Movement In Britain Research Articles

Watched men and phallus-wielding women: Aubrey Beardsley’s reception of Juvenal’s Sixth Satire

Abstract In 1896, Aubrey Beardsley, the controversial poster child for the Decadent movement in Britain, set to work on a collection of drawings inspired by Juvenal’s Sixth Satire. The resultant works — which depict Bathyllus dancing, Messalina returning unsatisfied from the baths, an ‘impatient adulterer’ spying on his mistress, and a final image (not found in the ancient text) of Juvenal whipping a woman — are composed in Beardsley’s iconic style of stark black lines against a white page, simple yet grotesquely erotic. In both the passages that Beardsley selected to represent and his subversive and gender-bending representations, Beardsley exploits the text’s latent homoeroticism, skewers the speaker’s acerbic misogyny, and inverts late antique — and, by extension, Victorian — sexual power structures. While men are depicted as the (knowing or unknowing) subjects of the gaze, women are represented as defiant, returning and refusing the subjection of patriarchal power structures. This paper explores the ways in which Beardsley’s illustrations represent his ‘uncooperative reading’ of the text, wherein Juvenal’s monstrous, dominant women are cast as the heroines of his decadent, grotesque fantasy.

Language, belief, and cultural resilience: Rastafarian discourse in Britain

This paper explores the intricate relationship between language, belief, and cultural resilience within the Rastafarian movement in Britain. Drawing upon interdisciplinary perspectives from linguistics, religious studies, cultural anthropology, and sociology, the paper delves into the unique linguistic practices, spiritual beliefs, and cultural expressions of Rastafarians in Britain.The paper examines the evolution of Rastafarian discourse, highlighting its distinctiveness and resilience within the context of Jamaican Patois and British multiculturalism. It analyses the role of language in shaping Rastafarian identity, resistance, and community cohesion, considering how linguistic practices reflect and reinforce Rastafarian beliefs and cultural norms.Furthermore, the paper explores the religious beliefs and practices that underpin Rastafarianism, particularly the reverence for Emperor Haile Selassie I and its implications for Rastafarian identity in Britain. It investigates how Rastafarian beliefs intersect with broader social and political issues, including race, colonialism, and social justice, shaping the movement’s engagement with British society.Finally, the paper examines the concept of cultural resilience within the Rastafarian community, analysing how Rastafarians in Britain have preserved and adapted their cultural traditions in the face of challenges such as racism, discrimination, and cultural assimilation. Overall, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the Rastafarian movement in Britain and its significance in the context of language, belief, and cultural resilience. It underscores the enduring impact of Rastafarian discourse and practices in shaping diverse cultural landscapes and fostering social change./ Keywords: Rastafarian colonial discourse, global dynamics, racial politics, Britain, societal integration, policy measures, fragmentation, Afrocentric interpretations, colonial resistance, prophetic salvation, cultural revitalization, London, African exploitation, white working-class culture

Edwin Chadwick: A Pioneer of Public Health Reform and His Role in Sanitary Awakening.

Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) was a central figure in the 19th-century public health reform movement in Britain. His work was instrumental in the sanitary awakening, a movement that revolutionized public health through the systematic improvement of urban sanitation and hygiene. As a lawyer by training, Chadwick was deeply influenced by Jeremy Bentham's welfare maximization theory, which emphasized the greatest good for the greatest number. His most significant contribution was his 1842 publication, "The Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population," in which he documented the deplorable conditions faced by the working class and the link between poor sanitation and disease. Chadwick's advocacy led to the passage of the Public Health Act of 1848, which established local health boards and marked the beginning of modern public health systems. His focus on clean water, efficient sewage systems, and waste management not only reduced the spread of diseases like cholera and typhoid but also set the stage for future public health initiatives globally. The sanitary awakening, largely driven by Chadwick's efforts, highlighted the critical connection between environment and health, a principle that continues to underpin public health practices today. Chadwick's legacy lives on in the ongoing efforts to improve urban living conditions and prevent disease through public health infrastructure.

