Some thoughts on receiving book reviews November 7, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Debate.Tags: Random thoughts, reviews
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In 2007, my first book was published, just in time for the RAE circus. At the time, I was just glad to get rid of it. I felt, at best, ambivalent to the work contained therein, and at worst, that it was all useless. At one level, I really didn’t care what people thought of it because it was my book and, in moments of clearer thinking, I thought I had achieved what I set out do do, at least in part. At a deeper level was the anxiety – what if someone really important totally pans it? What do I do?
‘Bad’ history October 16, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate.Tags: bad history
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No sooner do I launch an incoherent post on ‘impact’ (which in itself illustrates the dangers of such woolly concepts) on an unsuspecting world, than the Times Higher features a lengthy article on Bad History, starring Miri Rubin and Jonathan Phillips amongst some modernists. Although the article isn’t explicitly about impact, historians looking for a crumb of comfort in these vicissitudinous times may be relieved that some people haven’t lost the plot entirely.
Impact October 15, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Debate.Tags: higher education policy, intelligent people being idiots, rants
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If you keep up with the Higher Education pages in the UK newspapers, you will know that there has been a great deal of comment on a mysterious entity called ‘impact’ lately. Impact is the latest government and research council buzz word for why our research must have some definable economic or social goal: where is the next technological gadget or government initiative coming from in otherwords. Impact will also replace esteem in the REF, which in itself, replaces the RAE, except with a bigger percentage (more…)
In praise of teaching September 19, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate.Tags: higher education policy, teaching
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There has recently been a series of articles in the Times Higher and in other places reflecting, bemoaning and sometimes downright scaring on the state of higher education and universities in the UK. At the core of these debates is the question of what are our universities for? Are the people who comprise the faculty an elite squad of researchers who happen to pass on the benefits of their expertise to students in their spare time? Are they teaching, or, rather, instructing machines? And that’s before we even get to the admin.
IMC 2009 report July 19, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Debate, Medieval.Tags: Angevin, Anglo-Saxon, bishops, Elma Brenner, Fanny Madeline, frustrations of case studies, IMC, Jonathan Jarrett, Magistra et Mater, Matthew Johnson, Nick Karn, Paul Hyams, Pauline Stafford, space
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I’ve survived another Leeds (my 8th I believe) and thankfully, it was better than last year’s, both in terms of quality and weather. I still have some concerns about the over-use of case studies, but more of those later. I failed miserably to make it to either bloggers’ meeting due to double-booking myself and a successful round table: I’m sure Magistra et Mater and Jonathan Jarrett will update everyone on that score (the bloggers, not the roundtable). (more…)
Looking forward to … IMC 2009 June 22, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate, Medieval.Tags: Angevin, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, archaeology, IMC, landscape, Norman, space
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The middle of July, as ever, will see many medievalists descending on University of Leeds for the International Medieval Congress. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Heresy and Orthodoxy’ so what can we expect?
From universities to business: comment and roundup June 13, 2009
Posted by gesta in Academia, Boundaries, Debate.Tags: CBI, general relativity, higher education policy, Simon Jenkins
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It is all change in higher education again, with a big emphasis on doom and gloom. A couple of years ago, I posted a cautious, but not entirely negative piece on the new department for innovation, universities and skills. Following the expenses rows, local and European elections, the department for innovation, universities and skills has been demolished and universities shifted to business. I cannot pretend to be anything other than deeply alarmed by this turn of events.
1066 or what on middle earth was that? May 19, 2009
Posted by gesta in Debate, Medieval.Tags: 1066, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Bayeux Tapestry, chronicles, Domesday Book, Hastings, helmets, historical docu-dramas, Viking
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Yesterday and today Channel 4 broadcast a docudrama called ‘1066: the Battle for Middle Earth’. The premise of the film is an interesting one, namely to show the effects of the battles of 1066 (Fulford, Stamford Bridge and Senlac Hill) on the ordinary people. The result is something I thought impossible – Channel 4 makes 1066 boring.
Thinking about space (and time) in chronicles May 10, 2009
Posted by gesta in Boundaries, Debate, Medieval, Uncategorized.Tags: black holes, cartography, chronicles, Dick Harrison, general relativity, Jonathan Jarrett, mappae mundi, Norman, Orderic Vitalis, space
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In my last post I commented on how the problems faced by relativists trying to show time and space in representations of black holes seemed similar to the difficulties faced by historians trying to talk about representations of space in our sources. A recent post by Jonathan Jarrett has also raised some of these questions – is this picture of Toledo in council season a depiction of the council or the relationship between Toledo and its territories? And who is in the tents? (more…)
