07 February 2017
King's History at Jaipur Literature Festival
India's Jaipur Literature Festival. At this year's festival, two King's historians took the stage: Prof. David Carpenter discussed the Magna Carta, and Dr Jon Wilson talked about the conquest of India and debated the iniquities of British rule in the Indian subcontinent.
India’s Jaipur Literature Festival is the world’s largest live literary event, bringing together hundreds of writers from across the globe for five days of discussion with audiences of half a million. At this year’s festival, two King’s historians took the stage: Prof. David Carpenter discussed the Magna Carta, and Dr Jon Wilson talked about the conquest of India and debated the iniquities of British rule in the Indian subcontinent. David Carpenter took part in a session organized as part of the British Library’s Magna Carta exhibition on ‘the Spirit of Justice’ alongside the British Library’s Claire Breay, the political scientist Chintana Chandrachud and British lawyer and peer Helena Kennedy. The current Head of the History department Jon Wilson discussed his new book India Conquered. Britain’s Raj and the Chaos of Empire with Indian politician and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor and publisher Michael Dwyer. Audiences included perhaps 3,000 people listening in each case.
Each discussions are available to watch online on youtube: David Carpenter in ‘The Spirit of Justice’, and Jon Wilson in ‘Remembering the Raj’ and ‘The Dishonourable Company’.