Program

What happens after “rescue” or “discovery” when power arrives claiming to help? Two historians examine the complicated aftermath.

In very different settings, Clever Men by Martin Thomas and Strange New World by Nadia Wheatley begin at moments presented as benevolent turning points — a major scientific expedition to Arnhem Land, and the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp. In both cases, what followed proved far more complex. Together, Thomas and Wheatley explore what happens after powerful institutions intervene in the name of progress or rescue, and how control, disillusionment and resistance often shape the aftermath. Drawing on archives, museums and hidden histories, they examine how authority is exercised, how stories are preserved or obscured, and how ordinary people work to reclaim agency over their own lives and narratives. A thoughtful session on power, memory and historical truth.