There seems to be a growing consensus that previous assumptions about the long term consequences of China’s rise have turned out to be misplaced. Rather than China becoming ‘socialised’ into the liberal global order (and democratising at home), a China challenge to that order is instead being identified. This is seen not just as a challenge to the distribution of power within the current system, but to some of the fundamental norms and principles that underpin it, as well as to the theories and concepts that are used to try to understand it and predict future behaviour.  Of course, some always expected it to be this way; however, others now see a Chinese ability and willingness to promote alternatives that they didn’t envisage even a decade ago.
This presentation explores how what were originally designed as defensive norms and theories for China itself have transformed into putative platforms that might have salience and utility for others outside China. The paper suggests that the Chinese position may better be understood as a critique of universalism rather than the basis of an alternative world order. It also asks whether there is more than just an aspirational dimension to new Chinese thinking on international relations built on a form of “Occidentalism”, or if we can identify a real and distinct Chinese approach to both its own international relations and the nature of the world order itself.
—
Shaun Breslin is Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick and a leading British academic expert on Chinese politics and economy, globalization, regionalism, global governance, and International Political Economy. Professor Breslin is also an Associate Fellow of the Asia Research Centre based at Murdoch University and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Centre for European Studies, Renmin University. In 2010, he became an Associate Fellow in the Asia Programme of Chatham House. Professor Breslin is Co-Editor of The Pacific Review and sits on the Editorial Committee of the Review of International Studies, China and World Economy, and the Fudan Review of International Relations.

Abstract:
Current commentary in legal and political philosophy conceptualises political parties either as private organisations, immune from legal regulation in their internal affairs, or as quasi-public institutions, where the state may justifiably mandate certain internal regulations. I argue that, in jurisdictions with anti-defection laws, neither conception accounts for the normative status of the political party. Instead, the party ought to be conceptualised as a legislative actor. This paper then examines how conceptualising the party in this way can affect the way in which we understand the relationship between the law and a party. I explore three possible avenues of legal regulation of parties: the process of candidate selection, the selection of party leaders, and interaction between a party and its parliamentary wing. I argue that conceptualising the party as a legislative entity has the most salient implications for the third of these: the interaction between the extra-parliamentary organisation and the parliamentary party.
About the Speaker:
Udit Bhatia is a Junior Research Fellow in Politics at Jesus College and Lecturer in Political Theory at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. His research interests lie at the intersections of democratic theory, social epistemology and constitutional law. He is currently working on the ethics of partisanship and the regulation of political parties.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross / Crescent work to save lives and protect rights in the wake of natural disasters and armed conflict. How effective is the $27Billion sector? And what challenges does it face? The Oxford launch event of the State of the Humanitarian System report, with expert panel and Q and A

In the context of migration between Uttar Pradesh, other areas of India, and the Gulf, this paper explores the role of the imagination in shaping subjective experiences of male Muslim migrants from a woodworking industry in the North Indian city of Saharanpur. Through attending to the dreams, aspirations, and hopes of labour migrants, the paper argues that bridging the material and the imagined is critical to understanding not just patterns of migration, but also the subjective experiences of migrants themselves. Through a descriptive ethnographic account, involving journeys with woodworkers over one and a half years, the paper explores the ways in which migration, its effects, and connections are shaped by the imagination, yet are also simultaneously active in shaping the imagination—a process that is self-perpetuating. Emerging from this, the paper gives attention to continuity at the material, personal, and more emotive levels. This runs counter to research that situates migration as rupturing or change-driving within both the social and the subjective. These continuities play out in complex ways, providing comfort and familiarity, but also enabling the imaginations of migrants to be subverted, co-opted, influenced, and structured to meet the demands of labour markets both domestically and abroad.

Carlos Lopes will deliver an overview of the critical development issues facing the African continent today. He will talk about a blueprint of policies to address issues, and an intense, heartfelt meditation on the meaning of economic development in the age of democratic doubts, identity crises, global fears and threatening issues of sustainability.

This talk will be followed by a book signing and drinks reception, all welcome.

