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History Blog Posts by Alison Newby
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 3, 2019
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'What they say about using the AIU Centre' takes a look at what it's actually like to use the Centre's resources, through the filter of feedback provided by those who have previously visited the resource.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jun 5, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Why use the AIU Centre archive?' presents two reasons why a facility concentrating on making available materials to enhance the study of race relations is relevant to academics, researchers and students specialising in a wide range of subject areas, these reasons being 1. Qualitative data brings quantitative data to life, and 2. Theoretical frameworks can be tested against lived reality.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, May 29, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'Stateless in Manchester - the strange case of the "D.P. Student"' uses rare contemporary Student Union publications to reconstruct the so-called 'D.P. Controversy' as it played out in the University of Manchester Student Unions from 1949 to 1950. Whilst my post 'Contextualising the 'D.P. Controversy': UK student responses to European migration after WWII' published on the University Histories blog in 2016 charted for an academic audience the larger context of UK student responses after the Second World War to potential Displaced Student migration to Britain from Germany, this post for the AIU Centre focuses more on local Manchester student activities and debates on the subject, framed to enthuse non-specialist audiences with the excitement of historical research.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Oct 10, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Questions to ask yourself' is the first of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the significance of the AIU Centre as the premier resource centre in the UK devoted to making available materials to facilitate the study of race relations, consulted by researchers from across the world. To aid understanding of how to make the most of the collections, the post touches on some of the realities of archives and archival research which need to be borne in mind, as well as questions for potential users to ask themselves to help them prepare to engage an archive collection. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Databases; 'Human Interface'; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Oct 10, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Databases' is the second of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the different ways of discovering what the AIU Centre holdings contain that is relevant to particular research interests. The Centre is a one-stop-shop for archival collections and books touching on a range of race relations topics, and the post takes the reader through different search options. Starting with the Centre's specialist subject area resource lists, it moves on to suggest the best database options for building up a list comprising solely Centre resources relevant to a particular topic, outlining the different approaches necessary to finding books as well as items in the archive collections. Finally, it introduces other databases which feature the Centre's resources alongside those of other providers, as well as further research aids and links to related collections. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; 'Human Interface'; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 19, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: The 'Human Interface' ' is the third of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains how the 'way into' the AIU Centre's collections can be smoothed by discussing research/study needs with the individuals whose role is to take care of the collection, answer questions from users, find information and give advice regarding materials in the library/archive. At the time of writing, the Centre's two 'Human Interfaces' are Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer) and Ruth Tait (Senior Library Assistant). The experience they bring to their respective roles is described. Ruth Tait is the main 'Human Interface' users of the Centre will encounter, and her special insights into the strengths of the Centre and its collections are provided, along with her advice on how best to prepare for consulting the Centre's 'Human Interfaces'. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; Databases; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 19, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the AIU Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Serendipity'' is the last of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the concept of serendipity and its power as a way of uncovering resources relevant to particular interests in a facility such as the Centre. Serendipity relies on the individual keeping an open mind and a watchful eye, and case studies are provided (from the Centre's Roving Reader category of blog posts) which illustrate the powerful effects serendipity can have on the quality as well as content of different research projects. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; Databases;
'Human Interface'.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Dec 12, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'From Jamaica to England revisited - Blanche Blackwell and the joys of reading obituaries' looks back to the 'From Jamaica to England' series of 5 blog posts which brought together the stories and recollections of Black and 'middle-class brown' individuals who had migrated from Jamaica to England in past decades. Through considering the obituary of Blanche Blackwell (who had died aged 104), the history of the tiny white community of Jamaica is considered. Blackwell was from the Jewish elite Lindo family, and her experience is compared and contrasted with those of the Jamaicans we met before in the previous 5 posts of the series.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jun 26, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'Historians count...' explores the motivations of individuals who may spend many years conducting research. Highlighting the book 'Historians and Race. Autobiography and the Writing of History' (published 1996 and edited by Paul Cimbala and Robert Himmelberg), the post examines the motivations of eminent US historians of race relations Darlene Clark Hine, Mark Naison, Dan Carter and Eric Foner. Concluding from their words that historians bear a heavy responsibility in deciding what and who is to be remembered as 'important' or 'significant', as well as to conduct their research with as much objectivity as possible, it makes the case that the task of the historian is itself significant, and one upon which the opinions of millions depend.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, May 16, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post ' 'White Fawn' and the lost history of James Young Deer' complements the Centre's holdings on Native American history and culture by uncovering the work of James Young Deer, the first Native American film director, who had been one of the most successful film-makers of the silent era in Hollywood. Including a link to one of the few examples of his work to survive ('White Fawn's Devotion' from 1910), the post highlights the fact that Young Deer strove to oppose the emerging stereotype in popular culture of Native Americans as savage unreasoning killers to present them as civilised and capable of mercy and love. The recently-solved mystery of Young Deer's own racial background is also examined, revealing him as genuinely Native American even though he had been officially designated as 'mulatto'.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Apr 20, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post ' 'Humpty Dumpty', Ahmed Kathrada, and the death of a conscience...' commemorates the life and contribution of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who died aged 86 on 28 March 2017. Kathrada's name may not be as familiar as others in the struggle, but he had stood shoulder to shoulder with leaders such as Nelson Mandela right from the beginning in the 1940s, and was with him throughout his long incarceration. As a South African of Indian Muslim heritage, Kathrada's experience of apartheid differed from that of Black South Africans, and the post highlights his autobiography No Bread for Mandela. Memoir of Ahmed Kathrada. Prisoner No. 468/64 (published 2004), which is held by the Centre.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Oct 12, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Pictorial Pan-Africanism and Apartheid" is one of two blog posts focusing on illustrated books (the other being “From the Horse’s Mouth”). Here the work of illustrators Ife Nii Owoo and Mike Bostock is highlighted, focusing on the way in which their pictorial representations deepen the intellectual and emotional engagement of the reader with respectively ‘Pan-Africanism for Beginners’ (by Sid Lemelle) and ‘Apartheid - a Graphic Guide’ (by Donald Woods).
