Department News
Queenship, Lordship and the Landscape:
the estates of the queens of England c. 1236-1503
Dr Amanda Richardson (History) has been awarded a university Research Incentive Fund for research connected with her forthcoming book, Queenship, Lordship and the Landscape: the estates of the queens of England c. 1236-1503, to be published by Manchester University Press (MUP Gender in History Series). Amanda commented “I am really grateful to the Pro Vice-Chancellor, the Head of the Research and Employer Engagement Office (REEO) and the Deputy Deans for granting the money for my stay at the National Archives. It will help immensely towards producing what will be the first-ever study of late-medieval English queens as landholders, facilitating an analysis of gender, status and lordship in the later Middle Ages. Of course, the research will enhance and inform my teaching here at Chichester, not least in the Level 3 module ‘Kingship, Queenship and Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe”.
Three History students study at the University of Joensuu, eastern Finland
Three History students, Richard Fear, Caroline Horstead and Louisa Richardson, studied at the University of Joensuu, eastern Finland, under the Erasmus Scheme in semester one. In early October 2009 I took the opportunity to visit them, and found they were enjoying their experience immensely, despite a temperature of minus seven which progressed to about – 20 by the end of their visit! Respite from the weather could be taken in the University’s many saunas, one of which I visited with some of the History staff. Luckily the students weren’t invited, although the (probably unwelcome) off chance of seeing one’s lecturers naked is just one difference between the student experience in Finland and over here!
Joensuu is a university town which is spacious and well laid out, making it easy to find your way around, even in the snow, and most people (even the bus drivers!) speak English. Finland is not cheap to live in, but the students found ways to save money, like having the ‘incredibly good value’ lunches in the campus restaurant – and the university even distributes free bread to students each week! Most of them have hired bikes for a moderate fee, allowing them to visit the many new friends they have made from all over Europe, who they meet at the ‘endless numbers’ of clubs, meetings and parties publicised by Joensuu University’s student union. Louisa said ‘we have had such fun sharing each other’s cultures!’
But university life is not all fun, wherever the location. When I saw them Richard, Caroline, and Louisa were awaiting their first assignment marks and were all convinced they would fail. Of course they passed with flying colours, and continued to get good marks during their stay. As Caroline remarked, the Finnish university ethos, which sounds laid back compared with our own, takes some getting used to. The idea is that students are entirely responsible for their own studies. Lecture clashes are treated as an unavoidable fact, so there is no register to sign, and they can leave a class early or arrive late depending on other commitments. They can attend any lectures they like, even those that are not in their subject area, so that they can experience what other disciplines have to offer.
This was a very successful exchange, and we are proud of the way our students took up the challenge of studying so far from home. According to Louisa ‘life in Finland was a breath of fresh air – invigorating! There is the beauty of lakes and trees everywhere you turn, as well as the Finns’ definitive culture. Studying there offered me a new perspective on the world.’ Highlights included ice-swimming, white water rafting and learning to play the Kantele, as well as the many group excursions, formal and informal. These included hiking in Koli national park, trips to Tallinn (Estonia) and St Petersburg, and a survival course in Lapland where the students learned to build igloos, went on reindeer sleigh-rides and swam in the Arctic Sea. I leave the last word to Caroline, who called the experience ‘truly inspirational and exhilarating. The people, the scenery, and the different cultures made this an opportunity of a lifetime, with all the wide prospects that that can encompass!’
Dr Amanda Richardson (History)
Religion, Belief and Selfhood
Sue Morgan (Reader in Gender History) led and chaired a conference strand of 28 papers on ‘Religion, Belief and Selfhood’ at an international women’s history conference at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, in September 2009. The conference also provided the location for the second international gathering of scholars from the UK, US and Canada on Sue’s latest book – Women, Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800-1940 – which is due out with Routledge in May 2010. Contributors to the collection met for the first time in New York at the American Historical Association in January 2009 and there are plans to collaborate further on funding for similar projects in the future.
Associate lecturer gains national recognition for locally born anti-apartheid activist
Associate Lecturer David Rang, a post graduate researcher in gender history, has successfully lobbied the prestigious Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) to include an entry for Midhurst born anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph.
Public lecture on representation of immigration and anti-racism in French comic strips
As part of West Sussex County Council Black History Month Dr Hugo Frey, Subject Leader in History at the University of Chichester, will present a lecture on the representation of immigration and anti-racism in French comic strips.
The lecture will take place at 5.30pm on Wednesday 29 October in Room E124 at the University’s Bishop Otter campus in College Lane, Chichester. The lecture is free to attend and everyone is welcome.
Displays researched and designed by History students
Permanent museum displays researched and designed by two History Work Placement students, Rachel Hilton and Judy Carbone, on the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) respectively, have recently been unveiled at Tangmere Aviation Museum.
Judy commented that she was ‘really pleased with the results’, adding that ‘as a learning experience it was really valuable to me to understand what goes on in the background of designing museum displays’. Results like these are far from unusual and the Work Placements module remains a popular choice among Level 2 students, especially those wishing to expand their understanding of heritage and public history.
Exhibition Movie
Tangmere Museum Website
http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk
Recent Work Placements
History Work Placement Level 2 Module
History department signs second Erasmus exchange agreement
Following the signing of an exchange agreement with the University of Joensuu in Finland earlier this year, the History department at the University of Chichester is delighted to announce that it has agreed a second staff and student Erasmus agreement with the Cultural Studies department at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
History department signs exchange agreement with University of Joensuu, Finland
The University of Chichester History department has opened up an exciting new European project. From the next academic year, it will collaborate in a student exchange and research partnership with the University of Joensuu in Finland.
History graduate publishes research in The Antiquaries Journal
Head of History, Dr Hugo Frey is delighted to announce that a graduate of the department has brought their final year dissertation to the attention of the wider scholarly community. Deborah Lush, BA (Hons) History graduate, writing with Dr Jonathan Woolfson, has recently published a research paper in the prestigious Antiquaries Journal.
History Department welcomes Professor Fabrice Leroy from University of Louisiana
The History team are delighted to welcome Professor Fabrice Leroy from the University of Louisiana to Chichester where he will present a guest lecture to staff and students on Friday 19 October at 12.00 midday in Cloisters, on the Bishop Otter Campus.
Professor Leroy is a well known specialist in contemporary French cultural history and he will speak on the work of the satirical cartoonist Pierre La Police. La Police is a notorious artist whose illustrations make fun of almost every taboo in contemporary French society.
History at the University – Top in the Country
Chichester continues to rank highly in the National Student Survey which rates student satisfaction with their University Courses. For the third year since the survey was launched Chichester can be proud of its success. The aim of the survey is to gather feedback on the quality of students' courses in order to contribute to public accountability as well as to help inform the choices of future applicants to higher education.