The term has got off to a great start with the ‘Humanities & Identities’ series launch event, which explored the question “What Does Diversity Mean to Me?” If you weren’t able to make it on the night, or watch the livestream, we will be posting a recording of the event to the TORCH website shortly. Watch this space for news of when it is available and projects and events for the rest of the series.

In other news, TORCH welcomes Professor Kirsten Shepherd-Barr to the team as Acting TORCH Director for this term while Professor Elleke Boehmer is on research leave.

Finally, we bring you many events, activities, blogs, opportunities and more for you to explore below.

Highlighted Events

Supersonic LiveFriday

7.00pm-10.30pm, 3rd March 2017

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Join us at the Ashmolean Museum on Friday 3rd March for a sonic and musical extravaganza as Oxford Contemporary Music and the Music Faculty take over the Ashmolean! Experience sound on multiple levels of the museum, and enjoy live music performances. With aural installations, film, instrumental workshops, interactive talks and soundscapes. This event is made possible through Arts Council England funding.

The Ashmolean Museum is offering 500 FREE tickets for U12s, Carers and Students, courtesy of the Arts Council England. These are available on a first come, first served basis. Book here.

We also hope to see you tonight at Linguamania LiveFriday where we will join Creative Multilingualism for a series of Bitesize talks. If you missed out on a ticket for tonight, we look forward to seeing you at Supersonic LiveFriday.

News and Blogs

Why Diverse Stories Matter

In this Voices Across Borders blog post, JC Niala writes about why diverse stories in Oxford matter. 

Click here to read more.

Tombstone of a Muslim girl

TORCH Oxford Medieval Studies programme member Professor Julia Bray took part in the Ashmolean Museum’s “Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection” podcast series.

Professor Bray's podcast focuses on 'Tombstone of a Muslim girl'. She looks at what people’s feelings about death and the dead in North Africa a thousand years ago were. What does this tombstone tell us? 

Click here to listen to Professor Bray's podcast.

Inkfish

On Wednesday 21st June 2017 the Comics and Graphic Novels network will be running a comics creation workshop called ‘INKFISH’, in collaboration with Oxford Writers' House, a local, literature-focused, not-for-profit organisation. INKFISH is a collaborative, full day workshop (10am-5pm) designed to bring together budding and experienced comics creators in order to produce a finished piece of sequential narrative-art in just one day. After being organised into groups, participants will work together with a range of artistic materials to complete their comics-based creative project.

See the call for participants here. 

Documenting Trauma: Comics and the Politics of Memory

On Thursday 22nd June 2017, the Comics and Graphic Novels network will host a symposium on "Documenting Trauma: Comics and the Politics of Memory."

Beginning with a talk from comics artist Nicola Streeten, and concluding with a keynote from Professor Hillary Chute, this symposium will seek to address the following questions: why have so many comics and other graphic narratives, the production and publication of which has exploded in recent years, been framed as memoirs or non-fictional documentaries of traumatic events? Is there a relationship between the comics form, as distinct from film and written narrative through its inclusion of multiple visual panels, and the remembrance and recovery of trauma? How do the interpretive demands made by these disjointed formal attributes impinge on readers of comics and shape their relationship to historical traumatic events?

See the call for papers here. 

New Opportunities

New Network Scheme

TORCH invites applications from colleagues seeking to establish, or consolidate, multi- or interdisciplinary research networks to be based at the Radcliffe Humanities Building.

Each academic term The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) will sponsor the creation and/or development of up to three multi- or interdisciplinary research networks by providing a venue, funding, a web presence and publicity. Funding will ordinarily be up to £2,500. Funding is for one year (renewable for a further year on application after first year). Applicants may also apply for funds from the John Fell Fund. The next deadline is midday Friday 17 February 2017

Women in Humanities Postdoctoral Writing Fellowship

Women in the Humanities is an interdisciplinary programme which aims to explore how gender and sex play out in history, art, philosophy, music, language and literature, as well as the ethics and politics of gender identity and equality in the Humanities.

