Cultural Studies and Humanities Good News September

Conferences

Robert Burroughs, Caroline Herbert and Emily Zobel Marshall delivered a panel discussion on ‘Teaching Postcolonialism Today: Contemporary Challenges’ at the English: Shared Futures conference in Manchester on 8th July. 

They explored the creative-critical interface through changing forms of assessment; promoting local black history through out-of-classroom learning experiences; rethinking reading lists outside of postcolonial modules to incorporate black and British Asian voices and challenging generalising or belittling understandings of the colonial past. They ended with a discussion with participants exploring how to move beyond ‘postcolonial’ frameworks teaching twenty-first century texts.  

Emily Zobel Marshall was also invited to deliver her keynote lecture entitled ‘Mas Intersections: Women in Carnival’ at The 9th International Conference on Carnival Arts and Cultures at Oxford Brookes University on Friday 1 July. 

Emily Zobel Marshall also took part in the Plenary Session at the conference entitled ‘Walks Through Colonial Britain’
with Professor Corinne Fowler (Leicester) and Historian Raj Pal. Emily shared her poetry, which explored her relationship to the rural spaces, and they discussed Corinne’s forthcoming book for Penguin called The Countryside: Ten Walks Through Colonial Britain. 

Emily Zobel Marshall also ran a successful international Women in Carnival Conference at the Rose Bowl on 31st August. The event was run in partnership with The University of California, Santa Barbara and entitled Women in carnival: Joy, labour and play. It was a dynamic, interdisciplinary symposium exploring how women (inclusive of anyone who identifies as a woman) use carnival as a platform for tackling gender politics across the Caribbean and its diasporas and the world of women who make mas. This was the last in a series of three international workshops (Trinidad, Feb 2022, California, May 2022) examining the role of women and carnival – based on a successful AHRC research networking bid and led by Emily, Cathy Thomas (UCSB) and Adeola Dewis as a critical friend.

The event was hybrid and recorded with both in-person and online participants from around the world. It also included an art exhibition, a theatre performance and a dance workshop. Dr. Kim Vaz-Deville, who attended from New Orleans and presented on the baby dolls of Madi Gras said: 

‘The symposium was so thoughtfully organized that students, faculty and scholars from around the world will benefit from the work you, Cathy, and Adeola have undertaken. It was an honour and privilege to present. I look forward to further discussions.’ Dance Choreographer and performing artist tweeted that she ‘really enjoyed this event, very informative, learned a lot and met good creative professionals that are as passionate as myself for people to strive and keep Caribbean carnival alive and to also interact with new arrivals and different categories. Thank you’.

Poetry

Emily Zobel Marshall’s first collection of poetry has been contracted by Peepal Tree Press. Bath of Herbs will be published in July 2023. It is described by Peepal Tree Press as a collection of poems which ‘deals frankly with the fragilities of life, but link the whole as an engagement with the possibilities of healing: as in the bath of herbs in which her grandmother bathed her mother after giving birth; in the physicality of running and purificatory swimming in a river; in the care a hospital gives to her child and in the healing power of the natural world.’