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jul 5, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Hulme and the Nightmare Scenario" introduces the Hulme Study Collection (held in the Centre’s archive) in order to give a flavour of how one of the worst UK urban planning disasters of the mid-to-late twentieth century affected the lived experience of one of Manchester’s most deprived communities. Rare, unpublished City Council documentation is juxtaposed with the published hopes for the future recorded by local residents in Hulme Views. Self Portraits, revealing the spirit, strength, camaraderie and humour surviving in the multi-ethnic Hulme community despite tremendous tensions and difficulties.
University Histories blog, Mar 4, 2016
The University Histories blog was launched by The Research Group on University History (based in ... more The University Histories blog was launched by The Research Group on University History (based in the University of Manchester). It brings together a nexus of people working on university histories in the broadest context and provides a platform for discussion on the changing roles and meanings of these institutions through time, advancing the understanding of universities and their place in society. This blog post features in the category 'Students and Student Life'. It charts UK student responses after the Second World War to potential Displaced Student migration to Britain from Germany, and uses rare contemporary Student Union publications to reconstruct the so-called 'D.P. Controversy' as it played out in the University of Manchester Student Unions from 1949 to 1950. (See also the blog post published on the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre blog 'Reading Race, Collecting Cultures' in May 2018 entitled 'Stateless in Manchester - the strange case of the "D.P. Student"')
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Feb 16, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Gladys and the Native American Long Long Trail of Tears" touches on the life experience of anthropologist and Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon of the Mohegan tribe, focusing on the nature of the tensions between the conflicting worldviews represented by anthropological ‘science’ and Native American culture. Tracing the catastrophic history of the encounter between Native Americans and the colonisers of North America as they advanced across the continent, the blog post highlights the rich resources held by the Centre and how they can be juxtaposed to produce a sensitive, variegated view of past events.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Aug 25, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "The Devil Man Springs to Life" is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. This post uses as its starting point an amazing lantern slide image annotated as 'Devil Man at Ladysmith' which was processed and reproduced for me by the Centre for Heritage Imaging & Collection care (CHICC) based in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. The lantern slide (along with thousands of others) had lain neglected for possibly eighty years or more in the astonishing uncatalogued Manchester Geographical Society Lantern Slide Collection now preserved by the John Rylands Library. The Manchester Geographical Society records held at the University of Manchester's Main Library reveal the context in which these lantern slides were amassed over decades and used for educational purposes in public lectures organised by the Victorians section of the Geographical Society. Collaboration with Dr Ian Fairweather (Social Anthropologist, University of Manchester) made it possible to explain the events the image may have been recording, as well as what these events may have meant to colonial observers in the 1920s or 1930s as opposed to the Black South African participants themselves. Such images were highly influential on the outlook of an otherwise uninformed British public regarding matters of race and culture, and may have unwittingly contributed to a social context in which various forms of racism and white-supremacist thought appeared to be justified. Other blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Oct 6, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..." is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. This post looks into what can be learnt about Daisy Makiwane (the sister of anti-apartheid activist Tennyson Makiwane), who was crucial in facilitating the channelling of funds to her brother which enabled him to travel to London in 1959, where he became a key orchestrator of the anti-apartheid Boycott Movement. Combining the memories of Manu Herbstein (who had met Daisy and Tennyson Makiwane at the time of these activities) and the contents of a flyer preserved in the Records of the 1956 Treason Trial held by the Historical Papers Research Archive at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), the blog post assesses the few scraps of information about Daisy that have survived. Daisy all but disappeared from history, yet as the flyer shows, in the mid-1950s in London she was appearing on a panel discussing South African problems alongside exiled giants of the anti-apartheid cause such as H A Naidoo, E S (Solly) Sachs and Guy Routh. "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..." is a follow-up post to "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" Further blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall"
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Mar 19, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The post "Massacre of the Missionaries" is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. Here, I gained the permission of the archivist of Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University to reproduce images of two remarkable Baxter prints held in that archive, allowing me to discuss and contextualise their race-related subject matter. The two prints depict the murder of the missionary Reverend J Williams by indigenous people in the Pacific region in 1839. This caused an outcry in the western Christian world, and Williams' friend George Baxter used his skills in colour print production to present his own impressions of how the sad events might have unfolded. In doing so, he set the tone for innumerable later visual and media representations of so-called 'native savagery' which continue to influence our unconscious inherited attitudes to other cultures and peoples to this day. Other blog posts in this series are: "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures - The Roving Reader Files, Apr 16, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The post "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" is part of a series exploring the links between other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. In this case, after participating in one of the Alzheimer Society's Dementia Friends information sessions (adopted by the University of Manchester as one of its social responsibility flagship programmes), I noted the similarity between the session's approach to dementia and that of a little-known pioneering Manchester organisation almost forty years before. The Gatehouse Project had used what are now known to be dementia-friendly techniques to collect the reminiscences of elderly ladies staying in two wards of Monsall Hospital, Manchester, valuing their contribution and giving them a voice which has too often been ignored. The resulting publication Day In, Day Out. Memories of North Manchester from Women in Monsall Hospital (edited by Patricia Duffin and Ailsa Cox) appeared in 1985 and forms part of the Centre's collection. Other blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jan 8, 2015
