It has been a pleasure to host Dr Tamson Pietsch from the University of Technology Sydney in Loughborough on 23 May 2019 for her HistGeogUni Lecture 2019 entitled ‘How to know the world? The floating university in the age of American empire’. In a very well illustrated and engaging lecture, Tamson took the audience around the world, arguing that the learning experiences of about 500 American students and 50 faculty on the ship of the floating university, during their global educational journey of eight months in 1926-27, and in everyday encounters in the places they visited, especially in Asia, were both shaped by and reinforced the power-relations resulting from an emerging American empire.
For those of you with access to Times Higher Education, the following article about the floating university will be of interest, which appeared on the occasion of Tamson’s HistGeogUni Lecture at Loughborough University:
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/should-ideals-floating-university-set-sail-once-more
