'Exploration, Empires and the Origins of Global Capitalism' lecture Feb. 11
The Menard Family George Washington Forum will host Dr. Emma Griffin for a free public lecture exploring how empire and exploration shaped global capitalism.
Henry Gorsuch, '26 | January 27, 2025
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The Menard Family George Washington Forum will host Dr. Emma Griffin discussing “Exploration, Empires and the Origins of Global Capitalism” on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in Baker Center Theater. This event is free and open to the public, and all are invited to attend.
Griffin is a Professor of Modern British History and Head of School at Queen Mary, University of London. Educated at London and Cambridge, she spent 18 years at UEA before taking her current position at the University of London. She is also the President of the Royal Historical Society (2020–24) and has written five books, including Bread Winner: An Intimate History of the Victorian Economy, published by Yale UP in 2020, as well as numerous articles, essays and reviews. Her next book, provisionally titled Industrial Revolutions: A World History, is under contract with Penguin Press.
A frequent contributor to radio and television, Griffin has written and presented several BBC Radio 4 documentaries on topics ranging from foxhunting and the industrial revolution to the gender pay gap. She served as a historical advisor for the Channel 4 drama The Mill and co-presented The Real Mill with Tony Robinson on More4. She has also appeared as an expert contributor on BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? and Radio 4’s In Our Time.
“The George Washington Forum is honored to host Professor Emma Griffin,” said Dr. Cortney Rodet, director of the George Washington Forum and associate professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University. “As a scholar and as President of one of the world's leading scholarly associations, the Royal Historical Society, she is a figurehead in the history of the Industrial Revolution.
“Her work on the social history of industrialization offers unique viewpoints about the changes experienced by the poor working classes by gleaning insights from personal writings. Of course, industrialization changed the structure of work, labor mobility and living standards, but it also changed social norms, conventions around marriage and family, education and religious and political participation. The GWF Fellows' reading group explored her book, Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution, and it is a wonderful complement to the macroeconomic perspectives of the other works we are studying.”