Upcoming Events

Here are some events and a new book that might be of interest to readers.


Transnational Solidarities

This conference will explore the ways in which activists have embraced the causes of groups – or even entire nations – of which their knowledge and experience was often limited. Taking place at Northumbria University on Saturday 31 March and Sunday 1 April, the event hopes to discuss such themes as the relationship between ‘solidarity’ and ‘philanthropy’; and the domestic implications of transnational campaigns. You can download the provisional programme for this event here. Places are limited; to register for this event, please send an email to AZ.TransnationalSolidarities@northumbria.ac.uk by 23 March. Please specify whether you intend to come for both days or only for one day.



Venice and the Cultural Imagination

This new book, edited by Michael O'Neill, Mark Sandy and Sarah Wootton, has just been published by Pickering and Chatto. The interdisciplinary Venice and the Cultural Imagination: 'This Strange Dream upon the Water' explores the representation of Venice in Western culture (poetry, fiction, art, music, film) since 1800, with particular attention to artistic and cultural legacies and the relationships between art and money, history and myth.



Spaces of (Dis)location
 
This two-day multidisciplinary graduate conference is hosted by the College of Arts, University of Glasgow, and takes place on 24th - 25th May 2012. The notion that ideas of space and location - whether physical or metaphysical, real or imaginary - are evolving provides the stimulus for a conference that aims to inspire creativity and debate across many subjects in the arts and humanities. See the conference website for more information. 


Stanza Stones

Stanza Stones, a Poetry Trail from Marsden to Ilkley, is a new collaboration between imove, Ilkley Literature Festival, Simon Armitage and Pennine Prospects, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Simon Armitage and some of Yorkshire’s most talented young writers, dancers and film makers celebrate the Pennine landscape in a series of performances combining dance, poetry, bicycles and film. The project also includes a series of walks as well as a stone carving workshop.
The events are free but must be booked in advance, here. 

And don't forget the most important date of all - the Spaces in Theory Trip to Shandy Hall, Friday 18th May. Email us to register your place before Friday 30th March. It's proving popular so make sure you've got a seat on the bus!
 

Spaces in Theory trip - Literary Houses: Theory and Practice

We're excited to announce that on Friday the 18th of May we will be holding the reading group at Shandy Hall, the literary house where Laurence Sterne lived and wrote his most famous works. Attendees will also be able to view the Precious Cargo exhibition, which explores Sterne’s epistolary relationship with Mrs Eliza Draper as she sailed back to India on an East India vessel.

We hope the location, the readings (to be confirmed) and the exhibition will inspire discussion and debate on such themes as literary pilgrimage and tourism, Empire, site-specific writing, artists/writers in residence, and the interpretation of historic spaces and places through art installations and curatorial practice.

Places are limited, so we ask that all postgraduates and staff book their places before Friday 30th of March by emailing spacestheory@hotmail.co.uk. There will be a small fee of £4.50, payable on the day. We will set off from Northumbria at 1pm and full travel information will be circulated before the trip.

For more on Shandy Hall and the Laurence Sterne Trust visit http://laurencesternetrust.org.uk/. Information about the Precious Cargo exhibition can also be found here: http://laurencesternetrust.org.uk/.

Summary of February's Meeting

On Tuesday we achieved the seemingly impossible feat of connecting Derridean theory and medieval Robin Hood ballads. To summarize:

Laurie began by discussing the notion of hospitality and the ways in which it has been theorized. This led us to ask: should hospitality be understood, and practiced, as an economic pact, or as a gesture of (potentially disastrous) openness? And what do we mean when we talk about 'hospitality' - what kind of personal, social and geographic boundaries are involved? Can we talk about all these things at once - does Derrida? And how successfully?

This led us on to the Robin Hood ballad and Robin's own 'hospitable' practices. We discussed the ways in which Robin positions himself as a greenwood host, and what this says about his social, economic and spatial position.  We talked a little more generally about the ballad itself and its contexts of production. We also idly wondered why the otherwise sparse ballad describes the many birds Robin eats for dinner in such minute detail ! "There fayled none so litell a birde / That ever was bred on bryre."

Thanks to all who came to another enjoyable session.

Finally, we will have some exciting news soon  regarding a 'Spaces in Theory' excursion. Details will follow shortly.

Readings for Tuesday 28th February

As mentioned below our next meeting will take place on this coming Tuesday, led by Laurie Mckee. We'll be talking about Robin Hood and theories of hospitality (especially Derridean), and our texts are:

• Anon., "A Gest of Robin Hood" (c.1450) [circulated to mailing list]
• Mark W. Westmoreland, "Interruptions: Derrida and Hospitality", Kritike 2, 1 (2008): 1-10.  [available at: www.kritike.org/journal/issue_3/westmoreland_june2008.pdf]

As usual, all are warmly and hospitably welcomed to join and discounted wine will flow. If you're not on the mailing list and would like to join in, just email us at spacestheory@hotmail.co.uk.

Change of Date and Upcoming Events

The session planned for Friday 17th February has been postponed until Tuesday 28th February, at 4.30pm in Lipman 121. Laurie McKee will be leading the session on Robin Hood, Jacques Derrida and hospitality. We'll send the readings around shortly.

The following meeting will take place as planned on Friday 16th March, led by Anna Hope.

In the mean time, there are a couple of events over the road at NCLA to keep you busy...

• 22 Feb TippingPoint: An evening of readings and multimedia artworks. Editor Gregory Norminton will be in discussion with some of the authors (Jay Griffiths; Lawrence Norfolk) who have contributed to his anthology Out of Chaos: Short Stories for our Shared Planet (Oneworld, 2012). The stories were specially commissioned for Norminton’s collection and respond to ecological crisis.
• 23 Feb NCLA Water Poetry Competition Award Ceremony with John Burnside and W.N. Herbert.

...and a new website featuring Prof Donald Hayden’s photography of locations and routes from Wordsworth’s Travels in Scotland and his walking tour of 1790 is now online.

CFP: Spatial Perspectives

On the 22nd June, Oxford University will be hosting an excellent-sounding conference investigating the ways in which literature and architecture interact. Writers and researchers are invited to propose papers discussing textual spaces and spatial texts, narrative and architecture, interiors and design and many other topics. For more information and details of how to get involved  head over to http://spatialperspectives.wordpress.com/.

Events in February

A couple of events at the Lit & Phil this month will appeal to those of us interested in places and spaces. On the 22nd Natasha Vall of Teeside University will examine how, after 1945, the North East struggled to create cultural policies which would support its vernacular culture. Then on the 29th a number of creative writing staff from Northumbria University will read from their work, including Ian Davidson and Michael Cawood Green whose rich works explore issues of space and location (see: http://www.litandphil.org.uk/events.shtml for more information).

Some other snippets: the London Review of Books has some excellent articles this month, including Jeremy Harding's discussion of European borders and John Burnside's moving recollection of his time in the Arctic Circle (http://www.lrb.co.uk/).

We'll see you again towards the end of this month (date tbc) for a session on Derrida, hospitality and (believe it or not) Robin Hood.