A postdoctoral writing fellowship worth £5,000 is available to early career scholars within three years of the award of a doctorate who do not yet hold a permanent academic job. The fellowship will be tenable for between 3 and 6 months from 1 October 2017.

The deadline to submit applications is noon, 21 April 2017.

Gender and Authority Podcast Coordinator

The TORCH Gender & Authority Research Network is looking for a Podcast Coordinator to help them amplify the impact of their events by overseeing and developing their podcast series. They are looking for someone with relevant experience and/or an interest in developing the necessary skills to manage an academic podcast series. The person will be provided with the necessary equipment and will be encouraged to attend the IT Podcast training courses if he/she has not done this already. Deadline 17 February 2017

Andrew W. Mellon 'Humanities & Identities'

TORCH and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are pleased to announce four exciting new research funding opportunities as part of the 'Humanities & Identities' Headline Series. Please check the website for further details on deadlines.

Upcoming Events

Out in Oxford: Is Gender Identity a Choice?

Thursday, February 16, 2017 - 7:00pm to 9:30pm

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

The Pitt Rivers Museum and Out in Oxford cross-museums LGBTQ+ trail project  will be exploring the difference and relationship between gender and sex. Are the concepts of 'male' and 'female' well defined and do their meanings differ in different circumstances? What is the relationship between our biology, our state of mind and our identity? How do we know whether we are male or female? Can I simply choose my gender or is there some other criterion I should fulfil?

No booking required but sign up on Facebook appreciated.

Book at Lunchtime: The Spirits of Crossbones Graveyard

Wednesday, February 8, 2017 -12:30pm to 2:00pm

Seminar Room, Radcliffe Humanities Building, Woodstock Road, Oxford

Every month, a ragtag group of Londoners gather in the site known as Crossbones Graveyard to commemorate the souls of medieval prostitutes believed to be buried there—the “Winchester Geese,” women who were under the protection of the Church but denied Christian burial. In the Borough of Southwark, not far from Shakespeare's Globe, is a pilgrimage site for self-identified misfits, nonconformists, and contemporary sex workers who leave memorials to the outcast dead. Ceremonies combining raucous humor and eclectic spirituality are led by a local playwright, John Constable, also known as John Crow. His interpretation of the history of the site has struck a chord with many who feel alienated in present-day London.

Sondra L. Hausner offers a nuanced ethnography of Crossbones that tacks between past and present to look at the historical practices of sex work, the relation of the Church to these professions, and their representation in the present. 

Sondra (Professor of Anthropology, University of Oxford) will explore the issues raised with:

Bridget Anderson (Professor of Migration and Citizenship, University of Oxford)

Diane Watt (Professor of Medieval Literature, University of Surrey)

Morgan Clarke (University Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Oxford)

Chair: Antonia Fitzpatrick (Departmental Lecturer in History, University of Oxford)

Free and all welcome. Lunch will be available from 12.30, with discussion from 13.00-14.00.

Book is essential.

Languages & Creativity

Saturday, January 28, 2017 - 9:00am 

Taylor Institution Library, St Giles, Oxford

Creative Multilingualism is holding its first conference on Languages & Creativity.

Entry to the conference is free, but numbers are limited so booking is required. Please register here.

Nelson Mandela: A World Life

Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm

Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College, Linton Rd, Oxford OX2 6UD

The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW) are hosting a lecture on 'Nelson Mandela: A World Life' with speaker Professor Elleke Boehmer (Director of TORCH and Professor of World Literature, University of Oxford). This is part of the 'Weinrebe Lecture Series: Writing World Lives 2'.

Looking back on 2015-16

As we move swiftly through the new academic year, we look back at some of our highlights from 2015-16. 

Events Calendar, Weeks 3-4

Monday 30 January 

14:15 | THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF MUSICAL NOTATION AND LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BODLEIAN

Part of the Palaeography and Manuscript Studies seminar series

17:00 | FREE SPEECH RIGHTS ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Free Speech Debate Panel Discussion

17:00 | AGRICULTURAL ENLIGHTENMENT: THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED APPROACH TO GROWTH IN THE RURAL ECONOMY, C. 1750-1840

Part of the Besterman Enlightenment workshop series

17:15 – 19:15 | REFLECTIONS ON TRANSLATING POETRY

Part of the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Programme

Tuesday 31 January

13:00 – 14:00 | COSMOPOLITES OR NATIONALISTS?

