Throughout the first semester of the 2025/26 year, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences postgraduate students and staff had the opportunity to visit Fairfield House, the former residence of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, in Weston (Bath).
Fairfield House is a vibrant heritage site, where guided tours allow visitors to learn about the history of Ethiopia’s anti-colonial resistance and the Emperor’s legacy in the present. It is also a dynamic multi-cultural community hub, where various local groups involved in its organisation contribute significantly to Bath’s cultural and social life.
Exploring Bath’s global connections
In October 2025, the organisation welcomed students from our MSc International Development and MRes courses, accompanied by Dr Mihika Chatterjee and Dr Ben Radley. In December, it was the turn of PhD students from the Departments of Education; Politics, Languages and International Studies (PoLIS); and Social & Policy Sciences (SPS), accompanied by Dr Shona McIntosh, Dr Galadriel Ravelli, and Dr Oliver Walton.
The visits were a great chance for the Faculty’s PGT and PGR communities to engage with the Bath local community and discover a different, often hidden, side of its international history and global connections. They were also able to enjoy a delicious vegan Caribbean meal at the end of the historical guided tour.
Throughout the tour, the Emperor’s personal objects and various historical documents brought to life his campaign against Fascist aggression in Ethiopia, set against a European continent on the brink of World War II. The life of the Imperial family in Bath was also reconstructed through the voices and memories of local Bath residents. As noted by one Education PhD student: “Those accounts underscored the role of everyday acts of solidarity in shaping histories that are often told only through formal diplomatic channels.”
With their focus on transnational anti-colonial resistance, pan-African connections, local history, and community insights, the visits to Fairfield House offered students a unique learning experience, eliciting reflections on agency and anti-colonial resistance in the global context. To some students, the visit also encouraged a broader reflection on the interaction between academia and sites like Fairfield House. One reflected: “Scholarship is not merely about generating new theories or knowledge; it should strive to connect real people, lived experiences, and social contexts, and most importantly, raise awareness of certain issues in society and make an impact on it.”
Following the success of the visits, we look forward to organising similar initiatives in the future. University of Bath staff and students interested in the Fairfield House bespoke tours should contact the organisation at info@houseofhismajesty.com