Life history and life writing research uses life story - whether in the form of oral history, personal narrative, autobiography or biography - as a primary source for the study of history and culture.
Life history and life writing research uses life story - whether in the form of oral history, personal narrative, autobiography or biography - as a primary source for the study of history and culture. Life stories capture the relation between the individual and society, the local and the national, the past and present and the public and private experience. Research involves grappling with theories of memory, relationship and self representation, and with debates about literacy and orality. Many disciplines contribute to the field, including history, sociology, anthropology, literary philosophy, cultural studies and psychology. Life history and life writing researchers present their work in many forms. As well as academic publications, we contribute to radio and television documentaries, auto/biographical drama, reminiscence work, digital and video presentations and exhibitions. Life history and life writing research is, of necessity, concerned with ethics and power relationships, and with the potential for advocacy and empowerment.
Our recent free events:
We delivered two exciting events at the end of 2020, and are planning more in the new year. Keep checking our website and social media channels for updates.
Seminars and events 2020/21:
Tuesday, 1 December 2020:
What to do with a Diary? - with Polly North, Becky Edmunds and Alexander Masters
4-6 pm
ZOOM (live, online)
Free, all welcome, but booking essential.
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Tuesday, 15 December 2020:
Arctic Journeys: Surviving in Icy Times - with Neil Gower, Nancy Campbell and Alexandra Loske
4-5.30 pm
ZOOM (live, online)
Free, all welcome, but booking essential.
Email A.Loske@sussex.ac.uk for more information.
New research project:
Squaring the colour circle:
Women in colour history
Led by art historian Alexandra Loske, this project will examine the lives and work of women in colour history from ca. 1760 onward.
Examples of women writing and publishing on colour before the twentieth century are extremely rare. While women were frequently depicted as personifications of colour or as artists, such as in the 1787 engraving above, fewer than 20 publications by women on the subject of colour dating to before 1900 are known.
This project seeks to gather information about the lives and work of women who wrote about, engaged with, and taught colour from the eighteenth century onward. The aim is to create a hub for data, information and image material that will help us understand how women in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries managed to engage in a field largely dominated by men.
The webpage will also list related events, exhibitions, lectures, and publication.
Please follow this link for details.
Contact: A.Loske@sussex.ac.uk
