Online Discussion Around "Eighteenth Century Now: The Current State of British History"

Past and Present was pleased to support this one-day conference bringing together postgraduate, early career and established historians to map out the current and future directions of eighteenth-century British history. The conference marked the 30th anniversary of the British History in the Long Eighteenth Century Seminar, and celebrated its work in providing a forum for debate on all aspects of research into the history of eighteenth-century Britain, across thematic and methodological boundaries. The study of Britain in the long eighteenth century is a dynamic and rapidly expanding research area, with almost 30,000 books and articles published on the subject between 2007 and 2018, an 8% on the previous decade. Subjects experiencing the most marked growth include the senses and emotions, the body, consumption, gender, and imperial history. All of these themes, and others, will be addressed in roundtables and panel discussions at the conference, to create a dialogue about the current state of the field, generate new research questions, and map out the field’s future trajectory. Speakers included Professor Joanna Innes (Somerville, Oxford), Professor Tim Hitchcock (University of Sussex), Professor Penelope Corfield (Royal Holloway/Newcastle University), Professor Carl Griffin (University of Sussex) and Professor Matthew McCormack (University of Northampton).