Uncomfortable Oxford C.I.C">Community_interest_company.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Community interest company">C.I.C'' is a social enterprise and tour guide organisation based Oxford, England. Most of their tours are run by post-graduate students belonging to

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Founded in 2018 by Oxford University Doctor of Philosophy, DPhil history students, the goal of the tours was to highlight the history of imperialism, gender and class inequalities within the city. The organisation also creates podcasts, blog articles, runs workshops and outreach programs, and hosts public lectures. In 2022 a second branch was founded in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

called Uncomfortable Cambridge. Then in 2023 a branch in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

was founded called Uncomfortable York.

History

Founding and origin

Uncomfortable Oxford was founded in late 2018 by two history

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

students belonging to the

, Paula Larsson and Olivia Durand, with the goal of highlighting the city's links to imperialism, gender and class inequality. Both students met each other at a Public Engagement with Research Summer School in 2018, led by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). Here they drafted plans for walking tours of Oxford which would raise discussions on imperialism, inequality, and oppression, using tours highlighting the city's built environment. According to Oxford University's Faculty of History, guided walking tours of this nature were rare throughout the UK and had never before been given in Oxford, though similar tours existed in Bristol, London, and Liverpool.

First walking tour

The first Uncomfortable Oxford tours were given the city's ''Ideas Festival in 2018'', wherein 300 people took in the guided walking tours featuring landmarks with connections to colonialism such as The Codrington Library,

Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is Listed building#En ...

, Oriel College's statue of

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded th ...

, the Tirah Memorial in Bonn Square, the

Weston Library The Weston Library is part of the Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, reopened within the former New Bodleian Library building on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road in central Oxford, England. Hi ...

, and the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the univers ...

. These tours involved over 300 people and raised £750 in tips, all of which was donated to a local charity called Homeless Oxfordshire.

Further activity

Uncomfortable Oxford tours were used as course material for the "Oxford-UNISA Decolonising Research Methodologies" teaching course, involving DPhil/PhD students from Oxford University and 10 African universities.

Oxford city tours

Uncomfortable Oxford holds various tours in addition to seasonal and specialist events, though the themes and routes change regularly. Examples of the tours offered by Uncomfortable Oxford include; * ''The Uncomfortable Oxford Tour'' - An introduction to Oxford's historical legacies of inequality, violence, and imperialism, including war memorials, statues, and discussions on the politics of memorialisation. * ''The Oxford and Empire Tour'' - Highlights links between

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

and Oxford University, including how the university helped facilitate the expansion of the British Empire. * ''Follow the Money -'' Covers ethical debates concerning the funding sources of Oxford's academic institutions. * ''Uncomfortable Literature -'' Focuses on Oxford's publishing and literature history as well as highlighting authors history has overlooked due to their gender, race or nationality. * ''Uncomfortable Ashmolean Tour'' - A tour which takes place within Oxford University's

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

, which question the narratives of museum displays. Due to the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Uncomfortable Oxford began hosting online tours. This was done using video meetings and 360 camera angles of Oxford landmarks to illustrate their subjects.

Other activities

Though guided walking tours of Oxford are the central focus of Uncomfortable Oxford's activities, the organisation has branched out into projects involving podcasts, hosting history lectures, and has a run a number of workshops and outreach programs. Following protests in 2020 triggered by the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

, Uncomfortable Oxford published series of articles on statues and their legacies. In 2020 researchers from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

used Uncomfortable Oxford tours as a model in a study on decolonisation in school curriculums.

Collaborations with Oxford institutions

Uncomfortable Oxford has conducted numerous collaborations with a large number of Oxford institutions including;

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

, Project SOUP, Branch Up xford Hub

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

, the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, Experience Oxfordshire, the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, the Department of Geography, and the Welcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities. The

sponsored Uncomfortable Oxford tours of their museum. In late 2020 Uncomfortable Oxford started to conduct collaborations with the

Museum of Modern Art, Oxford Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. The gallery presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It has a national and international ...

to highlight the work of female anthropologists who had worked within Oxford.

Reception

In 2019 ''The Oxford Student'' gave a positive review, remarking the tours were a rewarding experience despite the solemn atmosphere, before giving a second positive review in 2022. In 2020 ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' gave a review of Uncomfortable Oxford highlighting how open discussions were built into the design of Uncomfortable Oxford tours. In 2024 ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' listed Uncomfortable Oxford in their guide to exploring Oxford and the university. According to the

Times of Malta The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Malta. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circu ...

, over 20,000 people had participated in Uncomfortable Oxford walking tours between 2018-2023. In 2020, researchers at

Cumberland Lodge Cumberland Lodge is a 17th-century Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. Since 1947 it has been occupied by the charitable foundation known as Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity and social ...

recommended to teachers that Uncomfortable Oxford's tours could be used as supplementary educational material. Scholar of women's studies, Claire McCann, wrote that her time in Oxford had been enhanced by her participation in an Uncomfortable Oxford tour. According to researchers from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, Uncomfortable Oxford partially sprang from the failure of the

Rhodes Must Fall Rhodes Must Fall was a protest Social movement, movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates Cecil Rhodes. The campaign for the statue's removal received glob ...

movement to remove Oriel College's statue of

. In 2023 the Oxford University student newspaper ''Cherwell'' gave a glowing review of Uncomfortable Oxford tours, saying that the organisation "leads fantastic tours around the university, seeking to generate discussions about racial inequality, gender and class discrimination, and the university's Imperial legacy." That same year, following an invitation from Uncomfortable York, the student newspaper ''

York Vision ''York Vision'' (previously known as ''yorkVision'' and ''York Student Vision'') is one of two student newspapers at the University of York. Vision is a registered society of, and is funded by, the University of York Students' Union (York SU ...

'' gave a positive review of one of their tours, describing the experience as "an immensely thought-provoking and educational experience."

Awards

In 2019 Uncomfortable Oxford received a High Commendation from the Oxford University Vice Chancellor's Social Impact Awards for "exceptional achievement and commitment to positive social change", for which it was awarded with funding from the AHRC-TORCH which was awarded by The Oxford Centre for the Research in the Humanities.

Sister branches

Cambridge (2022)

In April 2022 a new branch of Uncomfortable Oxford was founded in the English city of

under the name Uncomfortable Cambridge, and was launched alongside Cambridge Festival. The first batch of tours were free entry, with guests being encouraged to instead donate to a homeless charity called Jimmy's Cambridge.

York (2023)

In May 2023 another branch was founded in

, England, with support from both the Rowntree Society and the University of York's Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP).

References

External links

* * {{official website, https://www.oxfordmagictours.com// 2018 establishments in England Tourism in Oxford Tour guides of the United Kingdom Companies based in Oxford