Hello hello hello
how are we all?
RL been getting in the way in a rather big way of my enjoyment of this thread.
Just thought I'd do a little plug in case any of you may be interested in the
Second ‘Academic Archers’ which takes place this February at University of Lincoln
A two-day symposium on Radio 4’s The Archers from a cohort of academics from all fields (pun intended)
February 2017 sees the second Academic Archers conference, this time held over two days and including a field trip. It will be hosted by the University of Lincoln where thirty-two academics from across the UK and beyond will deliver papers from a wide range of disciplines with a common theme: Radio 4’s The Archers.
The Archers in fact and fiction: Academic analyses of life in rural Borsetshire takes an academic perspective on life in Ambridge and Borsetshire, with papers from many academic disciplines covering themes including social media, education, religion, flower and produce shows, birdwatching, class and masculinity, eating disorders and dietary health, flood resilience, perceptions of physicality and family dysfunctionality.
The 2017 conference is dedicating a whole strand to the Helen and Rob story line, with papers covering coercive and controlling relationships, the disablement of Rob Titchener, nurturing traditional gender roles in The Archers, music and the ‘soundtrack to a stabbing’ and forensic Blood Pattern Analysis (BPA) at Blossom Hill Cottage. Other 2017 conference strands are ‘Genteel country hobbies?’, ‘Educating Ambridge’, ‘The geography of Ambridge’, ‘Power relationships’, ‘Bereavement and spirituality’ and ‘Ambridge online’.
Taking place over Friday 17th to Saturday 18th February 2017, the Friday evening sees a field trip to Rippingale in Lincolnshire for a talk and archive film revealing how the village inspired the original creation of The Archers, followed by dinner at The Bull Inn.
The symposium is organised on a voluntary basis by long-time fans of the programme, Dr Cara Courage and Dr Nicola Headlam, University of Oxford, joined this year by Prof Carenza Lewis of the University of Lincoln, who is hosting the conference.
Cara comments: ‘We are doing this out of a love for the programme, and of our subjects; the conference is intended to link the two to illuminate and explain life in Ambridge and use this to throw an interdisciplinary light on wider social issues too.’
Nicola continues: ‘Radio 4 is the natural habitat for academics when writing from home - and more than you might imagine are obsessives! This is reflected by the extraordinary breadth and quality of papers that we subjected to a co-produced peer review process. All papers have been scrutinised by a panel of 15 listeners - who proved extremely harsh reviewers indeed. Part of me thinks we must be mad to cram all the organisation of another conference and book around our day jobs - but the enthusiasm of The Archers fandom is infectious!'
Carenza adds ‘I’m delighted to host ‘Academic Archers’ 2017 at the University of Lincoln, both as an Archers’ fan of 30 years standing and because in casting new light on this iconic BBC series, the conference will make expert research accessible, exciting and relevant to wider audiences.’
news on all things Academic Archers can be found on its Facebook page
HQ disclaimer: Please note other conferences are available.
Though not with yours truly speaking at it. 