Uncomfortable Oxford

Last updated

Uncomfortable Oxford
Company typePrivate limited Company
GenreTour guide organisation
Social enterprise
Founded2018
Founder Paula Larsson & Olivia Durand
Headquarters
Oxford
,
UK
Area served
England
Key people
Waqas Mirza (Executive Director)
ServicesWalking tours
Divisions Uncomfortable Cambridge (2022) Uncomfortable York (2023)
Website https://www.uncomfortableoxford.com
Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum is one of several academic institutions in Oxford working in tandem with Uncomfortable Oxford to teach the public about British imperial history Pitt-rivers-m2.jpg
Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum is one of several academic institutions in Oxford working in tandem with Uncomfortable Oxford to teach the public about British imperial history

Uncomfortable OxfordLTD is a social enterprise and tour guide organisation based Oxford, England. Most of their tours are run by post-graduate students belonging to University of Oxford. [1]

Contents

Founded in 2018 by Oxford University DPhil history students, the goal of the tours was to highlight the history of imperialism, gender and class inequalities within the city. The organisation also creates podcasts, blog articles, runs workshops and outreach programs, and hosts public lectures. [2]

In 2022 a second branch was founded in Cambridge called Uncomfortable Cambridge. [1] Then in 2023 a branch in York was founded called Uncomfortable York.

History

Founding and origin

Uncomfortable Oxford was founded in late 2018 by two history DPhil students belonging to the University of Oxford, [3] Paula Larsson and Olivia Durand, [4] with the goal of highlighting the city's links to imperialism, gender and class inequality. [5] [6] Both students met each other at a Public Engagement with Research Summer School in 2018, led by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). Here they drafted plans for walking tours of Oxford which would raise discussions on imperialism, inequality, and oppression, using tours highlighting the city's built environment. According to Oxford University's Faculty of History, guided walking tours of this nature were rare throughout the UK and had never before been given in Oxford, though similar tours existed in Bristol, London, and Liverpool. [7]

First walking tour

The first Uncomfortable Oxford tours were given the city's Ideas Festival in 2018, wherein 300 people took in the guided walking tours featuring landmarks with connections to colonialism such as The Codrington Library, Rhodes House, Oriel College's statue of Cecil Rhodes, the Tirah Memorial in Bonn Square, the Weston Library, and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. These tours involved over 300 people and raised £750 in tips, all of which was donated to a local charity called Homeless Oxfordshire. [7]

Further activity

Uncomfortable Oxford tours were used as course material for the "Oxford-UNISA Decolonising Research Methodologies" teaching course, involving DPhil/PhD students from Oxford University and 10 African universities. [8]

Oxford city tours

Uncomfortable Oxford holds various tours in addition to seasonal and specialist events, though the themes and routes change regularly. Examples of the tours offered by Uncomfortable Oxford include; [9] [10]

Due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Uncomfortable Oxford began hosting online tours. [2] This was done using video meetings and 360 camera angles of Oxford landmarks to illustrate their subjects. [11]

Other activities

Though guided walking tours of Oxford are the central focus of Uncomfortable Oxford's activities, the organisation has branched out into projects involving podcasts, hosting history lectures, and has a run a number of workshops and outreach programs. [2] [12]

Following protests in 2020 triggered by the murder of George Floyd, Uncomfortable Oxford published series of articles on statues and their legacies. [13]

In 2020 researchers from the University of London used Uncomfortable Oxford tours as a model in a study on decolonisation in school curriculums. [14]

Collaborations with Oxford institutions

Uncomfortable Oxford has conducted numerous collaborations with a large number of Oxford institutions including; Pitt Rivers Museum, Project SOUP, Branch Up [Oxford Hub], Wadham College, the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, Experience Oxfordshire, the Bodleian Library, the Department of Geography, and the Welcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities. [15] The Ashmolean Museum sponsored Uncomfortable Oxford tours of their museum. [16]

In late 2020 Uncomfortable Oxford started to conduct collaborations with the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford to highlight the work of female anthropologists who had worked within Oxford. [17]

Reception

In 2019 The Oxford Student gave a positive review, remarking the tours were a rewarding experience despite the solemn atmosphere, [18] before giving a second positive review in 2022. [19] In 2020 The Washington Post gave a review of Uncomfortable Oxford highlighting how open discussions were built into the design of Uncomfortable Oxford tours. [20] In 2024 National Geographic listed Uncomfortable Oxford in their guide to exploring Oxford and the university. [21]

According to the Times of Malta, over 20,000 people had participated in Uncomfortable Oxford walking tours between 2018-2023. [22]

In 2020, researchers at Cumberland Lodge recommended to teachers that Uncomfortable Oxford's tours could be used as supplementary educational material. [23]

Scholar of women's studies, Claire McCann, wrote that her time in Oxford had been enhanced by her participation in an Uncomfortable Oxford tour. [24]

