The centre brings together a number of Sussex faculty around the central idea that War had fundamental effects on British Society in the long twentieth century. These effects were not only 'historical' but formative in great swathes of visual and literary cultures (popular and elite). The centre has no 'position' in regard to the broader relationship between war and social/cultural change but exists in the belief that only rigorous interdisciplinary research and study can lead to satisfactory accounts of the problems of war, its representations and its social outcomes.
This means that the Centre is not solely focused on 'War' in the sense of military history but rather sees it in a broader context of changing social, economic and cultural trends both as a motor for change and as part of those broader changes. We are committed, for instance, to the study in changing popular perceptions of war from the Great War to the Second Gulf War; to the place of conflict within changes in gender roles, sexuality and the family; memory and life histories; and to the long term history of standards of living through war and peace.
The focus of the Centre is driven by the concerns of Contemporary Historians at Sussex plus faculty from other research areas within the University including media and popular culture, art history and English. It functions within an axis of the department of History, and the Mass-Observation Archive. We also have links with the Imperial War Museum and the Poverty research unit at Sussex.
Mass-Observation, a unique source for the social and cultural history of late twentieth and twenty-first century Britain forms a central part of the project. In autumn 2007 parts of the Mass-Observation collection became available digitally for the first time through Adam Matthews Publications. In the first stages this material includes all the File Reports, Topic Collections and Diaries and Personal writings from 1939-40. The digitalisation project has significantly extended the visibility of Mass-Observation as a research archive at a time when its public visibility is also growing through impressive sales of two edited collections of diaries (Simon Garfield's Hidden Lives and We are at War) and a number of television programmes surveying aspects of the project. The Mass-Observation Archive has been recognised by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as having outstanding national and international importance under the Designation Scheme.
A number of faculty at Sussex are associated with the Centre. Among history faculty Dr. Ian Gazeley, Prof. Alun Howkins, Dr Claire Langhamer, Dr Gerry Holloway, and Dr. Lucy Robinson are actively involved. Other subject areas are represented by Prof. David Mellor, in History of Art and Andy Medhurst from Media and Cultural Studies.
A steering group of Dr Gazeley and Dr. Langhamer is overseeing the development of the Centre in a number of directions including building on our already established relationship with the Imperial War Museum. The Centre engages with the research interests of historians of twentieth century Britain, placing Mass-Observation centre stage as well as facilitating research synergies and grant applications beyond this context. At present coverage is focused on 'Britain'. However there are plans to reach further afield: Prof. David Mellor has contacts in France and there are colleagues both in mainland Europe and elsewhere whose contributions would be welcomed.