Events

On 22 May 2025 The David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas was delighted to welcome writer, producer and director Curtis Chin, author of the award-winning memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant. Curtis led a workshop with creative writing staff and students and then, in conversation with James Peacock, Director of the David Bruce Centre, talked about and read from his memoir before signing copies at the pop-up shop hosted by Ruth from Stoke-on-Trent’s very own independent bookshop, Drop City Books.

On 2 April 2025, The David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas, in conjunction with British Pugwash, hosted a major symposium on nuclear proliferation, disarmament, and anti-nuclear activism. On the 80th anniversary of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our speakers discussed the continuing existential threat of nuclear weapons and the role of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states and youth activists in confronting that threat. The three speakers were David Alexandre Ellwood, a member of the Pugwash Council and the executive committees of International Pugwash and the British Pugwash group; María Antonieta Jáquez, current Coordinator for Disarmament and Nonproliferation at the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico; and Franco Castro Escobar, a PhD student at Keele University who is affiliated to the David Bruce Centre for the Study of the Americas.

On 29 and 30 October 2024, Keele staff and students and members of the public were 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 was the first research institute outside Japan to have been loaned one of these headsets, so this was a unique and exciting opportunity.

There was also a small display of pictures, Japanese comic books, and other materials which added 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. There were more than 50 visitors, many of whom left positive comments in our visitors' book.

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).