Lives & Letters Mailing: September 2020
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to another Lives & Letters Mailing. This month’s mailing contains information about:
1. Whites Writing Whiteness: Project News
– New! Google Analytics Report: January-June 2020
– From the Blog: The Vindolanda letters
– From the Blog: A new Olive Schreiner publication?
– From the Blog: Three recent publications now available!
– From the Blog: Decide about the wagons, send the shears, the wretched Britons…
– From the Blog: Outage at Vindolanda
2. a/b: Auto/Biography Studies Autumn 2020 issue (35.3) “The Textualities of the Auto/biogrAfrical”
3. British Library reopening: upcoming events
4. ISEB Professional Development Webinars–Life Writing Methodologies in 2020: Writing and Sharing our Lived Experiences (10/1/2020)
5. Teaching Life Writing: a conference on nonfiction and pedagogy
6. Postgraduate Associate Certificate in Narrative Research by Distance Learning, 2020-2021 (30 UK Masters credits)
7. CFP: Virtual Conference: Routledge, YouTube, University of Manchester
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A reminder! South African War & other Memorials
A new, WWW-linked website is now up and running. Go to https://www.sawarmemorials.ed.ac.uk
1. Whites Writing Whiteness: Project News
There are six items of project news to report on:
New! Google Analytics Report: January-June 2020
The coronavirus pandemic world-wide has obviously had many profound effects. This has included the shutting of libraries, reading rooms and other places of documentary research. Such changes have in turn placed greater significance on digital research and supporting analytical resources of the kind found on the Whites Writing Whiteness website. Giving evidence to this view, the WWW website has seen a marked general increase in user traffic and an increase in in-depth use, as itemised in this report, which covers the first four months in which the pandemic had effect. To read the report, please click the following link: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/thehub/google-analytics/jan-jun-2020/
From the Blog: The Vindolanda letters
This blog entry concerns an excerpt from a Vindolanda letter. In this letter, now missing some short sections, a man who was most likely a centurion in charge of some building work at a Roman fort is asking another military officer to make a decision about transporting stone being cut by a detachment of auxiliary legionaries under a century commanded by Vocontius. To read the excerpt and analysis, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/the-vindolanda-letters/
From the Blog: A new Olive Schreiner publication?
Some years ago, when the Olive Schreiner Letters Online project was very much in research mode, all of Schreiner’s magazine and journal publications in so far as possible were traced during a period of concentrated work on British Library collections. One of the possibilities we considered for an ‘unknown Schreiner’ appeared in the March 1896 issue of the Review of Reviews, edited by crusading Christian journalist WT Stead. To read on, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/a-new-schreiner-publication/
From the Blog: Three recent publications now available!
As it says on the tin, visit the blog to read the reference info and abstracts for three of Liz’s recent publications: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/three-recent-publications/
From the Blog: Decide about the wagons, send the shears, the wretched Britons…
These Roman writing tablets from CE 85-130, predominantly but not entirely letters, are fascinating in a host of ways. Their tone and content if not their form are so familiar, it makes time shimmer or rather do that strange thing of intimating that the past, in spite of what ‘they’ say about it being a foreign country, is actually home territory. And their concerns and content are uncannily like that of so many letters by white settlers in South Africa that have been analysed in much WWW project research. To read on, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/vindolanda/
From the Blog: Outage at Vindolanda
Some work on the Roman Vindolanda letters and other documents has resumed with an article in mind. Rome over the period these were written seems to have been an empire of letters, in which governance and rule were expedited through letter-writing of different kinds, a rapid communications technology that gave the Romans a distinct advantage over those they occupied. To read more about this, please visit the blog: https://www.whiteswritingwhiteness.ed.ac.uk/blog/outage-at-vindolanda/
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2. a/b: Auto/Biography Studies Autumn 2020 issue (35.3) “The Textualities of the Auto/biogrAfrical”
The editors of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies are delighted to share that the Autumn 2020 issue (35.3), has now been published digitally: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/raut20/current. Print copies will be mailed within the next month.
This is a special issue on “The Textualities of the Auto/biogrAfrical,” edited by Sally Ann Murray, Fiona Moolla, and Mathilda Slabbert.
