Negotiating Immunisation: Epistemic (in)justice in tuberculosis vaccination programmes

In January 2024, Michael Bresalier (Department of History, Heritage, and Classics in the Faculty of Humanities and Social History) joins a six-year, £2.8million Wellcome Trust-funded project on ‘Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare’ (EPIC). Lead by Havi Carel (Bristol), EPIC is a partnership between philosophers, psychologists, social scientists and historians at Bristol, Nottingham, Birmingham, and the universities of … Read more

New Book: Modern Flu: British Medical Science and the Viralisation of Influenza, 1890-1940 (Palgrave, 2023)

Ninety years after the discovery of human influenza virus, Michael Bresalier’s new book, Modern Flu traces the history of this breakthrough and its implications for understanding and controlling influenza ever since. Examining how influenza came to be defined as a viral disease in the first half of the twentieth century, it argues that influenza’s viral identity did not … Read more

The Swansea-Mannheim city partnership and German impressions of Swansea University over the years

In an earlier blogpost I sketched the history of the city partnership between Swansea and Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), from its establishment in the 1950s. That blog focused in particular on the creation of a monument to the partnership, a miniature replica of the German city’s main landmark, which was erected in Swansea in 1985. Since … Read more

How Beano and Dandy artist Dudley D. Watkins made generations of comic fans roar with laughter

David Anderson, Swansea University You may not be familiar with the name Dudley Dexter Watkins, but chances are you will recognise his art. Half a century after his death, the work of the talented British comic strip artist and illustrator is as well known, and as much loved, as it has ever been. Characters such … Read more

Contested Histories: Creating and Critiquing public monuments and memorials in a new age of iconoclasm

Conflict, Reconstruction and Memory (CRAM) research group. 28-29 June 2021 This workshop will explore debates surrounding the cultural and political uses of monuments, reflecting upon their role in the memorialisation and imagining of the past. It considers artefacts such as war memorials, cenotaphs and public statuary as well as urban sites damaged through war, or … Read more

Riots and toxic heritage

On 20 May 2021, a vigil for a young man who had recently died turned into an hours-long riot in Mayhill, Swansea. The widespread shock and dismay that followed showed both a determination to do something about their causes and to punish the offenders. There were arguments over the perpetrators deserved help or condemnation. Whether … Read more

The Welsh and Empire: Early Reflections on India

The persistent legacies of colonial domination have become a flashpoint in recent years. On the one hand, movements like Black Lives Matter and Rhodes Must Fall have provided a platform through which we can analyse how structural hangovers from imperialism continue to impact on the lives of underrepresented groups. On the other, that observation alone … Read more

The Swansea-Mannheim City Partnership and the 1985 Mannheim Monument in Swansea’s Maritime Quarter

One of Swansea’s least well-known monuments stands in the city’s Maritime Quarter. Formerly the site of the docks that facilitated much of the industrial activity upon which Swansea thrived in the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth, this quarter was redeveloped into a residential district in the 1970s and 80s. In the part … Read more

Post-First World War Humanitarianism

Hundreds of thousands of people were threatened by famine, disease, and displacement as a consequence of the First World War and the conflicts that followed in its wake. Around one hundred years ago, a wide range of humanitarian organisations were established which sought to cater for these civilian victims of war. Some of these organisations … Read more

The Middle Ages at the Great Exhibition of 1851

On 1 May 1851 – almost exactly 170 years ago – the Great Exhibition first opened its doors to the public. Housed in Hyde Park, in the vast temporary structure that was quickly christened the Crystal Palace, the exhibition remained open until 15 October. During that time, it attracted millions of visitors, many of whom … Read more