Professor Stuart hall blue plaque unveiling

A new blue plaque in honour of the work of Professor Stuart Hall was unveiled at the University of Birmingham on Thursday 26th September 2024.  The ceremony was arranged by the ConjuncturesNOW strand of the Stuart Hall Archive Project, a three-year project funded by the University of Birmingham to incite discussion and activities surrounding the radical cultural theorist's work and archives.

Professor Stuart Hall was a much-loved Jamaican-born academic, writer, cultural studies pioneer, public intellectual and teacher.  Around fifty people gathered at Muirhead Tower, on the University of Birmingham's Edgbaston campus, to welcome the plaque, eat lunch together and discuss Hall's ideas and their relevance for today.  Marcia Dunkley, from Black Heritage Walks Network, led a walk around the campus, discussing its links with Black history and with Stuart Hall, who was a key figure in University of Birmingham's Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in the 1960s and '70s.  

To learn more about Stuart Hall and his contributions to cultural activism, take a look at our Pioneers article here.

The Stuart Hall Archive Project at the University of Birmingham preserves the personal papers of the influential cultural theorist Stuart Hall. The project aims to explore Hall’s intellectual development and create dialogues with contemporary issues, particularly around anti-racism and social justice. Key strands include making his unpublished work accessible and engaging communities in discussions informed by his scholarship. The project, led by Professor Patricia Noxolo, highlights Birmingham’s historical role in shaping Cultural Studies. More details are available here.