Cultural Studies and Humanities Good News January 2022

Beckett Talks

Lisa Taylor along with project artist Catherine Bertola and two guests, appeared on the University’s Beckett Talks podcast to discuss her "Intertwining Threads" project.

Lecturer draws on research carried out by students

Henry Irving gave a Thoresby Society lecture exploring the history of Leeds’ worst air raid. The Thoresby Society was founded in 1889 to foster an interest in the history of Leeds and remains one of the city’s most important champions of local history. Henry’s lecture drew on research carried out by students on the Public History Project module in 2020-21, alongside his own research on civil defence measures. The lecture was given over Zoom and you can watch it here.

Graduate publishes his first monograph

Dr Michael Reeve, Leeds Beckett BA (Hons) English & History graduate and former visiting lecturer in Cultural Studies and Humanities has just published his first academic monograph, Bombardment, Public Safety and Resilience in English Coastal Communities During the First World War. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

This book makes the case for a unique coastal-urban experience of war on the home front during the First World War, focusing on case studies from the north-east of England. The use of case studies from this region problematises an often assumed national or generalised experience of civilian life during the war, by shifting the frame of analysis away from the metropolis. This book begins with chapters related to wartime resilience, including analysis of pre-war fear of invasion and bombardment, and government policy on public safety. It then moves on to a discussion of power relations and the local implementation of policy related to bombardment, including policing. Finally, the book explores the ‘coastal-urban’ environment, focusing on depictions of war damage in popular culture, and the wartime and post-war commemoration of civilian bombardment. This work provides a multi-faceted perspective on civilian resilience, while responding to a recent call for new histories of the ‘coastal zone’.

Recent publications

Profs Jayne Raisborough and Susan Watkins have a recent publication from their interdisciplinary project on age and ageing. Their peer reviewed article in the European journal Cultural Unbound, contributes to the development of Critical Future Studies. CFS argue that diverse and contestable representations of the future are key to its democratisation. Jayne and Susan explore how older and ageing people are imagined as a risk to the future of others, misrepresented or simply not represented at all.

They explain this by arguing that futural imaginations are shaped by contemporary ageism and age-prejudice, arguing that present inequalities can cast a long shadow into the future. Yet, more ambivalent and perhaps hopeful representations exist in Speculative Fiction. The article ends by utilising this potential to claim that an age-aware CFS can not only allow us to imagine new futures but also to reflect critically on the shape and consequences of contemporary modes of relations of power. 

The article can be found here.

Writing Reviews

Emily Zobel Marshall has two reviews on the platform Writer’s Mosaic. Writers Mosaic is an online platform for new writing from a mosaic of literary voices and cultures across the UK that ‘aims to be surprising, magical and moving.’ One of her reviews focuses on the work of Jamaican author and artist Jaqueline Bishop, who was a guest on Emily’s MA module Contemporary Caribbean Writing. Jaqueline ran a creative writing workshop and took part in a Q & A with MA students. 

She also shared her reflections on her latest book The Gift of Music and Song: Interviews with Jamaican Women Writers published by Leeds-based Peepal Tree Press. You can read Emily’s review here.

You can read the full review here.

Poetry

Emily Zobel Marshall shared her poetry at a ‘Nowt But Verse’ event at Leeds Members Library. Emily was Hannah Stone's guest on 19th November and shared her latest poems on mixed heritage identity, tricksters and landscape with an online and live audience. The event was recorded and is available here.

Policy Exchange Network

Leeds Beckett University has recently joined the University Policy Exchange Network (UPEN). The network connects UK universities to enhance the impact of their research on policy through knowledge exchange. Academics in the School have a strong record in this area and Henry Irving was invited to write a blog reflecting on his experiences. His blog surveys existing initiatives and considers how more historical expertise could be brought into policymaking. You can read it here.