Professor David Stirrup, Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies in the School of English, has provided a comment for an article entitled Native Americans reclaim history 400 years after Mayflower landing for NBC News.

On 16 September 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Portsmouth and landed at Cape Cod after 66 days at sea. The Europeans encountered the Native American Wampanoag tribe, who helped them to survive their first winter. However, their interaction did not remain peaceful, with European diseases killing many of Native Americans, and rising tensions leading to war.

While the European settlers kept detailed records, the Wampanoag did not have a written language to record their experience. In the piece, David argues that this colonial perspective undermines not only the tragedies Native Americans endured, but also their contributions to history.

David says: ‘some of the people who helped the pilgrims survive that first winter had already been to Europe. Some of them spoke enough English to mediate. They were organised societies, not uncharted peoples just waiting for European forms of ‘civilization’. The native people played a quite considerable role in the development of the modern world, [they] weren’t just kind of agencyless victims of it’. 

The full piece can be read on NBC’s website. 

From Monday 21 September, Gulbenkian Café will be serving hot food (eat in or takeaway) on weekday lunchtimes (Mon – Fri 12-2.30).

Our lunchtime menu includes favourites like our Homemade Thai Fishcakes, Sweet Chilli Chicken Burger, and Chicken and Avocado Cesar Salad, plus toasties and jacket potatoes.

The café offers drinks, cakes and snacks at other times, with full opening hours listed below:

Monday – 8.30 – 15.00*,

Tue – Fri – 8.30 – 15.00* & 18.00 – 20.00

Saturday – 18.00 – 20.00

Sunday 13.00 -15.30

(*Hot food served 12-12.30)

Our official Employee Assistance Programme provider, Care first offers a numbers of services and provide useful advice and support, including weekly webinars.

This week’s (Monday 21 September – Friday 25 September) webinars are as follows:

Monday 21 September 2020 –  ‘How Care first can support you & an update on our services’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link.

Tuesday 22 September 2020 – ‘Positive Minds’
Time: 12.30-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Wednesday 23 September 2020 –  ‘Fake News’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Thursday 24 September 2020 – ‘Returning to the Workplace
Time: 12.00-13.00 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Friday 25 September 2020 – ‘Work Life Balance’
Time: 12.00-12.30 – to register please click on this Go to webinar link

Dr David Walsh and Dr Luke Lavan, Lecturer in Archaeology in the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies, are currently leading a group of 30 Kent students excavating an archaeological site on the northwest edge of the University estate. For the next two weeks the group will be uncovering the ditches left by Bronze Age burial mounds, alongside traces of Mesolithic and Medieval occupation.

To observe social distancing on the dig, the diggers are organised into pods of 6 with their own tools, hand sanitiser pump, and own toilet, and they don’t mix with the other groups through the duration of the dig. Within the pods we advise 2m distance and in the office masks are worn, with rules on entrances and exits to reduce mixing.  office we wear masks and have entrance and exit rules, to reduce mixing. Doors stay open.

The site is available for visitation on Friday 25 September, 14.00-16.00. The site is located next to Blean Church, which is 10 minutes’ walk from the Oaks Nursery, up the Crab and Winkle path, just beyond the Sports Pavilion.

This dig has been made possible thanks to the support of Paul Dyer and the Parish of St Cosmus and St Damian in the Blean.

You will be able to follow the progress of the Blean dig daily on the site’s blog: ukcbleandig.wordpress.com.

A webinar on ‘Subnational Governments in the COVID-19 Scenario in the Americas’ takes place on Monday 21 September from 14.00 (UK time).

The webinar is organised by School of Politics and International Relations, the Conflict Analysis Research Centre (CARC), the Forum of Federations and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

You can watch it live on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoXLBorRKps or https://www.youtube.com/user/forumoffederations

The webinar will include welcome remarks from:
• Rupak Chattopadhyay, President & CEO, Forum of Federations
• Magdalena Talamas, Director of the Department for the Promotion of Peace, OAS
• Neophytos Loizides, Director of the Conflict Analysis Research Centre, University of Kent

Panelists include:
• Matias Bianchi, Executive Director, Asuntos del Sur
• Juan Cruz Olmeda, Associate Professor, Centre for International Studies , El Colegio de Mexico
• Joy St John, Executive Director, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)
• Isaac Alfie, Director of the Office of Planning and Budget of Uruguay and Head of the Covid- 19 Presidential Technical Advisory Committee
• Nathalie Behnke, Professor, Institute of Political Science of the Technical University Darmstadt
• Andreas Kiefer, Acting Secretary General, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

The webinar is open to all and free to attend with no booking necessary. Feel free to pass on the details to anyone that might be interested.

Picture shows: Professor Neophytos Loizides, Director of the Conflict Analysis Research Centre at the University of Kent.

The start of this new academic year is like no other, and more than ever we need to be conscious of our place and role in the communities in which we work, live and study.

Over the last few months, many of our staff and students have worked hard to support the fight against Covid-19. Some contributed through their research or through the production of essential PPE. Others, including those students who remained living locally, were on the frontline of support for the nation as healthcare workers, delivery drivers, supermarket staff or as volunteers in the community helping those who were shielding. I cannot thank you all enough for your efforts and I am particularly proud of the work done by our students.

As new and returning students join our community, Rama Thirunamachandran, the Vice-Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University, and I have written a joint letter to the local press and residents’ associations to stress our ongoing commitment to responding to Covid-19 and keeping our communities safe. Both universities have introduced specific measures in support of our pledge, including starting our Street Marshal scheme earlier than usual to provide additional reassurance to students and to the wider community.

Here at Kent, we are running information campaigns to remind our students of their responsibilities in helping to reduce the transmission of the virus in our region and in acting as our ambassadors in the areas in which they live. We will let them know of any changes to government guidance and legislation as well bringing to their attention our Code of Conduct and Student Disciplinary Procedures.

We are also working with local public health authorities to support the NHS Test and Trace, including hosting local testing sites on our Canterbury and Medway campuses for students, staff and the local community. This is a key part of the strategy of early identification of cases, to enable the prevention of onward transmission.

As well as the public health authorities, we are working with the NHS, and regional and national government to ensure we have appropriate safety measures, guidance and regulations in place across our universities. We will continue to work with other community partners through the HE/FE Community (strategic) Group, which includes representatives from local authorities, the Police and landlords. We will also continue to liaise with our local residents’ associations on a regular basis to ensure we understand their concerns and respond appropriately.  Both Rama and I are confident that the steps we are taking will support the health and wellbeing of our student, staff and local communities as we continue to work together to minimise the impact of Covid-19.

I hope you and your families are keeping well and I wish you an enjoyable start to the beginning of term.

Yours sincerely,

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President