About

My name’s Ian Gwinn and I’m currently a PhD student at the University of Liverpool. My main interest, both personal and professional, lies in understanding the nature of history (writing, but also other genres) as form of radical activity or praxis: how has been produced in the past (historiography), what connects it to political practice and to popular and everyday understandings of the past, how has its meaning has changed over time, and what does it means for us today? My research examines the role of the History Workshop Movement as an alternative, non-academic space for the production of radical and oppositional forms of history, in both Britain and West Germany between the 1960s and 1990s.

Click here to view my research profile.

I hope to use this blog as a platform in two ways: 1) to discuss many of the issues arising out of my concern with radical history, both as they develop out of my research and in connection to events and circumstances in our present moment that make possible new readings of the past; and 2) as a point of contact for people who were involved in the History Workshop. This involvement may have included occasional attendance at national workshop events, participation in local or community writing groups with an interest in the history of the local area (e.g. Brighton QueenSpark, People’s Autobiography of Hackney), or membership of feminist history groups, regional history workshops, or oral history groups (I’ve added a list of some of them here). Whatever the limit or extent of your participation, I would be very pleased to hear from you if you have any recollections or memories you would like to share.

Ian Gwinn (i.gwinn@liv.ac.uk)

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