Lang economics professor Kris Inwood is co-hosting a two-day historical economics workshop entitled "Difficult Subjects: Prisoners and Public History" with Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, professor of Social History from the University of New England, and Barry Godfrey, professor of Social Justice from the University of Liverpool. This workshop represents a collaborative project between the University of Guelph, the University of Liverpool, and the University of New England, bringing together established academics, emerging researchers, and graduate and post-graduate students to examine prison history and public engagement.

The workshop seeks to explore pathways to expand public comprehension of imprisonment experiences through the investigation of archival-based scholarly research, the reconstruction of individuals' life through census data, and digital representations, as well as examining prison heritage sites.

Workshop topics include analyzing colonial penal transportation, “dark tourism,” prisons of the prairies, and prisoner histories, among other topics, with each presentation challenging participants to examine and reflect critically on key issues. 

List of speakers include:

• Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, University of New England (Workshop Co-organizer), 
• Maryse Tennant, Canterbury Christ Church University, 
• Charles Forsdick,  University of Liverpool, 
• Brent McKenzie, University of Guelph
• Donald Fyson, Université Laval (remote)
• Yi-Wen Wang, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (remote)
• Katherine Roscoe, University of Liverpool (remote)
• Benjamin Hoy and Harris Ford, University of Saskatchewan 
• Katherine Bruce-Lockhart, University of Waterloo
• Barry Godfrey, University of Liverpool (Workshop Co-organizer) and Jessica Liu, Liverpool John Moores University