Dr Sam Knapton holds second Queer Britain Workshop

On Friday 15 March 2024, the second workshop in a series between the University of Nottingham and Queer Britain Museum (London) took place. This was part of Dr Sam Knapton's AHRC IAA project titled “Hidden Histories: Queer Experiences and Displacement in the Contemporary World”.

The first workshop in December was held at the Queer Britain Museum and focused on researching ‘hidden histories’ with participants from across Britain and Europe. The second workshop was held at the University of Nottingham where participants heard from Queer Britain’s new curator, Jennifer Shearman, about the museum’s future exhibitions and design.

Participants discussed how they could best link up higher education teaching to Queer Britain’s exhibitions and space, and also explored further questions about teaching ‘hidden histories’ to younger audiences. They also talked about Queer Britain being a space for families. Participants used the workshop as a literal knowledge exchange between activists, musicians, and historians - from medieval to contemporary historians, from PhD candidates to Professors. Participants shared their experiences of teaching these histories and discussed how to integrate them into their curricula without being tokenistic. They also explored the problems with sourcing primary materials.