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "From the Horse’s Mouth" is one of two blog posts focusing on illustrated books (the other being “Pictorial Pan-Africanism and Apartheid”). Here a humorous look is taken at how illustrations and comics can be used to enrich the learning experience. Highlighting the 'Underhanded History of the USA' (a 1973 instalment of the left-wing student journal Radical America) produced by writer Jim O’Brien and cartoonist Nick Thorkelson, the post suggests that choosing this particular format enabled the producers to present an alternative historical narrative in a digestible form accessible to everyone (man, woman or child) regardless of their ability to read English - the pictorial path to the transmission of knowledge.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 3, 2019
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'What they say about using the AIU Centre' takes a look at what it's actually like to use the Centre's resources, through the filter of feedback provided by those who have previously visited the resource.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jun 5, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Why use the AIU Centre archive?' presents two reasons why a facility concentrating on making available materials to enhance the study of race relations is relevant to academics, researchers and students specialising in a wide range of subject areas, these reasons being 1. Qualitative data brings quantitative data to life, and 2. Theoretical frameworks can be tested against lived reality.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, May 29, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'Stateless in Manchester - the strange case of the "D.P. Student"' uses rare contemporary Student Union publications to reconstruct the so-called 'D.P. Controversy' as it played out in the University of Manchester Student Unions from 1949 to 1950. Whilst my post 'Contextualising the 'D.P. Controversy': UK student responses to European migration after WWII' published on the University Histories blog in 2016 charted for an academic audience the larger context of UK student responses after the Second World War to potential Displaced Student migration to Britain from Germany, this post for the AIU Centre focuses more on local Manchester student activities and debates on the subject, framed to enthuse non-specialist audiences with the excitement of historical research.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Oct 10, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Questions to ask yourself' is the first of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the significance of the AIU Centre as the premier resource centre in the UK devoted to making available materials to facilitate the study of race relations, consulted by researchers from across the world. To aid understanding of how to make the most of the collections, the post touches on some of the realities of archives and archival research which need to be borne in mind, as well as questions for potential users to ask themselves to help them prepare to engage an archive collection. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Databases; 'Human Interface'; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Oct 10, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Databases' is the second of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the different ways of discovering what the AIU Centre holdings contain that is relevant to particular research interests. The Centre is a one-stop-shop for archival collections and books touching on a range of race relations topics, and the post takes the reader through different search options. Starting with the Centre's specialist subject area resource lists, it moves on to suggest the best database options for building up a list comprising solely Centre resources relevant to a particular topic, outlining the different approaches necessary to finding books as well as items in the archive collections. Finally, it introduces other databases which feature the Centre's resources alongside those of other providers, as well as further research aids and links to related collections. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; 'Human Interface'; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 19, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: The 'Human Interface' ' is the third of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains how the 'way into' the AIU Centre's collections can be smoothed by discussing research/study needs with the individuals whose role is to take care of the collection, answer questions from users, find information and give advice regarding materials in the library/archive. At the time of writing, the Centre's two 'Human Interfaces' are Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer) and Ruth Tait (Senior Library Assistant). The experience they bring to their respective roles is described. Ruth Tait is the main 'Human Interface' users of the Centre will encounter, and her special insights into the strengths of the Centre and its collections are provided, along with her advice on how best to prepare for consulting the Centre's 'Human Interfaces'. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; Databases; Serendipity.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - Research Skills Series, Jan 19, 2018
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the AIU Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Serendipity'' is the last of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the concept of serendipity and its power as a way of uncovering resources relevant to particular interests in a facility such as the Centre. Serendipity relies on the individual keeping an open mind and a watchful eye, and case studies are provided (from the Centre's Roving Reader category of blog posts) which illustrate the powerful effects serendipity can have on the quality as well as content of different research projects. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Questions to ask yourself; Databases;
