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Conflict and Society

The Conflict and Society Research Group brings together expertise in the history and literary representation of conflict from 1500 to the modern day. The group connects the research interests of eighteen Northumbria humanities scholars and a large group of postgraduate students making for a lively, and growing, research community.

Our research examines ‘conflict’ in its broadest sense, spanning not only international warfare but also revolutions and political, religious and civil unrest. Members are also actively engaged in understanding the many ways in which the past informs the present.

Key themes and topics include:

  • nationalism and loyalism
  • civilian experiences of conflict
  • prisoners of war
  • race, gender and religious identities
  • peace movements and anti-war protest
  • refugees and exiles during wartime
  • cultural exchange and conflict
  • propaganda, journalism and censorship
  • literary and cultural representation of conflict
  • memory and memorialisation
  • genocide and the Holocaust

In recent years, the group has published major books on masculinity and warfare, the Tudor occupation of Boulogne, the history of the Holocaust, and the cultural history of Ulster Protestantism. The work of group members has also recently appeared in outstanding international journals, such as Past & Present, the English Historical Review, Literature & History, and the Journal of British Studies.

Group members have led several funded projects regarding the First World War and its aftermath: these include the AHRC funded ‘Dominion Geordies in World War One’ and ‘British Ex-Service Students and the Rebuilding of Europe, 1918–1926’ which was conducted in partnership with the National Union of Students and Workers’ Educational Association and was also funded by the AHRC. Moreover, Northumbria historians have organised a series of events on different aspects of conflicts. Recent examples include ‘Wild War One’ (a public symposium on the First World War and the environment) and ‘Objects in and after Conflict’ (a two-day conference organised by the group’s postgraduate members funded by the AHRC and the Royal Historical Society). In November 2019, members of the research group organised an exhibition on Living Legacies of the First World War at the University Gallery.

Please contact the current group convenor, Dr Dominic Williams, if you have any further questions about the group, its research or activities.

Membership

Prof Charlotte Alston

Dr Jennifer Aston

Dr Waitman Beorn

Dr Carlos Conde Solares

Dr Lara Douds

Dr Ann-Marie Einhaus

Dr Hilary Francis

Prof David Gleeson

Dr Joseph Hardwick

Prof Matthew Kelly

Dr Daniel Laqua

Dr James McConnel

Prof Neil Murphy

Dr Connal Parr

Dr Linsey Robb

Dr Leona Skelton

Dr Dominic Williams

Prof Julian Wright

PGR students

Adam Drake 

Struan Kennedy 

Lewis Kimberley 

Lisa Peatfield 

Shaun Pitt 

James Robertson-Major 

Drew Ryder 

Damian Shiels 

Luke Usher 

 

 


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