News
1 March 2023
8 February 2023
Joint annual conference of the Quaker Studies Research Association and Centre
for Research in Quaker Studies, Universities of Birmingham and Lancaster
Quakers, Power, and Minorities
Woodbrooke, Birmingham(UK) and online, 23-24 June 2023.
for Research in Quaker Studies, Universities of Birmingham and Lancaster
Quakers, Power, and Minorities
Woodbrooke, Birmingham(UK) and online, 23-24 June 2023.
When communicating Quaker history and values to each other and to the world,
Friends have happily acknowledged the Religious Society of Friends as a minority
speaking truth to power. However, while many Friends were effective advocates
for change, recent re-evaluations have shown that Quakers also exercised
power over people minoritised by colonialism and participated in enslavement.
This year’s QSRA/ CRQS conference considers Quakers, Power and Minorities. It
provides an opportunity to re-examine aspects of the Quaker narrative, and to
appraise the extent to which Quaker hagiography may have triumphed over
inconvenient detail. It is also a chance to reflect on the Quaker understanding of
‘concern’, and if or how local or national meetings support a Friend’s inspiration.
We expect to hear around a dozen papers around the theme, covering topics
ranging from climate justice to colonialism in North America, Australia and South
Africa, eugenics, slavery, Palestine, and social reform. Papers reflecting on the
engagement of Quakers such as Thomas Hodgkin, John Bellers, Bayard Rustin,
Ann Conway and John Tengo Jabavu illustrate some of the discomforts and
initiatives of individuals active on the intellectual, social or spiritual margins of the
Religious Society of Friends.
For the first time since COVID the QSRA/CRQS conference will be held in person
as well as on Zoom. At last there will once again be the opportunity for
participants to discuss the papers over meals, to meet up with people with similar
research interests, and to ponder new areas for collaboration or for further work.
This event is jointly organised by the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies at
Woodbrooke and the Quaker Studies Research Association.
The working titles of papers expected at the 2023 QSRA Conference include:
Kelvin Beer-Jones: The Quaker network supporting Thomas Hodgkin’s British Colonial Activism 1830
– 1870;
Lily Chadwick: America (Quakers, the Friendly Society for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the
Indians, and relations with indigenous and colonial leadership)
Penelope Cummins: Belonging and not belonging: Three Black South African Quakers
Carlos Figueroa: Faith, Dignity, and Nationalism: Bayard T. Rustin’s support for Israeli Zionism in the
Early 1970s
Mark Frankel: Quakers in Mandatory Palestine: whose truth and whose power?
Betty Hagglund: Quakers and Social Purity (Quakers and Eugenics)
David Prosser: An island prison, a broken treaty and a Quaker contribution to the history of
Indigenous dispossession in Australia, 1831 – 1838
Barbara Sharrock: Quakers: Lost and Found. The case of John Bellers, Quaker, 1654-1725
Laura Arcila Villa: The Quakers between Henry More and Anne Conway
Claire Wanless: The Quaker response to the climate crisis: an ongoing process of social construction
Please go to https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/courses/crqs-qsra-quaker-studies-conference-quakers-power-and-minorities/ to book to attend in person or on zoom.
Friends have happily acknowledged the Religious Society of Friends as a minority
speaking truth to power. However, while many Friends were effective advocates
for change, recent re-evaluations have shown that Quakers also exercised
power over people minoritised by colonialism and participated in enslavement.
This year’s QSRA/ CRQS conference considers Quakers, Power and Minorities. It
provides an opportunity to re-examine aspects of the Quaker narrative, and to
appraise the extent to which Quaker hagiography may have triumphed over
inconvenient detail. It is also a chance to reflect on the Quaker understanding of
‘concern’, and if or how local or national meetings support a Friend’s inspiration.
We expect to hear around a dozen papers around the theme, covering topics
ranging from climate justice to colonialism in North America, Australia and South
Africa, eugenics, slavery, Palestine, and social reform. Papers reflecting on the
engagement of Quakers such as Thomas Hodgkin, John Bellers, Bayard Rustin,
Ann Conway and John Tengo Jabavu illustrate some of the discomforts and
initiatives of individuals active on the intellectual, social or spiritual margins of the
Religious Society of Friends.
For the first time since COVID the QSRA/CRQS conference will be held in person
as well as on Zoom. At last there will once again be the opportunity for
participants to discuss the papers over meals, to meet up with people with similar
research interests, and to ponder new areas for collaboration or for further work.
This event is jointly organised by the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies at
Woodbrooke and the Quaker Studies Research Association.
The working titles of papers expected at the 2023 QSRA Conference include:
Kelvin Beer-Jones: The Quaker network supporting Thomas Hodgkin’s British Colonial Activism 1830
– 1870;
Lily Chadwick: America (Quakers, the Friendly Society for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the
Indians, and relations with indigenous and colonial leadership)
Penelope Cummins: Belonging and not belonging: Three Black South African Quakers
Carlos Figueroa: Faith, Dignity, and Nationalism: Bayard T. Rustin’s support for Israeli Zionism in the
Early 1970s
Mark Frankel: Quakers in Mandatory Palestine: whose truth and whose power?
Betty Hagglund: Quakers and Social Purity (Quakers and Eugenics)
David Prosser: An island prison, a broken treaty and a Quaker contribution to the history of
Indigenous dispossession in Australia, 1831 – 1838
Barbara Sharrock: Quakers: Lost and Found. The case of John Bellers, Quaker, 1654-1725
Laura Arcila Villa: The Quakers between Henry More and Anne Conway
Claire Wanless: The Quaker response to the climate crisis: an ongoing process of social construction
Please go to https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/courses/crqs-qsra-quaker-studies-conference-quakers-power-and-minorities/ to book to attend in person or on zoom.
