Leverhulme Lecture Series: Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Grimond Lecture Theatre 2
Civilians had a very hard time of it under the military occupations of the First World War. They were at the mercy of superior armed forces and their unpredictable violence. Their lives were harshly restricted by a great many bans. Their goods and livelihoods suffered from the occupying armies' exploitation, causing profound hardship. At the same time, there were spaces in between the violence, where civilians could act for themselves. Civilian societies engaged in a wary and cautious "dance" with the regimes ruling them - though it was always a dance with a bully.
Sophie De Schaepdrijver (Penn State University, USA) joined the University of Kent's School of History as Leverhulme Visiting Professor for the academic year 2016-2017. During her visit she will be holding a series of lectures exploring how studying military occupation helps us understand the First World War.
Professor De Schaepdrijver is a historian of the First World War with a special interest in gender, social class, and the uses of language; she has published widely on the history of that war's military occupations. Her most recent books are Military Occupations in the First World War (edited, 2014); Bastion: Occupied Bruges in the First World War (2014); and Gabrielle Petit: The Death and Life of a Female Spy in the First World War (2015). For her work, she was awarded the title of Baroness by H.M. the King of Belgium.