‘We’ve Been Left Out’: women’s refuges in Northern Ireland, 1974–2008

Abstract With histories of late-twentieth-century Northern Ireland1 consumed with political violence, and studies of the contemporary women’s movements in Britain only recently shifting their focus beyond London, Northern Irish women’s refuges have been obscured from historical view. This article proposes that re-situating women’s refuges in the context of the Troubles can enrich our understanding of the refuge movements, and wider women’s activism, across the UK at the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing from archived and original interviews as well as documentary sources, the article traces the development of the Northern Irish refuge movement over four key periods: early years (1974–83), cross-community organizing (1983–93), development (1993–8), and efforts for diversity and inclusion (1998–2008). Such a chronology challenges the perception of the 1980s as an era of division and decline for UK feminism, and highlights the value of moving away from overarching chronologies of women’s activism towards more localized timelines. Furthermore, re-contextualizing women’s refuges in the battleground of the Troubles offers new evidence of their efforts to reduce domestic abuse, bring together women from opposing communities, and rebuild a democratic society. These activities contributed to the ‘vernacular’ peace process taking place in Northern Ireland’s voluntary sector, and suggest that refuges across the UK were similarly engaged in a peace process addressing violence in the home.

“Being / together”: Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other and the Black British Women’s Movement

Abstract This essay locates Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other (2019) within the sociopolitical history and written lineage of the Black women’s movement in Britain. It identifies contextual resonances with the 1970s and 1980s praxis of collaboration and collectivity and traces intertextual connections with Evaristo’s own early writing (including theater, verse fiction, and the radio story from which the novel evolved) and the periodicals, anthologies, and organization newsletters of the time. These references illuminate the novel’s structure, lineation, and narrative mode. I argue that Girl, Woman, Other reanimates the rallying call “we are here,” affirming the presence and diversity of Black lives in Britain, while its distinctive “fusion fiction” form actively engages readers, realizing the Black feminist political principle of “speaking out.”

Guiding Canada's Girls Toward the Empire

Through a critical analysis of Guiding's official programming books, the hierarchy of its organizational structure, and scholarly works on the history of the Guiding and Scouting Movements in Britain and Canada, this paper explores the early development of the Girl Guides of Canada; analyzing the early 20th century public's shifting views on girlhood and examining the relationship between Guiding and the British Empire. The central thesis of this essay is that the organization was originally founded in 1910 with a strict, conservative gender ideology and a strong imperial connection, but changed its messaging during the Interwar Period to reflect emerging modern notions of girlhood and imperialism; while still retaining its core values in its official programming. 
 Born out of the Scouting Movement of Great Britain, the Girl Guides of Canada were originally founded with the intention of preparing young girls for a domestic life; serving the British Empire by being dutiful wives and mothers. The organization's mission was to address the public's anxiety surrounding modern girlhood. As new economic and leisure opportunities appeared for women and girls in Canada's urban areas, so did the fear that these working women would lead lives of promiscuity, potentially causing the breakdown of domestic life. Guiding sought to prevent this issue by taking up young girls' spare time with gendered instruction on subjects such as how to run a home and the role of women in the British Empire. This messaging and ideology was incredibly popular at the time, and the Guiding movement spread like wildfire.
 Following the First World War, the Canadian public's views on the role of girls and the British Empire were changing: through Guiding's wartime volunteer efforts, girls had proven themselves to be capable of much more than domestic instruction, and Canada began to question its place within the empire. The emergence of alternative youth movements, with a specific focus on physical training and fostering a Canadian national identity, reflected this change. In response to these developments, the Girl Guides released introduced international camps with messaging surrounding peace and international friendship, and promoted a more progressive view of girls with new badges and activities. This new rhetoric made the movement more appealing to a wider array of girls, but only obscured the organizations original values of imperialism and domesticity. The structure of the organization still adhered to a hierarchy that favoured British Girl Guides, with the Canadian arm taking all direction from Britain. Upon analysis of Guiding's programming books, it is also clear that gendered instruction was still the primary focus of the organization. This paper also examines how Canadian Girl Guides' programming was used to naturalize and assimilate girls who did not fit the Empire's idealized model of white womanhood, such as Indigenous girls attending residential schools and girls from immigrant households, further complicating its notion of internationalism.
 The changes to the Guiding Movement's programming reflect the organization's desire to spread its ideology to a wider audience, rather than a commitment to more modern ideas of girlhood and progressive notions of international friendship. The programming, while becoming more refined over time, still centered around domestic skills and preparing girls for motherhood, while the organization's international structure relied on a hierarchy that placed Britain at the top, and kept Canada at an arms' length.

Adventures in Lollard Street: An Experimental London Playground, 1955–60

Abstract This essay situates the emergence of the adventure playground movement in Britain within social and intellectual contexts. It provides a detailed account of the Lollard Adventure Playground, London, which lasted from 1955 to 1960, and describes the general ecology of the playground including indoor activities, the administration of the playground, and its mediation through pamphlets and journalism. It argues that the playground combined a Christian ethos evident in the early playground movement with the growing permissiveness of autonomous play, and shows how adventure playgrounds were a locus for tensions around class and gender.

