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WELCOME TO ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY
Tim Boatswain Professor of Anthropology & History
Chairman of TMC Academy, Singapore
Chairman TMCI, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Chairman British United College, Myanmar
Chairman of Blue Plaques St Albans
Chairman of Conservation 50
Council Member of SAHAAS
Trustee of OVO (Theatre) Charity
Welcome to Anthropology and History, a unique blog here for you to explore. Anthropology and History has added such value to my life, and I love having the opportunity to share my passions and thoughts with my loyal readers. Read on, and enjoy.
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Celebrating St Albans Blue Plaques: A City's History Written on Its Walls
Blue Plaques St Albans recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, with sponsors and donors gathering at S.A Law, thanks to host Marilyn Bell. Since the first plaque in 2021, fifteen have been installed across the district, commemorating figures such as John Ball, Sarah Churchill, Nathaniel Cotton, E. R. Hughes, Betty Entwistle, and Stephen Hawking. Professor Tim Boatswain, Chair of the scheme, said: "A blue plaque is a memory made visible. It turns an ordinary building into a
Tim Boatswain
2 days ago1 min read
Just 10 days to go: Romantic Vision in Art
21st May, 2026 at 7:30 pm at the Alban Room. St Albans Cathedral has released this poster with a 10% discount on the talk. Please book online and enter the code Artist 10. http://www.stalbanscathedral.org/the-romantic-vision-in-art The Romantic Vision in Art constitutes a fundamental aesthetic rebellion against the prevailing doctrines of Enlightenment rationalism and the burgeoning industrial age. It represents a conscious departure from the geometric precision and mechanis
Tim Boatswain
May 111 min read
Seventh Philosophy Session at the Lower Red Lion: What is Choice?
AI generated On the 5th of May, an engaged group gathered once again in the 'snug' of the Lower Red Lion on Fishpool Street. Drinks were raised before the conversation began. This is my account of what we talked about at our seventh meeting of an informal philosophical discussion that has, since 2024, explored justice, happiness, freedom, morality, truth, and love. Tonight's question was perhaps the most personal of all: 'What is choice?' We opened with a simple definition of
Tim Boatswain
May 65 min read
The Great Education Gamble: Why Losing Polytechnics and Starving FE Colleges Was a Mistake
Back in 2000, I was Chair of the Board of Governors of Dunstable Further Education College. It was a very difficult time, as FE colleges were desperately short of resources and struggling to teach practical qualifications using outdated, often non-functioning equipment. I remember being part of the FE colleges' delegation that went to the Houses of Parliament to meet with Margaret Hodge, then the Minister responsible for FE colleges in the Tony Blair government. It was a ve
Tim Boatswain
May 35 min read
Bring back Exams
AI generated I can remember 40-odd years ago, as a humble university lecturer, spending a lot of time checking whether undergraduate essays had been plagiarised. At that time, universities were moving their systems of assessment towards more coursework away from traditional examinations. Later, the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed a significant acceleration in this transition; the underlying motives can be seen as related to a pedagogical philosophy, which claimed a move to equity
Tim Boatswain
Apr 265 min read
Has Western Society Become a Victim Culture?
AI-generated image I was recently listening to an interview with Marie Kawthar Daouda, author of Not Your Victim: How our Obsession with Race Entraps and Divides Us (2026). Marie Daouda is a Lecturer in French at Oriel College, Oxford. Originally from Morocco, she studied French and English literature at La Sorbonne and at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale. In the interview, she argued that there is an identity crisis in the Western World, partly due to Western Societ
Tim Boatswain
Apr 185 min read
Equality versus Egalitarianism
TMC Institute 2021 I am sitting in the airport in Tashkent, waiting for my return flight to Heathrow. My visit has been a great experience thanks to my friends and colleagues at the TMC Institute. I have been very well looked after, and I have had the pleasure of taking part in a fifth anniversary celebration, a graduation ceremony, a wedding, a special birthday party, and, had the added excitement of giving talks to both students and staff. On top of this, I signed an agre
Tim Boatswain
Apr 106 min read
The Romantic Movement: a force for good?
