professor Alison Oram

January 24, 2018
by Lewis Brennen

The 2018 Southampton Stonewall Lecture will take place on Thursday 15th February at 6.00pm at Avenue Campus, University of Southampton. The event is free to attend but you must register beforehand. For more information and to register please click here.

This year’s lecture will be given by Professor Alison Oram (Leeds Beckett University), who will be speaking about:

‘Queer beyond London: Culture and Place in English Cities since the 1960s’

How does a sense of place shape ideas of queer identity, politics and community? This lecture draws on the findings of the AHRC-funded “Queer Beyond London” research project which explores LGBTQ life in four provincial cities since 1965 (Manchester, Brighton, Leeds and Plymouth). It challenges the London-centric history of queer life, activism and cultures, showing that while the four cities share similar responses to national milestones, they have had different trajectories in terms of LGBTQ activism and community-building. For over half a century urban queer identities have been tied into distinct migration patterns, place-specific types of home-making, and new sexual politics.

Alison Oram is Professor of Social and Cultural History at Leeds Beckett University. Her research focuses on lesbian and queer histories in 20th century Britain and on how these are represented in heritage. She led the “Pride of Place: England’s LGBTQ Heritage” project for Historic England in 2015-16, and is co-investigator on “Queer Beyond London” with Professor Matt Cook.

Her books include: “Her Husband was a Woman!” Women’s Gender-Crossing and Modern British Popular Culture (2007) and The Lesbian History Source Book: Love and Sex Between Women in Britain 1780-1970 (2001: co-authored with Annmarie Turnbull).

The annual ‘Southampton Stonewall Lecture’ explores the rich heritage that is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) history, in order to educate the present about the past and to promote social justice and inclusivity. Previous speakers have included Professors George Chaucey, Laura Doan, and Dagmar Herzog.

Each lecture offers an academic approach to a historical subject, revealing to a broad public audience some of the best recent research on the gay and lesbian past. The lecture builds on fruitful cooperation between the Stonewall charity and the University of Southampton in terms of our shared values and educational engagement with the wider community. Through a greater understanding of discrimination and tolerance through the centuries, we can help to promote tolerance and inclusivity in contemporary British society.

The lecture will be followed by a charity collection for Stonewall.