Mark Doyle, Op-Ed Columnist

February 2012

As plans for a 2014 referendum on Scottish independence begin to take shape, people on all sides of the question will raid history to support their case. Unionists will point to the economic and cultural benefits that Scotland enjoyed in the wake of the 1707 Union with England, and nationalists will point with equal certainty to the economic and cultural costs of the Union. The gist of the unionist argument-from-history (if I may put it thus) is that the Union gave Scottish writers, businessmen, scientists, engineers, soldiers, and investors a larger stage on which to perform, a larger market from which to benefit, and an enormous empire to conquer and settle. The gist of the nationalist argument-from-history is that the Union led to economic policies that benefited England at Scotland’s expense, eviscerated Scotland’s unique Gaelic culture, and subjected Scotland to the whims of an indifferent, Anglocentric Parliament. Read More »

Allegra Geller, Op-Ed Columnist

January 2012

I tend to shy from the present, preferring to focus on the past.  I am inclined to examine history for and within itself. It has been said that ‘History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society, and because it harbors beauty”[i] which I hold to be true.  Much like art, I view history as something once created in which great beauty can be found. Although my studies thus far have remained within the Tudor and Stuart periods, over the past year I have enjoyed studying British literature with a focus on Empire (I am indebted to Dr. George S. Christian for introducing me to numerous great works). With that in mind, in this column I will strive to provide interesting glimpses into British imperial history, albeit liberally strewn with literary themes and references whenever possible. Read More »

Leslie Rogne Schumacher, Op-Ed Columnist

January 2012

As a senior in college I wrote a column for my university newspaper.  Eventually I decided to withdraw it voluntarily as the editors kept making small changes that I nevertheless felt were significant at the time.  As the years have passed I’ve decided that I was probably being too much of an egoist about the whole thing, and my editors undoubtedly had the right of it.  As the beneficiary of many years of hard-hitting executive critique from my professors (i.e. what I must do, not what I might) on my work, I’ve learned to look forward to and indeed depend on such commentary.  I write this first column with the hope that my readers take this anecdote to mean that I will do my best to convey my thoughts about the subjects I plan to explore in a way that opens the door for discussion rather than closes it.  With this in mind, my column will primarily be concerned with issues of British international and diplomatic history, especially those which relate to the Victorian period.  The lessons and legacies of this history as they present themselves in the present day will also be of interest, as will the theoretical and disciplinary concerns of The British Scholar Society members’ shared field of interest.  I look forward to the debates that will hopefully ensue from my humble contribution to the discourse. Read More »

Dr. Jodi Burkett, Op-Ed Columnist

January 2012

What does it mean to be a professional historian? It is both a lot more and a lot less than I had imagined as a student. I came to history quite late. It wasn’t until my third year of undergraduate study, when I was on exchange from Toronto to Glasgow, that history started to make sense to me. At Glasgow I was taught by Simon Ball who quoted me L.P. Hartley’s famous phrase ‘the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’. For the past ten years I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this foreign country and about the craft of history. But it was only recently that I have truly begun to think of myself as a professional historian. I am one of the lucky PhD students who, upon the completion of my thesis in 2009, found a permanent and full-time job in academia. By definition this makes me a professional historian. However, this definition is rather simplistic. In fact, what it means to be a professional historian – the advantages and responsibilities it entails – continue to preoccupy me and are the driving force for my op-ed contributions. I will be writing about the concerns of working in the higher education sector in Britain at a time when, without much fuss, the public university system is being replaced by a private, fees-based system in which the pressure of teaching, research and administration are seemingly in competition and each inexorably increasing. Read More »

Rebecka Black, Op-Ed Columnist

January 2012

With his new work Cardinal Sin, famed London street artist, known only as Banksy, criticizes the Catholic Church and questions curatorial tradition. More widely known for his clever works of public graffiti that question authority and criticize societal hypocrisy, Banksy’s latest work Cardinal Sin is a controversial three-dimensional sculpture piece that criticizes the Catholic Church’s involvement with numerous child abuse and sex scandals. The recent work is a replica bust of a Catholic priest whose face is distorted with ceramic tiles. The tiles are glued over the priest’s face to give it a pixilated look, as if to protect the priest’s identity.  According to a December 16^th Huffington Post interview, Banksy claims his work could be considered a Christmas present because “At this time of year it is easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption and the abuse.” Happy holidays indeed. Read More »