Center for British Studies (cont.)

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The Center hosted several talks during the semester: on September 19th Mathew Thomson, Senior Lecturer in the Dept. of History at the University of Warwick, lectured on 'Writing the History of the Psychological Subject in Twentieth-Century Britain'. His paper discussed the challenge of writing a history of the nature and impact of psychological thinking in twentieth-century Britain. Nadja Durbach, a Visiting Associate Professor in the History Department and the Center for British Studies gave a talk on October 5th on 'Aztecs and Earthmen: Declining Civilizations and Dying Races at the Victorian Freakshow'. She is currently completing a book about the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British freak show. On November 9th, Reba Soffer, Prof. of History, Emeritus at California State University, Northridge, gave a talk on ,History, Historians, and Conservatism, which looked at the nature, substance, and contents of small ”c” conservatism, not always associated with the Conservative Party, in 20th-century Britain from 1913 through the 1960s.

The Irish International Studies Speakers Series, the Center for British Studies, the Consul General of Ireland, and the Western Institute for Irish Studies sponsored a talk on October 18th entitled 'The Reasons for Ireland’s Economic Miracle and its Unfinished Business' given by Paul Sweeney. Sweeney is the Economic Advisor to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and author of books on the Irish economy and business. Sweeney explained how Ireland, one of the poorest European countries, soared to become one of the richest economies in the world in just 16 years. The Western Institute of Irish Studies has kindly posted videos of two Irish Studies lectures given at Berkeley in 2005 and 2006 -- one on old Irish histories by Jane Ohlmeyer and the other on the contemporary Irish economy by Paul Sweeney. Go here to view the videos (Real Player is required and can be downloaded free).

— Candace Groskreutz