Events

Location: Denise Coates Building, Think Lab, Keele University
Date: 22 May 2025
Time: 17:00 (Workshop for Creative Writing students at 15:30)
Registration is free and you can sign up here.

The David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas is delighted to welcome writer, producer and director Curtis Chin, author of the award-winning memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as its first Executive Director. He went on to write comedy for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His essay in Bon Appetit was just selected for Best Food Writing in America 2023 and his short doc, Dear Corky premiered on American Masters (PBS). He is currently working on a new docuseries on the history of Chinese restaurants in America.

You can watch Curtis talking about his memoir here: Watch CBS Saturday Morning: Author Curtis Chin discusses new memoir - Full show on CBS

Curtis will be talking about his life and work and reading from his memoir, copies of which will be available from a stand hosted by local independent bookshop, Drop City Books.

The author has kindly agreed to run a workshop for Creative Writing students, which will take place in Think Lab at 3.30 p.m.

Please join us for what promises to be an exciting evening.

Location: Denise Coates Building, Keele University
Date: 2 April 2025
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
Free sign-up.

The David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas, in conjunction with British Pugwash is hosting a major symposium on nuclear proliferation, disarmament, and anti-nuclear activism. In the 80^th anniversary of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our speakers will discuss the continuing existential threat of nuclear weapons and the role of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states and youth activists in confronting that threat. We are delighted to welcome our three speakers:

David Alexandre Ellwood, “When the Clock Strikes Doom...”

The five recognized nuclear weapons states (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) have a legal obligation to pursue disarmament “in good faith” under Article VI of the NPT, but as the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists ticks ever closer to midnight, these same states are pursuing a costly modernization program that ensures the nightmare of nuclear war will remain a constant threat to life on earth for the rest of this century. We will review what nuclear weapons are, what they do, and how our governments are pouring trillions into the survival of a “security system” that is nothing but a doomsday machine. 

María Antonieta Jáquez, “The Contribution of the Nonnuclear Weapons States to the Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation Regime”

The 80^th anniversary of the nuclear age is a suitable framework to ponder the impact of the introduction of atomic bombs on international relations and the narratives surrounding them.

The presentation explores how different security approaches regarding nuclear weapons have prevailed for 80 years. While a few states justify nuclear weapons’ existence and consider the menace of their potential use as acceptable for their protection and that of their allies, the vast majority of states consider the mere existence of nuclear weapons and threats of their use as existential threats in themselves. 

Even if the justification for nuclear weapons has dominated the global nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation discourse, particularly at junctures like the one we are living in, most of the states in the international community have forgone the nuclear option, and these actors have influenced the creation and maintenance of the nonproliferation and disarmament regime.  The future of this regime does not look very promising if we only consider the implementation of multilateral nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments from the nuclear weapons States, but non-possessors fulfill their commitments, and honor previous agreements.

The recent focus on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, and evidence of how a nuclear detonation would affect all States has changed the dynamics at multilateral fora, demonstrating the role of the non-possessors and the value of the rule of law for international relations.  The presentation highlights the establishment of nuclear weapons-free zones and the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as examples of tools that have enhanced obligations for the parties to these treaties, but also for the creation of high standards that have evolved in these past eight decades.

Franco Castro Escobar, “Youth Organizing in the ‘Third Nuclear Age’”

The second decade of the 21st century is increasingly being described as a “third nuclear age”—a period marked by unprecedented nuclear risks, state competition, and conflict escalation options. In this period, only a small minority of people takes part in antinuclear activism, lobbying, and organizing, leading to the shrinking and aging of the antinuclear movement’s membership. So, why do young people continue to join or create antinuclear groups in a movement that has grayed and what can we learn from their stories?

This presentation will explore three key aspects of the antinuclear movement’s history: (a) the environmental origin of grassroots antinuclear activism in Japan, (b) three peaks of antinuclear activity globally, (c) and challenges presented by the 21^st century. Drawing from 24 interviewees with antinuclear youth in Japan, the presentation will feature a selection of quotes about their journey from the first encounter with the concept of “nuclear weapons,” to their struggles against the legacies inherited in the third nuclear age.