TOC
Introduction: “The Textualities of the AutobiogrAfrical” Sally Ann Murray, University of Stellenbosch, Fiona Moolla, University of the Western Cape, and Mathilda Slabbert, University of Stellenbosch
Essay: “Loss and Trauma in Ugandan Girls’ Ex-Child ‘Soldier’ Autobiographical Narratives: The Case of Grace Akallo and China Keitetsi” Florence Ebila, Makerere University, Kampala
Cluster: Life Narratives of African Political Womanhood
“African Political Womanhood in Autobiography: Possible Interpretive Paradigms” Marciana Nafula Were, Stellenbosch University and Tom Mboya University College
“Taboos and Their Subversion: Reconceptualizing the Proper African Woman in Oluremi Obasanjo’s Autobiography Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo” Folasade Hunsu, Obafemi Awolowo University
“The Burden of Representation in the Life Stories of Wambui Waiyaki Otieno and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela” Grace A. Musila, University of the Witwatersrand
The (Critical-Creative) Process
“Bending Bodies, Signing Words: Re-Shaping a Father and a Feminist Practice” Nadia Sanger, Stellenbosch University
“One Moment, Three Bullets, a Lifetime” Gillian Rennie, Rhodes University
Reflection
“Complicating Apartheid Resistance Histories by means of South African Autobiographies” Annie Gagiano, Emerita, Stellenbosch University
Cluster: South Africa
“Rewriting the Colonial Gaze? Black Middle-Class Constructions of Africa in Sihle Khumalo’s Travel Writing” Isaac Ndlovu, University of Venda
“Privacy, Authorship, and Ownership: On Reading André Brink and Ingrid Jonker’s Letters in Flame in the Snow” Louise Viljoen, University of Stellenbosch
“The Matriarchive as Life Knowledge in Es’kia Mphahlele’s African Humanism” Uhuru Portia Phalafala, Stellenbosch University
Cluster: Queering African Lives
“African Queer Autobiographics: Drama, Disclosure, and Pedagogy” Taiwo Tunji Osinubi, University of Western Ontario
“‘I am Berated as a Communist because I Sometimes Wear a Red Tie’: Not Forgetting the Awkward Afrikaner, Dr Petronella ‘Nell’ van Heerden” Christi van der Westhuizen, Nelson Mandela University
Book Reviews
Rev. of Girls, Autobiography, Media: Gender and Self-Mediation in Digital Economies. EMMA MAGUIRE Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Ina C. Seethaler, Coastal Carolina University
Rev. of Witnessing Girlhood: Toward an Intersectional Tradition of Life Writing. LEIGH GILMORE and ELIZABETH MARSHALL Fordham University Press, 2019. Roxanne Harde, University of Alberta
Rev. of Autofiction in English HYWEL DIX, ED. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Alison Gibbons, Sheffield Hallam University
Notes on Contributors
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*
International Auto/Biography Association Worldwide
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/iaba/home
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3. British Library reopening: upcoming events
While we’re preparing to restart our cultural programme onsite we’ve moved this autumn’s events online so you can grab a front row seat wherever you are. Tuck into our brand new Food Season, supported by KitchenAid, for live talks with top chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tom Kerridge. Or journey east with the Jaipur Literature Festival featuring guests Bernardine Evaristo, Asma Khan and William Dalrymple.
Members can book from 1 September, general release on 2 September.
Schedule of events can be found here: https://www.bl.uk/events
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4. ISEB Professional Development Webinars–Life Writing Methodologies in 2020: Writing and Sharing our Lived Experiences (10/1/2020)
The International Society for Educational Biography (ISEB) presents
Professional Development Webinars—
Life Writing Methodologies in 2020: Writing and Sharing our Lived Experiences
The International Society for Educational Biography (ISEB) invites members new and current to its methodological, blended-format webinar. Those who engage in life writing in all its forms (biography, auto/biography or memoir, ethnography or duoethnography, autoethnography or autotheory, life history or life narrative, oral history or family history, testimonio, collective biography or prosopography) are warmly welcomed to participate.
CONFERENCE INFORMATION:
Theme: The year 2020 has proven to be incredibly tumultuous: we live in times which will be written about in historical accounts, archival and biographical. Those who engage in life writing in all its forms are attentive to the impact of current events on all domains of human lives. The International Society of Educational Biography seeks to create a space for those who engage in life writing in all its forms to come together and begin to process the present.
Dates: Methodological papers/presentations will be available for asynchronous review prior to the conference. Two highly interactive synchronous sessions will take place Thursday, October 1 with a virtual social event held after. Please note: attendees may choose to attend any or all of the three sessions as their schedules permit.
Schedule of Synchronous Sessions:
3:30-3:40: Welcome/introduction from ISEB President
3:45-5:15: Session I: Methodological Approaches to Life Writing in the Present: Authors of methodological pieces will be available for synchronous conversation(s) regarding their work.
