Lives & Letters Mailing: March-April 2021
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to another Lives & Letters Mailing. This month’s mailing contains information about:
1. Whites Writing Whiteness: Project News
– From the Blog: The hand of Cronwright-Schreiner
– From the Blog: The beautiful ampersand
– From the Blog: Unlocking the past?
– From the Blog: Writing/speaking
– From the Blog: Writing to order
2. The Epistolary Research Network Second [online] Conference (5/1/2021; 10/1-2/2021) Virtual. Call for Papers.
3. Lecture on decolonising critique by Ana Dinerstein
4. PhD Studentship – Other lives of the image: examining the meanings of an apartheid-era collection of photographs in South Africa today
5. [FQS] 22(1) online
6. Virtual Conference: Stories of Change, Stories for Change
7. From the British Library: Visit Unfinished Business exhibit from home
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A reminder! South African War & other Memorials
A WWW-linked website concerned with monuments and memorials, including black counter-memorialisation, is now up and running. Take a look, at https://www.sawarmemorials.ed.ac.uk
1. Whites Writing Whiteness: Project News
From the Blog: The hand of Cronwright-Schreiner
Something interesting about one of Olive Schreiner’s letters has cropped up, courtesy of a very helpful researcher working on the Gilbert Murray papers in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK. The Murray collection holds a typescript copy of one of Schreiner’s letters, which is in part about Murray rather than addressed to him. The recipient was Schreiner’s friend, Caroline Rhys Davids, and the letter is dated 13 April 1913. To read more about issued with this letter, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/the-hand-of-cronwright-schreiner/
From the Blog: The beautiful ampersand
Language is the liquidity through which we communicate, and over time it changes. Usages overlap in and between the spoken and the written. And some of which usages become fixed, or at least fixed for a time. One such change concerns the ampersand. To read on, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/beautiful-ampersand/
From the Blog: Unlocking the past?
In past times, when they wrote letters, people devised various means of sending them so that the name and address of the person they were sent to could be easily seen, while their contents were protected from being read by other people.
Such letters have recently come into the news in a big way, with publicity given to a box of 577 such letters that were delivered to The Hague in the Netherlands between 1689 and 1706, lost sight of, and eventually found in a trunk of undelivered mail. This was acquired by the Museum voor Communicatie in The Hague in 1926. The letters in the trunk have been worked on recently by a group of researchers known as the Unlocking History Research Group. To read more about this, and also read a transcribed and translated letter from the project, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/unlocking-the-past/
From the Blog: Writing/speaking
So-called literate cultures depend on the oral almost as much as those that are pre- or non-literate. Writing is a representational system to facilitate communication, and communication already (before any writing is done) occurs in a diversity of ways. Thinking about this from the viewpoint of present-day writing and considering in what ways and to what extent the written is imbricated with the oral is instructive. To read more, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/writing-speaking/
From the Blog: Writing to order
Much of the correspondence and other paper-work (orders, bills and ledgers) to be found in the remaining papers from the Emagusheni trading station (now in the far east of the Eastern Cape, then in the eastern area of the independent polity of Pondoland) can be summarised as ‘writing to order’, in being concerned with the ordering of goods, recording sales, making or chasing payments and so on. At a distance, there were people who wanted to order goods from warehouses (such as Randles Bros in Durban) in order to sell them locally; and there were other people at a remove also (in the area around the trading station), who wanted to purchase the same goods and used the trading station as their intermediary. ‘What has this to do with whiteness?’, readers might be asking. To find out, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/writing-to-order/
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2. The Epistolary Research Network Second Conference (5/1/2021; 10/1-2/2021) Virtual
The Epistolary Research Network (TERN) is pleased to announce its second conference, to be held October 1-2, 2021. This virtual conference seeks papers from scholars everywhere who have an interest in letters and correspondence throughout history.
For thousands of years, in every region of the globe, letters brought people together when physical distance separated them. From princes to prisoners, letters could offer reports across time and distance – greetings and farewells, news from distant friends, consolation in times of anxiety, triumph against rivals, submission to fate. TERN is holding a virtual meeting to explore this aspect of letters and letter-writing in the broadest possible sense, across a range of disciplines and times. Who wrote letters? To whom, and for what reason? What did they discuss? What light do they shed on the human condition, and how are they different from simple conversation?