'Human Interface'.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Dec 12, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'From Jamaica to England revisited - Blanche Blackwell and the joys of reading obituaries' looks back to the 'From Jamaica to England' series of 5 blog posts which brought together the stories and recollections of Black and 'middle-class brown' individuals who had migrated from Jamaica to England in past decades. Through considering the obituary of Blanche Blackwell (who had died aged 104), the history of the tiny white community of Jamaica is considered. Blackwell was from the Jewish elite Lindo family, and her experience is compared and contrasted with those of the Jamaicans we met before in the previous 5 posts of the series.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jun 26, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post 'Historians count...' explores the motivations of individuals who may spend many years conducting research. Highlighting the book 'Historians and Race. Autobiography and the Writing of History' (published 1996 and edited by Paul Cimbala and Robert Himmelberg), the post examines the motivations of eminent US historians of race relations Darlene Clark Hine, Mark Naison, Dan Carter and Eric Foner. Concluding from their words that historians bear a heavy responsibility in deciding what and who is to be remembered as 'important' or 'significant', as well as to conduct their research with as much objectivity as possible, it makes the case that the task of the historian is itself significant, and one upon which the opinions of millions depend.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, May 16, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post ' 'White Fawn' and the lost history of James Young Deer' complements the Centre's holdings on Native American history and culture by uncovering the work of James Young Deer, the first Native American film director, who had been one of the most successful film-makers of the silent era in Hollywood. Including a link to one of the few examples of his work to survive ('White Fawn's Devotion' from 1910), the post highlights the fact that Young Deer strove to oppose the emerging stereotype in popular culture of Native Americans as savage unreasoning killers to present them as civilised and capable of mercy and love. The recently-solved mystery of Young Deer's own racial background is also examined, revealing him as genuinely Native American even though he had been officially designated as 'mulatto'.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Apr 20, 2017
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post ' 'Humpty Dumpty', Ahmed Kathrada, and the death of a conscience...' commemorates the life and contribution of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who died aged 86 on 28 March 2017. Kathrada's name may not be as familiar as others in the struggle, but he had stood shoulder to shoulder with leaders such as Nelson Mandela right from the beginning in the 1940s, and was with him throughout his long incarceration. As a South African of Indian Muslim heritage, Kathrada's experience of apartheid differed from that of Black South Africans, and the post highlights his autobiography No Bread for Mandela. Memoir of Ahmed Kathrada. Prisoner No. 468/64 (published 2004), which is held by the Centre.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Oct 12, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Pictorial Pan-Africanism and Apartheid" is one of two blog posts focusing on illustrated books (the other being “From the Horse’s Mouth”). Here the work of illustrators Ife Nii Owoo and Mike Bostock is highlighted, focusing on the way in which their pictorial representations deepen the intellectual and emotional engagement of the reader with respectively ‘Pan-Africanism for Beginners’ (by Sid Lemelle) and ‘Apartheid - a Graphic Guide’ (by Donald Woods).
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jul 5, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Hulme and the Nightmare Scenario" introduces the Hulme Study Collection (held in the Centre’s archive) in order to give a flavour of how one of the worst UK urban planning disasters of the mid-to-late twentieth century affected the lived experience of one of Manchester’s most deprived communities. Rare, unpublished City Council documentation is juxtaposed with the published hopes for the future recorded by local residents in Hulme Views. Self Portraits, revealing the spirit, strength, camaraderie and humour surviving in the multi-ethnic Hulme community despite tremendous tensions and difficulties.
University Histories blog, Mar 4, 2016
The University Histories blog was launched by The Research Group on University History (based in ... more The University Histories blog was launched by The Research Group on University History (based in the University of Manchester). It brings together a nexus of people working on university histories in the broadest context and provides a platform for discussion on the changing roles and meanings of these institutions through time, advancing the understanding of universities and their place in society. This blog post features in the category 'Students and Student Life'. It charts UK student responses after the Second World War to potential Displaced Student migration to Britain from Germany, and uses rare contemporary Student Union publications to reconstruct the so-called 'D.P. Controversy' as it played out in the University of Manchester Student Unions from 1949 to 1950. (See also the blog post published on the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre blog 'Reading Race, Collecting Cultures' in May 2018 entitled 'Stateless in Manchester - the strange case of the "D.P. Student"')
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Feb 16, 2016
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Gladys and the Native American Long Long Trail of Tears" touches on the life experience of anthropologist and Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon of the Mohegan tribe, focusing on the nature of the tensions between the conflicting worldviews represented by anthropological ‘science’ and Native American culture. Tracing the catastrophic history of the encounter between Native Americans and the colonisers of North America as they advanced across the continent, the blog post highlights the rich resources held by the Centre and how they can be juxtaposed to produce a sensitive, variegated view of past events.
