Finding Queer Stories in Archives - Seminar Series 2021 - Prof Aleardo Zanghellini - Professor of Law and Social Theory at the University of Reading

Prof Aleardo Zanghellini - Professor of Law and Social Theory at the University of Reading

04/08/21 • 26 min

Finding Queer Stories in Archives - Seminar Series 2021

In this episode, we speak to Prof Aleardo Zanghellini from the University of Reading's School of Law. Aleardo tells us about: how law and legal theory interacts with queer heritage; how the law operated against men who had sex with men; his novel Spellbinders, a work of historical fiction centring on Edward II's same-sex desire; how more diverse queer stories, including those of women and trans people, can be found in criminal archives; and his latest work on how same-sex desire played a part in the government of Fiume.

Previous Episode

Amy Austin - PhD Student and Researcher in Gender History at the University of Reading

In this podcast, we speak to Amy Austin, PhD student and researcher in the Gender History Cluster in the Department of History at the University of Reading. Amy tells us more about the links between gender and sexuality in history, as well as her research on reconstructing transgender identities in history.

About Amy: Amy Austin is a third year PhD student in the History department at Reading University. She did her undergraduate degree at Royal Holloway where gender history was included as part of the mainstream curriculum. Here she developed an interest in the history of marginalised groups and went on to complete an MA in Women's and Gender History which included a study of crossdressing actresses, Oscar Wilde's trial and Victorian female mental health treatments. She is now researching transgender identities in Britain, 1870-1940s, is a passionate LGBT+ ally and seeks to bring the history of marginalised groups into the mainstream curriculum.

Links:

University of Reading Gender History Cluster: https://www.reading.ac.uk/research/theme-heritage-creativity/rd-history/history-cluster-gender.aspx

Next Episode

Dr Oliver Baldwin - British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Classics at the University of Reading

In this episode, the team talk to Dr Oliver Baldwin from the University of Reading's Department of Classics about: his interest in queer history; his current project Queer Tragedy; why classics is so queer; how the men in the Broken Futures project may have used their understandings of the ancient world to understand their same-sex desire; and the relevance of Oscar Wilde's famous use of 'the love that dare not speak it's name' to legitimise his relationships with other men. This is a really accessible podcast that introduces queer classics for a first-time listener.