Mme de Stael, Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar, Frederick II, Rahel Varnhagen and Caroline de la Motte-Fouque in Dialogue

15:30 – 17:30 | EAST ASIAN WORKING GROUP

Group is dedicated to the examination of the untranslated, underexplored theories of East Asian criticism

17:00 | TRANSLATING HINDUSTAN: CHALLENGES AND EXPLORATIONS OF TRANSLATING EARLY MODERN HINDI TEXTS INTO CHINESE

Approaches to Translation Seminar

17:00 | THE LAWYERS DENIED: HOW BLACK LAWYERS OF THE LATE C19TH AND EARLY C20TH LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS LAW IN SOUTH AFRICA

Speaker: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi (Legal Resources Centre and Johannesburg Bar)

17:30 – 19:00 | NELSON MANDELA: A WORLD LIFE

Speaker: Elleke Boehmer (Professor of World Literature, University of Oxford)

Wednesday 1 February

10:00 – 12:00 | RADIO PITCHING: TURNING YOUR RESEARCH INTO A PROGRAMME

For senior and mid-career researchers

13:00 – 14:00 | AFRICAN MIGRATION TO AND FROM EUROPE: RETHINKING CIRCULAR MIGRATION

Part of the International Migration Institute Seminar Series

14:00 – 16:30 | WOMEN IN HUMANITIES FEMINIST PEDAGOGY WORKSHOP

Led by Hannah Kinney and Julia Hamilton

17:00 | "A FAITHFUL ECHO OF MEDIEVAL SPAIN"

Speaker: Elisabeth Bolorinos Allard (University of Oxford) 

17:00 | THE MATERIAL PRESENCE OF ABSENT ANTIQUITIES

With Caroline van Eck (Cambridge University)

17:15 – 19:15 | FICTION AND OTHER MINDS

Seminar exploring the theme of ‘Modalities of Reading’

17:30 – 19:00 | ANCIENT MEDICINE SEMINAR

Speaker: Professor Markham J. Geller (Free University of Berlin)

17:30 – 19:00 | PATHOLOGIES OF SOLITUDE

Speaker: Professor Barbara Taylor (Queen Mary University of London)

17:30 – 19:00 | SECULARITY VS. RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT WITHIN ANCIENT BABYLONIAN MEDICINE

Part of the Ancient Medicine Seminar series

Thursday 2 February

14:00 – 15:30 | CREATING A SAFE SPACE: REVOLUTIONARY IMAGINATIONS IN A FEMINIST BOOKSHOP

Part of the Feminist Mappin in a Volatile World: Spaces of Creativity and Survival series

14:15 | TRADITIONS IN MOTION: THE CIRCULATION OF TEXTS, 1100-1900

Trans-cultural Sectarians: The Messianic Cult of Jacob Frank and his Daughter in Eighteenth-Century Poland

16:00 – 17:30 | THE FORTRESS: A CASE STUDY OF TOTAL WAR IN THE EAST, 1914-15

Speaker: Professor Alexander Watson (Goldsmith’s University)

17:00 | WRITING A NEW HISTORY FOR SOUTH SUDAN: WHOSE HISTORY AND FOR WHOM?

Book launch organised by the African Studies Centre

17:15 | TRUMP IN THE AGE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA/CAPTAIN AMERICA IN THE AGE OF TRUMP

With Jason Dittmer (University College London)

17:30 – 19:00 | WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CLAIM OF JUSTICE AND ANY OTHER KIND OF MORAL CLAIM?