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Aug 25, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "The Devil Man Springs to Life" is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. This post uses as its starting point an amazing lantern slide image annotated as 'Devil Man at Ladysmith' which was processed and reproduced for me by the Centre for Heritage Imaging & Collection care (CHICC) based in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. The lantern slide (along with thousands of others) had lain neglected for possibly eighty years or more in the astonishing uncatalogued Manchester Geographical Society Lantern Slide Collection now preserved by the John Rylands Library. The Manchester Geographical Society records held at the University of Manchester's Main Library reveal the context in which these lantern slides were amassed over decades and used for educational purposes in public lectures organised by the Victorians section of the Geographical Society. Collaboration with Dr Ian Fairweather (Social Anthropologist, University of Manchester) made it possible to explain the events the image may have been recording, as well as what these events may have meant to colonial observers in the 1920s or 1930s as opposed to the Black South African participants themselves. Such images were highly influential on the outlook of an otherwise uninformed British public regarding matters of race and culture, and may have unwittingly contributed to a social context in which various forms of racism and white-supremacist thought appeared to be justified. Other blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Oct 6, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..." is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. This post looks into what can be learnt about Daisy Makiwane (the sister of anti-apartheid activist Tennyson Makiwane), who was crucial in facilitating the channelling of funds to her brother which enabled him to travel to London in 1959, where he became a key orchestrator of the anti-apartheid Boycott Movement. Combining the memories of Manu Herbstein (who had met Daisy and Tennyson Makiwane at the time of these activities) and the contents of a flyer preserved in the Records of the 1956 Treason Trial held by the Historical Papers Research Archive at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), the blog post assesses the few scraps of information about Daisy that have survived. Daisy all but disappeared from history, yet as the flyer shows, in the mid-1950s in London she was appearing on a panel discussing South African problems alongside exiled giants of the anti-apartheid cause such as H A Naidoo, E S (Solly) Sachs and Guy Routh. "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..." is a follow-up post to "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" Further blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall"
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Mar 19, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter normally provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The post "Massacre of the Missionaries" is part of a series exploring the links between items held by other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. Here, I gained the permission of the archivist of Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University to reproduce images of two remarkable Baxter prints held in that archive, allowing me to discuss and contextualise their race-related subject matter. The two prints depict the murder of the missionary Reverend J Williams by indigenous people in the Pacific region in 1839. This caused an outcry in the western Christian world, and Williams' friend George Baxter used his skills in colour print production to present his own impressions of how the sad events might have unfolded. In doing so, he set the tone for innumerable later visual and media representations of so-called 'native savagery' which continue to influence our unconscious inherited attitudes to other cultures and peoples to this day. Other blog posts in this series are: "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures - The Roving Reader Files, Apr 16, 2015
The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym T... more The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre). The former provides the text and the latter provides the images. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility, and The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The post "Day in, Day out: Reminiscence work in Monsall" is part of a series exploring the links between other institutions/collections and the race relations theme/holdings of the Centre. In this case, after participating in one of the Alzheimer Society's Dementia Friends information sessions (adopted by the University of Manchester as one of its social responsibility flagship programmes), I noted the similarity between the session's approach to dementia and that of a little-known pioneering Manchester organisation almost forty years before. The Gatehouse Project had used what are now known to be dementia-friendly techniques to collect the reminiscences of elderly ladies staying in two wards of Monsall Hospital, Manchester, valuing their contribution and giving them a voice which has too often been ignored. The resulting publication Day In, Day Out. Memories of North Manchester from Women in Monsall Hospital (edited by Patricia Duffin and Ailsa Cox) appeared in 1985 and forms part of the Centre's collection. Other blog posts in this series are: "Massacre of the Missionaries" ; "The Devil Man Springs to Life" ; "Tennyson Makiwane comes to London - but how?" ; "Meeting Daisy Makiwane..."
