Tanja Bueltmann,FRHistS(born 1979)[1]is a German-British historian and academic, who holds the chair in International History at theUniversity of Strathclyde.She specialises in the history of migration and diaspora. She is also a citizens' rights campaigner and founder of the EU Citizens' Champion campaign.[2]
Tanja Bueltmann | |
---|---|
Born | 1979 (age 44–45) Bielefeld, Germany |
Citizenship | German & British |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Bielefeld University Victoria University of Wellington |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Historian |
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions |
Education
editBueltmann studied British Cultural Studies, History and Sociology atBielefeld University,also spending a year at theUniversity of Edinburghas anERASMUSstudy abroad student, receiving an MA in 2005.[3][4]Participation in theERASMUSstudy abroad programme "laid the roots for her subsequent research and career".[5]She was a PhD candidate with the Irish-Scottish studies programme at theVictoria University of Wellington,with her PhD research funded by the New Zealand government's New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarship scheme.[6]While she was a PhD student, Bueltmann published several papers and appeared in national media.[7][8]
Career
editBueltmann's research interests are indiasporahistory, particularly in connection to Scottish and English immigrant communities.[6]
In 2011, Bueltmann published her thesis "Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society, 1850-1930", in which she "sets the scene for Scottish migration to New Zealand".[9][10]In 2012, she focused on English communities overseas, co-editing a collection entitledLocating the English Diaspora, 1500-2010.[11]She continued to research the movement of Scots overseas, and, in 2015, co-editedThe Scottish Diasporatogether with Professor Graeme Morton and Dr Andrew Hinson.[12]Later that year she publishedClubbing Together: Ethnicity, Civility and Formal Sociability in the Scottish Diaspora to 1930,investigating Scottish ethnicity and associational activism.[13]The book is the 2015 winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year award.[14]In 2017, Bueltmann published the co-authored monographThe English Diaspora in North America: Migration, Ethnicity and Association, 1730s-1950s,the output of an AHRC funded grant.[15]
Bueltmann argues that amid the uproar about migrant populations trying to seek refuge within the UK, it is easy to forget the historic outward migration of Britons.[16]More recently, she has also examined the collective action being taken by EU citizens in the UK in response to Brexit.
Bueltmann is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Bueltmann worked atNorthumbria Universityfrom February 2009 until July 2020, when she became chair in International History at theUniversity of Strathclyde.
The UK's EU referendum and Brexit
editBueltmann is vocal in her support for Britain remaining in theEuropean Union.[17]As her research is focused on migration history, and she is a German living in the UK, her concern aboutBrexitis both professional and personal.[18]She was a member of the lobbying group "Historians for Britain in Europe" and describes herself as an EU citizen.[19][20]Before the referendum, Bueltmann voiced concerns that the "tolerant UK I love seems to be vanishing".[21][22][23]After becoming a public figure for the Remain movement, she received abusive messages.[24][25]She was not surprised by the outcome of the EU referendum, but, as many others, has been troubled by the events since.[26]
In March 2017 she attendedNewcastle's pro-EU rally, and, when interviewed by the BBC, said she had moved from Germany to "contribute to life and society in the UK and I think I've been doing that every single day since I arrived eight years ago".[27]She was a guest speaker at the People's March for Europe in London in September 2017.[28]Since Britain's vote to leave the EU, she has written articles for a number of newspapers and online platforms, includingThe Guardian,[29]HuffPost UK,[30]and Metro.[31]
Bueltmann has publicly spoken out against the government's Brexit reassurances.[32]She remains concerned about the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and Britons who live in the EU, and continues to take a vocal stand against their being used as bargaining chips in negotiations.[33]When the government made a plea for EU academics to remain in the UK, Bueltmann toldThe Independentnewspaper: "if they really meant they want us to stay, they would have guaranteed our rights fully on 24 June 2016".[34]She later argued in theTimes Higher Education,in a rebuttal to the then Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis's article addressed to EU nationals working in Higher Education,[35]that what everyone failed to see was that the UK is not the destination for EU nationals, but their home.[36]
Since the EU referendum Bueltmann has focused primarily on the situation of the more than three million EU citizens at home in the UK and fighting for the protection of their rights. She is working with other campaigners, politicians and policy organisations, including the GermanFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.[37]
In July 2018, Bueltmann founded theEU Citizens' Championcampaign to facilitate that work. The campaign serves two purposes: to supportthe3million,the UK's leading not for profit organisation working to protect EU citizens’ rights, with a fundraiser, and to facilitate engagement activities that help change the narrative about freedom of movement and migration.[38]The campaign launch video - a satire on settled status - features actor and directorDavid Schneider.
References
edit- ^"Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek".portal.dnb.de.Retrieved2019-03-03.
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann - founder of the EU Citizens' Champion campaign".
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann".www.northumbria.ac.uk.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"About – || The Scottish Diaspora Blog ||".thescottishdiaspora.net.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^(www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle,Has the public's initial post-Brexit denial passed? | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 24.07.2016,retrieved2018-01-20
- ^ab"About – || The Scottish Diaspora Blog ||".www.ethnicandexpatriate.co.uk.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"New Zealand Journal of History - document".www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Sunday Morning for Sunday 30 March 2008 Sunday Morning | RNZ".Radio New Zealand.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^Pearson, D. (2012-10-01). "TANJA BUELTMANN. Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society, 1850-1930".The American Historical Review.117(4): 1209–1210.doi:10.1093/ahr/117.4.1209.ISSN0002-8762.
- ^Tanja., Bueltmann (2011).Scottish ethnicity and the making of New Zealand society, 1850 to 1930.[Place of publication not identified]: Edinburgh Univ Press.ISBN978-0748646364.OCLC755006750.
- ^Locating the English Diaspora, 1500-2010.Bueltmann, Tanja., Gleeson, David T., MacRaild, Donald M. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2012.ISBN978-1781387061.OCLC794181543.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Tanja., Bueltmann (2013).The Scottish diaspora.Hinson, Andrew., Morton, Graeme. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-0748650620.OCLC870832701.
- ^Tanja, Bueltmann (April 2015).Clubbing together: ethnicity, civility and formal sociability in the Scottish diaspora to 1930.UPSO eCollections (University Press Scholarship Online). Liverpool.ISBN978-1781387436.OCLC911019261.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^"Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year 2015".
- ^"Author Q&A: The English diaspora in North America - Manchester University Press".Manchester University Press.2017-01-17.Retrieved2018-01-21.
- ^Bueltmann, Tanja."The British diaspora is a story of migrants who changed the world".The Conversation.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann | I Am An Immigrant".www.iamanimmigrant.net.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann".The Guardian.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Why I say Yes to the EU: Tanja Bueltmann – Academics for Europe".academicsforeurope.eu.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Historians for Britain IN Europe".historiansforbritainineurope.org.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^Jones, Bryony."Exit before Brexit: The 'unwelcome' EU citizens eying their escape".CNN.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"The tolerant UK I love seems to be vanishing".Times Higher Education (THE).2016-06-16.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^Bueltmann, Tanja."Mood around immigration has made Britain a nastier place".The Conversation.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Brexit result triggers wave of hate crimes in UK".The Irish Times.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Abused in the street, invited to a Brexit BBQ: the limbo of being German in the UK".Lse Brexit.7 March 2017.
- ^"Abused in the street, invited to a Brexit BBQ: the limbo of being German in the UK".EUROPP.2017-03-13.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Hundreds gather for pro-EU rally".BBC News.2017-03-04.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"The People's March for Europe".Politics.ie.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann - Guardian profile and articles".TheGuardian.com.
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann - HuffPost UK profile and articles".
- ^"Tanja Bueltmann - Metro profile and articles".23 May 2019.
- ^"To EU nationals like me, the UK is not our 'destination' – it is our home".Times Higher Education (THE).2017-12-04.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"First bargaining chips, now stocktaking: the plan to register EU citizens".LSE BREXIT.2017-06-22.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"British Government pleads for 'valued' EU citizens to stay after Brexit".The Independent.2017-09-14.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-05-26.Retrieved2018-01-20.
- ^"EU academics: we want you in the UK and you will not be asked to leave".December 2017.
- ^"To EU nationals like me, the UK is not our 'destination' – it is our home".4 December 2017.
- ^"Endangered Rights: The Impact of Brexit on EU Citizens"(PDF).
- ^"About the EU Citizens' Champion campaign".