Dr Susan Williams

Contact details

Name:

Dr Susan Williams

Qualifications:

PhD, MA, BA Hons (First Class)

Position/Fellowship type:

Senior Research Fellow

Fellowship term:

to 31-May-2015

Institute:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Location:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies School of Advanced Study University of London 2nd Floor, South Block, Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU

Phone:

020 7862 8844 / 07974 256569

Email address:

susan.williams@sas.ac.uk

Website:

http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/index.php?id=172

Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Civil Rights, Colonies & Colonization, emigration & immigration, Communications, Communities, Classes, Races, Contemporary History, Cultural memory, Gender studies, Globalization & Development, Human rights, International Relations, Metropolitan history, Modern History , Political Institutions

Regions:

Africa, Asia, England, Europe, Ireland, North America, United Kingdom

Summary of research interests and expertise:

The history of central and southern Africa; decolonisation; the history of the United Nations; British, French and Lusophone colonialism and neocolonialism; the Modern Commonwealth.

Susan's research is archive-based and also uses oral testimony; her research has taken her to many countries in Africa, Europe and North America.

She has served and continues to serve as historical advisor to various radio, television and film productions, including the making of a feature film based on her book, Colour Bar (Penguin 2006), about the Founding President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama.

Project summary relevant to Fellowship:

Susan's new book Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa, was published by Hurst in 2011(UK), Jacana in 2012 (South Africa), and Columbia University Press in 2012 (USA). It examines the death of United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in 1961 and explores the significance of his death in the context of decolonisation, global power shifts, and the white supremacist movement of southern and central Africa.

The book was acclaimed globally and led to the creation in 2012 of a distinguished Commission of Inquiry: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18897998
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/18/inquiry-death-un-dag-hammarskjold-2

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
01-Jan-2012	Journal article (authored): Freedom of Information and the Commonwealth Journal articles with Mandy Banton, The Round Table, Vol 101, No 05, 471-473, October 2012
01-Jan-2011	Book (authored): Who Killed Hammarskjold? The UN, the Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa Monographs C. Hurst and Co in the UK; Jacana in South Africa; Columbia University Press in the USA
01-Jan-2010	Essay (authored): Ways of Seeing Africa Chapters Introductory essay to Africa Bibliography 2009, ed. T. Barringer, Edinburgh University Press
01-Jan-2009	Book (edited): The Iconography of Independence: ‘Freedoms at Midnight’ Edited Book with Robert Holland and T. Barringer. Routledge. Susan wrote the introductory chapter: 'The Midnight Hour'
01-Jan-2006	Book (authored): Colour Bar. The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation Monographs Allen Lane/Penguin; paperback 2007. The film rights of the book have been bought and Susan is historical advisor to the making of the forthcoming film
01-Jan-2006	Chapter (authored): 'The Media and the Exile of Seretse Khama: The Bangwato vs the British in Bechuanaland, 1948-1956' Chapters In Media and the British Empire, ed. Chandrika Kaul, Palgrave Macmillan
01-Jan-2003	Book (authored): The People's King. The True Story of the Abdication Monographs Allen Lane/Penguin. Paperback 2004. Published by Palgrave Macmillan in the USA.
01-Jan-2001	Book (authored): The Children of London: Attendance and Welfare at School 1870-1990 Monographs with Pat Ivin and Caroline Morse. Institute of Education, University of London
01-Jan-2000	Book (authored): Ladies of Influence. Women of the Elite in Interwar Britain Monographs Allen Lane/Penguin, paperback in 2001
01-Jan-2000	Chapter (authored): Historical Research Methods Chapters A chapter in Research Methodology: For What? For Whom? eds Mayall, B, et al. Open University Press

Relevant Events

Related events:

Date	Details
01-Jan-2012	Dag Hammarskjold and the Decolonisation of Africa. Ndola airport, Northern Rhodesia, 17-18 September 1961 Public lecture at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, 19 January 2012
01-Jan-2012	Channel 4 documentary, Edward VIII: The Plot to Topple A King Focal Talking Head through the programme, screened first in April 2012 and repeated many times
01-Jan-2012	Secrecy and Disclosure: Freedom of Information and the Commonwealt Co-organiser with Dr Mandy Banton of a high profile conference of prominent campaigners, practitioners and historians, June 2012
01-Jan-2011	Dag Hammarskjold and the Decolonisation of Africa: Looking through a telescope at Ndola airport, 17-18 September 1961 Invited lecture to the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences, Gothenburg, Sweden, November 2011
01-Jan-2011	Dag Hammarskjold's death and the Decolonisation of Africa Public lecture at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, November 2011
01-Jan-2011	Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations, and the End of Empire Convenor with Dr Mandy Banton, of one-day international conference to mark the 50th anniversary of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld's death, 2 September 2001. The conference was organised jointly with the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden, and the United Nations Association of the UK, Westminster Branch. The evening before, a welcoming event was hosted by the Swedish Ambassador, Ms Nicola Clase, at her official Residence in London.
01-Jan-2011	Commonwealth Research Seminar Series Convenor with Dr Shihan DeSilva at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. This seminar series provides an opportunity for Fellows and Students at ICwS to share and discuss with each other their work in progress on subjects relating to the Commonwealth and its concerns. The spirit is informal and friendly and everyone is welcome, including scholars outside the ICwS community.
01-Jan-2011	Media interview In connection with the publication of her book Who Killed Hammarskjold, Susan was interviewed on Newshour, BBC World Service.
01-Jan-2010	Commonwealth Research Seminar Series Convenor with Dr Shihan DeSilva at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. This seminar series provides an opportunity for Fellows and Students at ICwS to share and discuss with each other their work in progress on subjects relating to the Commonwealth and its concerns. The spirit is informal and friendly and everyone is welcome, including scholars outside the ICwS community.
01-Jan-2010	The Empire/Commonwealth between the Wars This lecture was in a series of public lectures on ‘Empire into Commonwealth, 1910-2010’, to mark the joint centenary of the Round Table journal and the Royal Over-Seas League in London.
01-Jan-2010	The Use of Modern Media to Enrich Research on Twentieth Century Africa This was a presentation at SOAS to SCOLMA, the UK libraries and archives group on Africa.
01-Jan-2009	Growing up in the Modern Commonwealth The Address to the Annual Dinner of the Cambridge University Commonwealth Society
01-Jan-2009	Links between British rule in Botswana and Kenya in the Process of Decolonisation Seminar paper given to the Department of Modern History at the University of St Andrews
01-Jan-2009	Commonwealth Research Seminar Series Convenor with Dr Shihan DeSilva at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. This seminar series provides an opportunity for Fellows and Students at ICwS to share and discuss with each other their work in progress on subjects relating to the Commonwealth and its concerns. The spirit is informal and friendly and everyone is welcome, including scholars outside the ICwS community.
01-Jan-2008	The Thirties in Colour, BBC4 Susan served as an advisor and Talking Head on this television programme on British imperial history.
01-Jan-2007	'Freedoms at Midnight': The Iconography of Independence Susan was a convenor with Professor Robert Holland of this one day conference, which looked at Independence Day ‘moments’ in several British colonies – India, Pakistan, Ghana, Guyana and Zimbabwe; it also examined the role of the media, of the monarchy, and of independence anniversaries. This focus was complemented by a comparative dimension, looking at how such junctures – amongst the most important in the twentieth century – were conducted in the French Empire.
01-Jan-2006	Abdication. A Very British Coup, BBC4 documentary Susan's book The People's King was the basis for this Blakeway/BBC documentary, which highlights the role of the Commonwealth and the Dominions. Susan worked as the historical consultant and is the central Talking Head.
01-Jan-2006	Media interviews In connection with the publication of the book Colour Bar, Susan was interviewed on radio on the BBC World Service; local UK radio stations; several South African radio stations, national and local; and Australian Broadcasting (ABC). On television, she was interviewed on Botswana television (BTV) and South African television (SABC).
01-Jan-2006	When Britain Backed Apartheid: Seretse Khama and the Harragin Inquiry of 1949 This was a seminar paper given to the Department of History at the University of Botswana
01-Jan-2003	Media interviews In connection with the publication of her book, The People's King, Susan was interviewed on radio on the Today Programme, BBC Radio 4; Women’s Hour, Radio 4; local UK radio stations; Gyles Brandreth Show, LBC; and CBC Radio. On television, she was interviewed on BBC Newsnight; Channel 4 News; Sky News; BBC News 24; Canadian Broadcasting (CBC); and Russian television.
01-Jan-2003	Historical Advisor to the UK National Archives Susan served in this capacity for the release of the government documents relating to the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 and its impact on the Commonwealth.