Reading Race, Collecting Cultures blog - The Roving Reader Files category, Jan 8, 2015
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester f... more The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The blog post "From the Horse’s Mouth" is one of two blog posts focusing on illustrated books (the other being “Pictorial Pan-Africanism and Apartheid”). Here a humorous look is taken at how illustrations and comics can be used to enrich the learning experience. Highlighting the 'Underhanded History of the USA' (a 1973 instalment of the left-wing student journal Radical America) produced by writer Jim O’Brien and cartoonist Nick Thorkelson, the post suggests that choosing this particular format enabled the producers to present an alternative historical narrative in a digestible form accessible to everyone (man, woman or child) regardless of their ability to read English - the pictorial path to the transmission of knowledge.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Jan 7, 2019
This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (... more This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (ICF) platform Coaching World (originally appearing in September 2018). Here I'm presenting the reblog which appeared on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
In this post I take a look at Miles Downey's 'Spectrum of Coaching Skills', and suggest that, by ensuring we stretch ourselves to include in our coaching toolbox all of the skills represented on that spectrum (both directive and non-directive), we enrich the breadth and depth of the gifts we bring to our coaching, as well as the quality of the service we can offer our coachees.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Dec 10, 2018
This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (... more This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (ICF) platform Coaching World (originally appearing in August 2018). Here I'm presenting the reblog which appeared on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
In this post I examine the Transactional Analysis (TA) concept of the "I'm OK, You're OK" stance, taken from Franklin Ernst's 'OK Corral' matrix. Just like other people, coaches can tend to berate themselves and not accord to themselves the empathy necessary for a genuinely "I'm OK, You're OK" stance. I suggest that taking such a stance in relation to ourselves in our reflective practice is a core aspect of coach self-care, from which can flow the kind of compassionate, patient supportiveness needed by we ourselves just as much as our coachees.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Aug 6, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
Here I take a look at why we need to consider ethics in coaching, and to think through in a structured manner the implications of what we propose to do, the efficacy of the services we may be offering, and whether we as people are really suitable coach material - which requires a high level of self-insight and honesty, as well as a grasp of the ethics of what it means to be a coach.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Jul 23, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
It was first published as a guest post on the International Coach Federation's (ICF's) 'Coaching World' platform in April 2018, and copyright is held by the ICF(meaning it should not be reproduced or reblogged without gaining permission from the ICF first).
The post looks at how supportive coach communities can be built with Twitter, based on my experience of being involved in the #coachingHE Tweetchat, organised by the Staff Development Forum (SDF) here in the UK, and suggests my top four key ingredients for a successful and effective Twitter chat.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Jun 11, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
Making resources accessible for those who have particular needs doesn't just help those individuals. It makes our resources better and clearer for everyone. In this post I look at some aspects of best practice in terms of accessible design, noting how small adjustments to presentation make a big difference and giving practical tips on steps to take when producing coaching materials that are accessible.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, May 14, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
In this post I look at occasions when a client may present with issues described as 'lack of emotional intelligence' or 'rudeness' in interpersonal relationships, which in some cases may be affecting their prospects of advancement in their careers. I caution coaches not to take what is presented at face value, and to explore other possible explanations for a behaviour before adopting seemingly obvious but perhaps irrelevant courses of action. Here I examine the implications for individuals of moving from one culture to another, where behaviours associated with lower-context cultures (which tend to use very explicit verbal communication) may create problems when practised within higher-context cultures (which tend towards more indirect non-verbal communication). I suggest that if clients are trying to adjust to the norms of an unfamiliar culture, we need to help them gain flexibility and resilience rather than label certain behaviours as 'wrong', identifying and practising a widened repertoire of behaviours which enhances their ability to function within the new setting.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Apr 30, 2018
This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (... more This blog post first appeared as a guest post I produced for the International Coach Federation (ICF) platform Coaching World (originally appearing in January 2018). Here I'm presenting the reblog which appeared on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
In this post I suggest that aspects of a mindfulness practice can be useful tools to enhance our coaching abilities, deepening our self-insight and enabling us to bring our whole 'selves' to coaching sessions. The particular aspects of mindfulness I highlight are: treating thoughts, emotions and distractions as clouds that pass; identification of what's really going on emotionally.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Apr 2, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics. It's a reblog of a guest post I produced for The LaunchPad, the official blog of TeachBoost (a US organisation which provides a customisable instructional leadership platform used by instructional coaches who coach teachers in schools).
Whether to take notes in coaching sessions is a question that troubles numerous instructional coaches. In this post I go back to coaching basics to show that coaching is about focusing on the coachee, listening deeply to the coachee, not being distracted from what is unfolding for oneself and the coachee in the moment, and not distracting the coachee from her or his own experience. I also cover three significant issues to think through when considering whether to take notes: the psychological effect on coachees; confidentiality; and administrative or procedural requirements.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Mar 19, 2018
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
Mindfulness is talked of widely as a solution to almost every ill. It's true that it can be helpful in dealing with pain, stress and depression. However, there can be a darker side to discovering mindfulness for some individuals, and this is rarely discussed. As we deepen our mindfulness practice we are encouraged to turn towards our inner experiences with curiosity and compassion, including those that are painful or troublesome. Here I point out that some find this a challenge too far if they are not supported, and I remind coaches that we have a duty to keep ourselves and our clients safe, including psychologically and emotionally. This being so, we should take care when advocating that clients explore mindfulness, ideally completing an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction or cognitive therapy programme ourselves so that we can share mindfulness and compassion practices with our clients with care, knowing that we are not qualified to teach mindfulness but able to advise our clients where to go next.
'Newbycoach thoughts' blog, Nov 20, 2017
This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various c... more This blog post appears on my blog 'Newbycoach thoughts', where I publish my thinking on various coaching topics.
Coaching requires practitioners to stand back, look at things from other people's points of view, listen, and abstain from judgement. Above all, it requires the firm belief that coachees have within themselves the wisdom to find the answers they seek - helped by facilitation from the coach rather than direction. Yet sometimes coaches leave sessions believing they know what a coachee 'ought' to have done, or what the 'right' answer should have been. This problem can arise for a number of reasons. Here I discuss aspects of two: coach personality, and leaving behind one's own assumptions.