The 5th Annual Oxford Business and Poverty Conference will feature a diverse range of speakers addressing the Paradoxes of Prosperity. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5th-annual-oxford-business-poverty-conference-tickets-57733957822
Hosted at the Sheldonian Theatre, the conference will feature keynotes by:
Lant Pritchett: RISE Research Director at the Blavatnik School of Government, former Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development
Efosa Ojomo: Global Prosperity Lead and Senior Researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute
John Hoffmire: Director of Center on Business and Poverty and Research Associate at Kellogg Colleges at Center For Mutual and Employee-owned Business at Oxford University
Ananth Pai: Executive Director, Bharath Beedi Works Pvt. Ltd. and Director, Bharath Auto Cars Pvt
Laurel Stanfield: Assistant Professor of Marketing at Bentley College in Massachusetts
Grace Cheng: Greater China’s Country Manager for Russell Reynolds Associates
Madhusudan Jagadish: 2016 Graduate MBA, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Tentative Schedule:
2:15-2:20 Welcome
2:20-2:50 Efosa Ojomo, co-author of The Prosperity Paradox, sets the stage for the need for innovation in development
2:50-3:20 John Hoffmire, Ananth Pai and Mudhusudan Jagadish explain how the Prosperity Paradox can be used in India as a model to create good jobs for poor women
3:20-3:40 Break
3:40-4:10 Laurel Steinfeld speaks to issues of gender, development and business – addressing paradoxes related to prosperity
4:10-4:40 Grace Cheng, speaks about the history of China’s use of disruptive innovations to develop its economy
4:40-5:15 Break
5:15-6 Lant Pritchett talks on Pushing Past Poverty: Paths to Prosperity
6:30-8 Dinner at the Rhodes House – Purchase tickets after signing up for the conference
Sponsors include: Russell Reynolds, Employee Ownership Foundation, Ananth Pai Foundation and others

Released ten years ago on a (comparatively) minuscule budget, Duncan Jones’s eerie sci-fi debut became an instant cult classic. Set in a future where the energy crisis has been solved by mining fuel from the moon, Sam Rockwell plays the satellites’ sole worker. He spends his time fixing failing equipment, bickering with his AI companion, and speaking to his family back home – until he unearths a terrible truth with existentially catastrophic implications.

A Science Oxford Q&A with Prof Chris Lintott (Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and presenter of the BBC series The Sky at Night) follows this screening.

‘With its measured pacing, melancholy tone and eye for prosaic details, Moon is very different from the glossy sci-fi blockbuster – and far more satisfying.’ ★★★★ Wendy Ide, The Times

Dir. Duncan Jones. UK, 2009. 1h 37m. Starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Matt Berry, Robin Chalk, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Malcolm Stewart, Benedict Wong.

This event is part of a partnership between Science Oxford and the UPP in Oxford that aims to bring science and technology-themed activities to wider audiences across the region.

Coriander Theatre presents a new play ‘My Mother Runs in Zig-Zags’ at the North Wall Arts Centre, 30th May – 1st June 2019, 7:30pm, Saturday Matinee 2:30pm.

Sometimes, race and trauma are like leaky old pipes: you can’t even have a friend over for dinner without something spilling out everywhere and flooding your life in the most unexpected way.

A conversation between friends becomes a journey to the Lebanese and Nigerian civil wars. Half-remembered worlds of violent oral history invade the kitchen and layer themselves over everyday life, shining light on the laughter that heals intergenerational traumas, and celebrating the overflowings and excesses of a life shaped by migration.

With an original musical score, a chorus of performance poets and contemporary dancers, and stories passed on from a generation of migrants, My mother runs in zig-zags is a bold new tragicomedy, devised by the best of Oxford University’s BAME actors and performers.

Age Guidance: 12+

My mother runs in zig zags

This is a joint book talk with The Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health at the Oxford Martin School

Now that Trump has turned the United States into a global climate outcast, will China take the lead in saving our planet from environmental catastrophe? Many signs point to yes. China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, is leading a global clean energy revolution, phasing out coal consumption and leading the development of a global system of green finance.

But as leading China environmental expert and author of Will China Save the Planet? Barbara Finamore will explain in this talk, it is anything but easy. The fundamental economic and political challenges that China faces in addressing its domestic environmental crisis threaten to derail its low-carbon energy transition. Yet there is reason for hope. China’s leaders understand that transforming the world’s second largest economy from one dependent on highly polluting heavy industry to one focused on clean energy, services and innovation is essential, not only to the future of the planet, but to China’s own prosperity.

We will also hear from respondent Radhika Khosla, Research Director at the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College.

This talk will be followed by a drinks reception, book sale and signing, all welcome

For this event, 12 artists from all over the country will be presenting work that they have been making as part of the Sound Diaries open call.

