[LAF] Bristol Radical History Week 2007: 27th Oct - 6th Nov: Smugglers, Witches and Pirates

[stevphen shukaitis]

>
> Bristol Radical History Week 2007
>
> Saturday 27th October - Tuesday 6th November
>
> Witches, Pirates and Smugglers
>
> This year Bristol Radical History Group turns its single beady eye  
> onto these icons of the past, so deeply reviled by the rulers of  
> their time. Who were these ‘outcasts’? Why are we so fascinated by  
> them? Do their villainous representations carry clues to their real  
> nature?
>
>
> The week kicks off with two days (Sunday 28th and Monday 29th)  
> devoted to the enemies of Customs and Excise, the Smugglers. Local  
> historians Jim McNeil, Kev Davis and Dr. Dave Cullum will span the  
> West Country from Gloucester, via Dorset to Cornwall telling  
> stories of wrecking, smuggling and the customary rights of the sea  
> commons. Dr. Trevor Bark brings the story up to date with an  
> investigation of tobacco and alcohol smuggling and the black  
> economy and Roger Ball considers the looting of the cargo of the  
> MSC Napoli at Branscombe Bay earlier this year.
>
>
> We shamelessly hijack Halloween week with a study of demonology and  
> the repression of Witches on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st. Dr.  
> Jonathan Barry examines why 18th C. radicals in Somerset wrote  
> demonological texts to attack the establishment of Church and State  
> (and paid for it with their lives in the Monmouth rebellion). We  
> are delighted to have Sylvia Federici making her first appearance  
> at the History Week. She analyses the witch trials in the 16th and  
> 17th centuries and their connection to control of reproduction,  
> enclosure, the mechanisation of the body and modern day witch-hunts  
> in Africa.
>
>
> The week finishes (Saturday 3rd) with a celebration of Bristol’s  
> finest, the Pirates. Professor Marcus Rediker explains how these  
> ‘villains of all nations’ began as brutalised common seamen, turned  
> pirate and created a multicultural, democratic and egalitarian  
> society under the ‘Jolly Roger’. Stephen Snelders examines the  
> incredible exploits of the Dutch pirates and paints a salty picture  
> of the excesses, contradictions, and liberatory joys of pirate  
> life. After last years excellent talk on mutinies, we are very  
> happy to have Niklas Frykman back with a study of the links between  
> piracy and smuggling.
>
> We hope to end the week with a voyage round the Bristol docks with  
> skipper Mark Steeds and his cider swilling Surfin’ Turnip crew.
>
>
> And there’s films….Paul Tickell presents his excellent Part 1 of  
> the BBC documentary series ‘The History of Race’ (Thursday 1st) and  
> David Olusoga introduces his film ‘Namibia: Genocide and the Second  
> Reich’ a uncovering of German colonial destruction in Africa  
> (Tuesday 6th). We celebrate the wreckers with Ealing classic  
> Whiskey Galore! (Monday 29th) and don’t miss our to be announced  
> special guests on the opening night (Saturday 27th).
>
>
> For the latest news and information see: www.brh.org.uk
>
> Bristol Radical History Group
>
>


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