ARC Magazine, Sep 2019
This article appeared in ARC Magazine, the publication exclusive to members of the Archives & Rec... more This article appeared in ARC Magazine, the publication exclusive to members of the Archives & Records Association (ARA) in the UK. It introduced me and my coaching work to the wider ARA readership after I delivered a bespoke workshop to delegates from the North West branch in July 2019 entitled 'Building Resilience in a Complex World'.
Times Higher Education, Nov 22, 2018
This article was written for Times Higher Education (THE). It covered reasons why academics in th... more This article was written for Times Higher Education (THE). It covered reasons why academics in the higher education sector should consider coaching as a developmental aid both for their career and mental well-being, plus potential barriers that might discourage them from doing so.
Staff Development Forum website, Apr 24, 2018
This guest post was written at the request of the Staff Development Forum (SDF) in the UK during ... more This guest post was written at the request of the Staff Development Forum (SDF) in the UK during the time I was a representative on the Committee of the #CoachingHE Tweetchat, a Twitter-based platform for learning and exchanging views amongst the geographically-dispersed community of coaches working in the UK higher education sector. It explained my roles in the University of Manchester and my involvement in the SDF itself.
The research which made this thesis possible was undertaken with the financial support of postgra... more The research which made this thesis possible was undertaken with the financial support of postgraduate scholarships awarded by the University of Manchester and the ESRC. The thesis uses the case study of the experience of middle-class northern white women in America during the period 1800-1860 to explore several issues of wider significance. Firstly, the research focuses upon the dynamic relationships between the culturally-constructed categories of public/formal and private/informal power and participation at both the practical and symbolic levels, suggesting ways in which they intersected on the lives of women. Secondly, consideration is given to the validity of the stereotyped view that 'domestic' women were necessarily disadvantaged and dominated relative to those who aspired to public political and economic roles. Thirdly, the relationship of religious belief to these two areas is discussed, in order to discover its relevance to the way in which women both perceived themselves and were perceived by others. In seeking to explore these issues, the research has analysed the patterns of social and cultural change in the era under question, indicating how those changes influenced the perceptions and experiences of both women and men. Their reactions in terms of discourse and activity are located as strategies of negotiation in redefining both social role and participation for the sexes. The rhetoric of 'separate spheres', which was used by men and women to order their mental and physical surroundings, is reduced to its symbolic constituents in order to illustrate that the distinction between male and female arenas was more perceptual than actual. The motivating forces behind the activities and ideas of women themselves are investigated to determine the role of religion in the construction of both female self-images and wider negotiational strategies. The context of nineteenth-century social dynamics has been revealed by detailed analysis of extensive primary sources originated by both women and men for private as well as public consumption. Feminist tools of analysis which enable the conceptualisation of 'meaningful discourse' as including female contributions have further enhanced the specific focus on how women constructed their own world-views and approaches to reality. 'Traditional' approaches and tools are shown to have seriously skewed and misrepresented the reality and variety of both discourse and female experience in the era. Great efforts have been made to allow women to speak in their own words. This has produced an insight into a richness of female social participation and discourse which would otherwise be obscured. The research indicates that women were indeed actors and negotiators during the period. Those women who advocated as primary the duties of women in the domestic and social arenas were by no means setting narrow limitations on female participation in both society and discourse. The religious impulses and eschatological frameworks derived by women (varied as they were) served to order and renegotiate reality and meaning, whilst they produced female roles and influence of great significance. Women were not passive victims of male oppression. Religion can thus be perceived as a positive force which women were able to approach both for its own sake, and for their own particular ends.
The ancient 'Silk Road' was a complex network facilitating the transfer of people, goods and idea... more The ancient 'Silk Road' was a complex network facilitating the transfer of people, goods and ideas over vast distances, ultimately influencing and linking vastly differing cultures and societies the length and breadth of the known world. For the last century or so, universities and institutions of learning in the West have been the physical destinations and 'stopping-off points' for thousands of travellers on a 'Silk Road of Knowledge', situated at the crossroads of highways bearing information flowing from the local to the global and global to local - information that has played its part in transforming the societies of the world. The ancient 'Silk Road' encompassed the infrastructure which facilitated the mutual exchange of precious goods and commodities between East and West. Has a similarly mutual exchange of knowledge been facilitated by the institutions care taking the infrastructure of our 'Silk Road of Knowledge'?
As part of ongoing research on the international student experience in the UK past and present, I am currently studying the archive of a voluntary organisation based in Manchester called Southern Voices (concentrating on the period from its foundation in 1990 to 2005). Its stated aim has been to allow voices from the 'Global South' to be heard on their own terms in the 'Global North'. Groups as well as individuals from the Global North have traditionally taken it upon themselves to speak on behalf of the Global South, in general ignoring the actual history and contribution of the Global South in presentations of views of the past which prioritise the interests and perspectives of the Global North.
