Humanities Society

Humanities Society

The Humanities Society talks provide a forum for stimulating ideas across the boundaries between the Humanities and other fields of study.

Humanities Society

Our Society

The Humanities Society is made up of a lively group of students, researchers and fellows, who come together throughout term to discuss exciting developments in the arts, humanities or social sciences.

Who can join

All College members (students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows, and scholars) are welcome to attend our events and join our society. The talks are also open to the wider University community and the general public. We define the Humanities in a broad sense to include history, religion, philosophy literature, languages, law, economics, political science, music and fine arts.

What we offer

We offer a programme of international and interdisciplinary interest, featuring talks on a range of cultural contexts and themes, from a range of historical periods and perspectives. The talks provide a platform both for eminent academics as well as early and mid-career scholars at the forefront of their disciplines.

Many of our speakers are from Cambridge, creating interactions between Wolfsonians and the wider scholarly community at the University, but we also invite speakers from further afield including, in recent years, from Italy, Germany, Israel, South Africa and the US.

How talks work

The talks are organised and coordinated by the Humanities Society Committee. We do our best to make our events informal and inclusive. For each event there is an opportunity to mix with the speaker and other attendees over drinks before and after the talk. Following the talk we usually take the speaker to Formal Hall, and College members (and their guests) are very welcome to join us and continue the conversation over dinner.

 

Michaelmas Term 2023

Tue 10 Oct

 

 

Tue 17 Oct Dr Jonah Miller

The Police Outrage: A Killing, a Coverup, and a Campaign for Justice in Victorian London

Tue 24 Oct  

 

Tue 31 Oct Elena Bacchin

Political Prisoners in 19th-Century Italy: A Transnational History?

Tue 14 Nov    
Tue 21 Nov  

 

Tue 28 Nov

 

 

Committee Members

Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions about our events or suggestions for speakers.

What's on

Illustration from Punch magazine in 1848

The Police Outrage: A Killing, a Coverup, and a Campaign for Justice in Victorian London

17/10/2023 at 17.30

One summer night in 1851, a London police officer beat a young man to death. This talk tells the story of what happened next: a struggle for truth, justice, and equality before the law.

Old illustration 'Le Mie Prigioni'

Political Prisoners in 19th-Century Italy: A Transnational History?

31/10/2023 at 17.30

When is it legitimate to contest and challenge a government and to intervene on behalf of foreign convicts?