The new left, the third camp, workers’ control and The Revolutionary Movement in Britain: the life and work of Walter Kendall

The historiography of the British New Left has devoted little attention to working-class activists who pursued Third Camp and anti-Stalinist agendas before as well as after 1956. Among them was Walter Kendall, who combined research as a historian with activity in the trade unions from the 1940s to the 1990s. He was a Labour Party Marxist and opponent of Communism who occupied the ground between reform and revolution. Critical consideration of his career sheds light on a post-war British left sometimes viewed over-benignly from the vantage point of subsequent decline. This article revisits Kendall’s participation in initiatives such as the Socialist Workers’ Federation, the Institute for Workers’ Control and Voice of the Unions, reviews his scholarly contribution and provides a critique of his innovative text, The Revolutionary Movement in Britain.

The Sunday School movement in Britain, 1900–1939. By Caitriona McCartney. (Studies in Modern British Religious History, 46.) Pp. xvi + 210 incl. 10 graphs and 3 tables. Woodbridge–Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2023. £80. 978 1 78327 765 0

The Sunday School movement in Britain, 1900–1939. By Caitriona McCartney. (Studies in Modern British Religious History, 46.) Pp. xvi + 210 incl. 10 graphs and 3 tables. Woodbridge–Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2023. £80. 978 1 78327 765 0

The Sunday School Movement in Britain, 1900–1939. By Catriona McCartney. Studies in Modern British Religious History. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2023. xv + 208pp. £80.00. Hardcover.

The Sunday School Movement in Britain, 1900–1939. By Catriona McCartney. Studies in Modern British Religious History. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2023. xv + 208pp. £80.00. Hardcover.

Trans feminism and the women's liberation movement in Britain, c. 1970–1980

AbstractThe history of the British women's liberation movement (WLM) is a growing field of study, but it has had little to say about trans participants in the movement. Drawing on feminist and LGBT+ archives and interviews, this article argues that while trans acceptance in ‘women‐only’ groups was not guaranteed during the period between 1970 and 1980, trans and cis feminists worked together to advance feminist positions on bodily autonomy and to develop critiques of medical authority. In doing so, this article demonstrates that it is ahistorical to approach trans rights and women's liberation as distinct from one another.

Corrigendum to “Feminism and Support for the Transgender Movement in Britain”

Corrigendum to “Feminism and Support for the Transgender Movement in Britain”

Feminism and Support for the Transgender Movement in Britain

To what extent do feminists support the transgender movement? This visualization presents a recent British survey, which asked whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in female sports. Graphs depict how attitudes vary with feminism and age. Overall, feminists are more likely than nonfeminists to favor the rights of trans women, but this association conceals significant differences among generations. For young people, the relationship between feminism and support for transgender women is unequivocally positive. Among older people, by contrast, feminists are polarized. They are more likely than nonfeminists to strongly support trans women but also more likely to strongly oppose them. Whether this polarization is peculiar to Britain, where the transgender movement has met with particularly strong countermobilization, is a question for future research.

Sidney Pollard’s ‘Nineteenth Century Co-operation’ revisited: Periodisation, utopianism and realism in the British co-operative movement

The co-operative movement in Britain has always held within it a utopian strand, influenced by the ideas of Robert Owen, the “father of co-operation.” Motivated by the recent creation of workers.coop, a new organisation of worker co-operatives, this essay charts the course of this utopianism from the nineteenth-century to the present day. Using Sidney Pollard’s seminal account of co-operative utopianism vs co-operative realism, it asks whether a new periodisation of the British co-operative moment is now required, given the marginalisation of consumer co-operation as a tool for social change since the 1960s and the “rediscovery” of worker co-operation. With both the UK Labour Party and the Co-operative Party promising to “double” the number of co-operatives in the UK going into the next general election in 2024, what are the consequences for the Movement? With post-capitalists identifying producer co-operatives as a potential successor to corporate capitalism, it is useful to consider the current health of utopian and realistic conceptions of co-operation within the movement.

Historical geographies of alternative, and non‐formal education: Learning from the histories of Black education

AbstractShining a light on the various non‐formal education spaces that have garnered attention in geographies of education over the past two decades, this review takes stock of how historical spaces of education and learning have become a key focus of this body of work. In so doing, the review signals prominent and emergent themes around which scholarship in this subdiscipline has cohered: most notably, geographies of citizenship and morality in informal education spaces, and the radical pedagogic practices of alternative education spaces. As well as looking back, the review also signals two areas that scholars in the field should consider engaging with more closely: Black education and decolonial education. Analysing literature in history and sociology on the Black education movement in Britain, the paper calls for geographies of education to engage more closely with work published in cognate disciplines and not to overlook the relational nature of decolonial education in global north contexts.

