The
Center for British Studies at the University of California,
Berkeley has since 2003 provided a platform for one
of the largest and most distinguished groups of scholars
studying British culture, society and history — spread across
the arts, humanities, social sciences, and professional
schools — in
the United States. With a generous endowment of $2.1
million from the Robert Kirk Underhill Trust, the Center
hosts or supports a wide array of scholarly, cultural, and educational
activities.
The Center has three objectives:
- Strengthen Berkeley's intellectual and institutional ties
to Britain
- Support graduate and undergraduate teaching and research
in British Studies
- Support interdisciplinary research that recognizes Britain's
relationships with America, Europe and Commonwealth countries
and their effects on British economy, society, politics and
culture
Since its opening, the Center has hosted numerous prominent visitors,
including Alan Ryan (Oxford), Mary Poovey (NYU), Laura Gowing
(London), Garrett FitzGerald (Former Taoiseach of Ireland), Keith
Thomas (Oxford), and Stefan Collini (Cambridge). We've also awarded
fellowships and prizes to undergraduate and graduate students,
organized an exchange program between Pembroke College, Cambridge
and UC Berkeley, and hosted workshops and conferences, including
a dissertation workshop and a graduate student conference. The
Center for British Studies is ecumenical in its focus upon all
constituent parts of the British Isles, the British Empire, and
its legacies, as well as Britain's relationship with the European
Community and the United States. Applicants for its undergraduate
and graduate research fellowships need not necessarily have Britain
as the primary focus of their research. We will support work
on any part of the world that requires substantial research in
Britain, although preference will given to those concerned with
Britain's imperial or transnational influence and impact.
Mark Bevir, mbevir [@] berkeley.edu
Director
