Victorian Expansions: Cross-Cultural Migrations

Organisers: Dr Pritika Pradhan and Dr Olivia Carpenter, Department of English and Related Literature

Image: The Last of England, Ford Madox Brown, 1855

The Victorian era witnessed the mass movement of peoples and ideas, from empire-builders and settlers migrating to colonial peripheries, to artists, writers, and thinkers from around the world moving to the imperial metropole to create eclectic literary, artistic, and musical forms and genres that combined global influences.

In a climate increasingly characterised by anti-immigration rhetoric and policy, “Victorian Expansions: Cross-Cultural Migrations” will promote a view of the long nineteenth century as characterised by the mobility and convergence of peoples, ideas, and artistic forms. This project will bring together the latest critical research and creative work by academics, writers and artists, as well as postgraduate students aimed at recognising the inherent diversity and dynamism underlying Victorian, and indeed British, culture and identity.

Our primary event will be the Victorian Expansions Conference, which will bring together interdisciplinary research by senior scholars as well as postgraduate students from across the UK. The conference will also feature two special events: a public lecture (keynote) and a reading by a creative writer.

In keeping with our project goals, the conference will promote and deepen an interdisciplinary and internationalist understanding of the Victorian era, and the long nineteenth century in general, through discussion of texts and artworks that explore migrations across geographical, chronological, artistic, and disciplinary margins (such as the boundaries of the British Empire and of the Anglophone world, and across Romantic/Victorian/Modernist periodisations). It will also provide a platform to academics and students (with free entry for students) for interdisciplinary collaboration and intellectual exchange.

If you would like to get in touch or for further details, email Dr Pritika Pradhan (pritika.pradhan@york.ac.uk) or Dr Olivia Carpenter (olivia.carpenter@york.ac.uk).

Upcoming Events

Victorian Expansions: Cross-Cultural Migrations Conference

Date: Friday 24 April 2026
Venue: The University of York (venue TBD)

For the CFP and further details, please visit the Victorian Expansions website.