The presenting artists are:

Richard Bentley, Hannah Dargavel-Leafe, Aisling Davis, Atilio Doreste, Marlo De Lara, Beth Shearsby, Kathryn Tovey, Jacek Smolicki, James Green, Lucia Hinojosa, Sena Karahan, Fi.Ona

Sound Diaries expands awareness of the roles of sound and listening in daily life. The project explores the cultural and communal significance of sounds and forms a research base for projects executed both locally and Internationally, in Beijing, Brussels, Tallinn, Cumbria and rural Oxfordshire.

Join astrophysicist Becky Smethurst on a whistle-stop tour through space, stopping off to explore everything you need to know about the universe. Guiding you through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the Big Bang. She provides evidence as to whether we really are alone and highlighting what we still have to learn. If you have big questions about space or just want to expand your mind join Becky as she provides us with some answers.

Becky’s book Space: 10 things you should know will be available to buy on the night and she will be signing.

‘Bite-sized, cutting edge science delivered with enormous enthusiasm – all you need to travel the cosmos’ CHRIS LINTOTT

Dr Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist and research fellow at the University of Oxford. Her current research is trying to answer the question ‘How do galaxies and black holes evolve together?’. Her Youtube channel Dr. Becky, where she explains unsolved mysteries, weird objects found in space and general space news each week, has 46k subscribers and counting. She also presents physics videos for YouTube channel Sixty Symbols and astronomy videos for Deep Sky Videos. She was shortlisted for the Institute of Physics Early Career Physics Communicator Award and was named Audience Winner of the UK National Final of the FameLab 2014 Competition.

Tenor Mark Padmore is preparing to take on the role of Aschenbach in David McVicar’s production of Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House. Join Mark and a panel of experts, including Colin Matthews, Ray Ockenden, John Hopkins, Henry Bacon, and Philip Bullock to explore this many-faceted character through literature, film, and opera.

2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Brazilian composer Claudio Santoro (1919-1989), one of the major figures in twentieth-century Brazilian music. His musical legacy includes nearly five hundred compositions. Among them there are fourteen symphonies, several chamber works, concertos, vocal compositions, one opera, film scores, and seventy-three known works for piano solo. Beginning with his very first compositions, his intense and extremely idealistic personality, always searching for new ideas and new musical expressions, led him to explore diverse idioms in his music. This unmissable lecture recital will be presented by the composer’ son Alessandro Santoro, acclaimed harpsichordist and pianist, Brazilian soprano Gabriella Di Laccio and Dr Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho, Lecturer in Brazilian Studies, King’s College London. The concert will present some of Santoro Love Songs – an exquisite cycle written in partnership with Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes – as well some of Santoro’s piano preludes.

Edward Higginbottom was Director of Music at New College from 1976 – 2014. In a talk for Oxford Civic Society he reflects on music making in the University and how, sometimes in spite of itself, it has fostered musical talent. He observes that there are some aspects of this story that depend on ‘the genius of the place’.

Astrophysics is the science of the stars, and more widely the science of the Universe. During this stellar event, Prof James Binney will present extracts from his Very Short Introduction to Astrophysics (OUP). You will learn about the rapid expansion of the field in the last century, with vast quantities of data gathered by telescopes exploiting all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the great advance of computing power, which has allowed increasingly effective mathematical modelling.

This two-day conference will explore the evolving relationship between conflict and identity, with a specific interest in the role of history education in pre-conflict, at-conflict, and post-conflict societies. It will focus on how teachers and lecturers present history; how such choices shape identity; and how history education can be used for the purposes of promoting or undermining peaceful societies.

Grab a pint and join us for a cabaret with a difference as six stellar acts take you out of this world with their entertaining riffs on life at the edge of existence. From outer space to the dinosaurs, we’ll be rocketing through a medley of music, comedy and creativity that’ll keep you weightless with laughter all night. If you love science, solar systems and stand up, this cabaret should be right up your Milky Way.

Featuring Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night), Lucy Rogers (Robot Wars) and many more.

This event is part of the IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival 18-28 October 2019. IF Oxford is operating a Pay What You Decide (PWYD) ticketing system. This works by enabling you to pre-book events without paying for a ticket beforehand. Afterwards, you have the opportunity to pay what you decide you want to, or can afford. If you prefer, you can make a donation when you book.

There may be tickets available on the door – spaces may be reallocated if ticket holders are late.

