About Summer Scholars Lunchtime Talks
The Summer Scholars season of lunchtime talks is hosted by the Eccles Institute for the Americas and Oceania at the Library and showcases the exciting and wide-ranging research into our Americas collections by the Institute’s Visiting Fellows and associates, as well as Library staff.
Free. No need to book, just drop-in.
‘Jiggs Bennett' and the Reporter Protagonist in Mid-20th Century Black Periodicals
Amber Kirwan discusses the 'reporter protagonist' in the short stories of James H. Hill. Hill was a prolific feature writer for the Baltimore Afro-American, a highly circulated Black American newspaper in the 20th century. One of his returning protagonists was the reporter-cum-detective Jiggs Bennett. As a reporter for his local paper, Bennett stopped bomb plots, fought masked criminals and saved America from itself time and time again. But amidst all this action and machismo, could Bennett actually save himself? And as 21st century readers, should we?
'Boiling Frogs': Using Sound and Performance in Climate Change Research
Sebas Hau unpacks his joint Eccles fellowship research into the myth of the boiling frog: an apologue often used by climate activists and journalists to describe the human experience and inaction over the climate crisis. Hau reflects on how a decolonised listening practice could stimulate wider interest in the sounds and music of the Americas available at the British Library Sound Archive. His talk and joint Eccles Fellowship are a collaboration with sound artist and creative technologist Xavier Velastín.
Image: Friedrich Haag / Wikimedia Commons / “Klimawandel 003 2016 06 06” / CC BY-SA 4.0
More information
About the speakers
Amber Kirwan is a PhD student in English at the University of Cambridge and the British Library. Her current research is on African-American periodicals of the mid-20th century such as the Chicago Defender, Negro Digest and Negro Story. She is thinking about periodical forms, genre, short fiction, the Black Chicago Renaissance and temporality.
Sebas Hau is a Co-Director, Creative Producer and Independent Researcher with ITZATNA Arts – a dynamic arts organisation based in the Midlands, dedicated to cultivating cross-cultural collaborations between artists and diaspora communities from México, Latin America, and the UK. ITZATNA creates ground-breaking cultural projects by embracing ecological, decolonial, and multigenerational perspectives. Drawing inspiration from diverse Latin American traditions, we reimagine them for our contemporary world. Through a fusion of art forms, we craft unique and impactful experiences for all ages, co-created with local communities. Along with Xavier Velastín, Hau was a 2023 Eccles Institute Visiting Fellow at the British Library.
About the Eccles Institute
The Eccles Institute builds, curates and preserves the Americas and Oceania contemporary collection at the Library and champions knowledge and understanding of these regions through a rich programme of fellowships and awards, cultural events, research training, guides to the collections and initiatives for schools.
For more information about the Institute and our collections, contact eccles-institute@bl.uk or visit our blog.
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