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.
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.
