Overview
One of the largely forgotten lecacies of the First World War was the belief that peace would result from the connections between and across national borders, the fault lines of the war itself. After the centenaries of the War have concluded, the team will argue that we should remember how hopes for peace were tied to hopes for connections across the earth; that is, for "the international".
The hope for international peace
The team are examining three sets of conferences that demonstrate these hopes of peace.
- The Round Table conferences on the future of India in the British Empire (Legg)
- The International Studies conferences of the League of Nations' ICIC (Heffernan)
- The Pan-African Congress (Hodder)
Each of these conferences provided a public commentary on the changes brought by the war and the prospects of a new international order which it was seen to make possible.
Planned impact
The research findings are to be released immediately after the centennial commemoration of the Armistice in 2018. The team aim to shine a new light on the interwar years through emphasising the international, the non-European, and the microcosms of the conferencing world.
The highly visual research material will provide opportunities for cultural enrichment, benefiting the creative and media industries via the multi-sensory histories of fashion, food, interior decor, comportment and performance of the interwar world.
Targeted groups of beneficiaries
Professional practitioners
To enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of outside organisations with potential benefits to the UK's global economic performance, the team will share historical lessons of how conferences succeed or fail with these practitioners, presenting examples of successful host venues, programmes, etiquette and infrastructures, and the range of spaces used to combine business negotiation with environmental enjoyment that will inspire and improve their economic performance. The workshops and international conference will provide a valuable networking event with contemporaries from cognate professions. The team will select the most suitable practitioners to collaborate with from the following: representatives of NGOs and other agencies involved in international conference organisation; representatives of commercial companies specialising in conference organisation such as Bond Dickinson LLP, Informa, Getenergy, and World Business Research; representatives from the hotel and hospitality management industries; and representatives from a selection of learned societies involved in conference organisation, including the Royal Geographical Society and the International Geographical Congress.
Representatives of the modern incarnations of the historical conferences under study
These beneficiaries will learn about the history of their organisations, what made them succeed, and what made them fail. This will enhance their sense of institutional confidence and pride, provide new historical perspectives, and provoke them to reflect on their racial and international identities. These will include representatives of the UNESCO, Round Table organisation, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the on-going Pan-African conferences. The infrastructures which supported the conferences also have contemporary manifestations. These hotels, restaurants, bars, and institutions will also be actively involved in the network of academic and non-academic partners, increasing their awareness of their historic roles which will present various opportunities for business collaborations with similar institutions and marketing opportunities.
British South Asian and Black communities
The research will benefit society and encourage personal pride by providing inspirational role models and creating new public knowledge. The Round Table and Pan-African conferences represented early if temporary moments of cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism in Britain and abroad. The figures involved will be an inspiration to black, Asian and minority ethnicity communities, especially children, who will get to learn about inspiring figures such as Gandhi and WEB DuBois. The team will build on extensive connections forged by Heffernan as Co-Director of the AHRC World War One Engagement Centre which addresses national and faith communities that were excluded from WWI commemorations nationwide. The team will work to enhance community cohesion via gatekeeper organisations such as the New Art Exchange, Nottingham's Pakistan Centre, the Hindu Community Centre, and the Afro Caribbean National Artistic Centre.