Londoners often think of their city as the centre of the world. On Friday 25th November, three historical walking tours will explore the city as the home of international projects. All three tours will show how London’s status has been crucially dependent on the participation of refugees, immigrants and other newcomers in its social, political and academic life. The walks will present London as a magnet for, and laboratory of, international ideas.
Each walking tour will explore a particular international network or project that took shape in London. Each walk will last around an hour and a half.
All three tours are free and participants can either join individual tours or are welcome to come to all three.
Tour 1: Wartime London (11.00) | Many governments-in-exile were based in London during WWII. This walk through Belgravia and Westminster explores the physical proximity of exile and British politicians, and will bring to life the intense debates about international collaboration that took place in London during the Second World War.
Tour 2: Epidemic London (13.00) | This tour through Bloomsbury explores responses to global epidemics, which in turn shaped international epidemic management. The tour will narrate a century of epidemic response in London from Henry Wellcome’s diphtheria antitoxin to Peter Piot’s work on Ebola. Through these stories we will invite participants to understand current global epidemic challenges in historical context.
Tour 3: Communist London (15.00) | London was far more important than Moscow in the international socialist and communist movement before 1917. This walk through Soho will highlight London’s links with continental Europe, leading participants through the history of international socialist and communist activism in London from the second half of the nineteenth century to 1917, showing that London served as a temporary home for the leading activists, ideologues and intellectuals of the movement.
All three walking tours aim to bring to life the research conducted by the Reluctant Internationalists team on the history of twentieth-century internationalism by telling engaging stories about people, places and events. By anchoring these stories in the sites of contemporary London, we will show just how much the history of international collaboration was shaped by and in turn helped to shape the city.
Places on each tour are limited – to reserve a place please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-london-walking-tours-tickets-27677084906
This event is part of the Being Human 2016 Festival and of the University of London’s series Ministry of Hope and Fear (University of London Hub)
http://beinghumanfestival.org/event/international-london-walking-tours/