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…)
Reuter Lecture and workshop 2009 March 26, 2009
Posted by gesta in Uncategorized.Tags: Reuter lecture, Wendy Davis
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The Reuter Lecture 2009 ‘Judges and judging: truth and justice in tenth-century northern Iberia’ will be given by Prof. Wendy Davis on 8 June at 6pm Avenue Campus, University of Southampton. This will be preceded by a workshop on ‘Disputing, conflict management and negotiation in early modern Europe’ for which contributions are sought from final year Ph.D. students and recent post-docs. Further information can be found here. reuter-masterclass-flier3
Journal rankings continued February 5, 2009
Posted by gesta in Uncategorized.Tags: higher education policy, journal rankings
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A recent piece in the Times Higher gives hope for those concerned about the impact of the EHIR’s journal list on research and how it is judged. The Higher reports that the EHIR is scrapping the controversial A-C gradings amid fears that these were being used to rank the research published in them hierarchically rather than assessing the quality of each article. To me, it does seem rather disingenuous (or naive if you are feeling generous) for Michael Worton to state:
We have been saying it until we are blue in the face that this is not about hierarchies but about category difference … (the change) will make everything a lot clearer.
In these days of management culture, targets and quick and easy methods of assessment, if you set out a system of categorising journals, of course people are going to say that an article published in English Historical Review is better than one in Annales de Normandie because for former is in the ‘A’ category and the latter in the ‘C’. Hopefully we can now all get back to publishing our research in the best places for that research.
Rowan Williams tree decoration December 13, 2008
Posted by gesta in Uncategorized.Tags: Anglican, Canterbury, Rowan Williams, York
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I posted in March about the ultimate in Anglican religious kitsch – the archbishops of York and Canterbury tree decorations. This morning, Rowan Williams in decoration form fell through my letter box, sent by a friend in Durham who thought I was in need of a good laugh – it did the trick!
Leading scholarly journals in history May 11, 2008
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate, Uncategorized.Tags: intelligent people being idiots, journal rankings
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For anyone else experiencing dilemmas as described in the previous post, I managed to find, buried in the AHRC website, a list of so-called leading scholarly journals drawn up in conjunction with the European Science foundation. It can be accessed here in the little table. Do I agree with all of this? Of course not.
A very junior academic’s dilemmas May 11, 2008
Posted by gesta in Academia, Debate, Uncategorized.Tags: careers, feeling generally a bit down in the dumps, jobs
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The history department within which I work has just instituted a system of research mentoring groups. These informal groups of people with loosely (sometimes very loosely) connected research interests are designed to offer support and share best practice. Why, then, did I came out of our group meeting feeling overwhelmed, depressed and seriously contemplating a career in publishing?
Textile Conservation Centre closure April 19, 2008
Posted by gesta in Academia, Uncategorized.Tags: higher education policy, Textile Conservation Centre
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I blogged about the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre in November. The deadline for signing the petition is fast approaching, so please, if you haven’t yet signed it and care about keeping this internationally important facility going, do so here.
Back in the North: Hadrian’s Wall April 9, 2008
Posted by gesta in Boundaries, Medieval, Uncategorized.Tags: Boundaries, Hadrian's Wall, Housesteads, landscape, Rosemary Sutcliffe, The North, Vindolanda
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During the Easter break, I escaped the confines of the south of England and headed north. The North is where I grew up and while visiting friends and family, I took the opportunity to visit Hadrian’s Wall. I’d never been before, or at least, I don’t remember having been before. Given that this blog is allegedly about boundaries and what happens on them, this post is in the manner of a postcard from the limits of empire. (more…)
A to do list November 21, 2006
Posted by gesta in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I am panicking and blogging is not going to help me in the completion of my to do list, but may be it will give comfort to other people out there in similar situations. I declare a ‘to do list’ thread open! (more…)
