Birmingham and the West Midlands have served as a place of hope, ambition and sanctuary to many communities over its history. But history is not made from statistics and patterns – it is made from individual stories and experiences. This final talk of the series will focus on the unique stories of those left their country of birth and made Birmingham and the West Midlands their home. We will be talking to selected participants who entered our oral history competition who will tell their own stories or that of their loved ones.

This final talk of the series is a an in-person event. The event will begin by summarising previous talks on the history of Arab-British encounters from the 8^th century to the present day before focussing on individual stories, local personalities and winning entries of the oral history competition.

You can find updated details about guest speakers under our ‘Events‘ page or you can register here

This event is part of People, Places, Traces; a project documenting a millennium of interactions and exchanges between the British Isles and the Arab world through a series of public talks, essays and oral history interviews in the East Midlands.

The project is run by the Museum of Islamic Arts & Heritage (MIAH) Foundation and was awarded our Arab Britain commission following an open call in 2022.