The School of Cultural Studies and Humanities Good News - May 2021

Lecturers present at CLT Spring Forum

Jessica Van Horssen and Gaspard Pelurson both presented at the CLT Spring Forum focusing on Gameful Approaches in Teaching and Learning. They discussed how they implemented video games in their lectures, highlighting the value of video games as cultural products and the great impact it has on students. They also explained how Twine2, a free narrative game software, could be used as an assessment tool, and help students develop their creative and coding skills. 
The Forum was very well attended and constituted a great opportunity to showcase the forward-thinking approach of our school. You will also be able to hear short interviews with Jessica, Gaspard and other presenters of the forum in the “Gameful Approaches Presenters Podcast”.

Future Leaders Fellowships

Dr Shane Ewen has been appointed as a member of the Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) Peer Review College (PRC), covering History.

Lecturer contributes to expert commentary to a podcast

Dr Kelly Hignett recently contributed expert commentary to a podcast produced by Australia’s ABC Radio National. The podcast, part of a series called ‘An Object in Time’ which explores everyday objects in history, focused on the notorious Cold War assassination of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in 1978. Markov, who was working as a journalist and broadcaster in London following his defection from communist Bulgaria, was murdered by Bulgarian security agents using a poison-tipped umbrella. 

Podcast guests: 
Dimiter Kenarov, Bulgarian journalist
Dr Kelly Hignett, Senior lecturer in history at Leeds Beckett University
Kyle Wilson, visiting fellow at the Australian National University’s Centre for European Studies
Dr Robert Hovarth, senior lecturer in Politics at LaTrobe University 
Presenter: Sarah Percy
Producer: Edwina Stott 
Duration: 28min 35sec  
Broadcast: Tue 4 May 2021, 11:05am 

Listen to the podcast here.

Lecturer invited to a research project on representing dementia

Professor Jayne Raisborough has been invited to the 'representing dementia' research project hosted at Liverpool University. This interdisciplinary, collaborative research project allows Jayne to extend her work on stigma, health, and representations.  The project combines theoretical explorations of representation, visibility and voice, empirical work, and recommendations for media professionals.  

Article success

Dr Helen Dampier has had her article “‘Undoubtedly Love Letters’? Olive Schreiner’s Letters to Karl Pearson” published in Literature & History (Volume 30, Issue 1), and it is available here. The article draws on Helen's research on Schreiner's letters, and considers how a particular subset of these have been read by scholars. It argues for these interpretations to be reconsidered in light of more recent ideas about 'performative identity-formation' (Simon-Martin, 2013) in letters. 

Latest Forged by Fire project article

Dr Shane Ewen and Dr Aaron Andrew’s latest article for the Forged by Fire project, "The media, affect, and community in a decade of disasters: reporting the 1985 Bradford City stadium fire", has been published in the latest issue of Contemporary British History. The Open Access article is available here.

Published Poem

Dr Emily Zobel Marshall has had a poem entitled ‘Anansi Mothers’ published in the latest 35th edition of The Caribbean Writer literary journal. The editor writes: 
Since the passing of our editorial advisory board member Edward Kamau Brathwaite, on February 4, 2020, across the diaspora, outpourings of gratitude, lyricized in readings, musings and other tributes continue. With this 35th anniversary edition, themed: Diasporic Rhythms: Interrogating the Past Imagining a Future, The Caribbean Writer (TCW) adds to the voices raised in praise of Brathwaite’s experimental linguistic, culturally probing thought, literary style and legacy. 

Emily has also been invited to judge the new Morley Prize for unpublished writers of colour.
The annual prize will award £500 to a previously unpublished author and is intended to nurture and provide opportunities for aspiring novelists, promote diverse fiction across the broader literary landscape of Britain.
You can find out more here.