According to researchers from University College London, Uncomfortable Oxford partially sprang from the failure of the Rhodes Must Fall movement to remove Oriel College's statue of Cecil Rhodes. [1]

In 2023 the Oxford University student newspaper Cherwell gave a glowing review of Uncomfortable Oxford tours, saying that the organisation "leads fantastic tours around the university, seeking to generate discussions about racial inequality, gender and class discrimination, and the university's Imperial legacy." [25] That same year, following an invitation from Uncomfortable York, the student newspaper York Vision gave a positive review of one of their tours, describing the experience as "an immensely thought-provoking and educational experience." [26]

Awards

In 2019 Uncomfortable Oxford received a High Commendation from the Oxford University Vice Chancellor's Social Impact Awards for "exceptional achievement and commitment to positive social change", [27] for which it was awarded with funding from the AHRC-TORCH which was awarded by The Oxford Centre for the Research in the Humanities. [9]

Sister branches

Cambridge (2022)

In April 2022 a new branch of Uncomfortable Oxford was founded in the English city of Cambridge under the name Uncomfortable Cambridge, [28] and was launched alongside Cambridge Festival. The first batch of tours were free entry, with guests being encouraged to instead donate to a homeless charity called Jimmy's Cambridge. [29]

York (2023)

In May 2023 another branch was founded in York, England, [30] with support from both the Rowntree Society and the University of York's Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP). [31]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford</span> City and district in Oxfordshire, England

Oxford is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. Founded in the 8th century, it was granted city status in 1542. The city is located at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Cherwell. It had a population of 163,257 in 2022. It is 56 miles (90 km) north-west of London, 64 miles (103 km) south-east of Birmingham and 61 miles (98 km) north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every style of English architecture since late Anglo-Saxon. Oxford's industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing, science, and information technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxbridge</span> Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to describe characteristics reminiscent of them, often with implications of superior social or intellectual status or elitism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Oxford</span> Collegiate university in England

The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where they established the University of Cambridge in 1209. The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as Oxbridge.

University College London is a public research university in London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Manchester</span> Public university in Manchester, England

The University of Manchester is a public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester City Centre on Oxford Road. The university owns and operates major cultural assets such as the Manchester Museum, The Whitworth art gallery, the John Rylands Library, the Tabley House Collection and the Jodrell Bank Observatory – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The University of Manchester is considered a red brick university, a product of the civic university movement of the late 19th century. The current University of Manchester was formed in 2004 following the merger of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and the Victoria University of Manchester. This followed a century of the two institutions working closely with one another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashmolean Museum</span> Art museum in Oxford, United Kingdom

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. It is also the world's second university museum, after the establishment of the Kunstmuseum Basel in 1661 by the University of Basel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford University Museum of Natural History</span> University museum of natural history in Oxford, England

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the university's chemistry, zoology and mathematics departments. The museum provides the only public access into the adjoining Pitt Rivers Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitt Rivers Museum</span> Museum of archaeology and anthropology in Oxford, England

Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed through that building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild</span> English peer, investment banker and philanthropist (1936–2024)

Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, was a British peer, investment banker and member of the Rothschild banking family. Rothschild held important roles in business and British public life, and was active in charitable and philanthropic areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Science Museum, Oxford</span> University museum of the history of science in Oxford, England

The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from the newer Ashmolean Museum building completed in 1894. The museum was built in 1683, and it is the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum.

Francis James Herbert Haskell, was an English art historian, whose writings placed emphasis on the social history of art. He wrote one of the first and most influential patronage studies, Patrons and Painters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Playhouse</span> Theatre in Oxford, England

The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum.

The golden triangle is the triangle formed by the university cities of Cambridge, London, and Oxford in the south east of England in the United Kingdom. The triangle is occasionally referred to as the Loxbridge triangle, a portmanteau of London and Oxbridge or, when limited to five members, the G5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies</span> Department of the University of Oxford

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, is a subdivision of the University of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Institute</span> Former institute at the University of Oxford

The Indian Institute was an institute within the University of Oxford. It was started by Sir Monier Monier-Williams in 1883 to provide training for the Indian Civil Service of the British Raj. The institute's building is located in central Oxford, England, at the north end of Catte Street, on the corner with Holywell Street, and facing down Broad Street from the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. G. Hopkins</span> British historian (born 1938)

Antony Gerald Hopkins, is a British historian specialising in the economic history of Africa, European colonialism, and globalisation. He is Emeritus Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History at the University of Cambridge, an Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy.

Richard Drayton FRHistS is a Guyana-born historian and Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King's College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Cambridge</span> Public collegiate university in England

The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for Cambridge after a dispute with local townspeople. The two ancient English universities, although sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford</span> Department of the University of Oxford

The Department of Chemistry is the chemistry department of the University of Oxford, England, which is part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division.

