The Centre for American Studies are hosting the following lectures:

• Suffering, Struggle, Survival: The Activism, Artistry, and Authorship of Frederick Douglass and Family (1818-2018) Celeste-Marie Bernier
  By Professor of Black Studies, University Edinburgh
  Thursday 30 November 2017 at 18.00
  In Grimond Building Lecture Theatre 1, University of Kent

  As we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, Prof. Bernier traces his activism, artistry and authorship alongside the sufferings and struggles for survival of his daughters and sons. As activists, educators, campaigners, civil rights protesters, newspaper editors, orators, essayists, and historians in their own right, Rosetta, Lewis Henry, Frederick Jr., Charles Remond and Annie Douglass each played a vital role in the freedom struggles of their father. They were no less afraid to sacrifice everything they had as they each fought for Black civic, cultural, political, and social liberties by every means necessary. The fight for freedom was a family business to which all the Douglasses dedicated their lives as their rallying cry lives on to inspire today’s activism: “Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!”

• Spit Truth to Power? Occupy Wall Street and New York Hip Hop Culture
  By Dr Eithne Quinn, University of Manchester
  Wednesday 6 December 2017 at 18.00
  In Grimond Building Lecture Theatre 1, University of Kent

  Examining responses from hip-hop culture to the Occupy Wall Street mobilization of 2011, Dr Quinn’s talk focuses in particular on three rap entrepreneurial creatives, Russell Simmons, Shawn Carter (Jay Z), and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent). Occupy protested against extreme levels of inequality, declaring that it represented the 99 percent in opposition to the 1 percent financial elite. While these hip-hop moguls were all within the 1 percent ranks—they had nonetheless built star brands that represented people, in race and class terms, at the other end of the economic spectrum. This tension was negotiated in markedly different ways by the three moguls.

• Roosevelt, Rockwell, and the Four Freedoms: How a slip of the tongue inspired artists and changed the world
  By Dr James J.Kimble, Associate Professor of Communication and the Arts Seton Hall University, New Jersey
  Thursday 14 December 2017 at 18.00
  In Grimond Building Lecture Theatre 1, University of Kent

  Rockwell painted four homely images depicting the Four Freedoms, inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous “Four Freedoms” speech delivered to Congress on the eve of World War II. The U.S. government subsequently issued posters of Rockwell’s paintings in a highly successful war bond campaign that raised more than $132 million for the war effort. Rockwell’s homely depictions of Roosevelt’s abstract concepts were widely popular across America. Dr Kimble explores how the paintings dramatised and personalised the president’s Four Freedoms and the implications of this transformation for conceptualising the rhetorical presidency.

From November 2017, all Kent students wherever they are located can access free, 24/7 online support for issues around mental health and wellbeing.

The Big White Wall (BWW) is a Care Quality Commission registered service recognised nationally through awards by the NHS and is a safe environment overseen by qualified therapists called Wall Guides. It offers:

• peer talk therapies where members initiate or join forums on topics ranging from depression and anxiety to relationship issues, work stress, abuse, self-harm and eating disorders
• peer support and networks where students make friends to create a support network as a reference group, source of motivation and a means to improve self-awareness
• creative therapies employing art and writing therapies where members express themselves on ‘bricks’ that are posted to the Big White Wall where they can choose to share and discuss the underlying ‘story’
• brief counselling providing immediate 24/7 support from Big White Wall Guides who are trained counsellors
• 24/7 guided groups that are based in therapeutic approaches such as interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy You can find a link to the Big White Wall here.

How to register

In order to gain access to this service click on the BWW link using your Kent email address to gain access only.

As part of the registration process, do not use your KENT IT account password for this service.

Note, you may, upon completion of the registration process change your contact email address to a non-Kent email account.

Big White Wall takes privacy very seriously and you can find their privacy policy here.

International Partnerships is delighted to invite all Canterbury students to join us at the Global Hangouts Christmas Special, taking place in the Gulbenkian cafe between 17:00 and 19:00 on Wednesday 6 December.

Full of mince pies, mulled wine and Christmas cheer, this hangout will be a celebration of both Christmas and culture!

Global Hangouts is a series of free global networking events arranged throughout the academic year. With a fun and relaxed atmosphere, the hangouts include interactive activities, refreshments and live music and performances.

Students are invited to book their tickets now.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Our Special Collections & Archives are proud to have been awarded Archive Service Accreditation from the National Archive.

This accreditation, from the UK Archive Service Accreditation Partnership is the UK quality standard which recognises good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. The standard looks at an organisation’s ability to develop, care for, and provide access to its collections, bringing the total number archive services achieving this to 104 nationwide.

Emma Mires-Richards, Head of Academic Liaison states:

‘We are delighted to have received accredited status from The National Archives, this is a fantastic achievement and recognition nationally for our service and teams delivering it. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that the University of Kent’s Special Collections and Archives met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing, in the care of our unique collections and what the service offers to our entire range of users.’

University of Kent’s Special Collections & Archives manage the University of Kent’s unique and distinctive collections so that they are preserved and accessible for the benefit of teaching, scholarship and society. Located in the Templeman Library on the Canterbury campus they collect, curate, and manage material which supports the University’s research and teaching.

The collections, numbering over 150, are open to everyone, whether for personal interest or academic research including these specialisms:

• the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive and popular and comic performance from the Victorian era to the present, including pantomime, melodrama and variety works
• the British Cartoon Archive and other cartoon artwork and publications, particularly satirical works
• the history of the University of Kent and the local area
• photographs, scrapbooks, engineer records, and published books relating to wind and watermills
• collections of 20th century prose and poetry first editions.