Friday 7th November 2025, 12.00pm in person
Manchester Central Library, St Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD
Book here (SanctuaryNowAndThen.eventbrite.co.uk)
Sanctuary movements have long been part of the movement for migrant rights in Britain, but the meaning of sanctuary and the forms it has taken have varied dramatically. This event brings together scholars and practitioners of sanctuary, past and present, to discuss its history, trajectories, current forms, and possible futures in this country.
Speakers include:
Stuart Crosthwaite, a migrant-rights campaigner, writer and organiser in Sheffield, currently Secretary of the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG).
Amy Grant, a historian of the UK sanctuary and anti-deportation movements, based at the University of East Anglia.
Rachel Humphris, a political sociologist at Queen Mary University of London, author of Making Sanctuary Cities: Migration, Citizenship and Urban Governance (2025).
Paul Weller, a sanctuary activist since the 1980s, who has written extensively on the subject.
For information contact Rob Waters (r.w.waters@qmul.ac.uk)
Raphael Samuel History Centre in partnership with Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Centre and Education Trust, UK Research and Innovation, and Queen Mary University of London.