A public lecture will explore romance and masculinity in the Second World War through letters from British servicemen to the women and girls who knitted for them in their patriotic duty.
The talk, presented by visiting UK academic Dr Alison Twells, will explore the motivators for the correspondence, the deployment of sex and romance as mechanisms to maintain wartime morale, and instances of men leaning on their mobility and anonymity to engage in sexually explicit or abusive correspondence.
Dr Twells will also address a range of current critiques in the history of masculinity and look at how the letters relate to current issues today – do they provide a way of exploring wider gender dynamics, particularly in the light of the #MeToo movement?
Presenter
Dr Alison Twells is from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. She is Reader in History at Sheffield Hallam University and the author of several publications. She currently works on gender and sexuality in 19th and 20th centuries diaries and letters; creative history; and (with Dr Jane Haggis of Flinders University), a project exploring the applications of history in the present day.
Event details
When: Monday 9 July 2018, midday – 2:00PM
Where: Flinders University Victoria Square, Room 1, Level 1
RSVP: Free event, register online.