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Cultural Studies and Humanities Good News - November 2020
The latest good news from the School of Cultural Studies & Humanities in November 2020.
Lecturer features on docu-series
Dan Kilvington featured in the ‘Coming in From the Cold’ docu-series from Talk Sport. The series explores the history of black footballers in the ‘beautiful game’, from Arthur Wharton through to Raheem Sterling. Across 6 episodes it moves from early beginnings and overt racism, right through to the present day and systemic and online racism. Dan featured in episode 5 and discussed players’ use of social media in challenging racism and abuse.
Dan also featured on the Times Radio breakfast show with Jenny Kleeman and Luke Jones. He was asked to respond to former FA Chairman Greg Clarke’s stereotypical comments relating to British South Asians and football. Dan outlined why Clarke’s views were damaging, summarised his research findings and illustrated a number of ways in which inclusion in football can be achieved. The interview can be accessed here, at 2:46:16: The Radio Interview.
And, on 18 November, Dan published his thoughts on British South Asians in football with The Conversation. To read the article, ‘Football Must Stop Blaming British South Asian Communities for Under-representations’, click here: https://theconversation.com/football-must-stop-blaming-british-south-asian-communities-for-under-representation-150225.
Lecturer invited to write a blog and deliver online presentation externally
Emily Zobel Marshall was invited to write a blog post on Caribbean Carnival Cultures and social justice for the Arts Council. You can read ‘There is More to Carnival Than Meets the Eye: Carnival, Resistance and Social Justice’ here.
Emily was also invited to deliver an online presentation followed by a Q & A on the history of colonialism for Touchstone, the charity supporting vulnerable people, and the mental health charity Leeds Mind:
‘This year, Touchstone and Leeds Mind have come together to honour the achievements and sacrifices of people who came to our shores to build a better, more tolerant Britain but also to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.'
Academics Involvement in the Leeds City Council Statues Review
Lecturer produces podcast with Booker Prize-winning author
Lecturer co-author of a chapter on the recruitment of volunteers into Second Wold War
Dr Henry Irving is the co-author of a chapter on the recruitment of volunteers into Second World War civil defence services in a new edited collection.
The chapter explores the various motives of the almost 2 million people who joined
Britain’s civil defence services, considering the formal and informal mechanisms that shaped their decision.
The book was published on 20 November, but the chapter’s findings have already informed Henry’s Public History Project module, which explores those caught up in the ‘Leeds Blitz’ of March 1941.
Journal article success
On 23 November, Dan Kilvington published a journal article, ‘The Virtual Stages of Hate: Using Goffman’s Work to Conceptualise the Motivations for Online Hate’. This open access article, published in Media, Culture & Society, can be read here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0163443720972318 This article accompanies his TEDx Talk and further develops his theoretical model regarding the motivational factors encouraging online hate-speech.
MA Social History Student Conference success
Henry Irving hosted a truly impressive MA Social History Student Conference on Nov. 25th. The conference – on the theme of ‘War and Social History’ – is a core component of the module Researching Cultures. Usually taking place in person, this year’s conference shifted to an online format, with a mixture of pre-recorded and live research papers delivered over Teams. The event was well attended by both staff and research students.
The 11 student presenters all did a wonderful job with papers on topics including morale on the Home Front, gay relationships among soldiers, and the segregation of African American troops in the Second World War, among many others. It was impressive to see how well the MA students have adapted to working online this year.
The conference was supported by research students who attended, asked excellent questions, and chaired sessions. Heritage Consortium funded PhD student Greg Judges delivered a keynote address on the use of big data as evidence of the public's relationship with war museums. The organisers would like to thank all of the speakers, chairs and members of the audience for making the event such a success.
Lecturer's book subject to ten part review
Dr James McGrath’s book Naming Adult Autism: Culture, Science, Identity is the subject of a new ten-part review on YouTube by podcaster Autism’s Individual: Naming Adult Autism review, James McGrath - YouTube
Journal success
Lisa Taylor, Jayne Raisborough and Katherine Harrison with their research assistant Shelly Dulson, have had their empirical research on online exercise classes published in International Journal for the Sociology of Leisure.
The project was a rapid response to Lockdown and involved an evaluation of the shift from studio classes to online for the business owner of an exercise studio in North Yorks. We generated recommendations for post-lockdown delivery and pricing models, which were taken up, leading to a testimonial of impact for our impact case study. Thanks to Adele Jackson for helping design the survey monkey questionnaire and to the School, particularly Ruth, in supporting us with QR funds. Without this help it would have been impossible to start an empirical project in June and have it published in December!
