Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Same-sex love and gender crossing as part of British heritage
Alison Oram, Professor of Social and Cultural History at Leeds Beckett and lead academic of a team exploring the relationship between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ*) history and the country’s buildings and spaces, will be taking part in the next Leeds Cultural Conversation (LCC) event on Wednesday 10 February at Leeds Town Hall. Places are limited and can be booked at http://bit.ly/1P14cvJ.
The LCC series, hosted by the Centre for Culture and the Arts at Leeds Beckett and Leeds City Council, sees some of the Centre’s leading academics deliver lunchtime talks in some of the city’s most iconic buildings.
Speaking ahead of the event, Professor Oram said: “British history is fascinating - and even more so when you put LGBTQ* history into it. My talk will focus on the project that I have been leading which aims to show that LGBTQ* heritage is a fundamental part of our national culture and that ‘queerness’ lies in many of the buildings that surround us.”
The project, entitled ‘Pride of Place: England’s LGBT Heritage’, is a collaborative venture with colleagues from the Centre for Culture and the Arts at Leeds Beckett, nationwide experts on LGBTQ* history and buildings and landscape history, and Historic England. Working with community groups, LGBTQ* advisory groups and the general public, the team is investigating the places where LGBTQ* communities and individuals lived, worked, and socialised: one example being Shibden Hall, Halifax, the home of Anne Lister, a 19th century landowner, industrialist and traveller who diarised her lesbian relationships.
Professor Oram added: “With greater equality since the 1990s, more and more historic sites have felt able to highlight stories of same-sex love, or queer gender-crossing in their collections and histories. I am excited to be able to contribute to the greater public recognition of this and form stronger links with LGBTQ* communities.”
The talk, which coincides with LGBTQ* month, will form part of a series of events organised by Leeds Beckett University. For more information go to http://bit.ly/1nzo5NU.
Dr Susan Watkins, Director of the Centre for Culture and the Arts at Leeds Beckett said: “Professor Oram’s work is incredibly interesting and highly topical given that we are celebrating LGBTQ* month. Her combined and individual research into lesbian, gay and ‘queer’ history, and its place in our heritage, will make for an enlightening, and no doubt, stimulating conversation. The event provides an opportunity for people from the Leeds and widening community to ask questions of a very intriguing subject.”
Professor Oram is the author of three books, including Her Husband was a Woman! Women’s Gender-Crossing and Modern British Popular Culture (2007). Her current teaching includes: Women and Modernity in 20th Century Britain; Under-Represented Heritage; and Sexuality, Gender and Popular Culture in Britain: 1918-1970. Professor Oram also supervises PhD theses on lesbian and gay activism in the 1980s and interpretation strategies in historic houses.
The next instalment in the series, entitled ‘Women, visibility and playful acts’ by Dr Liz Stirling, Dr Casey Orr, Jo Hassall and Laura Robinson will take place on Wednesday 9 March at the Albert Room, Leeds Town Hall. For more information on the series please visit www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/LCC.
The full list of talks in the series is:
Pride of place: LGBTQ histories and heritage - Professor Alison Oram, Professor of Social and Cultural History. Wednesday 10 February 2016 12.30pm, Albert Room, Leeds Town Hall.
Women, visibility and playful acts - Dr Liz Stirling, Dr Casey Orr, Jo Hassall, Laura Robinson. Wednesday 9 March 2016 12.30pm, Albert Room, Leeds Town Hall.
Cooking without a clock: women, domesticity and timekeeping in nineteenth century Europe. - Dr Rachel Rich, Senior Lecturer in European History. Wednesday 13 April 2016 12.30pm, Denny Room, Leeds City Museum.
Eastern European ‘show trials’ of the 1950s: the Slansky case - Dr Kelly Hignett, Senior Lecturer in History. Wednesday 11 May 2016 12.30pm, Court Room, Leeds Town Hall.