Boccaccio's character Madonna Filippa brilliantly defends herself in court against an adultery charge—and dodges a cruel capital punishment. Readers have long assumed that since medieval Italian women had no place in court, Filippa's story must be an ironic parody. This presentation inserts Boccaccio's heroine into her historical context of medieval northern Italy, where several women […]

Dr. Tom Smith is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in German at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. His research focused on queer approaches to contemporary Germany. He was selected as an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker in 2019 and regularly presents his work on BBC Radio. Event will include refreshments, book raffle, music and dancing.

As the United States cobbles together a coalition to undo Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, six US officers are trapped in Iraq with intelligence that could ruin Operation Desert Storm if it is obtained by the brutal Iraqi dictator. Desperate, the CIA asks Poland, a longtime Cold War foe famed for its excellent spies, for […]

We know a lot about Angela Merkel as a leader in international politics; we know much less about how the first woman chancellor saw herself and acted as a woman leader. This talk, based on a volume co-edited by Prof. Lang with Prof. Petra Ahrens (Tampere University, Finland) and Prof. Phillip Ayoub (University College London) […]