David Michael Metcalf was a British academic and numismatist. He was the director of the Heberden Coin Room of the Ashmolean Museum, a fellow of Wolfson College and Professor of Numismatics at the University of Oxford. He held the degrees of MA, DPhil and DLitt from Oxford.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brewis, Georgina; Hannan, Kathryn (2023). "The Worlds of UCL: teaching, learning and institutional histories" (PDF). London Review of Education. 21 (1): 5. doi:10.14324/LRE.21.1.12.
  2. 1 2 3 Patel, Nupur (2021). "Colonialism Must Fall: Reflections on Student Activism in UK Universities". In Luntumbue, Valentin; Lefevre, Philippe; Raab, Stephan; Seniuc, Ruxandra; Waters, Adrian; Kamenkovich, Nadya (eds.). Places in the Sun: Post colonial dialogues in Europe and beyond (PDF). Brussels: Institute for a Greater Europe. pp. 49–50. ISBN   978-3-947214-09-9.
  3. ↑ Duke, Imogen (7 January 2020). "1000s attended 'Uncomfortable Oxford' history events in 2019". Cherwell. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "Oxford and Empire Network: Olivia Durand". oxfordandempire.web.ox.ac.uk/. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  5. ↑ Mararike, Shingi (25 August 2019). "Step this way to discover Oxford's unpalatable past of imperialism and inequality". The Times. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Cassidy, Tiffany (28 February 2020). "In Britain, these Oxford walking tours focus on often-glossed-over parts of the city's history". Washington Post. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  7. 1 2 "The Uncomfortable Oxford Tour". Faculty of History, Oxford University. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Murray, Amber; Hlabangane, Nokuthula; Puttick, Steve; Frattina, Christopher Francis Frattina della (2023). "Gesturing towards decolonial teaching praxis and unlearning colonial methods: teaching reflections in the struggle to decolonise research methodologies". Oxford Review of Education. 49 (4): 461–477. doi:10.1080/03054985.2023.2223920.
  9. 1 2 Larsson, Paula; Durand, Olivia (10 January 2020). "Uncomfortable Oxford". The Oxford Research Center in the Humanities. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  10. ↑ Clark Nevola, Gaia (4 October 2020). "A Walk with Uncomfortable Oxford". The Oxford Blue. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  11. ↑ University, Standford (23 November 2020). "Uncomfortable Oxford Tour". Stanford University. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  12. ↑ "Uncomfortable Oxford: Hidden Histories Tour". The Oxford Student. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  13. ↑ Lawrence, Louise J. (2021). Refiguring Universities in an Age of Neoliberalism: Creating Compassionate Campuses (ebook ed.). Springer International Publishing (published 4 June 2021). p. 86. ISBN   9783030733711.
  14. ↑ Nayeri, Cyrus; Rushton, Elizabeth A. C. (2022). "Methodologies for decolonising geography curricula in the secondary school and in initial teacher education" (PDF). London Review of Education. 20 (1).
  15. ↑ Oxford, Enterprising (2019). "Oxford Case Studies – Uncomfortable Oxford". eship. ox. ac. uk - Oxford University. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "UNCOMFORTABLE ASHMOLEAN TOURS". Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  17. ↑ Art, Oxford, Modern (7 November 2020). "Uncomfortable Oxford: Untangling Narratives". Modern Art Oxford. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  18. ↑ Davis, Grace (17 February 2019). "An 'uncomfortable tour' of colonial Oxford". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  19. ↑ Stevens, Abigail (25 March 2022). "Uncomfortable Oxford: Hidden Histories Tour". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  20. ↑ Cassidy, Tiffany (28 February 2020). "In Britain, these Oxford walking tours focus on often-glossed-over parts of the city's history". The Washington Post . Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  21. ↑ Gross, Lottie (26 September 2024). "A guide to Oxford beyond the university". National Geographic . Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  22. ↑ "In UK, tourists discover darker side of Oxford and Cambridge". Times of Malta . 31 October 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  23. ↑ Love, Angelika (2020). Black Lives Matter (PDF). Cumberland Lodge. p. 5.
  24. ↑ McCann, Claire (2023). "On possibility: Exploring the connections between postcolonial feminism and community engagement in pursuit of university transformation". African Journal of Higher Education Community Engagement. 1 (1): 42. doi:10.21504/ajhece.v1i1.2472.
  25. ↑ Lintern, Meg; Lazar, Matus (16 January 2023). "Oxford and Empire: An "uncomfortable" history". Cherwell . Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  26. ↑ Bassford, Jacob (5 June 2023). "How to Talk About York's Past: The Uncomfortable York Tour". York Vision . Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  27. ↑ Hub, Oxford (11 June 2019). "Vice-Chancellor's Social Impact Awards 2019". Oxford Hub Blog. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  28. ↑ "Cambridge Walking Tours | Uncomfortable Cambridge | England". UncomfortableCam. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  29. ↑ McCrum, Kirstie (7 April 2022). "'Uncomfortable' walking tours coming to Cambridge". CambridgeshireLive. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  30. ↑ "Who we are?". uncomfortableyork.com. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  31. ↑ "The Uncomfortable York Tour". yorkfestivalofideas.com. 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.