Work Experience: a week in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area studies
05/11/2019
The leaves are turning brown, Halloween is fast approaching and one more student comes along, eager to find out what goes on behind the scenes inside a Russell Group University. Hi, I’m Holly and I spent 5 days working at the University of Nottingham, alongside their wonderful CLAS department, which stands for Cultures, Languages and …
Remembering Peter Boyle, historian of US foreign policy and a co-founder of the Department of American Studies at Nottingham
05/09/2018
Peter Boyle, who died on August 3, had a long career as a teacher and historian of US foreign policy at the University of Nottingham. In hindsight, he seems to embody a particular phase in the development of American Studies in the UK, and his passing signals the end of an era. Peter read History …
A Weekend with Bernie Sanders
07/06/2017
Senator Bernie Sanders, internationally renowned for his decision to run against Hillary Clinton for the position of Democratic candidate for President of the United States, and popular for his progressive policies that would completely overhaul the way many think about politics, is arguably one of the most motivating and inspiring speakers of our time. I …
Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump, and the populist reshaping of reference
29/03/2017
‘Jackson was an American hero, first as a brilliant general … and later as the seventh President of the United States, when he fought to defend the forgotten men and women from the arrogant elite of his day, does it sound familiar?’ – President Donald J. Trump, Weekly Address 18/03/2017 Since Donald Trump announced he was …
America and the ‘Asian Century’
14/03/2017
By almost any measure, the United States remains the globe’s pre-eminent economic and military power. Yet, in the wake of a bitter and tumultuous presidential election, America stands deeply divided. Hazy campaign pledges to ‘Make America Great Again’ have collided with the reality of a new administration dogged by controversy, mired in conspiracism, and struggling …
Interview with Rebecca Jeffery, former American and Canadian Studies student and BBC Apprentice candidate
24/01/2017
What are you doing currently and what made you decide on your career pathway? When I graduated in American and Canadian Studies from Nottingham University in 2006 I wasn’t entirely sure where to go next – I knew that I wanted to work in business… but I didn’t know what to focus on! I managed …
Britain’s “Tippex” Spies
07/12/2016
Britain’s intelligence services have a diversity problem. That was the stark message delivered in a recent interview by Robert Hannigan, the Director of GCHQ, the UK intelligence agency responsible for intercepting and analysing electronic communications. In GCHQ’s case, less than 3% of its workforce has an ethnic minority background. To make Britain’s intelligence services truly …
Decolonization, Then and Now: Contextualising a Research Agenda in the Philippines
29/11/2016
“You’ve come at the right time.” These were the words of Dr. Ernesto Gonzalez (professor of economics at the University of the Philippines – Manila) upon meeting me at his office in the heart of Ermita. I’d heard this a lot since arriving in Manila, but it wasn’t until I’d chatted with a number of …
The End of the World as We Know it? US Foreign Policy under President Trump
16/11/2016
Donald Trump’s successful bid for the White House was marked out by a call to put ‘America First.’ In many quarters, Trump’s sound bite was interpreted as harking back to an isolationist mantra that had gained popular currency within the United States in the years leading up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December …
Sail On, L. Cohen
15/11/2016
I was thinking of Leonard Cohen on the night of November 8th, aka Election Day in the US. His song “Democracy,” from his 1992 album The Future, was playing on a loop in my head. I had just finished high school in the summer of 1993 when I saw Cohen in concert, the very last …
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