BECC - News Back to 'Birmingham Eighteenth Century Centre' Eighteenth-Century Research in the Midlands Description:The annual Midlands Eighteenth-Century Research Network meeting was held at the University of Birmingham in May 2022Date:29 July 2022 Professor Valerie Rumbold elected to the British Academy Description:University of Birmingham Professor Emeritus Valerie Rumbold has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy.Date:22 July 2022 Pacifists making guns Description:Professor Priya Satia (Stanford) delivered the Modern and Contemporary Annual Lecture 2018.Date:14 June 2018 Stanford "Guns" Professor's visit to Birmingham Description:Next week History and Cultures will be delighted to welcome Professor Priya Satia from Stanford University to the UK for the European launch of her book "Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution".Date:06 June 2018 Previous1Next Posts from our blog: Magical Source: A Quaker Forgery?This post was contributed by Naomi Pullen, at the University of Warwick. It is part of our Magical Source series, in which historians from Birmingham and Warwick discuss the sources that reshaped their thinking on a topic. The first entry, by Karen Harvey, was about Mary Toft’s Confessions. The second, by Charles Walton, was about … Continue reading "Magical Source: A Quaker Forgery?"Magical Source: Lord Grantham’s CoachThis post was contributed by Ben Jackson, here at the University Birmingham. It is part of our Magical Source series, in which historians from Birmingham and Warwick discuss the sources that reshaped their thinking on a topic. The first entry, by Karen Harvey, was about Mary Toft’s Confessions. The second, by Charles Walton, was about … Continue reading "Magical Source: Lord Grantham’s Coach"Magical Source: Paine’s Letter to DantonThis post was contributed by Charles Walton, from the University of Warwick. It is part of our Magical Source series, in which historians from Birmingham and Warwick discuss the sources that reshaped their thinking on a topic. The first entry, by Karen Harvey, was about Mary Toft’s Confessions. Charles Walton on Thomas Paine’s Letter to … Continue reading "Magical Source: Paine’s Letter to Danton"Magical Source: Mary Toft’s ConfessionsBack in May, BECC and our colleagues at Warwick’s Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Centre held a workshop for graduate students under the title, “The Magical Source: Light-bulb Moments in Historical Research.” Four historians each presented a source that had reshaped their thinking, and explained how that process took place. This week, we’ll share the written … Continue reading "Magical Source: Mary Toft’s Confessions"Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Cathy McClive’s ReviewReading Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England is a rich immersive, sensory, and visceral experience. Sarah Fox’s rigorously-researched exploration of the physicality, materiality, and communities involved in the processes and emotions surrounding late pregnancy, childbirth, and lying-in is a model of how to approach the history of embodiment and the work of birthing. As Fox points … Continue reading "Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Cathy McClive’s Review"Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Amber Vella’s ReviewIn Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England, Sarah Fox shrewdly and eloquently argues that in the eighteenth century ‘birthing was a process – a series of linked and flexible stages – rather than an event’ (p.7). This statement directly challenges much of the historiography that has come before it: histories of birth and birthing have traditionally … Continue reading "Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Amber Vella’s Review"Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Elizabeth Hurren’s ReviewGiving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England is the first book in a generation to re-examine the birthing process of women in the long-eighteenth century. It fundamentally revises our historical appreciation of the complexities of how to give birth, all those involved, and the physical dimensions that women experienced from the final stages of pregnancy through to … Continue reading "Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England: Elizabeth Hurren’s Review"Giving Birth as a Social Event: Interview with Sarah FoxSarah Fox has been part of the BECC community, as a postdoctoral research fellow on the Social Bodies project, since 2021. Her first book, Giving Birth in Eighteenth-Century England, came out this April with the University of London Press. We’ll be sharing a series of reviews over the rest of the week, to celebrate the … Continue reading "Giving Birth as a Social Event: Interview with Sarah Fox"MECRN WorkshopThis year, BECC will host the annual workshop of the Midlands Eighteenth Century Research Network, on campus at the University of Birmingham, on Friday 20th May between around 10am and 5pm (followed by drinks and dinner for those who choose it!). The event will be an opportunity to meet and catch up with fellow scholars of … Continue reading "MECRN Workshop"Welcome to BECCThe Birmingham Eighteenth Century Centre connects researchers across the University of Birmingham who study the literature, art, and history of the eighteenth century. We nurture a community that includes students, graduate researchers, and scholars from inside and outside formal academia. We hold all sorts of events, from scholarly seminars and workshops to public-facing panels and … Continue reading "Welcome to BECC"