News feedsPublic Events
We offer a large range of events for the general public throughout the year from lectures and workshops to activities in commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day and for interfaith week. Members of the Parkes Institute are always pleased to be invited to give talks to community groups and at public events.
Please take the opportunity to explore our events for this year, and do get in touch with our staff members if you are interested in a talk in their particular area of expertise (see www.soton.ac.uk/parkes/profiles/profiles.html).
We look forward to welcoming you at our upcoming events!
The Parkes Seminar SeriesThe Parkes Seminar Series consists of lectures by academics on both a national and international level who are invited to give talks about their latest work. Everyone is welcome to attend our lectures which are held on a Tuesday evening approximately every two weeks throughout the year. For details and the timetable of this year’s programme see www.soton.ac.uk/parkes/news/sem1011.html
Cultural Days
Cultural Days are a big part of the public programme of the Parkes Institute. They consist of a day of talks and opportunities for discussion and reflect the work and expertise of members of the Parkes Institute. Our first cultural day was on ‘Jewish Life Before and After the Holocaust’ and was a great success. It was attended by thirty members of the general public from diverse backgrounds, and looked at topics such as Photography, History, Literature, Television and the Bible. Participants and speakers also met over coffee and lunch to discuss the topics and all had a great day. We have since had a number of cultural days including on topics such as ‘Antisemitism’ and ‘Exile and Dispersion’. Events such as these and further details can be found on the website: www.soton.ac.uk/humanitieslearn/jewish_studies/.
Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day
The Parkes Institute is involved in commemoration of Holocaust and Genocide Memorial day every year and it is an important part of our annual calendar.
Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2013
For January 2013, the Parkes Institute in partnership with Solent University is organising a full programme with schools and community groups for the commemoration of Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day. The commemoration will be held on Thursday 24th January at 6.00pm in the Sir James Matthews building, Above Bar Street, Southampton. The evening is open to all.
Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2012 – ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’
This year we worked with Southampton Solent University, Southampton City Council and Itchen College to hold a memorable and moving evening. The programme was organised by James Jordan and Helen Spurling and included a range of contributions that reflected on the Holocaust and broader issues of asylum, immigration and racial hatred.
Following a welcome by Phil Gibson and Helen Spurling, the evening began with an interview led by Jenny Cuffe, from the Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group. Jenny’s guest talked about her experiences as an asylum seeker and raised awareness of the difficulties faced by people in such situations. Don John then spoke avidly on behalf of the Multi Agency Group on Racial Harassment. This was followed by readings from students at Itchen College accompanied by their teachers Christian Scott and Shaun O’Toole. The readings represented their own poignant responses to and reflections on Holocaust testimony. A short film and presentation on Auschwitz by Chris Leach and Louise Parker from Itchen College was a particularly emotive part of the evening. Finally, Jennifer Skeats, Ashley Racov and Victoria Lawrence from the BA (Hons) Performance course at Southampton Solent University performed a memorable short work based on the testimony of Alice Sommer Herz, a survivor of the Terezin concentration camp, led by Matt Fletcher. Members of the audience remarked afterwards that it was a meaningful and fitting commemoration.
As part of the evening, there was also a large exhibition of responses to Holocaust testimony that had been written by English and History students from Itchen College. This represented the culmination of a substantial project of working with Itchen College to raise awareness of the importance and relevance of remembering the Holocaust. The contributions from Itchen students were the outcome of a series of workshops held at the college in November 2011. The workshops focused on discussion of Holocaust testimony and were run by James Jordan and Hannah Ewence, accompanied by third year English and History students at Southampton studying representations of and responses to the Holocaust. The workshops clearly had a huge impact on the students at Itchen, which stood out from the responses they wrote. The responses were also displayed in week long exhibitions at the University of Southampton.
Details of previous commemoration events are available here.
For January 2011, the Parkes Institute organised a full programme of events and workshops delivered in partnership with schools and community groups for the commemoration of Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day. Key partners included the UK Student Recruitment and Outreach Office of the University of Southampton, Solent University, Southampton City Council, and a number of local schools namely Oasis Academy Lordshill, Wildern School, Havant College, Tauntons College and Portsmouth College. The culmination of this partnership was two highly memorable and moving events.
Untold Stories: Reflections on the Holocaust and Genocide
The first event was held on the 25th January at the Turner Sims. Local schools worked with members of the Parkes Institute to prepare a series of performances under the title ‘Untold Stories: Reflections on the Holocaust and Genocide’. This represented the culmination of a substantial project of working with local schools to raise awareness of the importance and relevance of remembering such tragic events. The performances were very moving including a range of dramatisations, dance pieces and readings, and the commemoration was meaningful and compelling for both those involved and the audience.
