Shows
Housmans Bookshop'Contested Commons': A History of Protest and Public Space in EnglandFor our first event of the year we welcome Proffessor Katrina Navickas to the shop to discuss what is an increasingly urgent political issue in our current cultural climate. Her recent book, Contested Commons is a radical history of the increasing restrictions against protest in England’s public spaces. The work is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed th...
2026-02-0440 min
HistoryExtra podcastWhat does history teach us about protest?The past 12 months have seen protests around the world make headlines and dominate social media feeds. But how have such popular demonstrations changed the course of history? In this episode, historians Katrina Navickas and Timothy Garton Ash join Danny Bird to explore centuries of people power – and the protests that had the most impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
2026-01-0738 min
New Books in HistoryKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1529 min
New Books in Environmental StudiesKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books in Urban StudiesKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books in British StudiesKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books in GeographyKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books in Western European StudiesKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books in Politics and PolemicsKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
New Books with Miranda MelcherKatrina Navickas, "Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England" (Reaktion, 2025)A radical history of England, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katrina Navickas is a gripping overview of increasingly restrictive policing and legislation against protest in public spaces. It tells the long history of contests over Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Cable Street and Kinder Scout, as well as sites in towns and rural areas across the country. Dr. Navickas reveals how protesters claimed these spaces as their own commons, resisting their continuing enclosure and exclusion by social and political elites. She investigates famous and less well-known demonstrations and protest marches, from ea...
2025-12-1429 min
Talk Radio EuropeKatrina Navickas – Contested Commons: a history of protest and public space in England...with TRE's Giles Brown
2025-12-0323 min
Bureau of Lost CultureWho Owns The Ground Beneath Our Feet?
We walk the streets every day — and through parks, across squares and pavements and along beaches, and mountains, over 'The Commons' — without much thought for who really owns them.
These apparently public spaces have often been battlegrounds over public rights. From the rural enclosures that fenced off England’s open fields, through the city squares where protesters have clashed with police, to the gated plazas and shopping malls of today — the story of The Commons is the story of who belongs, who is excluded, who can gather, and who makes the rules.
In this episode, we’re di...
2025-10-1459 min
Absolute UnitsRural Riots, Raves, and Robin Hood (with Katrina Navickas)Throughout modern English history, people have protested against the movements to enclose and limit access to green spaces.Their reasons have varied dramatically – from deadly agricultural protests like the Swing Riots, to 90s raves, and druids campaigning for access to Stonehenge. Yet each moment of resistance gives us new insight into the complex and contested relationships we have with the world around us.In this episode, we continue our conversation with Katrina Navickas (Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire) to explore the modern history of contesting the commons, ahead of the release of Ka...
2025-10-0244 minAbsolute UnitsA Radical History of the Commons (with Katrina Navickas)"The law locks up the man or woman who steals the goose from off the common / But leaves the greater villain loose: who steals the common from the goose."In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Professor Katrina Navickas (University of Hertfordshire) about the history of the commons: the shared resources that communities depended upon for their livelihoods. Learn about the historical processes that encroached upon the commons, and the public resistance to get those resources back.Katrina's next book, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England, is published by...
2025-09-1841 min
Great LivesNed Ludd mythical leader of the LudditesWe don't even know if Ned Ludd was real, but perhaps that was the point. "You could say he was everyone and no one - and that's what made him so terrifying for the authorities." Leader of the Luddites, who often signed letters and proclamations Ned Ludd, he is shown in one engraving wearing mismatched shoes and a blue polka dot dress, suggesting a world turned upside down. He's been picked by the popular historian Alex von Tunzelmann, and joining her in studio to discuss Ned and the Luddites (and the neo-Luddites too) is Katrina Navickas, historian of protest...
2025-05-2627 minAbsolute UnitsSchedule Update: Big Sheep, Big DreamsEpisode 4 marked the end of our pilot series, produced by a group of extremely talented students from the University of Reading. Now, we're at the wheel planning future episodes. The tractor wheel of our mind and our dreams.In the meantime: for a shorter bonus adventure, join hosts Dr Ollie Douglas (curator) and Joe Vaughan (social media manager) as they reflect on the podcast to date. We talk about what we've learned, what we've loved, and what we're looking forward to for the future. Plus, follow us down some random tangents like the US-UK trade deal, our...