Chair: James Peacock, Reader in English and American Literatures, Keele University

Attendance at the event is free and open to all, and you can sign up here.

Refreshments will be served.

There will also be another opportunity for attendees to try a VR headset loaned to the David Bruce Centre by the Hiroshima Peace Institute, which offers a unique 5-minute immersive film about the events of 6 August 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The David Bruce Centre was the first research institute outside Japan to be loaned one of these headsets. There will also be a small display of pictures, Japanese comic books, and other materials which add up to a fascinating (and in the current global context, very timely) mini pop-up exhibition on nuclear threat, and the legacy of and survival of war more generally.

Location: Chancellor’s Gallery, Chancellor’s Building
Date: Tuesday 29th & Wednesday 30th October 2024
Time: 10:00 – 17:00

Staff and students at Keele University are invited to join postgraduate researcher Franco Castro Escobar and colleagues from the David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas to use a virtual reality headset, loaned to the David Bruce Centre by the Hiroshima Peace Institute, and experience its unique 5-minute immersive film about the events of 6 August 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The David Bruce Centre is the first research institute outside Japan to have been loaned one of these headsets, so this represents a unique and exciting opportunity.

Franco has recently returned from a research trip to Japan, where he was based at the HPI and gathered primary data for his research on post-Cold War anti-nuclear activism.

There will also be a small display of pictures, Japanese comic books, and other materials which add up to a fascinating (and in the current global context, very timely) mini pop-up exhibition on nuclear threat, and the legacy of and survival of war more generally. Please visit the exhibition and experience the VR headset any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on 29 and 30 October.

On Wednesday 26 February at 15.30 (UK time) in CBB1.030 and on Teams, Professor Mónica G. Moreno Figueroa, (University of Cambridge): "What is internalised oppression and why should we care?"

In this lecture we will explore the notion of internalised oppression and discuss how this links the personal and the structural experiences of people and collectives and also organises our relationships with each other. We will explore how internalised oppression is not just about a process of inferiorisation but also about the ways in which people come to believe they are better and superior than others. I will share the advances of a public campaign called The Structure Within and reflect on the implications of this notion for anti-racist intersectional work.

Bio:
Mónica G. Moreno Figueroa is a Black-mestiza, Mexican-British Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow in Social Sciences at Downing College. Her research explores the intersectional lived experiences of ‘race’ and racism in Mexico and Latin America, antiracism and academic-based impact, feminist theory, and intersectionality.
Mónica is currently leading the development of the Global Racisms Institute for Social Transformation (GRIST) at Cambridge, which aims to address global racisms and intersectional social inequalities through actionable research, dialogue, and experimentation.
Mónica’s recent work includes editing Against Racism: Organizing for Social Change in Latin America (2022) and her most recent project, funded by the British Academy The Structure Within: Internalised Oppression, Defensiveness, and Resentment. She also co-leads the Collective for the Elimination of Racism in Mexico (COPERA), a non-profit organization where activists and scholars work collaboratively to eliminate racism in Mexico.

On 8 May 2024 the David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas, in collaboration with the American Politics Group (and with the support of a special award from the US Embassy) hosted "Unfolding Our Shared Future: Challenge, Possibility and Potential in the 21st Century." The event was part of a travelling festival addressing issues affecting the US and UK in domestic, trans-Atlantic and global contexts. The theme for Keele's event was "Urban Regeneration," and we were delighted to welcome two internationally-renowned researchers in the field - Professor Loretta Lees (Boston) and Professor Ray Bromley (Emeritus, Albany). We also welcomed many partners from the Potteries region for what was a fascinating and wide-reaching discussion.

Loretta Lees (left) and Ray Bromley (right)

Watch the event here.

Seminars will be held at 2.15pm in the David Bruce Centre (CBB 1.030).  Online seminars will be held on Teams.  Please follow public health advice, and do not attend in-person if you are feeling unwell or experiencing any COVID symptoms.

Please direct queries to the DBC director Dr James Peacock (j.h.peacock@keele.ac.uk).