Seminar: 'Imagining the West Indian soldier: from empire to multicultural commemoration' - Richard Smith

Gateways Event

Thursday 13 February 2020, 19:00 - 21:00

Richard Smith (Goldsmiths, University of London)

The role of the 16,000–strong British West Indies Regiment in the First World War has been recuperated from a marginalized afterthought in accounts of the British imperial war effort to occupy a more central, even symbolic, position in contemporary interpretations of the conflict. This process gained momentum during the recent centenary commemorations in which West Indian participation was remembered across a wide range of media, creative initiatives and community projects. This seminar will explore a variety of historical and contemporary representations of the British West Indies Regiment to consider the extent to which citizenship in multicultural Britain is framed by past imperial military service.

Venue: Research Centre, Reading Room, In Flanders Fields Museum, Sint-Maartensplein 3, 8900 Ieper

This event is part of the Seminar Series organised by In Flanders Fields Museum and School of History/Gateways to the First World War, University of Kent. All seminars are free and open to all. The full seminar programme is published here.

www.inflandersfields.be

www.gatewaysfww.org.uk

meer informatie / more information:

kenniscentrum@ieper.be

gateways@kent.ac.uk