IF Oxford science and ideas festival 18-28 October #IFOx2019

Scientists need your help! As we get more information about the Universe, we risk becoming overwhelmed but – as Oxford astronomer Chris Lintott explains in his new book, you can help. Hear from Oxford scientists who have worked with volunteers to find planets, and to count penguins, and even hunt aliens.

IF Oxford is operating a Pay What You Decide (PWYD) ticketing system. This works by enabling you to pre-book events without paying for a ticket beforehand. Afterwards, you have the opportunity to pay what you decide you want to, or can afford. If you prefer, you can make a donation to IF Oxford when you book. All funds raised go towards next year’s Festival.

Blackwell’s are delighted to be joined by astrophysicist and YouTuber, Dr Becky Smethurst on her first book, Space: 10 Things You Should Know.

Synopsis

Written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and composed of ten simple essays, this title guides you swiftly through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the Big Bang, presenting the evidence as to whether we really are alone, illuminating what we still don’t know, and much more besides. If you have big questions about Space, this volume will provide you with the answers in an engaging and succinct way.

Becky Smethurst is a research fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford with a special interest in how galaxies and their central supermassive black holes evolve together. She is also a science communicator through her YouTube channel, Dr. Becky, which has over 45,500 followers.

This event is free, but please do register if you plan on attending. For more information please call our Customer Service Department on 01865 333 623 or email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk

The AfOx insaka is a gathering for sharing ideas and knowledge about Africa-focused research with speakers from diverse and varied academic disciplines. There are two events each term.

Speakers for the first AfOx insaka in the new academic year are Dr Robtel Neajai Pailey, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Oxford Department of International Development and Dr Jacob McKnight, Senior Researcher, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health.

At this AfOx talk, Robtel Neajai Pailey uses her anti-corruption children’s books to argue that equipping children with verbal tools to question the confusing ethical codes of adults can revolutionise how we talk and theorise about corruption.

Jake McKnight is a Health Systems Researcher at the Oxford Health Systems Collaboration (OHSCAR). He was originally a logistician for MSF in Angola and Somalia, before conducting his PhD research in Ethiopia. He then read for the MSc. in African Studies at Oxford, before completing his PhD at Said Business School, where he concentrated on healthcare reform in Ethiopia. Jake will talk about the failures and successes of projects he’s studied or been involved in, reflecting on the idea that ‘Africa Works’, and as researchers and implementors, it’s up to us to fit local cultures rather to try to ‘fix’ them.

The Night Sky Show will take you on an epic journey from our celestial back yard and across the cosmos.

Comedy, astronomy and so much more. A show for anyone with a slight interest or more in the night sky. A night for those who want to laugh, learn and enjoy.

A fun, entertaining and memorable evening which will help you understand and enjoy the heavens above and universe beyond. Helpful for the next time you’re stargazing, or when you just look up and wonder.

We’ll skip the heavy going science and hard to follow explanations. The Universe and everything within will be presented in an entertaining and easily absorbed way.

AN AMAZING SHOW FOR EVERYONE

This won’t be a boring astronomy talk, it will be a spectacular astronomy talk anyone can enjoy!

Learn about the constellations, stars, planets and the deeper cosmos. The sheer scale of the universe and the mythology and stories of the night sky.

Presented by Adrian West – A passionate and experienced astronomer. Better known as VirtualAstro on Twitter and Facebook. He has one of the largest independent astronomy and space accounts on social media. He’s passionate about the night sky and inspiring people to look up by being interesting, down-to-earth and fun!

Adrian has written many astronomy and space related articles for various popular online science magazines. He has also written guides and articles for the BBC, Met office and National Trust to name a few.

If you look up and wonder, The Night Sky Show is for you.

SO LETS EXPLORE!

Blackwell’s are delighted to be joined by Petina Gappah to discuss her latest novel, Out of Darkness, Shining Light.

Synopsis

Petina Gappah’s epic journey through nineteenth-century Africa – following the funeral caravan who bore Bwana Daudi’s body – is ‘engrossing, beautiful and deeply imaginative.’ (Yaa Gyasi)

This is the story of the body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, the explorer David Livingstone – and the sixty-nine men and women who carried his remains for 1,500 miles so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own country.

The wise men of his age say Livingstone blazed into the darkness of their native land leaving a track of light behind where white men who followed him could tread in perfect safety. But in Petina Gappah’s radical novel, it is those in the shadows of history – those who saved a white man’s bones; his dark companions; his faithful retinue on an epic funeral march – whose voices are resurrected with searing intensity.