5:15 – 5:30: Break
5:30 – 7:00: Session II: Life Writing in 2020: Attendees will come together in a moderated conversation regarding methodological issues during this time. Attendees will be asked to prepare any brief statements or questions to be shared with the group at large and, when possible shared/posted in advance.
7:15 – ?: Optional Session: Virtual Social Hour/Meetup: Attendees are welcome to attend a virtual happy hour co-hosted by the ISEB President and President-Elect.
Cost: Attendance is free to all members of ISEB. All attendees must be members of the society by the time of the synchronous session to participate in these. Annual membership is $95 and includes a one-year subscription to the ISEB journal Vitae Scholasticae.
Registration: To register for the conference, click to please join or renew your membership. You can also visit http://isebio.com/our/membership.html
Information: For further questions or concerns please contact Dr. Edward Janak, Edward.janak@utoledo.edu
Technology/host: The webinar will be hosted by the Department of Educational Studies, Judith Herb College of Education, University of Toledo.
*
International Auto/Biography Association Worldwide
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/iaba/home
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5. Teaching Life Writing: a conference on nonfiction and pedagogy
*Organizers: *Julie Rak, Orly Lael Netzer, Amanda Spallacci (University of Alberta, Canada)
*Dates:*December 10-11, 2020
*Keynotes*
Maarit Leskelä-Kärki
University of Turku
Joycelyn Moodie
University of Texas at San Antonio
Anna Poletti
University of Utrecht
*Fee: $5 CD for all participants*
*Description*
Recently, life writing researchers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Australia have been publishing handbooks, collections and special issues of journals on the teaching of life writing, including the collections Kate Douglas and Laurie McNeill’s /Teaching Lives /(2018), Desiree Henderson’s /How to Read a Diary/ (2019), and Dennis Kersten and Anne-Marie Mreijen’s essay cluster for the /European Journal of Life Writing /called “Teaching Life Writing Texts in Europe” (2015). Pedagogical issues in life writing studies have been important at least since Miriam Fuchs’ and Craig Howes’ landmark collection /Teaching Life Writing Texts /(2008). Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson’s /Reading Autobiography /(2010) has an emphasis on pedagogical strategies. In fields beyond life writing, nonfiction and other forms of personal narrative have begun to attract interest as part of teaching, including in education, reading studies, history, and social work. But there has yet to be a conference devoted specifically to thinking about life writing and the work of teaching. It is high time that life writing scholars and those in associated fields come together to think about the developments in the teaching of nonfiction, both from theoretical perspectives and from the practical experiences in the classroom. This conference is an opportunity to do precisely that — to ask what does life writing pedagogy look like now?
In a year of dramatic global events — from the COVID 19 pandemic and the many changes it has brought to our teaching and learning lives, to social and political upheavals taking place around the world — it is imperative that life writing scholars come together to think about teaching and pedagogy in a variety of registers. /Teaching Life Writing/ aims to provide that opportunity in an online “Round the World” conference format that will allow learning, reflection and thinking together across many time zones, over two days.
*Abstract/Bio Submission Date*
September 30, 2020
*Submission Format*
/Two formats/: regular panels with 8 minute papers, loosely keyed to one of the four themes below (you can refer to the subtopics or make your own) OR you can sign up for a roundtable discussion based on one of the four themes (3 minute presentations and then a conversation). You cannot present in both formats.
/Submission: /100 word abstract and 50 word bio for the 8 minute paper option; 50 word abstract and 50 word bio for the roundtable option. Indicate the theme you wish to be part of in your abstract.
/Submission and Registration Portal: /The portal will open August 31, 2020 for registration and submission.
*Conference Themes*
1. Methodology: teaching life writing strategies in the 21st century
- Archives, translation, documentary, interviews, data, life history, autoethnography
- Online or remote teaching environments: challenges
- Teaching diaries, letters and oral history
- Teaching biography
- Neurodiverse teaching and pedagogy for disabled students
- New and classic life writing methods
2. Theory (connected to teaching)
- narrative and structure
- politics
- ethics
- pedagogy
- state of the field past/present
- witnessing
- Genre
- Ephemera
- Medium
- new developments
3. Fields of Knowledge
- Life writing in history, sociology, Indigenous studies, political science
- Creative writing: teaching students how to create an autobiography, biography, or a diary
- New media: teaching digital topics
- Teaching graphic medicine and life writing in the medical humanities
- Graphic medicine
4. Life writing, teaching, social change
- Teaching trauma in life writing
- Life writing and marginalized communities
- Social justice, activism and personal narrative
- Teaching about COVID 19
*Round the World Format*
The conference will be online-only, but keyed to different time zones. You can participate in the conference in your chosen time zone, or just go to as much as you like. There will be gathering opportunities throughout the conference, so that you can meet each other and discuss ideas.
