Archives
Defending British India Against Napoleon: The Foreign Policy of Governor-General Lord Minto (1807-13)
The Sheila Paine Collection: Behind the Scenes talk
As part of our Textiles in Focus day, go behind the scenes with Julia Nicholson, Joint Head of Collections and discover the secrets of the Sheila Paine textiles collection, then visit our special exhibition ‘Stitch of a Symbol’, curated by Julia. Two talks: 11.00 & 14.00 .
The difficulty of imagining a free society
A twenty minute talk to introduce the topic, followed by Q&As and about an hour’s discussion. All welcome.
Lady English Lecture 2016 – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Deputy President UK Supreme Court will lecture on ‘The Conflict of Equalities: Religion, Gender, and Sexual Orientation.’
The Lady English Lecture Series marks St Hilda’s College’s continuing commitment to the education and advancement of women and promotes the contributions made by women to the University and to public life more generally.
Brain and Mind – from Concrete to Abstract: Depression and the Brain
‘Depression and the Brain’ will be discussed from the point of view of neuroscience, psychology/psychiatry and philosophy. Three eminent speakers will give talks and arising questions will be discussed under audience participation. Tea and coffee will be served at the interval.
Free Film Screening: NO, with talk by Alan Angell, author of Democracy after Pinochet
As the UK emerges from its own bruising referendum campaign, we present a screening of NO — the Oscar nominated dramatization of the 1988 referendum in Chile to decide the future of the country’s military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Rather than focusing on the negative legacy of sixteen years of brutal dictatorship, the ‘No’ campaign enlisted the services of a young advertising executive to present a message filled with the promise of hope and happiness on offer under a new democratic system.
Interweaving documentary footage of the surreally optimistic actual advertising campaign, the film uses a now obsolete video format to seamlessly blend documentary and drama. In doing so, it raises probing questions about both the line between truth and fiction, and the possibilities and pitfalls of direct democracy.
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar and starring Gael García Bernal, NO is a funny and inspiring account of a referendum campaign, and may offer a much-needed lesson from history in light of recent campaigns in the UK, Colombia, and Hungary.
Alan Angell, author of Democracy after Pinochet and Emeritus Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, will give an introductory talk to accompany the screening. He was an observer at the 1988 referendum in Chile and ran a programme for academic refugees from Chile to study in the UK. He is an Associate Member of the Latin America Centre, Oxford, and has written on many aspects of Chilean democracy and on the left in Latin America.
Praise for NO
Funny and rousing, both intellectually and emotionally
The New York Times
Uniquely and unexpectedly beautiful. A snapshot of a society renewed
Slant Magazine
East West Street: On the Origins of ‘Genocide’ and ‘Crimes against Humanity’
In this book colloquium, a panel of experts will discuss East West Street, the moving personal account of how the international lawyer Philippe Sands unearthed long-buried family secrets whilst researching the fathers of the modern human rights movement in Lviv, home to his maternal grandfather.
In this extraordinary and resonant book, Sands paints a portrait of the two very private men who forged his own field of humanitarian law — Rafael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht — each of whom dedicated their lives to having their legal concepts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” form a centerpiece for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
In doing so, the author uncovers, clue by clue, the deliberately obscured story of his grandfather’s mysterious life and of his mother’s journey as a child surviving Nazi occupation. It is a book that changes the way we look at the world, at our understanding of history, and how civilization has tried to cope with mass murder.
Philippe Sands is an international lawyer and a professor of law at University College London. He is the author of Lawless World and Torture Team and is a frequent commentator on CNN and the BBC World Service. Sands lectures around the world and has taught at New York University and been a visiting professor at the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne, and the Université de Paris I (Sorbonne). In 2003 he was appointed a Queen’s Counsel.
Praise for East West Street
A monumental achievement … a profoundly personal account of the origins of crimes against humanity and genocide, told with love, anger and precision.
—John le Carré
Exceptional … has the intrigue, verve and material density of a first-rate thriller.
—The Guardian
From Locke on Toleration to the First Amendment
The First Amendment has had a mixed pedigree and a difficult birth. In this lecture, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Dan Robinson will demonstrate that, in offering protection of the basic liberties — freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly — the clear language of the First Amendment’s final form has been no bar to diverse and conflicting interpretations. This leaves unsettled the question of just what constitutes ‘speech’ and the grounds on which it loses the Amendment’s protection.
Professor Robinson will chart the development of philosophical thought on these freedoms from John Locke to the present day, and address the question of how courts navigate these conflicting interpretations. Operating as they do within the wider cultural climate of the day, he will assess whether the courts do, and should, remain immune to its fluctuating pressures.
This lecture forms part of a series on Free Speech convened by Professor Sir Richard Sorabji.
Professor Dan Robinson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Georgetown University and a Fellow of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford.
Talk with The Rt Hon. the Lord David Willetts, former Minister for Universities and Science, 2010-2014, and MP for Havant, 1992-2015
Reuters Institute / Nuffield College Media & Politics seminars
The following seminars will be given at 5pm on Fridays, normally in the Butler Room, Nuffield College.
Convenors: Andrew Dilnot, David Levy, Rasmus Nielsen, James Painter
The Rt Hon. the Lord David Willetts, former Minister for Universities and Science, 2010-2014, and MP for Havant, 1992-2015
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