Speaker: Samuel Bruce (University of Oxford)

Friday 3 February

9:30 – 11:00 | HEIDEGGER READING GROUP

Graduate led reading group

12:30 – 13:45 | MAINSTREAMING BLACK POWER

Speaker: Tom Davies (University of Sussex)

17:00 | LANGUAGE, CRISIS AND AFFECT: MUTED EMOTIONS IN HEINRICH VON KLEIST’S MICHAEL KOHLHAAS

Speaker: Dr Tobias Heinrich (University of Oxford)

17:00 – 19:00 | THE CULT OF SAINTS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTANTINIAN BASILICA

Part of the Cult of Saints in the First Millennium project

Monday 6 February

12:45 – 14:00 | OCCT DISCUSSION GROUP: WHAT IS GOOD LITERATURE?

An Experiment in Aesthetic Judgement & Implicit Comparison

14:00 – 15:30 | THE RELATION OF LITERATURE AND LEARNING TO SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

With papers by Richard McCabe and Emma Claussen

14:15 | THE OTHER MUSE: LATIN AND ENGLISH POETRY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Speaker: Victoria Moul (Kings College London)

17:00 | VOLTAIRE AND THE JACOBITES, 1722-1733

Part of the Besterman Enlightenment workshop series

Tuesday 7 February

17:00 | THE FIRES BENEATH: THE LIFE OF MONICA WILSON, SOUTH AFRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

Book launch hosted by the African Studies Centre

17:30 – 19:00 | 'DOORS INTO THE DARK': SEAMUS HEANEY AND HIS WORLDS

Speaker: Roy Foster

18:15 | THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE SONG IN THE CANTILLATION OF PSALMS 136 AND 137

Speaker: David Mitchell (Pro-Cathedral, Brussels)

Wednesday 8 February

12:15 – 13:15 | IN SYNC

Event organised by Said Business School

12:30 -14:00 | THE SPIRITS OF CROSSBONES GRAVEYARD

Book at Lunchtime session

13:00 – 14:00 | THE POLITICS OF CONGOLESE COMBATTANTS’ VIOLENT TRANSNATIONAL MOBILISATION

Part of the International Migration Institute Seminar Series

13:00 | LAW AND AESTHETICS IN IAN MCEWAN'S THE CHILDREN ACT

Speakers: Lucinda Ferguson (Facult of Law) and Tessa Roynon (Faculty of English)

17:00 | THE MATERIAL PRESENCE OF ABSENT ANTIQUITIES

With Caroline van Eck (Cambridge University)

Thursday 9 February

14:00 – 15:30 | MUSIC FOR THE AMAY GYAN NAT (SPIRIT): SONG, DANCE, AND GENDER IN BURMESE NAT PWE CEREMONIES

Part of the Feminist Mappin in a Volatile World: Spaces of Creativity and Survival series

14:15 | TRADITIONS IN MOTION: THE CIRCULATION OF TEXTS, 1100-1900

The First Arabic Translations of Enlightenment Literature: Syrians, Greeks and Franks in Damietta, 1808-1818

17:00 | NARRATING HISTORY THROUGH COMICS: AIVALI

With Soloup (comics artist)

17:00 | YOUTH WAITHOOD, FORCED MIGRATION, AND THE TRANSNATIONAL NEGOTIATION OF "FORTRESS" EUROPE: CASE STUDIES OF CONGOLESE MIGRANTS

Speaker: Peter Kankonde (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and University of Notre Dame, USA)

17:15 – 19:15 | “FORGOTTEN EUROPE”: TRANSLATING MARGINALISED LANGUAGES

Seminar which interrogates what it means to translate and publish marginalised and minor European languages into English

17:30 | HISTORY, VISION, AMBITION

Part of the 'MOVING, TEACHING, INSPIRING: The National Trust & University of Oxford in the 21st Century' lecture series.

18:00 – 19:30 | UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LGBT HISTORY MONTH LECTURE 2017

Lecture with CN Lester

Friday 10 February

9:30 – 11:00 | HEIDEGGER READING GROUP

Graduate led reading group

12:30 – 13:45 | POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH-IN-PROGRESS SEMINAR

Hosted by TORCH Race and Resistance programme

Saturday 11 February

19:00 – 22:00 | OUT IN OXFORD: PARTY AT THE PITT

AfterHours event