@danielrhughes11
Mary Beard: A Don’s Life
'
Roman Britain in Black and White' TLS August 3, 2017
There is a conundrum underlying this. I feel very strongly that talking
about history isn’t just for professional historians, and I don’t much
like the line which goes ‘I’ve read more than you on this topic so I am
right’. But in this whole exchange I did resort sometimes to asking
‘Have you read any book on the history of Roman Britain?’. A few people
had the grace to say they had not. And there were glimpses of some
obvious ignorance and misunderstanding. [...] It also feels very sad to me that we cannot have a reasonable discussion on such a topic as the cultural ethnic composition of Roman Britain without resorting to unnecessary insult, abuse, misogyny and language of war not debate (and that includes one senior academic). It’s a bit of a bleak outlook for how we might talk about modern ethnic diversity.
We should reflect, I think.
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