Climax of the Clearances In brief Speaker - Sir Tom Devine (Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh) Title - Climax of the Clearances: The Great Highland Famine and Scottish History Venue - Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre, Old College Research strand - The British empire, colonialism, and cultural responses to famine and food crisis Book your free ticket on Eventbrite About the lecture This lecture considers the impact of the 1840s European potato blight on Scotland. It will focus especially on the Highlands, where over-dependency on the crop for subsistence exposed the people of the region to acute life-threatening crisis. The first part of the lecture will seek to determine the impact of the potato failure on the people and therefore attempt to answer the question: ’Did the Highlands starve’? Throughout, comparisons and contrasts will be drawn with the Great Irish Famine (an Gorta Mór) which has attracted much more scholarly and popular attention than the famine in Scotland. The second part will argue that the famine in the Highlands triggered an unprecedented scale and intensity of ‘clearance’, or forced removal of people from their traditional holdings, which rendered entire districts bereft of human habitation through to the present day. One eye witness government official at the time feared the evictions were so extensive as to ‘threaten the very structures of society in these parts’. About the speaker Sir Thomas Martin Devine (Kt OBE DLitt FRHistS HonMRIA FRSE FBA Member Academy of Europe) is Sir William Fraser Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography in the University of Edinburgh, the world’s oldest and most prestigious chair in the field. Devine is the author and editor of some forty books plus numerous articles and chapters across a range of historical topics since the sixteenth century to the present including The Great Highland Famine: Hunger, Emigration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century and The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed 1600-1900. He also has a high media profile in the press, radio and TV, both at home and abroad. Devine's many honours and prizes include the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s supreme academic accolade and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the UK Parliament in History and Archives. He was knighted in 2015 by the late HM The Queen ‘for services to the study of Scottish history,’ the only scholar honoured for that reason to date. Read about Tom Devine's research and publications How to attend This lecture is a free, in-person event held on the University of Edinburgh campus. It is open to all. The event will not be live streamed - tickets (bookable via Eventbrite) are for access to the venue. However, the lecture may be photographed and/or recorded and added to the University website afterwards. If you would prefer not to appear in any recordings, please contact us in advance or speak to us on the day. It's not a problem. Book your ticket About the research strand This event is organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Network on the British Empire, Scotland, and Indian famines. The Network is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and two institutions in India, IIIT Guwahati in Guwahati and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology in West Bengal. The Principal Investigator of the Network is Dr Sourit Bhattacharya, Lecturer in Global Anglophone Literatures at the University of Edinburgh. Over a number of projects on the British empire and cultural responses to famine, Dr Bhattacharya's aim is to historicise contemporary debates on neo-colonialism and global food crisis, and indigenous responses to them. Keep up to date with the Network on its website Related links Find out more about research in English and Scottish Literature May 23 2023 17.00 - 19.00 Climax of the Clearances Join us for this public lecture by Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography, on the effects of the potato blight in the Highlands of Scotland. Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre Old College South Bridge University of Edinburgh EH8 9YL Find the venue Book your free ticket on Eventbrite
Climax of the Clearances In brief Speaker - Sir Tom Devine (Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh) Title - Climax of the Clearances: The Great Highland Famine and Scottish History Venue - Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre, Old College Research strand - The British empire, colonialism, and cultural responses to famine and food crisis Book your free ticket on Eventbrite About the lecture This lecture considers the impact of the 1840s European potato blight on Scotland. It will focus especially on the Highlands, where over-dependency on the crop for subsistence exposed the people of the region to acute life-threatening crisis. The first part of the lecture will seek to determine the impact of the potato failure on the people and therefore attempt to answer the question: ’Did the Highlands starve’? Throughout, comparisons and contrasts will be drawn with the Great Irish Famine (an Gorta Mór) which has attracted much more scholarly and popular attention than the famine in Scotland. The second part will argue that the famine in the Highlands triggered an unprecedented scale and intensity of ‘clearance’, or forced removal of people from their traditional holdings, which rendered entire districts bereft of human habitation through to the present day. One eye witness government official at the time feared the evictions were so extensive as to ‘threaten the very structures of society in these parts’. About the speaker Sir Thomas Martin Devine (Kt OBE DLitt FRHistS HonMRIA FRSE FBA Member Academy of Europe) is Sir William Fraser Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography in the University of Edinburgh, the world’s oldest and most prestigious chair in the field. Devine is the author and editor of some forty books plus numerous articles and chapters across a range of historical topics since the sixteenth century to the present including The Great Highland Famine: Hunger, Emigration and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century and The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed 1600-1900. He also has a high media profile in the press, radio and TV, both at home and abroad. Devine's many honours and prizes include the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s supreme academic accolade and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the UK Parliament in History and Archives. He was knighted in 2015 by the late HM The Queen ‘for services to the study of Scottish history,’ the only scholar honoured for that reason to date. Read about Tom Devine's research and publications How to attend This lecture is a free, in-person event held on the University of Edinburgh campus. It is open to all. The event will not be live streamed - tickets (bookable via Eventbrite) are for access to the venue. However, the lecture may be photographed and/or recorded and added to the University website afterwards. If you would prefer not to appear in any recordings, please contact us in advance or speak to us on the day. It's not a problem. Book your ticket About the research strand This event is organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Network on the British Empire, Scotland, and Indian famines. The Network is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and two institutions in India, IIIT Guwahati in Guwahati and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology in West Bengal. The Principal Investigator of the Network is Dr Sourit Bhattacharya, Lecturer in Global Anglophone Literatures at the University of Edinburgh. Over a number of projects on the British empire and cultural responses to famine, Dr Bhattacharya's aim is to historicise contemporary debates on neo-colonialism and global food crisis, and indigenous responses to them. Keep up to date with the Network on its website Related links Find out more about research in English and Scottish Literature May 23 2023 17.00 - 19.00 Climax of the Clearances Join us for this public lecture by Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography, on the effects of the potato blight in the Highlands of Scotland. Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre Old College South Bridge University of Edinburgh EH8 9YL Find the venue Book your free ticket on Eventbrite
May 23 2023 17.00 - 19.00 Climax of the Clearances Join us for this public lecture by Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus of Scottish History and Palaeography, on the effects of the potato blight in the Highlands of Scotland.