This final, fateful journey across the African interior is lead by Halima, Livingstone’s sharp-tongued cook, and three of his most devoted servants: Jacob, Chuma and Susi. Their tale of how his corpse was borne out of nineteenth-century Africa – carrying the maps that sowed the seeds of the continent’s brutal colonisation – has the power of myth. It is not only symbolic of slavery’s hypocrisy, but a portrait of a world trembling on the cusp of total change – and a celebration of human bravery, loyalty and love.

Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from Cambridge, Graz University and the University of Zimbabwe. Her short fiction and essays have been published in eight countries. Her debut story collection, An Elegy for Easterly, won the Guardian First Book Award in 2009, and her first novel, The Book of Memory, was longlisted for the 2015 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.

This event is free, but please do register if you plan on attending. Please note, this event may take place in the Philosophy Department which is accessible via a short flight of stairs. Seats are unallocated. For more information, please contact our Customer Service Department on 01865 333 623 or email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk

In modern high-tech health care, patients appear to be the stumbling block.

Uninformed, anxious, noncompliant individuals with unhealthy lifestyles who demand treatments advertised by celebrities and insist on unnecessary but expensive diagnostics may eventually turn into plaintiffs. But what about their physicians? About ten years ago, Muir Gray and Gerd Gigerenzer published a book with the subtitle “Envisioning health care 2020”. They listed “seven sins” of health care systems then, one of which was health professionals’ stunning lack of risk literacy. Many were not exactly sure what a false-positive rate was, or what overdiagnosis and survival rates mean, and they were unable to evaluate articles in their own field. As a consequence, the ideals of informed consent and shared decision-making remain a pipedream – both doctors and patients are habitually misled by biased information in health brochures and advertisements. At the same time, the risk literacy problem is one of the few in health care that actually have a known solution. A quick cure is to teach efficient risk communication that fosters transparency as opposed to confusion, both in medical school and in CME. It can be done with 4th graders, so it should work with doctors, too.

Now, in 2020, can every doctor understand health statistics? In this talk, Gerd Gigerenzer will describe the efforts towards this goal, a few successes, but also the steadfast forces that undermine doctors’ ability to understand and act on evidence. Moreover, the last decade has seen two new forces that distract from solving the problem. The first is the promise of digital technology, from diagnostic AI systems to big data analytics, which consumes much of the attention. Digital technology is of little help if doctors do not understand it. Second, our efforts to make patients competent and to encourage them to articulate their values are now in conflict with the new paternalistic view that patients just need to be nudged into better behaviour.

This talk will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome

Joint event with: The Oxford–Berlin Research Partnership

Join us as we hear from Prof Martin Bureau (University of Oxford) about his research on Supermassive black holes.

‘Supermassive black holes are now known to lurk at the centre of most
galaxies. They are also believed to play a key role in the evolution
of galaxies, by regulating the supply of the gas necessary to form
stars. Here, I will present key results from the mm-Wave
Interferometric Survey of Dark Object Masses (WISDOM), a high
resolution survey of molecular gas in galaxy nuclei. I will first show
that carbon monoxide (CO) can be used to easily and accurately measure
the mass of these supermassive black holes. I will then discuss
substantial ongoing efforts to do this, and present many new
spectacular measurements from the Atacama Large
Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), the largest ground-based
telescope project. This effort opens the way to literally hundreds of
measurements across galaxies of all morphological types, both active
and non-active, with a unique method. It thus promises to
revolutionise our understanding of the co-evolution of galaxies and
black holes.’

FREE entry

Drinks and snacks provided. (Non-alcoholic and vegetarian/vegan dietary requirements provided for. For other diets please get in touch in advance)

For more information email emil.ostergaard@stcatz.ox.ac.uk. There is wheelchair access. There is padded seating, and an accessible toilet. There is blue badge parking by request at the event.

Music has taken many forms during China’s long cultural history and many traditions have endured to this day. In this talk, Paul Bevan will look at a selection of the paintings in the Ashmolean collection that reflect China’s rich musical and theatrical heritage.

Music and Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean’s Chinese Paintings Collection
A Weekday Talk with Dr Paul Bevan, Ashmolean Museum

Fri 6 Mar, 1–3pm
Ashmolean Museum

FREE, booking recommended.
Book by contacting chinesepaintingsprogramme@ashmus.ox.ac.uk
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/music-and-musical-instruments-in-the-ashmoleans-chinese-paintings-collection

Life-Writing Beyond Words is a research network and termly series of public events, hosted by Felix Appelbe, the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, and Ocean Ambassadors, that explores how we move between words and the non-verbal.

