CALL FOR PAPERS – MOVEMENT: THE 14TH ANNUAL PGF CONFERENCE

Call for Papers

14th Annual Postgraduate Forum Conference

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

Newcastle University

19^th May 2017

‘Movement’

This interdisciplinary one-day conference seeks to bring together Postgraduate students studying histories relating to the theme of Movement. How do we study the past, not as a static, but as dynamic and changing? How does the movement from one context to another change how we interpret evidence? What are the effects of movement on societies, material, and intellectual cultures? How has the idea of movement, or a movement, been used for political, social, or artistic purposes? We welcome any papers exploring the movement of people, objects and ideas.

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers from all postgraduate historians, classicists, ancient historians, and archaeologists. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

Migration and population movements
Journeys and travel
Trade and connections
Social movements
Cultural, Literary or Philosophical movements
Scientific movements
Physical movement such as gesture or dance

We also invite poster submissions from postgraduate students. In order to offer the opportunity to present work in the earlier stages of research, poster submissions are not necessarily required to fit with the theme of the conference.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to nshspgf@newcastle.ac.uk by 10th April 2017. If you have any ideas, questions or enquiries, please feel free to get in touch.

https://www.societies.ncl.ac.uk/pgfnewcastle/

13th Annual Postgraduate Forum Conference

‘Individuals and Communities’

20th May 2016

Room 2.22, Research Beehive, Newcastle University

9.00 – 9.15	Tea and Coffee
	Panel 1 Chair: Lauren Emslie
9.15 – 9:45	George Scratcherd (University of Oxford) The four horsemen of the AME Church: ‘Great Men’ and the challenges of black church historiography.
9.45 – 10.15	James Mullen (Newcastle University) God, King, and the Land: The relationship between Neo-Assyrian Kings, their subjects and the God Aššur.
10.15 – 10.45	David Astbury (Newcastle University) Can path creation theory restore the agency of individuals and communities in the past?
10.45 – 11.15	Tom Whitfield (Newcastle University) “Wilkes and Liberty”—Punch bowls and the later-eighteenth-century Wilkite agitations.
11.15 – 11.30	Tea and Coffee
	Panel 2 Chair: Amy Shields
11.30 – 12.00	Mareike Ahlers (Newcastle University) All for One and One for All—Identifying heterarchial structures in Early Neolithic barrow building communities.
12.00 – 12.30	Henry Clarke (University of Leeds) Negotiating individual identities within the community in Central Spain, 2^nd century BC – 2^nd century AD.
12.30 – 1.00	Kate Caraway (University of Liverpool) Group size and community cohesion in Archaic Greece: Towards a methodology.
1.00 – 2.00	Lunch and poster session
	Panel 3 Chair: Lucy Cummings
2.00 – 2.30	John Bowman (Newcastle University) Derwentcote Forge Cottages: A steel making community in the Derwent Valley 1841-1891.
2.30 – 3.00	Lawrence Mills (University of Glasgow) Building the Old College
3.00 – 3.30	Alberto Cafaro (University of Pisa) Praefecti fabrum and Roman politics.
3.30 – 4.00	Andrew Marriott (Newcastle University) Entrenched Views. Accessing the people of the First World War through Material Culture
4.00 – 4.30	Tea and Coffee
4.30 – 5.30	Keynote: Dr Valentina Arena (UCL) ‘The Individual and the Community in Republican Political Thought’
5.45	Reception and prize giving (Student Common Room, Armstrong Building)

PGF Conference Programme

It’s that time of year again: the sun is out, the birds are singing… and the PGF Conference is soon!

The theme for this year’s conference, if you didn’t know it yet, is Individuals and Communities. We have a great day lined up for you, some interesting papers from across the disciplines and across the country (and beyond!), so come along to the Research Beehive on campus on 20th May. There will also be posters on postgraduate research.

You can find the programme here.

UPDATE: The research beehive can be found at number 25 on the campus map.

You can follow us @NewcastlePGF for information and live tweeting. Use the hashtag #PGFConference to join the discussion.

Just a minute with… Emma Nicholson

emma Dr. Emma Nicholson finished her PhD on Philip V of Macedon in Polybios’ Histories at Newcastle in December 2015 and is currently teaching in the department. her research interests include Hellenistic history, historiography, epigraphy, leadership, cultural politics, cultural values and interstate relations. Traveller, artist, lover of movies, good food, good beer, and books. find her on Twitter.

How did you come to be interested in your current area of research?

I’ve been interested in the ancient world since childhood, but came to love Macedonian and Hellenistic history during my BA and my MA. Philip V and Polybios emerged as top for the PhD.

What advice would you have for current UG or early stage PG students?

Start early, work hard, work consistently, but always leave time for yourself!

What book are you currently reading?

Too many!

If you were a biscuit, what sort would you be?

Something chocolatey.

What has been the highlight of your week?

Having an old friend over for the weekend. Lots of food, fun, geek and games!

What is the most important life skill you learnt whilst being a PGR student?

Finding a decent work-life balance and not feeling guilty about taking time off. We worry so much about our work and achievements that we forget to take care of the very instruments (our brains) which get us there!

Do you have favourite hidden gems of Newcastle?