We seek papers to be read (approximate length, 20 minutes) and discussed at an online conference. We welcome proposals from anyone with an interest in letters and letter-writing, from graduate students to emeritus professors. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:
- immigrants and emigrants keeping in touch with family
- the significance of correspondence in different historical periods
- forms of composition and their evolution
- email, Twitter, and Facebook in literary perspective
- letters meant for publication vs. private missives
Proposals (maximum 250 words) and a one-page c.v. should be sent to ternetwork@hotmail.com. Deadline is May 1, 2021. The conference language will be English. Publication of selected papers will be arranged following the conference.
https://journals.tdl.org/jes/index.php/jes/announcement/view/4
And for the Journal of Epistolary Studies website: https://journals.tdl.org/jes/index.php/jes/index
International Auto/Biography Association Worldwide
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/iaba/home
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3. Lecture on decolonising critique by Ana Dinerstein
Decolonising Critique. Reconnecting critical theory with radical praxis.
Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, Reader in Sociology at the University of Bath (UK), is presenting CURA’s Annual Lecture entitled Decolonising Critique. Reconnecting critical theory with radical praxis today. Ana’s research on ‘global politics of hope’ connects Bloch’s philosophy of hope with social and grassroots movements’ autonomous praxis. During the Lecture, Ana will address what she describes as an ‘epistemological disconnect’ between contemporary radical praxis and critical theory. Ana will further suggest that grassroots alternatives are ‘critical affirmations’ that embody a sophisticated form of negation: the defense of life amidst a planetary destruction.
Abstract:
Does critical theory belong with transformative struggles today? In this Lecture I suggest that present grassroot resistance and organising processes around the social reproduction of human and non-human life on the planet have become the ‘site’ of the renewal of both radical praxis and critical theory. On the one hand, grassroots movements, collectives, and communities have freed utopia from party politics’ ideological prison and, by exploring alternative ways of doing and living, they are opening new political possibilities and horizons beyond capital and crisis. On the other hand, neo-Adornian- critical theorists find difficult to understand how the creation of transformative alternatives at the grassroots is ‘critical’ of the world of capital, for they regard these collective actions as ‘positive praxis’ that contradicts the need to negate as a principle of critique. By engaging with Ernst Bloch’s principle of hope, I address this ‘epistemological disconnect’ between contemporary radical praxis and critical theory and suggest that grassroots alternatives are ‘critical affirmations’ that embody a sophisticated form of negation: the defense of life amidst a planetary destruction. This alternative understanding of radical praxis requires decolonising critical theory to connect with other philosophies and cosmologies towards a critical theory of hope.
About Ana Cecilia Dinerstein:
Ana Cecilia Dinerstein teaches sociology and critical, feminist and decolonial theory at the University of Bath (UK). Her research on ‘global politics of hope’ connects Bloch’s philosophy of hope with social and grassroots movements’ autonomous praxis. She is a member of the core group of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, and funder and convenor of Women on the Verge, the Standing Seminar in Critical theory and the Decolonizing Knowledge hub. Her publications include The Labour Debate (co-editor, Routledge, 2002), The Politics of Autonomy in Latin America: The Art of Organising Hope (Palgrave Macmillan 2015), Social Sciences for An Other Politics: Women Theorising without Parachutes (Palgrave Macmillan, editor, 2016); Open Marxism 4; Against a Closing World (Pluto Press, editor, 2019) and World Beyond Work? Labour, Money and the Capitalist State between Crisis and Utopia (Emerald, co-author, 2021). Her books Planet Hope. The San Francisco Lectures (Kairos, PM) and Decolonising Marxism (Pluto Press) are forthcoming in 2022. For more information abour Ana’s work visit https://www.anaceciliadinerstein.com.
About the Centre for Urban Research on Austerity:
The Centre for Urban Research on Austerity (CURA) is a prominent part of De Montfort University’s research community. CURA explores the impacts of austerity, retrenchment, neoliberalisation and anti-neoliberal resistance on global urban living. With our national and international collaborators, we seek to do research that contributes to a radically new egalitarian policy landscape, enabling and empowering grassroots democratic participation, and giving a voice to those currently marginalised and dispossessed. We aim to lead debates and develop egalitarian responses to the intersecting inequalities in global urban contexts.
To find out more about CURA download a brochure here or visit cura.our.dmu.ac.uk.
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4. PhD Studentship – Other lives of the image: examining the meanings of an apartheid-era collection of photographs in South Africa today
Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD jointly hosted by the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and University of Brighton. The project will examine the ways in which a collection of apartheid-era photographs from South Africa held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, can be of value to South African and British audiences today. The photographs, taken by Bryan Heseltine and his aunt Irene Heseltine in the 1940s and early 1950s, are of particular importance to the visual history of South Africa. The research will establish a comprehensive digital research catalogue for the collections and use this as the basis for fieldwork in South Africa. Fieldwork will consist of local exhibitions, reception analysis, interviews, and historical research, to critically examine the range of meanings and uses for such historical imagery in the region.
The studentship start date is 1 October 2021.
