CANCELLED | This Land of Promise: A History of Refugees and Exiles in Britain

This seminar is now cancelled.

RSC Public Seminar Series, Michaelmas term 2024

Series convened by Professor Tom Scott-Smith and Professor Catherine Briddick

About the seminar

Refugees seeking to reach Britain today often face perilous journeys, impossible bureaucracy and acidic public opinion. But this hasn’t always been the way. For most of our history, Great Britain cherished its outward image as a safe haven for those displaced by religious persecution, political violence or economic crisis – an island of stability in the midst of a violent world. In This Land of Promise (Harper Collins 2024) migration scholar Matthew Lockwood overturns many popular modern-day misconceptions about Britain’s history of immigration. He persuasively shows that exiles and refugees have not only been a constant presence in Britain across the centuries but have also been intrinsic to shaping Britain as it is today.

About the speaker

Matthew Lockwood is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Alabama. His research interests include Britain and the world; comparative legal history; migration and immigration; state formation; history of crime and violence; and global and transnational history. His current projects include “Island Refuge: Exiles and Refugees in Britain from Constantine to Climate Change”, an account of the long history of asylum in Britain, from the Romans to the present day.

Registration

The seminar will be held via Zoom. Register here.

All enquiries should be directed to rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk.

Download the seminar series poster for Michaelmas term 2024.