Celebrating Cultures across the University of Birmingham
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who … Continue reading “Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 Nov)”
November 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Marcel Proust, French novelist, essayist and critic. Born in 1871 in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, Proust was a sickly child who grappled with illnesses which beset him from the age of nine until the end of his life. Despite having his education disrupted … Continue reading “A la recherche du temps perdu”
The theme for this year’s UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is: Health and Wellbeing The pandemic across the UK and around the world has shown just how fragile are the rights disabled people have secured for themselves, with young people with learning difficulties being at the sharp end with up to 20x the death rate … Continue reading “Disability History Month UK 16 Nov-16 Dec”
Remembrance Day is an annual event, where we remember all the people who have lost their lives while serving in the armed forces. It’s also called Armistice Day or Poppy Day. It is commemorated on this day because the First World War ended “at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. … Continue reading “Remembrance Day (11 Nov)”
In October 2022, Dr John Goodyear took a group of students, currently taking LI English Core III – Advanced: English language and cultures (32346) Mapping the English-speaking World on the programme of English as a Modern Foreign Language (EMFL), to visit the Black Country Living Museum and the Dudley Canals and Caverns, with each of the … Continue reading “Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Canals and Caverns visit by EMFL students in the School of Languages, Cultures, Art History & Music”
Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Solidarity Day, is an internationally observed civil awareness day designed to highlight issues faced by intersex people. It marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person whose memoirs were later published by Michel Foucault in Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite.
The Day of the Dead is a traditional holiday celebrated in Mexico and is elsewhere associated with the Catholic celebrations of All Saints’ Day (1 November) and All Souls’ Day (2 November). It is both a remembrance and celebration for the dearly departed. November 1, called Día de Los Inocentes, or Día de Los Angelitos, is the day … Continue reading “El Día de los Muertos”
The Birth of Baháʼu’lláh is one of nine holy days in the Bahá’í calendar that is celebrated by adherents of the Bahá’í faith and during which work is suspended. The holy day celebrates the birth of Baha’u’llah, which means “Glory of God” in Arabic and he is the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith. The anniversary of the day … Continue reading “Birth of Baháʼu’lláh (26-27 October)”
What is Diwali? Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. The festival, which coincides with the Hindu New Year, celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness which is why Diwali is also known as the festival of lights. The word Diwali comes from the … Continue reading “Diwali Monday (24 October)”
George Cadbury, third son of John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury’s coca and chocolate company, was an English businessman and social reformer who, with his elder brother, Richard, took over their father’s failing enterprise (April 1861) and built it into the highly prosperous Cadbury Brothers cocoa and chocolate manufacturing firm. George was perhaps more important for his … Continue reading “Centenary of the death of George Cadbury (18 October 2022)”
