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Ben Martill

June 13th, 2018

Fred Halliday at LSE

1 comment | 1 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Ben Martill

June 13th, 2018

Fred Halliday at LSE

1 comment | 1 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

LSE Library holds the papers of the late Fred Halliday (1946-2010), former Professor of International Relations at LSE, writes Ben Martill. Fred Halliday had long ties to the School and a formidable reputation both in research and as a public intellectual.

About the Fred Halliday collection

The collection consists of over 350 files of personal effects, correspondence, memoirs, draft texts, travel-notes and work documents, which are now available for researchers to consult. The papers themselves are fascinatingly diverse. There are personal memorabilia and correspondence dating back to Halliday’s time as a student at Queen’s College, Oxford. There is material relating to his early research and activism in the Arabian Peninsula, and his activities for the Transnational Institute and other progressive groups in the 1970s, consisting primarily of press cuttings, short articles and memoranda. There is also much from Halliday’s teaching and research at LSE and in Barcelona, including lecture transcripts, conference papers, project proposals, academic correspondence and photographs from seminars and conferences.

The two particular strengths of the collection are the regional focus on the Middle East (particularly Yemen, the subject of Halliday’s PhD thesis) and the large amount of material relating to the conduct of teaching and research in international relations. As such it is hoped that the collection will appeal to students of the history and politics of the Middle East and those with an interest in the more theoretical issues dealt with in the discipline. We are very pleased to have been gifted such a unique and important collection and we look forward to welcoming interested researchers to the archives.

The effort to catalogue and sort Professor Halliday’s papers took the form of two somewhat distinct projects 2011-13. The first centred on the process of cataloguing and listing the archive itself, incorporating the papers into the cataloguing system and the physical storage space of the archives. The second project, funded by LSE’s Department of International Relations, was the creation of a bibliography listing all of Halliday’s academic works, both published and unpublished. A combined catalogue has been produced and the archive material may be viewed online via the archives catalogue.

About Fred Halliday

Professor Fred Halliday had worked at LSE for more than 20 years. He was renowned for both brilliant research and inspirational teaching. Although he left LSE for a new post in Barcelona, which is where he died, Professor Halliday returned regularly to the School to lecture. Professor Halliday’s work ranged from the political complexities of the Middle East and its international relations to revolutions, gender and international relations theory.

Professor Fred Halliday at the Iraq Conference held in the Vera Anstey Room, LSE Old Building, 10 February 2004. © LSE / Nigel Stead
Professor Fred Halliday at the Iraq Conference held in the Vera Anstey Room, LSE Old Building, 10 February 2004. LSE / Nigel Stead

Professor Halliday’s last LSE lecture was The Islamic Republic of Iran After 30 Years. It was recorded on 23 February 2009 in Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building and was chaired by Professor Michael Cox. The Department of International Relations produced a memorial blog in 2010, Fred Halliday – an intellectual appreciation, and has hosted a Fred Halliday memorial lecture series since 2011. Professor Mick Cox, Department of International Relations and Co-Director of LSE Ideas, remembers a 30-year friendship with a man of “political bravery”:

My own memories of him do not just relate to his extraordinary achievements as one of the great public intellectuals of our day, or even as one of the “superstars” of a School he loved so much. Typically, Fred never ducked the big issues and always let friend and enemy know exactly where he stood. I did though have the very great privilege of chairing his last public lecture at LSE before he resigned to take up his new position in Barcelona. It was typical Fred: witty, wise, wide-ranging, and generous. It was the first and last time I have ever seen an audience at LSE give anybody a standing ovation.

This post originally appeared on the LSE Library blog and has been updated with information from LSE’s Fred Halliday memorial.

Read more

Introduction: Fred Halliday, John Vincent and the idea of progress in International Relations article in International Affairs by Michael Cox and Nicholas Rengger, September 2011

The Fred Halliday language award

The Fred Halliday Memorial Lecture Series

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About the author

Pencils on a yellow background. Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Ben Martill

Ben Martill is formerly of LSE Library.

Posted In: Academic life | Honorary Fellows | International Relations | People

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