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Colley examines the contagion and evolution of written constitutions throughout the world from the 17th Century right through to the present day.
Linda Colley CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a leading historian who specialises in Britain, empire and nationalism. She is currently Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States. She previously held Chairs in history at Yale University and the London School of Economics, and she was the first woman Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge University.
On 1 November 2018 Professor Colley visited University College Dublin to give the UCD Arts and Humanities Annual Lecture. The 2018 lecture was hosted by the UCD School of History.
In the lecture – ‘Inscribing a Modern World: Constitutions Across Histories and Literatures’ – Colley examines the contagion and evolution of written constitutions throughout the world from the 17th Century right through to the present day. She extracts the cultural, literary and political phenomena of constitutions, primed by war and print, whilst exploring the adaptation needed for the future, in the new and constantly changing technological environment.
Watch a video of Linda Colley’s lecture or listen to it as a podcast.
About Linda Colley
Linda Colley’s books include In Defiance of Oligarchy: The Tory Party 1714-1760 (1982), Namier (1982)., Captives: Britain, Empire and the World 1600-1850 (2002) and The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History (2007), which was named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year. Her third book, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837 (1992) won the Wolfson History Prize. Her work has been translated into ten languages.
Her most recent book was the highly-acclaimed Acts of Union and Disunion, which was based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series broadcast in January 2014 ahead of the Scottish Independence Referendum and which examines out what has held the United Kingdom together – and what might drive it apart.
Linda Colley was born in 1949 in Chester, England, and took her first degree at Bristol University, before completing a doctorate at the University of Cambridge. She subsequently held Fellowships at Girton and Christ’s Colleges, and also a joint-lectureship in history at Newnham and King’s Colleges.
In 1999 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Academia Europaea. She holds Honorary degrees from the Universities of Essex, East Anglia, Bristol, Hull and Southbank University.
In 1999 she delivered the Prime Minister’s Millennium Lecture at 10 Downing Street on ‘Britishness of the 21st Century’. Among other scholarly and public lectures, she has delivered the Trevelyan Lectures at Cambridge University (1997), the Wiles Lectures at Queen’s University, Belfast (1997), a James Ford Special Lecture and the Bateman Lectures at Oxford (1998 and 2003), the Nehru Memorial Lecture at the London School of Economics (2003), the Lewis Walpole Memorial Lecture at Yale (2000), the Carnochan Lecture at Stanford (1998) and the President’s Lecture at Princeton University in 2007. As well as The Annual ISEHR Lecture, University of Delhi, 2011; the Jon Sigurossen Memorial Lecture, University of Iceland, 2012 and the Margaret Macmillan Lecture in International History, University of Toronto, 2013. Future scheduled academic lectures in 2015 include the Aylmer Lecture at the University of York, and the Robbs Lectures, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
UCD College of Arts and Humanities Annual College Lecture
At the very heart of the academic calendar, the Annual College Lecture Series brings together scholars, writers and members of the creative community. The inaugural lecture, hosted by UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore in 2017, was delivered by the Pulitzer prize-winning poet and Howard G.B. Clark ’21 University Professor in the Humanities at Princeton, Paul Muldoon.
‘The Drowned Blackbird: An Introduction to 18th Century Ulster Poetry’
Image: photo of Professor Linda Colley’s lecture (© UCD Arts and Humanities)
UCD offers a variety of study options and entry pathways, ranging from full-time degrees to short-term courses for pure interest. Lifelong Learning offers all adult learners the opportunity to explore a subject of their choice without the pressure of an examination. Open Learning is a flexible way of studying part-time at UCD. Explore your history options for the coming year.
Dr Mark Jones is Assistant Professor in Global History at University College Dublin. A specialist in the history of political violence, war, and revolution, his publications include ‘Founding Weimar. Violence and the German Revolution of 1918-19 (Cambridge University Press, 2016). His latest book is ‘1923: The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler’s Coup’. This podcast ‘The murder of Walter Rathenau and the survival of Weimar democracy. Mark Jones on the year 1923’ is based on this latest book.
The first in-person meeting of the Military Welfare History Network took place in Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin on 7 July 2023. The event, which was co-ordinated by Dr Paul Huddie, comprised two keynotes and four panels, totalling 14 speakers. Conference keynotes by Dr Matthew Neufeld (University of Saskatchewan) and Dr Ke-Chin Hsia (Indiana University Bloomington) were recorded and are now available to podcast.
In June 2023 Professor Caitríona Beaumont (LSBU / UCD) joined UCD historians Dr Mary McAuliffe and Dr Fionnuala Walsh to record a podcast on a new project: AFTERLIVES.
The aim of the project is to uncover the afterlives and trace the life stories of lesser known activist women. As Beaumont explains, the inspiration for the project came from a surprising discovery.