20 September 2022
The Adshead Scholarship Award is available to academic researchers in the field of Quaker Studies. To apply you must be registered in a university postgraduate programme. We favour applicants who are relatively early in their study (e.g. in the first two years of a full-time PhD).
This scholarship is being revived in a more flexible way having been suspended during the pandemic years 2020-2022.
Previous scholars have used the award to devote some residential time in the Quaker library at Woodbrooke. However, this is not available at present so we have widened the scheme to allow for access to a much broader range of physical archive locations. We expect that the Library of the Religious Society of Friends in London will be especially useful to many researchers, but we are open to considering applications for travel to and accommodation near any archive relevant to your work.
The successful applicant will receive up to a maximum £600 (or equivalent for non-sterling applications) for 2023.
To be considered for an award you should complete the attached application form. You have the option of downloading the word doc or using the google form. Should you have any technical issues, please contact us at qsraofficers@gmail.com
adshead_award_application_form.docx
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDqTy-glGaPuqscIQEAFyZzzkwskg93YII364bHjWRr_ZiAw/viewform?usp=sf_link
This application will help us determine how the scholarship could help you at this stage of your studies.
Your plan will include information on what you see as your academic requirements as well as your need for financial support.
Please return your application to Judith Roads, QSRA convenor at roads4@me.com if using the word document.
The deadline for applications in 2023 is December 19th, 2022.
Before applying, you may wish to have a conversation with Ben Pink Dandelion. This can be arranged by emailing him directly at b.p.dandelion@bham.ac.uk
If your application is successful, you will be sent the award by bank transfer and need to book travel, accommodation, and library access yourself. If you are expecting to use the Library of the Religious Society of Friends in London you will need to arrange time to access specific resources directly with them. There are a number of options for accommodation which should allow you to stay for four to five nights in London, depending on the time of year, within the amount given by the award.
Here is a small selection:
Near Friends House, Euston, London NW1 2BJ
Bedford Hotel, 83, 95 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HD
https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/hotels/bedford-hotel
Premier Inn, Euston,
1 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PJ
https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-euston.html
Tavistock Hotel, 48-55 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EU
https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/hotels/tavistock-hotel
Slightly further from Friends House, (London, zone 2)
The Royal Foundation of St Katherine,
2 Butcher Row, London E14 8DS
https://www.rfsk.org.uk/
After your visit to the archive of your choice, the recipient of the award is expected to report on the use you made of the money. This should include reporting the sums spent and on what, and commenting on the contribution the award made to your work. This report allows us to monitor the success of the award especially these new arrangements.
This scholarship is being revived in a more flexible way having been suspended during the pandemic years 2020-2022.
Previous scholars have used the award to devote some residential time in the Quaker library at Woodbrooke. However, this is not available at present so we have widened the scheme to allow for access to a much broader range of physical archive locations. We expect that the Library of the Religious Society of Friends in London will be especially useful to many researchers, but we are open to considering applications for travel to and accommodation near any archive relevant to your work.
The successful applicant will receive up to a maximum £600 (or equivalent for non-sterling applications) for 2023.
To be considered for an award you should complete the attached application form. You have the option of downloading the word doc or using the google form. Should you have any technical issues, please contact us at qsraofficers@gmail.com
adshead_award_application_form.docx
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDqTy-glGaPuqscIQEAFyZzzkwskg93YII364bHjWRr_ZiAw/viewform?usp=sf_link
This application will help us determine how the scholarship could help you at this stage of your studies.
Your plan will include information on what you see as your academic requirements as well as your need for financial support.
Please return your application to Judith Roads, QSRA convenor at roads4@me.com if using the word document.
The deadline for applications in 2023 is December 19th, 2022.
Before applying, you may wish to have a conversation with Ben Pink Dandelion. This can be arranged by emailing him directly at b.p.dandelion@bham.ac.uk
If your application is successful, you will be sent the award by bank transfer and need to book travel, accommodation, and library access yourself. If you are expecting to use the Library of the Religious Society of Friends in London you will need to arrange time to access specific resources directly with them. There are a number of options for accommodation which should allow you to stay for four to five nights in London, depending on the time of year, within the amount given by the award.
Here is a small selection:
Near Friends House, Euston, London NW1 2BJ
Bedford Hotel, 83, 95 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4HD
https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/hotels/bedford-hotel
Premier Inn, Euston,
1 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PJ
https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-euston.html
Tavistock Hotel, 48-55 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EU
https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/hotels/tavistock-hotel
Slightly further from Friends House, (London, zone 2)
The Royal Foundation of St Katherine,
2 Butcher Row, London E14 8DS
https://www.rfsk.org.uk/
After your visit to the archive of your choice, the recipient of the award is expected to report on the use you made of the money. This should include reporting the sums spent and on what, and commenting on the contribution the award made to your work. This report allows us to monitor the success of the award especially these new arrangements.
Quaker Studies is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary.
Quaker Studies feeds into and from theology, history, philosophy, politics, sociology, anthropology, womens studies, peace studies, literary studies and cultural studies. The Quaker Studies Research Association (QSRA), formed in 1992 and with an international membership, is the umbrella organisation for all those studying, teaching, researching or connected with research into one of the areas of Quaker Studies. With the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke, the QSRA holds an annual conference, hosts the George Richardson Lecture, and oversees the David Adshead Scholarship for new postgraduates. There the fully-refereed journal, Quaker Studies, is published by Liverpool University Press twice a year. All journal subscribers are automatically members of QSRA: you can join by subscribing to the journal HERE.