Being women scholar-activists: Tensions between the neoliberal university and grassroots housing movements

Research rarely unpicks the variety of experiences that exist between activists at different intersections. Our paper attends to this shortfall in literature, firstly through the lens of gendered experiences of labour in housing movements, and secondly through the lens of casualised gendered labour as scholar-activists in the neoliberal university. How we, and others, negotiate these everyday politics will be analysed to offer a more complete understanding of the nuances and tensions at play even in the most progressive movements in Britain. By combining our own experiences with those gleaned from interviews with fellow activists, we develop a framework for understanding what we term ‘activist housework’ - often carried out by those of us who are not cis men - and how this shapes our capacity as organisers and researchers. This framework identifies mundane, everyday and behind-the-scenes labour of activism, which too often goes unseen in favour of focus on more emergent, organic and direct forms of resistance (Pain, 2019). Doing so, we consider, allows reflection on where and how resistance can and must change to maintain the welcome growth in housing activism in Britain.

‘It’s just nice not to be on screens’: exploring the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and Instagram

ABSTRACT Since the mid-nineteenth century Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and its subsequent revivals, craft has been positioned in opposition to new technologies. Yet, increasingly people learn, share, produce, and consume crafts through engagements online. This article discusses the relationship between pottery making, eudemonic wellbeing, and the social media site Instagram in the context of digital ethnographic research with British potters during the COVID-19 pandemic. When physical access to spaces such as studios was limited, these potters turned to digital and social media to learn new skills and connect with others from within their own homes. Central to this article is the dissonance between my participants’ belief that pottery offered them an escape from their phones, yet simultaneously, much of their enjoyment of pottery came from their participation in online spaces, particularly Instagram. The eudemonic wellbeing impacts generated through their engagements with pottery and the online resources and communities associated with it, concern, 1) satisfying work: self-fulfilment and empowerment, and 2) crafting the self: identity, belonging, and social connectedness, as well as a discussion of the stress and negative consequences engagements with social media brought about for several of my participants.

The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History

AbstractThis article addresses the field of British political history's blind spot when it comes to race. Where modern British political historians are comfortable approaching politics in ‘high’ and ‘popular’ forms as well as in terms of ideas, institutions and policy, they often struggle even to see a politics of race in operation. Using examples drawn from research on the post‐1945 history of the white supremacist movement in Britain, this article maintains that the means to render race visible in the political history of modern Britain lies in the incorporation of previously overlooked perspectives. In search of these perspectives, it looks to black British history and critical studies of race. In particular, it highlights analyses and critiques of British racism by black political activists, from those who organised in response to the 1959 murder of Kelso Cochrane, to the Black Power groups of the 1970s.

Sakiko Kaiga. Britain and the Intellectual Origins of the League of Nations, 1914–1919.

The League of Nations has been the subject of an extensive reappraisal in recent years. Rather than seeing it as an organization that failed in its primary mission to prevent the outbreak of another world war, scholars have explored the work undertaken by the League in a vast range of areas, such as public health, economics, humanitarianism, and education, among many others. New works increasingly see continuities linking the activities undertaken by the League in the 1920s and 1930s and the initiatives pursued by the United Nations following the Second World War. Sakiko Kaiga’s new book, Britain and the Intellectual Origins of the League of Nations, 1914–1919, continues this revision of the history of the League of Nations by looking backward rather than forward, exploring the intellectual origins of the organization in Britain during the First World War. Based on extensive archival research, Kaiga’s book argues persuasively that “the League idea originated intellectually from the little-appreciated pro-league movement in Britain and the unexpected development and consequences of its idea during the Great War” (2).

The prison-handicraft complex: Convict labour in colonial India

AbstractPrison labour was an integral part of the penal order in colonial India in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Especially in Bengal, such coerced labour, overwhelmingly male, was increasingly deployed in handicrafts production rather than in extramural construction projects, a regimen that led to the development of a prison-handicraft complex. Colonial efforts to refine this system focused largely on increasing the severity of the conditions of incarceration and indoor work, but also on the conflicting goal of maximizing the profits of its handiwork. Prisons thus emerged as effective sites of handicrafts production, with the products of their forced labour facilitating the revival of the crafts industry whose growth is generally attributed to the rise of an international arts and crafts movement in Britain and India.