Speaker: Nigel Biggar, Tiffany Jenkins, Tomiwa Owolade

Topic: The State of History Today

Venue: Vinson Lecture Theatre

Time: 15.30-16.30 Sunday 17 September

Talk Summary:

Nigel Biggar, author of Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping their Marbles: how treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should stay there, and Tomiwa Owolade, author of This is Not America, discuss the many challenges facing the discipline of history and how they may be overcome. Chaired by Paul Lay, festival director and former editor of History Today.

Nigel Biggar is an Anglican priest, theologian and ethicist, and was Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford. His latest book is Colonialism: a Moral Reckoning (Harper Collins), which offers an ethical inquest into the colonial past, contesting damaging falsehoods and rejuvenating faith in the West’s future.

Tiffany Jenkins is a writer and author. Her next book,  Strangers and Intimates: the rise and fall of private life, will be published in 2024 by Picador. Her last book,  Keeping Their Marbles: how treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should stay there, examined the influences at play in the growing prominence of the battle to return museum artefacts and the drive to repair historical wrongs. Tiffany is an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh and has presented several programmes for BBC Radio 4, including the series  A Narrative History of Secrecy.

Tomiwa Owolade is one of Britain’s brightest young cultural commentators. He writes a regular column for The Times and is a contributing editor at the New Statesman. His latest book, which has met with considerable critical acclaim, is This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter.