The book that accompanies Helen Minnis’ impactful Swarthmore Lecture given at Britain Yearly Meeting 2022 is now available to order. It includes Helen’s lecture and the lead-up and response to the lecture, as Helen engaged Quakers in workshops to discuss issues it raised. Drawing on her experience as a scientist, a Quaker, and a Black woman, Perceiving the Temperature of the Water is an invaluable read in informing the ongoing conversation within Britain Yearly Meeting, and among Quakers worldwide, about becoming an anti-racist church and what that means.
As well as exploring the content itself, the book includes material to help readers and those wanting to run groups engage with this work further. Helen and Woodbrooke timed the book to come out after the lecture to capture the thoughts and feelings following her lecture to inform these materials.
The book, which is produced by Woodbrooke with support from Morse-Brown Design, is available to pre-order from the Quaker Centre Bookshop and will be available from the 12th of December. Orders placed after 4pm on the 15th of December will be dispatched in January 2023.
Pre-order the 2022 Swarthmore Lecture book
Swarthmore Lecture 2022 Resources
- The Swarthmore Lecture is funded and organised by Woodbrooke, an international Quaker learning and research organisation.
- Helen is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. She has had a longstanding clinical and research focus on the psychiatric problems of abused and neglected children. Helen has over 120 published articles and as well as being Professor at the University of Glasgow, has collaborated with colleagues at King’s College London, the Universities of Aalborg and Aarhus in Denmark, and the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden. Her recent TEDx talk at Glasgow was on the theme of “Leading by admitting you don’t know.” Helen is an Elder at Glasgow Quaker Meeting and has been involved in contributing to Britain Yearly Meeting’s consideration of power, privilege, and anti-racism – including speaking at Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021, West Scotland Area Meeting, and at the Northern Young Friends’ Summer Shindig in 2020 alongside her daughter. She has a longstanding involvement in Glasgow Children’s Meeting, particularly supporting theatrical/musical ministry of young people – something that reflects her own experience with the Leaveners. Helen is a member of the Quaker Black, Brown, and People of Colour Fellowship.
