Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Your rhubarb stories wanted!
The research team, led by Dr Lynne Hibberd, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, along with colleagues Dr Casey Orr, Dr Zoë Thompson and Gabby Riches, is looking at rhubarb as central to Yorkshire identity. The Rhubarb Triangle is known throughout the world, bringing people to Yorkshire looking for work and exporting rhubarb out to the farthest parts of the globe.
Speaking about the research, Dr Hibberd commented: “The growth of rhubarb is reliant on the geographical and geological specificities of the Yorkshire landscape. It has played a crucial role for families living and working in the ‘industrial north’. But with the demise of the coal mining industries, where does the future of rhubarb lie?
“Our theory is that rhubarb plays a role in Yorkshire that it doesn’t anywhere else in the world; so every person in Yorkshire has a tale to tell about rhubarb.
“Maybe you moved here because of the work that rhubarb provides, you grow it in your own back yard, or you’ve given up trying to dig the stuff up? We’ll be wandering the streets of Wakefield next weekend asking for your rhubarb ramblings. Weird or whacky, sweet or sour, tender or tough, we want to hear from you.”
The rhubarb research is part of a wider project from the team, exploring how we make sense of our world – whether it’s through regional identities, daily habits, homemaking practices, music choices or gardening preferences. How do we articulate who we are and what we’re about? How do we use the media to help us express ourselves, move around areas, connect with people and create?
Please share your story your rhubarb stories by emailing the team at rhubarb@leedsbeckett.ac.uk