17-19 June 2016: Spies on British Screens conference

The enduring appeal of the James Bond franchise and the rise to prominence of other spy thrillers will be explored during a conference at Plymouth University which runs from 17-19 June. ‘Spies on British Screens’ will see academics debate the impact of spy dramas from the 1960s to the present day on British culture, as… Continue reading 17-19 June 2016: Spies on British Screens conference

4-6 July 2016: Transatlantic Studies Association conference at Plymouth University

The 2016 Transatlantic Studies Association (TSA) conference will be held at Plymouth University from 4-6 July. This year sees the association celebrate its 15th anniversary. Plymouth has been chosen to celebrate this anniversary as it was the last contact with England for the Pilgrim Fathers before they set sail across the Atlantic in 1620. The city of Plymouth will also host… Continue reading 4-6 July 2016: Transatlantic Studies Association conference at Plymouth University

Feature: “Who ya gonna call? Spiritualism in Victorian Plymouth & Exeter”

Hypnotic séance. Painting by Swedish artist Richard Bergh, 1887 (artwork in public domain)

BY JAMES GREGORY Devonport in the early 1870s. A former Baptist minister from Bristol leads meetings in the gas-lit parlour of a tradesman. The audience gather around an ordinary cloth-covered table. But the phenomena that they are there to experience will be decidedly out of the ordinary. Over the next few years, members of various… Continue reading Feature: “Who ya gonna call? Spiritualism in Victorian Plymouth & Exeter”

1-3 July 2016: The Atemporal Image Conference at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture

The 4th International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture will taking place at Plymouth University between 1st and 3rd July 2016. Our contemporary quotidian lives are becoming increasingly indebted to virtual platforms for social exchange and cultural mediation. The ubiquity of social media has necessitated the birth of virtual graveyards;… Continue reading 1-3 July 2016: The Atemporal Image Conference at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture

Feature article by Dr Min Wild in Times Literary Supplement

The Distrest Poet

Plymouth University researcher Dr Min Wild has one of the lead articles in last week’s Times Literary Supplement: a 3,000 word essay-review of a new book on Oliver Goldsmith and eighteenth-century Grub St subcultures. Min researches in the eighteenth century, with special interests in periodicals and print culture, in satire, and in criticism. She teaches eighteenth-century literature, as well as early modern… Continue reading Feature article by Dr Min Wild in Times Literary Supplement

23-24 June 2016: What did ‘Judgement’ mean in the 19th century?

The Judgement of Salomon by Gaspar de Crayer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Registration is now open for ‘A Time of Judgement: The Operation and Representation of Judgement in 19th century Cultures’ to be held on 23 and 24 June 2016 at Plymouth University. Please note that you can benefit from the Early Bird Delegate rate and save £25 by booking before 31 May. This international, interdisciplinary conference seeks… Continue reading 23-24 June 2016: What did ‘Judgement’ mean in the 19th century?

Feature: “Sian Davey: Looking For Alice”

BY DAVID CHANDLER During the 1980s, as the domestic realm increasingly became one of its primary subjects, photographic art began to add a new critical dimension to what experience had already seared into the core of our collective being: that the models of family life propagated by advertising and the media, were, on almost every… Continue reading Feature: “Sian Davey: Looking For Alice”

Feature: “The Challenge of Connecting Communities”

BY ALAN BUTLER In retrospect, one of the more surprising things that characterised my PhD project was the need to continuously negotiate and renegotiate a variety roles, along with their associated labels. Some of these, I must admit, did not always automatically sit comfortably with me. My thesis, “Performing LGBT Pride in Plymouth, 1950 to 2012,” considered how… Continue reading Feature: “The Challenge of Connecting Communities”

11 May 2016: seminar on music of English folk song

Paul Wilson

You are welcome to attend the following MUSIC RESEARCH SEMINAR by Paul Wilson (Wren Music) Wednesday 11 May 2016 at 2 pm in Rolle 015, Plymouth University “Moving Modes: Truths and questions about the Music of English Folk Song” This talk investigates some of the truths and myths about the musical modes of English Folk Song.… Continue reading 11 May 2016: seminar on music of English folk song

Feature: “Performing the Toxic Body”

Prince, Superbowl XXV (https://www.flickr.com/photos/_synergy_/8811286026/in/photostream/)

BY ROBERTA MOCK While so many of us mourn and remember Prince, who died on 21 April, the global media drips the details of his final days, expressing our collective surprise that his death appears to have been due to an overdose, the consequence of long term addiction to prescription painkillers. Over and over we read… Continue reading Feature: “Performing the Toxic Body”