Southern Voices emerged as an independent entity from an initiative originated in the Development Education Project based on the Didsbury campus of Manchester Polytechnic (soon to become Manchester Metropolitan University/MMU). University-based resources have been significant in its development. These resources include office spaces on University of Manchester and MMU campuses; venues off campus amongst university buildings used for holding meetings and other functions; collaboration and liaison with course leaders and Student Union representatives at the universities; a pool of international students from the Global South from which to recruit volunteers to help design and deliver educational and cultural projects to inform immigrant and other communities in Greater Manchester of Global South perspectives, contexts and issues. These international students, coordinated by Southern Voices, worked at different times with schools, the Manchester Museum, The Hat Museum in Stockport, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Tate Museum, Liverpool.
Here was an intriguing confluence bringing together the public, academia and Global South citizens in circumstances conducive to an exchange of information that could transform their lives. But how easy was the relationship between the small group of volunteers and the bureaucratic hierarchy represented by the universities? Was this ultimately a mutual exchange? Were the universities of the Manchester region facilitators or ultimately hindrances in this innovative attempt to nurture a Manchester contribution to the 'Silk Road of Knowledge'?
This paper critiques ‘presentism’ in approaches to writing about the experience of women in the A... more This paper critiques ‘presentism’ in approaches to writing about the experience of women in the Antebellum period of American history. Examining the adverse effects of prioritising current notions of ‘success’ and the ‘public sphere’ when examining women’s experience in the past, it juxtaposes the activities of women from a variety of philosophical and religious traditions in the period, such as feminists Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; abolitionists Angelina and Sarah Grimké; advocates of professionalising the domestic sphere Catherine E. Beecher and Sarah Josepha Hale; teachers and missionaries Mary Lyon, Emma Willard and Hannah Reeves. Dichotomising the social topography of the era into discrete ‘public’ and ‘private’ arenas according to our own current understandings is shown to obscure the ongoing negotiation of social reality in which such women were all fully active, whilst preselecting particular ideas of ‘equality’ as ‘better’ or ‘sounder’ than others is proven merely to obscure the richness of ongoing discourse at the time between women and women, as well as women and men.
Using as an illustration the life and Christian missionary 'career' of Ann Hasseltine Judson, th... more Using as an illustration the life and Christian missionary 'career' of Ann Hasseltine Judson, this paper examines whether religious affiliation was 'oppressive' to women in the antebellum era in America or a means of 'self-definition'. The paper seeks to establish that the consensus amongst feminist scholars which in the 1990s judged religion to be on balance a negative influence on women in the period misinterpreted or left unconsidered crucial functions of the religious conversion experience in activating and motivating women to social participation, at the forefront of contemporary social action and innovation. The first part examines how feminist scholarship from the 1970s to 1990s failed to understand the key role of religion in expanding possibilities of personal agency and activities for women, partly due to the assertion that there was an actual dichotomy between the 'public' and 'private' spheres in antebellum America. In fact, for the majority of women in the first half of the nineteenth century the rhetoric of 'spheres' was conceptual rather than reflective of reality, and it is suggested that women themselves pioneered roles and activities in a third expansive 'social' sphere which overlapped in significant ways with both the 'public' and 'private'. The second part presents problems associated with the sources available to scholars, which hampered their ability to access material which would reveal the reality of women's lives as opposed to the prescriptions put forward in print by, for example, male clergy and physicians. The third part examines the life and experiences of Ann Hasseltine Judson - a lionised figure in her own time whose significance has since been obscured for the reasons described in the previous parts of this paper. The religious conversion experience and the sense of duty it gave to young women such as Hasseltine are examined in detail by referring to primary source materials. This sense of duty impelled young women to pioneer roles in teaching, writing, mission and social reform - roles which over time led to the feminisation of American religion and the rise of voluntary campaigns which prefigured more formal provision of social services by the state.
Locating the Shakers. Cultural Origins and Legacies of an American Religious Movement (Mick Gidley and Kate Bowles eds) in Series: Exeter Studies in American and Commonwealth Arts, 1990
The Shakers are a small communitarian and mystical sect barely clinging onto existence today, whi... more The Shakers are a small communitarian and mystical sect barely clinging onto existence today, which flourished at its heyday in the USA from the 1770s to the 1890s. However, the cultural significance of the Shakers has always far outweighed their numerical strength. They profoundly influenced social, political and artistic thought through their simple but harmonious music, architecture and furnishings. The book Locating the Shakers. Cultural Origins and Legacies of an American Religious Movement assesses that influence through publishing the proceedings of a specialist conference on the subject held at the University of Exeter. My contribution "Shakers as Feminists? Shakerism as a Vanguard in the Antebellum American Search for Female Autonomy and Independence" explores the particular approaches taken by this communitarian group to the interrelations between the sexes by focusing on the context of wider trends which took shape in nineteenth-century America.