Seminar: Rowan Boyson (KCL): '‘“Who owns the wind?”: Air, commons and poetics in the long eighteenth century'

We're are delighted to share the details of our upcoming seminar, which will take place on Tuesday 23rd June from 5pm to 7pm BST. The event will be held in HG/09 (Heslington Hall) and online. 

We are very pleased to be welcoming Dr. Rowan Boyson from King's College London. Dr. Boyson will be sharing a paper entitled ‘“Who owns the wind?”: Air, commons and poetics in the long eighteenth century’, drawn from her current project, "The Shared Air: Atmosphere and the Right to Breathe in Enlightenment Britain." You can find out more about the project here.

"The Shared Air" offers a history of how writers and scientists from 1640-1840 debated the political implications of air. Usually invisible and seemingly immaterial, air often goes unnoticed, yet when it is apprehended – as scent, freshness or pollution - air is recognised as a common resource and a symbol of freedom. In this…