*Contact the Organizers*
If you need more information, please contact *lwconf@ualberta.ca*
<mailto:lwconf@ualberta.ca>
*Sponsors*
HM Tory Chair program, University of Alberta
Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta
Kule Institute for Advanced Studies (KIAS)
*
International Auto/Biography Association Worldwide
https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/iaba/home
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6. Postgraduate Associate Certificate in Narrative Research by Distance Learning, 2020-2021 (30 UK Masters credits)
Centre for Narrative Research, University of East London
Postgraduate Associate Certificate (30 Masters credits) 2020-21:
Narrative Research by Distance Learning
Narrative Research: September 2020-January 2021. Course code: SC7301
Distance learning, online tutorials, group e-meetings. 30 Masters credits
The Postgraduate Associate Certificate in Narrative Research by Distance Learning at the Centre for Narrative Research, University of East London, is a unique interdisciplinary programme, drawing on social sciences and the humanities to provide graduate-level education in narrative theories and methods. gives students experience in the application of narrative concepts and analysis to particular fields. In addition, the programme develops more general skills of review, criticism, and team and individual research, all within the context of narrative research.
The short course programme provides 30 UK postgraduate Masters (Level 7) credits. It can be taken singly or in combination, alongside other UEL Masters’ level modules. The module is suitable for participants from many disciplinary backgrounds. Participants take it as part of Masters programmes, as part of PhD training, as skills development for research in applied and community settings, and in order to expand their methodological range as academic researchers.
This module provides students with an overview of the range of narrative research methodologies. Beginning with an exploration of the meaning of narrative, the module outlines Labovian methods, biographical methods and context-oriented methods. It then considers three key fields of narrative research: oral, personal narratives; written narratives (including autobiographies and letters); visual narratives; digital narratives; and process or activity narratives. Through a range of theoretical perspectives, we shall be attempting to address a number of questions; for instance: How do people come to see themselves as distinct subjects about whom a story can be told? What role do memory, ideology, sense of audience, etc. play in people’s accounts of their lives? How do class, ethnicity, gender and other social characteristics shape the stories people tell? What do we look for when we analyze accounts of people’s lives? What are the forms and effects of decolonizing approaches to narrative research?
The module content is all available online and can be downloaded and worked on offline, for those with limited internet access. We will also have Teams, Zoom or other platform group seminars and individual tutorial meetings, as requested by students.
For more details, please see https://www.uel.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/narrative-research-via-dist-learning – this page also provides an application link
For academic information, please email Corinne Squire, c.squire@uel.ac.uk
For administrative help, please email pgadmiss@uel.ac.uk or edu.socsciadmin@uel.ac.uk
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7. CFP: Virtual Conference: Routledge, YouTube, University of Manchester
TEACHING-LEARNING-RESEARCH : DESIGN + ENVIRONMENTS
KEYNOTE:
– The keynote will be delivered live from Manchester, UK, by Sally Stone. Author, Academic. University of Manchester: “Education and the Future of the Already Built”
YOUTUBE:
– The AMPS ACADEMIC YOUTUBE CHANNEL will host all pre-recorded presentations and films. https://www.youtube.com/c/AMPSresearch
PUBLISHERS:
– Routledge will produce a book as part of the Focus on Design Pedagogy series. Nb. There will also be a UCL Press journal special issue.
EVENT DETAILS:
Place: Virtual / University of Manchester
Dates: 02-04 December, 2020
Abstracts: 05 Nov 2020
http://architecturemps.com/teaching-research-conference/
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CALL SUMMARY: TEACHING-LEARNING-RESEARCH
The backdrop to the conference is the varied interpretations of teaching as it relates to research. Definitions of ‘academic research’ vary but often exclude analysis, experiment, knowledge transfer and critical debate stimulated in the classroom, studio or lab. However, this is challenged. Educationalists routinely define the classroom and laboratory and use it to monitor how space influences learning. In architecture, landscape and urban design, the idea of a ‘design studio’ as a vehicle for research in and of itself is gaining traction. Programs of sociology and human geography routinely collect data on people and communities as part of classroom exercises. Teachers of art and social history reconsider and critique the cultural and social movements of cities in the very act of explaining them.
This conference seeks to engage education professionals in debate and best practice sharing with educators in the art, design and social science disciplines.
Submit an abstract: http://architecturemps.com/teaching-research-conference/
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Last updated: 17 September 2020