Gorgeous little Café 1901 in Jesmond.

What has been the most significant/memorable moment of your academic career so far?

A four-month research trip to Erlangen, Germany!

What do you enjoy the most about being part of the history, classics and archaeology department at Newcastle?

People are supportive, connected and get involved.

What would your perfect day away from work be?

Either reading/playing games at home all day, or hiking up a mountain somewhere.

What is your favourite movie quote?

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring). Ok, it’s originally a book quote, but all the same.

What’s next for Emma?

New adventures!

Thanks , Emma! We are all behind you all the way, wherever those new adventures may lead you.

Just a minute with… Chris Mowat

Chris Mowat is a second year Classics and Ancient History PhD student, and our current IT and Social Media person. His research is on gender construction and divination in the Roman world. He is also organising AMPAH 2016. He is on twitter @chrismologos

Though currently away on research in Germany, we still managed to get him to answer a few questions…

If you could time-travel back to any moment in the past where and when would it be?

Gosh, there are so many options… and I would probably just waste it on going to see the original production of a Shakespeare…

What book are you currently reading?

Romanitas by Sophia McDougall. Alternate history modern-day Roman Empire, or, as my best friend described it, “Latin Steampunk”.

What did you want to be as a child?

So many things, including a best-selling novelist and a window cleaner! True story!

Can you describe your research in three words?

Roman Sex and Magic.

Okay – that is not exactly accurate, but close enough, and it is great to say!

What are your three most overused/cliché words or phrases?

“Hi Hungry, I’m Chris!”

“True story.”

“On a scale of 1 to [word]…”

What’s the worst Classics-related joke that you’re heard and/or are guilty of telling?

I have a Classics hoodie that says “my life is in ruins”. Works for archaeologists, too!

Have you got any hidden talents?

Yes.

But if I told you, they wouldn’t be hidden!

If given complete freedom to start over, what profession would you like to do and why?

Professional panda hugger. It is a real job, which people are paid real money to do.

What is your favourite movie quote?

“How am I not myself?” (from I ♥ Huckabees).

Thanks, Chris! See you in March, when you are back from Germany!

Individuals and Communities: the 13th Annual PGF conference

20th May, 2016

Humans are often considered ‘social animals’, existing only within larger groups, though still maintaining a unique identity. This interdisciplinary one-day conference seeks reflect on the shifting relationship between individuals and communities across history. Defining the relationship between the individual and a (or several) social group(s) is difficult task. A community and an individual often construct carefully curated identities, which are either mutual or distinct. Humans have constantly created communities, approaches to the study of which are wide-ranging and indeed interdisciplinary. Equally, throughout our history individuals have emerged and their eminency has endured the test of time. Prominent and conspicuous these great individuals stand as role-models and exempla. Yet others, individuals who are not famous (either in their own, or our time) often prove to be just as important. What role can we, as historians and archaeologists, play in reviving and bringing back the individual from a historical period, ancient or more modern? Can we restore their agency? How important is the individual experience in society? How are communities organised?

We invite proposals for twenty-minute papers from postgraduate historians, classicists, ancient historians, and archaeologists. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

· Individuals in communities

· Individuals outside communities

· Outsiders and exile

· Individuals in history

· Agency

· ‘Great-Man’ theory

· Public and private religion

· Organisation(s) and landscape

· Social roles

· International relations

· Social communication

· Family

· Gender and sexuality

· Creating society

· Class and race

We also invite poster submissions from postgraduate students. In order to offer the opportunity to present work which is in the earlier stages of research, poster submissions are not necessarily required to fit with the theme of the conference.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to l.emslie@ncl.ac.uk by Friday 1st April 2016. If you have any ideas, questions or enquiries, please feel free to get in touch.

PGF Lunchtime Seminar

The next lunchtime seminar is Wednesday 20th, at 1pm, in Armstrong 1.04.

John Bagnall (History) will be talking to us about :

The New Official History: Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands Crisis

‘Earlier this year, Charles Moore released the second of his three volume official biography of Margaret Thatcher. Moore was given unrivalled access to, not only Thatcher herself, but her wealth of private papers concerning her time as British Prime Minister. His first volume, published in 2013, ended with the Falklands Affair of 1982 and the second volume, picks up from this point and continues until the end of her time in office. The Falklands Affair was a dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. The dispute garnered international tension when a nine week conflict was fought between the two nations in 1982. Moore’s work uses Thatcher’s own papers and memory of the affair to give a new account of the conflict. As this work was undertaken before the source material was released for public research purposes, it is at the forefront of study of 1980s British Political history.

This paper aims to examine what Moore adds to the existing knowledge of the Falklands Affair in the context of Lawrence Freedman’s two volume Official History of the Falklands Campaign published in 2005. Freedman too was given access to source material from government departments before it was released to the public and produced, at the time, the most comprehensive study of the Falklands Campaign that had been done. This paper compares the work done by Moore to the work of Freedman to highlight what new insights Moore has offered on the Falklands Affair. This paper scrutinises the source material used by each author as well as their methodologies and conclusion to produce an analysis of how much has been added by Moore to our understanding of one of the most crucial aspects of Thatcher’s Britain, the Falklands Affair.’

Come along for discussion, tea, coffee and biscuits!