History@York in the Media
News | Posted on Friday 11 May 2018
History department academic to appear on BBC Radio 4.
Dr Shane O’Rourke will be one of the guests on In Our Time on 17 May 2018. The radio programme will focus on Tsar Alexander II's 1861 declaration that serfs were now legally free of their landlords, following Russia's loss of the Crimean War in 1855. Dr O'Rourke will appear alongside fellow academics Dr Sarah Hudspith (University of Leeds) and Professor Simon Dixon (UCL) to discuss the emancipation of the serfs with presenter Melvyn Bragg.
Dr O'Rourke’s research has examined the role of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, amongst others, in the abolition of serfdom in Russia, and has emphasised the importance of the monarchical systems in the emancipation struggle.