Untold Stories: Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day January 27th 2011
The second event was held on the 27th January at the Sir James Matthews Building at Solent. The programme was full and varied reflecting on the Holocaust and also the need to stand up to race hate crime today. James Jordan began the evening with discussion of a short clip of the film ‘Into the Arms of Strangers’, which portrays stories of the Kindertransport. Tessa Warburg retold her absorbing recollections on the Anschluss, and how she came to live in Britain. The Multi Agency Group on Racial Harassment discussed race hate crime today and, as part of the talk, the Mayor presented an award to a teenager who had intervened in racial harassment on a bus. A particularly memorable part of the evening was a short work for voices which explored the history and legacy of the Terezin concentration camp performed by Solent students. Finally, students from Oasis Academy Lordshill had the opportunity to reprise their dramatic performances on ‘Untold Stories’ from the Turner Sims event, which was led by their teacher Graham Cole. All involved felt the evening was a poignant commemoration and a fitting remembrance.
Bournemouth Mini Series
The Parkes Institute has had a long running and successful partnership with the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation. Each year we hold a mini series in the summer on a theme reflecting the work of the Parkes Institute, which involves members of Parkes giving four or five lectures as part of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation Adult Education Programme.
Bournemouth Mini Series 2012 – ‘Interpreting Jewish Spaces’
- Joachim Schlör: ‘Street Life in the Modern Metropolis’
- Helen Spurling: ‘The End of the World: Jewish Apocalyptic Visions’
- Tony Kushner: ‘Exodus 1947: Illegal Immigrants or Deserving Survivors?’
- Dan Levene: ‘They left us the Babylonian Talmud, but did you know of the magical incantations?’
Bournemouth Mini Series 2011 – ‘Negotiating Jewish Identities’
- James Jordan: ‘From East End to EastEnders: 75 Years of Jewish Life on British Television’
- Andrea Reiter: ‘Narrating the Jew. Recent novels by Jewish writers in Austria’
- Joachim Schlör: ‘Who translated "My Fair Lady"? In Search of a forgotten German-Jewish Writer’
- Tony Kushner: ‘Wandering Lonely Jews: Holocaust Survivors in the Lake District’
- Helen Spurling: ‘Cain and Abel in Jewish interpretations of the Bible’
See an archive of previous Bournemouth Mini Series.
Interfaith Week
The Parkes Institute is based upon the library and work of the Revd Dr James Parkes. He believed that in order to establish future dialogue between Christians and Jews it was essential to understand what Christians had thought about Jews and the Jewish religion throughout the ages. Parkes was committed to interfaith work and was instrumental in the foundation of the Council of Christians and Jews in 1942.
The Parkes Institute continues to be involved in interfaith work and hosts activities and workshops throughout the year, and especially in Interfaith Week.
Interfaith Week 2012: 19th – 23rd November
This year we will be running talks and workshops in interfaith week 2012 particularly examining the legacy of Revd Dr James Parkes for interfaith relations. James Parkes (1896-1981) was one of the most remarkable figures in British Christianity in the twentieth century. He became a priest in 1926 and was affiliated to the Student Christian Movement and the International Student Service, Geneva, through which he began to confront the growth of nationalist and racialist organisations in Europe during the late 1920s. Thereafter, he devoted his career to fighting antisemitism and seeking out its origins. Parkes believed that in order to establish future dialogue between Christians and Jews it was essential to understand what Christians had thought about Jews and the Jewish religion throughout the ages.
Interfaith Week 2010
On 25th November 2010, as part of Interfaith Week, the Parkes Institute hosted an event in partnership with the Hampshire Council of Christians and Jews . The audience watched film of a television interview with James Parkes and this was followed by a discussion led by Tony Kushner. Refreshments were served afterwards and there were opportunities, for all who wished, to tour the Parkes Library. Tours were led by Professor Chris Woolgar, Dr Karen Robson and Jenny Ruthven. The event was attended by the Mayor and approximately 40 members of the general public and many said that this was an important contribution to Interfaith Week.
This year we will be running talks and workshops in interfaith week 2012 particularly examining the legacy of Reverend Dr James Parkes for interfaith relations. James Parkes (1896-1981) was one of the most remarkable figures in British Christianity in the twentieth century. He became a priest in 1926 and was affiliated to the Student Christian Movement and the International Student Service, Geneva, through which he began to confront the growth of nationalist and racialist organisations in Europe during the late 1920s. Thereafter, he devoted his career to fighting anti-Semitism and seeking out its origins. Parkes believed that in order to establish future dialogue between Christians and Jews it was essential to understand what Christians had thought about Jews and the Jewish religion throughout the ages.
See an archive of past Bournemouth mini series.
Interfaith Week
On 25th November 2010, as part of Interfaith Week, the Parkes Institute hosted an event in partnership with the Hampshire Council of Christians and Jews . The audience watched film of a television interview with James Parkes and this was followed by a discussion led by Tony Kushner. Refreshments were served afterwards and there were opportunities, for all who wished, to tour the Parkes Library. Tours were led by Professor Chris Woolgar, Dr Karen Robson and Jenny Ruthven. The event was attended by the Mayor and approximately 40 members of the general public and many said that this was an important contribution to Interfaith Week.