Caspar David Friedrich - Wanderer above the sea of fog , 1818 I am sitting in a conference room in the higher education college, TMC Institute, Tashkent, where I am the chairman. I am waiting to take part in some videos - mainly to promote the UK Master's and Bachelor's programmes we run here. I have finished my emails et al., and I started to think about the coming talks I will be giving: one of them will be for Adult Learning at St. Albans Cathedral. It will be on 25th Ma
Tim Boatswain
Apr 83 min read
Slavery: The Barbary Trade to Modern Day
Captain Croker horror stricken at Algiers, on witnessing the Miseries of the Christian Slaves chaind & in Irons driven home after labour by Infidels with large Whips." Additional information about the source: "The cruelties of the Algerine pirates, shewing the present dreadful state of the English slaves, and other Europeans, at Algiers and Tunis; with the horrid barbarities inflicted on christian mariners shipwrecked on the north western coast of africa and carried into perp
Tim Boatswain
Mar 279 min read
A World of Bewildering Choices
On the 5th of May, I shall be at the Lower Red Lion on Fishpool Street, gathering with others to consider the seventh question in our philosophical series: "What is Choice?" By accident, I came across an article with a relevant claim on the theme of choice: "Since living requires choosing, we will always feel regret about the paths not taken. But what matters is the future we forge." This sent me, as they say, down something of a rabbit hole. The article in question weaves to
Tim Boatswain
Mar 186 min read
Authoritarian Regimes and War
It seems an age ago, but back in March 2022, at the start of Russia’s ‘special operation’ against Ukraine, I wrote an article in response to a question I had been asked: 'Was there a clear anthropological theory for the evolution of war?' The answer appeared to be that while our primate heritage provides a capacity for coalitionary aggression, the widespread appearance of organised, lethal warfare belongs more to cultural innovation, which may have been triggered by a powerf
Tim Boatswain
Mar 144 min read
A Different Perspective on School Bullies
Back in April 2023 , I wrote a blog about bullying ( https://timboatswain.wixsite.com/website/post/no-to-bullying ) , where I argued that we always need to stand up to bullies. Just recently, I considered a different perspective on bullying triggered by the Government's National Behaviour Survey Report: 2024 to 2025 academic year, which examines behaviour in schools, and it was alarming to read that t he survey found that roughly 1 in 5 to 1 in 3 pupils experience bullying.
Tim Boatswain
Feb 284 min read
Does Seneca's Advice Have a Modern Relevance?
Back in June 2024, I gave a talk at St Albans Cathedral, entitled, Marcus Aurelius, a Modern Thinker? I had been fascinated to learn that the sales of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations had skyrocketed from 12,000 copies in 2012 to 100,000 copies in 2019. Its popularity indicated a resurgence of interest in Stoicism that spans academic interest, popular culture, and practical self-help applications. This ancient Greek philosophy, founded around 300 BC, has found a remarkably rece
Tim Boatswain
Feb 237 min read
What does it mean to be human?
At its heart, anthropology is driven by a single, profound question: what does it mean to be human? I was drawn to the study of anthropology as I was fascinated by human behaviour and how this influenced history. I soon became focused on the influence of evolution on the human psyche and how this ‘dictated’ our behaviour. As a student, however, I soon discovered that there were many ‘anthropologies’. The path taken to answer the question of what it means to be human can look
Tim Boatswain
Feb 215 min read
The Mandelson Affair and the Crisis of Political Virtue
Of course, I had no idea that British politics was going to be rocked by 'The Mandelson Affair' when I chose What is Morality? as our sixth topic for discussion at the Lower Red Lion on February 3rd. In my previous blog ( https://timboatswain.wixsite.com/website/post/the-untidy-truth-about-human-nature ) , I was arguing how messy the drivers are behind human nature. The crisis the Epstein material has unleashed over Mandelson is an issue both for the philosophy of morality
Tim Boatswain
Feb 144 min read
The Untidy Truth About Human Nature
When I was a student studying anthropology, one of the major debates we had to grapple with was the Nature versus Nurture Argument. The nature versus nurture argument is a classic debate about what determines human behaviour and development. The Nature side argues that our traits and characteristics are primarily the result of genetics and biology—in other words, we are shaped by our DNA. The Nurture theory argues that we are primarily shaped by our environment and experienc
Tim Boatswain
Feb 136 min read
What is Morality: an Exploration of Moral Philosophy at the Lower Red Lion (3 Feb 2026)?
This was the sixth session of Philosophy at the Lower Red Lion (LRL). We started with the question (with a silent answer) had we recently observed in another some immoral behaviour and why was it immoral. This led to examining the definition of morality and its framing as one of humanity’s most enduring and urgent inquiries: a normative pursuit concerned not with what is , but with what ought to be . Moral philosophy seeks to provide a rational framework for our most profo
Tim Boatswain
Feb 53 min read
'The Discipline of Imaginology': a critique
I have just read an interesting article by Stephen T Asma, Professor of Philosophy and cofounder of the Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. It is entitled Imaginology, and in it he advocates "a new kind of approach to learning that shifts imagination from the periphery to the foundation of all knowledge." https://aeon.co/essays/why-we-need-a-new-kind-of-education-imagination-studies?utm_source=Aeon+NewsletterThecontemporary Asma argues
Tim Boatswain
Jan 297 min read
A Question of Atmosphere: Is Free Speech Retreating on Britain's Campuses?
It has been many years since I taught full-time at a British university. Some might rightly say I am out of touch with the daily realities of modern academia and the nuances of its debates. Yet, through my ongoing work with overseas institutions, I maintain contact with lecturers from across the UK. In conversation, several have described a palpable unease, a phenomenon often termed the "chilling effect." They speak of a climate of risk aversion, where both academics and stud
Tim Boatswain
Jan 274 min read
The Democratic Disquiet: Diagnosing the Crisis of Confidence
Recently, I wrote about the dangers to democracy of voter apathy: The Price of Apathy: Why Good People Must Not Look Away https://timboatswain.wixsite.com/website/post/the-price-of-apathy-why-good-people-must-not-look-away ). There is an allied question, one of the most pressing of our time, about the practical implementation of democracy, and that is whether democracy is failing? It is crucial, however, to clarify the diagnosis from the outset. It would be an exaggeration
Tim Boatswain
Jan 204 min read
2 days ago1 min read
May 111 min read
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