Further details and how to apply can be found at: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/postgraduate-research-degrees/funding-opportunities-and-studentships/2021-ahrc-cdp-other-lives.aspx
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship at the University of Brighton
The deadline for applications is: Monday 12 April 2021 (16.00)
If you have any questions about the project, please contact: Professor Darren Newbury (d.m.newbury@brighton.ac.uk) or Dr Christopher Morton (christopher.morton@prm.ox.ac.uk).
The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums Collaborative Doctoral Partnership.
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5. FQS] 22(1) online
Dear All,
I would like to inform you that FQS 22(1) is available online (see https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/issue/view/70 for the current issue and https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/issue/archive for former issues). Besides a collection of single contributions, the issue provides articles belonging to FQS Interviews and FQS Reviews. All in all, 26 authors from 7 countries contributed to FQS 22(1).
Enjoy reading, stay safe!
Ps: FQS is an open-access journal, so all articles are available free of
charge. This newsletter is sent to 22.339 registered readers.
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FQS – Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research (ISSN 1438-5627)
https://www.qualitative-research.net/
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6. Virtual Conference: Stories of Change, Stories for Change
The International Auto/Biography Association, Chapter of the Americas
5th Biennial Conference: October 1, 2021
VIRTUAL
Co-conveners: Laura Beard, Ricia Chansky, Eva Karpinski, and Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle
Abstracts are invited for the 2021 International Auto/Biography Association Chapter of the Americas 5th biennial conference, “Stories of Change, Stories for Change.” This virtual conference is hosted by the University of Alberta and co-sponsored by the University of Alberta Faculty of Arts’ Signature Area on Stories of Change.
How do we use narrative to act for change on both personal and communal levels? As we navigate these early years of the twenty-first century what are some of the ways in which we parse through our lives by structuring them as stories? How have we historically crafted stories that enact/ed change? In what ways do our stories chronicle change or even act as change? And how does the circulation of our life stories enact change on local and global levels?
The co-conveners invite lightning papers (5 minutes) on any aspects of the power of stories in our lives. We understand stories broadly, thinking of the larger stories of our cultures and the individual stories of our daily lives. What is your story of change? What is your story for change?
Potential subjects include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Storytelling in/as social activism and social justice
- Storytelling and sharing as community building and acts of belonging
- Memory (and its fallibility) in stories of/for change, including collective memory, testimony, testimonio
- Erasure and silencing in stories and storytelling as undermining erasure and silencing
- Embodied stories of/for change
- Stories of migration, diaspora, refugees, resettlement, and citizenship
- Decolonizing lives through storytelling
- Bearing witness through storytelling
- Telling stories of illness, mortality, disaster, and crisis
- Storytelling in/through archives, genealogy, and genetics
- Narrative facilitators — who collect, translate, edit, anthologize, curate and otherwise facilitate the circulation of stories of/for change
- Stories as objects of collecting and objects that tell stories
- How are stories moving through modality, medium, and genre and for what purpose
Please submit a 150 word abstract for a 5 minute paper and a brief biographical statement by May 15th, 2021. Abstracts must be submitted through the conference website: www.iabaa2021.ca. We expect to notify applicants by June 15, 2021. Inquiries are welcome at iabaa2021@gmail.com
We ask that abstracts be submitted in English or in English and a second language; however, we will assist with arranging translation for scholars who would like to present their papers in Spanish, Portuguese, or French. Please indicate in your abstract submission whether you will need assistance with translation of your paper.
The conference organizers gratefully acknowledge the support of the Kule Institute of Advanced Study, the Arts Resource Centre, the Department of Modern Languages & Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta, and a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.
At the University of Alberta, we acknowledge that we are located on Treaty 6 and Métis territory. These lands are and have been a traditional gathering place for many Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/ Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many others whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant community.
International Auto/Biography Association Worldwide
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/iaba/home
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7. From the British Library: Visit Unfinished Business exhibit from home
Our Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights exhibition celebrates the activists who have fought creatively and courageously to make the world a fairer place for everyone. Although our doors may be closed for the time being, we still want to share the most inspiring, often surprising, stories from the exhibition with you, through a new series of videos.
From smashed scales to fireworks, each object in the exhibition has a different story to tell. When planning the exhibition, we worked closely with a whole host of experts and activists to ensure the voices of the women behind each object were represented in a way that honoured their unique histories.
In this new, eight minute video, filmed last year, meet two of those experts: Gabby Edlin, founder of charity Bloody Good Period, and Debbie Challis, the Education and Outreach Officer at LSE Library. Together they will introduce you to three objects featured in the Body section of the exhibition, and discuss why they feel topics such as menstrual equity and reproductive justice remain unfinished business for women living in the UK today: Watch now
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Last updated: 2 April 2021
