Book Talk - Beatrice Webb: Portrait of a Reformist
Bush House, Strand Campus, London
About the Book
This book presents a focused analysis of Beatrice Webb’s political and intellectual trajectory through the lens of her autobiographical text My Apprenticeship. It explores Webb’s early encounters with poverty, her evolving perspective on labour and class relations, and her role in institutionalising social reform through mechanisms such as the Fabian Society and the London School of Economics. The work also engages with the literary dimensions of Webb’s self-representation, placing her writing within the broader framework of Victorian and early modern autobiographical discourse. By tracing the intersections between personal experience, political conviction, and narrative form, the book contributes to interdisciplinary discussions across history, sociology, gender studies, and literary analysis.
About the Author
Dr T Sumathy
Dr T Sumathy (also known as Thamizhachi Thangapandian) is an Indian Member of Parliament representing South Chennai, as well as a writer, poet, and academic. Her work spans literature, politics, and cultural studies, with a focus on feminism, environmental issues, Tamil theatre, and indigenous cultural practices. She has authored 27 books and has participated in various public and academic forums in India and abroad. Her professional trajectory reflects the intersection of literary engagement and political representation, with particular attention to questions of language, identity, and regional cultural production.
Chair
Dr Niranjana Ramesh
Niranjana Ramesh is a human geographer whose work explores the intersections of urban nature, politics, and social life in cities of the global South, with a focus on coastal and water infrastructures. Niranjanas a journalist in South India, her research is grounded in ethnographic methods and has examined desalination politics in Chennai and London (PhD, UCL), wetlands and social movements, and, currently, caste, labour, and environmental justice in Chennai’s coastal ecologies. She is a co-editor of Neidhal Kaimanam / Seasoned by the Sea, a bilingual community cookbook from the Coromandel Coast, created with a collective of researchers, artists, and activists in Chennai and Pondicherry. Her work has been supported by the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (LSE) and Antipode’s ‘Right to the Discipline’ Grant. Niranjana teaches human geography at Queen Mary University of London.
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