Life-writing is the study of lives, through letters, diaries, performance, memoir, autobiography and biography. But it frequently has to negotiate the non-verbal, for instance when describing the creative minds of composers, choreographers or artists, capturing the sound and light of childhood, or eavesdropping on the world of animal experience. How can these worlds be captured in words?

We are addressing this challenge by convening a network that spans many disciplines, bringing together academics, practitioners and performers who would otherwise not meet. Free-thinking lectures and laboratories will forge new pathways between the verbal and the non-verbal, journeying towards innovative experimental and performative methodologies.

5 – 5:10 Introduction by Felix Appelbe

5:10 – 5:50pm Louise Cournarie, Rameau le Moderne. Throughout his unusually long life, Jean Philippe Rameau has left an unerasable mark in Music, Theory, Science, Philosophy, and History. The composer/theorist, often referred to as the ‘father of modern harmony’, and who hated being called a composer, left behind him a forever changed view on music and a large body of work. In a time hugely influenced by the philosophy of Descartes, or the conferences of LeBrun, restlessly attacked by Rousseau, supported by D’Alambert and Voltaire, Rameau the musician and theorist underwent a long evolution. Through his keyboard pieces, this Lecture recital will attempt in having a closer look to the effect of this rich history on both the practice of Jean Philippe Rameau and his theory ideas.

5:50 – 6:30pm Alyn Shipton, How can we explore life-writing that does not use words? One possible answer is to examine both visual art and music for the ways in which we might see or hear biographical ideas. An obvious historical example would be the cycle of self-portraits by Rembrandt, that chronicle every stage of his life, and tell us through peripheral detail not only about the physical changes to Rembrandt the man, but to the environment in which he paints himself, and the clothes he wears. In his new book The Art of Jazz, Alyn Shipton explores the connections between the visual arts and jazz in the first hundred years of the music. Drawing on this unique body of research, Alyn explores how the lives of those in the jazz world have been depicted in music and in painting, drawing, graphics and sculpture. We can see how the image of Miles Davis changed over time, including his own work as a painter; we see how different photographers presented the “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith and how she translated the African American experience into song, and using excerpts from his work as an oral historian, Alyn shows how Sonny Rollins used the personal experience of racism in the housing market to inspire his “Freedom Suite”.

6:30 – 7:30pm Roundtable discussion, chaired by Kate Kennedy, on the theme Never the same twice

Come along to the long-awaited Night Sky Show at the fantastic Great Hall in Cholsey. It will certainly be a night to remember!

Facts, fiction, laughter and more in a fantastic place, for one night only. A night of great entertainment as well as an event for everyone!

SHOW DESCRIPTION

The Cholsey Night Sky Show will take you on an epic journey. Certainly a very unique and different journey! From our celestial back yard and across the cosmos.

Comedy, astronomy and so much more. Above all, an evening for anyone with a slight interest in the night sky or more. A night for anyone who indeed wants to laugh, learn, be inspired and enjoy.

The Night Sky Show will be a truly fun, entertaining and memorable evening. Helping you understand and enjoy the heavens above and the universe beyond. Helpful for the next time you’re looking up at the night sky stargazing, or when you just look up and wonder.

For one thing, we’ll skip the heavy going science and hard to follow explanations. The Universe and everything within will be presented in an entertaining and easily absorbed way.

AN AMAZING SHOW FOR EVERYONE

This won’t be a boring astronomy talk. The Night Sky Show is a theatrical performance anyone can enjoy! Learn about constellations, stars, planets and the deeper cosmos. The sheer scale of the universe. The mythology and stories of the night sky.

Presented by Adrian West – A passionate and experienced astronomer. Better known as VirtualAstro on Twitter and Facebook. One of the largest independent astronomy and space accounts on social media. He’s passionate about the night sky and inspiring people to look up. His success is due to being interesting, down-to-earth and fun! The writer of numerous astronomy and space-related articles for various popular online science magazines. He has also written guides and articles for the BBC, Met Office and National Trust to name a few. You can regularly find him pointing out things to people in the night sky.

If you look up and wonder, The Night Sky Show is for you. www.nightskyshow.co.uk

SO LET’S EXPLORE!
Suitable for ages 8+ Fully licenced bar.