The sacred and profane June 30, 2006
Posted by gesta in Debate, faith.4 comments
One of the main dichotomies I wrestle with in my work is that of the sacred vs the profane: temporal authority vs spiritual. More often than not, the dichotomy is shown up, if not to be false, then not really meaningful. Recently, both through my teaching and through reading other comment and blog sites, I have begun looking at this dichotomy afresh in terms of modern British society, or to put it another way, are we living in such a secularized or individualistic society, that there is no place to seek understanding of or tolerance of faith or ideologies in society? (more…)
What’s wrong with this library catalogue? June 28, 2006
Posted by gesta in Academia, Books.3 comments
Human beings have an almost irresistable urge to categorise things, so correct me if I am wrong, but a library catalogue should be a means of determining what stock a given library has and its probable location by means of a unique classmark. In order for the library to function effectively, there should be a certain logic to the cataloguing – similar books should be located in proximity to each other. As any researcher will tell you, many an interesting tome has been discovered through the sheer joy of browsing the shelves of a well-stocked library when seeking a particular volume. (more…)
Some thoughts on boundaries after rereading Orderic Vitalis June 27, 2006
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Medieval.3 comments
The great twelfth-century chronicler, Orderic Vitalis, was a monk of the monastery of St-Evroul in Normandy. His mother was English, his father Norman and he was born in 1075 near Shrewsbury before leaving for St-Evroul at the age of ten. He is a figure that encountered and crossed many boundaries over the course of his life. Orderic is also pretty central to my research as a medievalist fascinated by the use of space, and as such, I thought he was a good subject to write about after reading a comment on our initial post by G. Robertson. (more…)
What’s 2+2 4? June 20, 2006
Posted by reivers in Academia, Debate.1 comment so far
In a previous post, gesta argued that academics in the humanities should be valued for their contributions to human understanding. Clearly I have a much easier job explaining why mathematicians and scientists should be valued, as we improve the lives of everybody through our work on technology and improvements in physics.
Excuse me whilst I kill myself laughing.
Our common humanity June 19, 2006
Posted by gesta in Boundaries, Debate.add a comment
As Dr Indarjit Singh told Radio 4's Today programme listeners last Tuesday, today Sikhs in London will be offering refreshing drinks to people in Trafalgar Square in memory of Guru Arjan's martyrdom. (more…)
Gateshead and Northumbria international June 18, 2006
Posted by gesta in Fencing.1 comment so far
This weekend saw sabreurs, epeeists and foilists fighting it out for world cup points at the Gateshead International Stadium. This competition is part of the Coupe du Nord, a satellite world cup series based in northern Europe. The winners in the sabre were local fencer Chris Farren and Malgorzata Kozaczuk from Poland. (more…)
What’s it all for? June 13, 2006
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate.1 comment so far
You may well be aware of the debate that has been taking place in the British media recently on the role of higher education in society. You may not be aware that members of the higher education unions (AUT and NATFHE, now merged to UCU) have been involved in industrial action. The lack of interest has prompted some commentators to ask why academics are not valued in our society. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject. (more…)
A beginning June 11, 2006
Posted by reivers in Boundaries.5 comments
On boundaries is a joint effort between reivers and gesta. It is our first attempt, hence the current simplicity of the site. We shall see how it goes before making things more complex than necessary.
