Professor Alan Stewart, currently Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London, will be giving a lecture at CCCU entitled ‘The First Coming of the Strangers: An Experiment in Elizabethan Immigration’.
Tuesday 21 November 2023
This will be at 5pm and take place in the Michael Berry Lecture Theatre, Old Sessions House on the Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury campus.
Professor Alan Stewart is currently Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London before he returns at Christmas to Columbia University where he is Professor of English and Comparative Literature.
As Professor Stewart says, “In 1561, the town of Sandwich in Kent petitioned the Privy Council to allow a significant influx of immigrants to settle in their town, and practice their skills working with ‘says, bay and other clothe’—a model that was to spread across the south-east of England. Within six years, immigrants in Sandwich outnumbered the previous inhabitants, provoking a predictable backlash. While this immigration is often claimed as a masterstroke of state policy to introduce artisanal skills lacking in England, my paper explores it as a multi-faceted experiment, of importance not only to trade, but also to social relations, religion, education, and the period’s literature.”
This is an exciting opportunity and as well as staff and students from CCCU, we will be welcoming the MEMS community from the University of Kent as well as members of the public to hear Professor Stewart’s presentation. This is a FREE lecture; booking is not necessary, and we shall look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a fascinating talk.
Date and time