The Class Series

This series of events aims to amplify working-class voices and foreground working-class perspectives on the human past and current issues of interest to HCA staff and students. It features student-led initiatives, conversations with academics in HCA working on questions of class, and presentations from external speakers about class formation, class dynamics, and class struggle. This series will also take an intersectional approach, exploring the complex interactions between class and other axes of inequality like gender identity, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability.

The Class Series aims to occupy a space at the intersection between cutting-edge research, (working-class) student and staff engagement, and broader societal impact. By bringing together multiple perspectives on class – from new perspectives on class in modern and premodern societies to the place of class in contemporary academia, and in our disciplines in particular – it aims to create a unique space for dialogue about how class shapes both our understanding of the past and our present academic environment.

The series emphasises the importance of lived experience in academic discourse, recognising that working-class perspectives can offer valuable insights into historical power dynamics, social mobility, and institutional structures that might otherwise be overlooked. Through this approach, it aims to enrich both research methodologies and institutional and pedagogical practices within HCA.

The series is supported by:

 

Events 2025-6

 

Speaking Up: A conversation about class bias and elitism

Date: Thursday 23rd October

Time: 1-2pm

Location: Meadows Lecture Theatre

Class is not necessarily visible, and it is not always talked about. But class background plays a crucial role in access to university and the university experience, and on into employment. With this event we open the important conversations we need to have about class barriers and discrimination and ways to tackle them.

Accent is arguably the primary signal of socioeconomic status and is a major indicator of many other aspects of a person’s social background. Because accent and language cues to our social identities (e.g., social class, ethnicity), accent/language can often function as a proxy for other forms of discrimination (e.g., classism, racism). In this talk we will raise awareness of linguistic discrimination, as well as discuss some research-led strategies for mitigating these issues.

Our speakers are: 

Dr. Lilah Grace Canevaro, HCA Co-Director for EDI and co-founder of the Network for Working-Class Classicists

Dr. Christian Ilbury, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics, and Director of Equality, Diversity, & Inclusion for the School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences (PPLS)

Grace Clark, recent graduate in Philosophy & Politics and previous president of the 93% Club Edinburgh

and you! As well as our spotlight presentations, we want to make space for discussion, giving you an opportunity to share your views, experiences, and ideas for change. 

All welcome - students, academic staff, professional services.

 
 
Events organised by the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
 
Tue 14 Oct
John Arnold (University of Cambridge)
The Social Dynamics between Priests and Laity in southern France, c. 1100-1300
5:15pm, Meadows Lecture Theatre, Old Medical School, Doorway 4
Wed 26 Nov
Neil McClelland (University of Glasgow)
Art, Inequality, and the Black Death in Naples (Edinburgh–Glasgow Medieval Seminar Exchange)
5:15, Meadows Lecture Theatre, Old Medical School, Doorway 4

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