Join Professor Corinne Fowler for a very special event, drawing on her acclaimed book Our Island Stories: country walks through Great Britain and tying into our special year celebrating the 210th anniversary of the publication of Mansfield Park. 

We’ll begin with a fascinating talk about Jane Austen and her family’s connections to the British Empire, before setting out with the group on a 3km ramble in the fields and woods around Chawton that Jane Austen knew so well, learning how the British countryside was shaped by imperialism. Corinne’s account of our rural history is at once affectionate, honest and unflinching, revealing the hidden histories of our beloved landscapes. 

This event ticket includes House entry so you can also enjoy our Mansfield Park exhibition before or after! 

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Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra would frequently take walks from the cottage in which she lived out her final days, now known as Jane Austen’s House at Chawton.  

In 1993, around 176 years after Austen’s death, the academic Edward W. Said wrote a landmark essay called “Jane Austen and Empire” about her novel Mansfield Park. Said’s piece sparked what remains an ongoing debate about Austen’s attitude to transatlantic slavery. Said believed that Mansfield Park failed to take an ethical position on the links between sugar plantations and the handsome houses and splendid grounds of English country estates. He argued that the novel’s protagonist, Fanny Price, ultimately embraced the worldview of her uncle Sir Thomas, whose Antiguan plantations funded his rural retreat. Many disagree with Said’s view, pointing to Austen’s abolitionist sentiments and her partiality for William Cowper, who wrote anti-slavery poems. Others feel that Said underestimated Austen’s aversion to polemical writing about the issue, and that he failed to grasp the widespread support for abolition among women of Austen’s generation.  

This talk explores the range and variety of the Austen family’s connections to empire: to Antigua, colonial wars and her sailor brothers’ links to both colonial wars and anti-slavery activity as well as Jane Austen’s references to slavery in her novels. It also explores new evidence which has since come to light which might help us resolve some of the questions raised by Said all those years ago.      

Details:

Date: Friday 11 October 

Time: 11am – 12.45pm 

Location: This event takes place at Jane Austen’s House. Find us

Tickets: £16.50 

☕ The event will include refreshments including tea or coffee and biscuits. Please let us know of any dietary requirements upon booking.  

🥾 The walk is off-road along footpaths and unfortunately is not suitable for those with mobility issues or need to use mobility scooters or wheelchairs.  

☂️ Please wear sturdy, sensible footwear and bring a bottle of water and sun cream or a raincoat – depending on the weather! 

🎟️ This event ticket includes access to Jane Austen’s House and garden on the event day.  

About Corinne Fowler: 

Corinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. In 2020 Corinne co-authored an audit of peer-reviewed research about National Trust properties’ connections to empire, which galvanized the heritage sector to address its colonial stories and became a major media story. The report won the Museums and Heritage Special Recognition Award, 2022 and an Eastern Eye Award 2023. Before this, Corinne directed Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted, a child-led history and writing project (2018-2022), resulting in a book of commissioned writing called Colonial Countryside (Peepal Tree Press, July 2024) which was funded by Arts Council England. Corinne’s new book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain was published on 2 May 2024 by Penguin Allen Lane.