Historian and former RAI Visiting Fellow Tamson Pietsch will present and discuss her new book, The Floating University (Chicago UP, forthcoming May 2023)

The book tells the story of the 1926 Floating University: a bold experiment in which 500 American college students sailed around the globe in the belief that learning at sea would make them better citizens of the world. As well as a full curriculum, the voyage included visits to foreign dignitaries including Mussolini, Gandhi and the Pope, and stops in 47 ports. But the trip was also beset by trouble: reports of sex, alcohol and jazz made their way back to an American press hungry for scandal and the Floating University became a byword for what could go wrong with educational travel. The book explores this largely forgotten voyage and argues that – as well as the tentacles of US empire – it exposes a much larger contest over what kind of knowledge should underpin university authority, one in which direct personal experience came into conflict with academic expertise.

Open to all – no registration required.

A sandwich lunch will be provided.