Homelessness in Postwar Britain: Do historians have anything useful to say?
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Clore Management Centre
Speakers include Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite (UCL), Matt Downie (CEO, Crisis), Adam Page (Lincoln), Matt and Jess Turtle (Museum of Homelessness), Peter Wood (Birkbeck)
Book here (homelessnessinpostwarbritain.eventbrite.co.uk)
While social scientists and social policy experts have written extensively about homelessness and housing, historians have had less to say. Yet there is no shortage of raw material, from government archives to voluntary organisations and the possibilities of oral history. Why have historians been largely silent on this issue of pressing concern today? Does it matter? What can historians say about the perennial problem of definitions of homelessness? What has been the role of the voluntary sector? What can oral history tell us? How does the history of homelessness relate to broader political, cultural and economic shifts in postwar Britain? What might a history from the ground up look like? Does homelessness have a history, or are the poor always with us?
Sharing different historical viewpoints and experiences in relation to homelessness as a subject of history, our speakers will initiate a conversation around a neglected topic and bring to light past discussions and experiences that might inform present responses.
Contact Katy at RSHC for information (k.pettit@bbk.ac.uk)
Facilitated by the Raphael Samuel History Centre, a partnership between Birkbeck University of London and Queen Mary University of London.
Contact name: Katy Pettit
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