2025-05-2221 min
Langues, littératures et civilisations étrangères – MIROIRThe Luddite protests, 1811-12 / Reading the Riot Act #2
In this episode, the focus is on the ‘Luddite’ movement of 1811-12 when machine-breaking actions proliferated in the English cloth-making counties of Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire. In discussion with Katrina Navickas, a historian of British popular protest in the North who lectures at the University of Hertfordshire, the origin of the movement and the nature of the attacks on textile machinery are explored. We will also think about the communities and localities in which these episodes took place as well as the official response to Luddism.
Dans cet épisode, nous nous penchons sur le mouve...
2024-07-0500 minPodcast Université Toulouse - Jean JaurèsThe Luddite protests, 1811-12 / Reading the Riot Act #2
In this episode, the focus is on the ‘Luddite’ movement of 1811-12 when machine-breaking actions proliferated in the English cloth-making counties of Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire. In discussion with Katrina Navickas, a historian of British popular protest in the North who lectures at the University of Hertfordshire, the origin of the movement and the nature of the attacks on textile machinery are explored. We will also think about the communities and localities in which these episodes took place as well as the official response to Luddism.
Dans cet épisode, nous nous penchons sur le mouvement « luddite » de 1811-1...
2024-07-0500 minHistoryExtra podcastThe Luddites: everything you wanted to knowThe Luddites are best remembered for smashing up machinery during the Industrial Revolution. But what did these 19th-century activists actually want from their destructive actions? How did the government use undercover spies to undermine their attempts at civil unrest? And why was the Luddites’ folkloric founder, Nedd Ludd, most memorably depicted wearing a polka-dot dress? Speaking to Emily Briffett, Professor Katrina Navickas answers listener questions on the rise and fall of the movement made up by textile workers whose livelihoods faced increasing threat from the innovations of the Industrial Revolution. Learn more about your ad ch...
2023-06-2548 min
Dan Snow's History HitThe EnclosuresThe enclosure of the commons was a centuries-long process. Gradually, through a combination of legal degrees and private acts, the land across Britain moved from a system of open field system to larger, enclosed farms. This was a transformative political, social and agricultural shift – that is still the source of much debate by historians. Joining Dan for this episode of the podcast is Dr Katrina Navickas who has studied protest and collective action, especially in relation to contested spaces and places in Britain from the 18th century through to today. They discuss how and why enclosure too...
2022-04-0129 min
Architectural HistoryArchitecture and ProtestIn this episode we discussed the role played by architecture and the built environment in relation to political protest movements. Whether at the Battle of Cable Street, Chartist demonstrations in the 19th century, protests against racist police violence in the 1980s or Extinction Rebellion, protests always take place in specific architectural environments that shape and determine the course of political action, however, we often underestimate the agency of these protest movements in shaping the built environment through their actions.
Contributors:
Adam Elliott-Cooper is a researcher based at the University of Greenwich, who works on histories o...
2021-11-101h 01
A People's History with John McDonnellEpisode 3 - The ChartistsThe Chartist movement of the 1830s and 1840s was the first mass movement driven by Britain’s working classes. But how and why did the movement arise? What was society really like for working people at the time? And what were the lasting impacts and implications of the Chartists’ struggle?Explore this fascinating area of our history with John McDonnell and three expert historians: Emma Griffin, Katrina Navickas and Rob Sewell.Emma Griffin is a Professor of Modern British History at the UEA. She is the author of several books, editor of the Historical Journal, President of th...
2021-09-191h 04
The Matter of the NorthThe Radical NorthMelvyn explores the radical movements that sprang from the North - Chartism, the campaign for women's votes, anti-slavery protests, the birth of the Labour Party. The programme begins outside Manchester's Midland Hotel where Mr Rolls met Mr Royce. It's also near the site of the Peterloo Massacre - one of the defining moments in British social history. People had gathered here in their thousands from the city and surrounding towns and villages - protesting for parliamentary reform. fifteen were slain and hundreds wounded by charging cavalry troops. Melvyn visits what one contributor Dr Robert Poole describes as Democracy Wall...
2016-09-0727 min