‘Contextualising the Fifth Crusade’, a Colloquium on the Crusading Movement in the First Half of the 13th Century.

The Fifth Crusade was undoubtedly an important episode in history, occurring during what was probably the most intensive period of crusading in both Europe and the Holy Land. But this event was much more than a military campaign. To contribute to the recent new directions in crusades studies, this colloquium brings together an international group of scholars from a wide range of historical disciplines who are researching different aspects of the crusading movement around the time of the Fifth Crusade.

This one-day film and cultural festival celebrates the legacy of Audre Lorde. Lorde’s brilliant writings and speeches defined and inspired the American feminist, lesbian, African-American, and women of color movements of the 70s and 80s. On occasion of the 20-year anniversary of her passing, four powerful tribute films will be screened, including a new documentary by scholar, activist and feminist publisher Dagmar Schultz which has been accepted for the world premiere at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival (2012). In addition to the films, there will be a roundtable with Sara Ahmed and Pratibha Parmar, a Q&A with Schultz, and a reading by Ika Hügel-Marshall, close friend of Lorde and recipient of the Audre Lorde Literary Award.

Creative practices / resistant acts: cultural production and emerging democracies in revolutionary nations

The focus of this one-day symposium is the current and on-going Revolutions and popular uprisings in the Arab world and beyond, looking at their wider political, social and cultural implications. The people’s mobilisation of these globally significant events succeeded in, and is aiming towards, destabilising the state’s power and countering hegemonic narratives of oppression. A crucial aspect of the Revolutions is their nature as creative acts that are serving to reclaim the people’s senses of empowerment, belonging and national identity. People’s peaceful struggle has evoked a proliferation of forms of creative expression and ‘performative’ acts of resistance that transformed public spaces and urban geography as a response to the transformation in people’s attitudes towards the status quo. Demonstrations, marches, various acts of civil disobedience witnessed the formation of ‘alternative communities’ that found a platform for the newly formed narratives of democracy in various mediums and artistic traditions. A diversity of forms have been reclaimed or reshaped; from graffiti to street performance to song and poetry, intervening in the spaces of illegitimate authority and subverting dynamics of aggression.

Evidence and Causality in the Sciences

This conference will examine the relation between causality and evidence. This involves questions about the foundations of the sciences, e.g. what is evidence and how does it contribute to causal knowledge?  But it also involves questions about specific applications, e.g., how should we best deal with the many problems of evidence given by expert witnesses in court; and questions about policy-making, e.g., what constitutes evidence of causation that is relevant to the design of socio-economic and public health policies?  These questions are all of immense current concern.  Pressure on health systems from ageing populations and the obesity epidemic, coupled with severe financial constraints on public policy, means governments are demanding answers with increasing urgency.

KIASH is funding Catherine Richardson in English and Helen Gittos in History (both members of the Canterbury Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies) to undertake some preparation for further research into the poorly-understood but widespread practice of deliberately concealing items in domestic buildings, a practice which has endured from the medieval into the modern era. The research draws together Catherine’s interests in clothing and domestic spaces, with Helen’s on ritual practices in their architectural context, and research student Alan Abbey’s work on the practice of concealment itself. The work is designed to facilitate the development of this research under the umbrella of the Faculty’s wider interest in material culture studies and planned MA in Material Culture. The funding will enable the digitization of Northampton Museums and Art Gallery’s [http://www.northampton.gov.uk/museums] internationally renowned collection of records of objects deliberately concealed in buildings, thereby making it accessible for future research.