Transcript Slide 1

Director’s presentation
The Programme, its findings and achievements
10 February 2010
AHRC strategic
initiatives
• ‘Diasporas, Migration and Identities’ was the first
strategic interdisciplinary research programme to be
funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
• The purpose of such programmes is “to invest in areas
where there is a sense of intellectual urgency and
where a concentrated stream of funding may be
needed in order rapidly to advance the field”.
• The programme runs from January 2005 to May 2010
with a total budget of £6.2 million.
Commissioning projects
within the programme
In 2005-06, we commissioned:
•
20 small research projects (from 70 applications; success
rate of 29%)
•
14 workshops and networks (from 53 applications;
success rate of 26%)
•
15 large research grants, including four studentships
(from a total of 157 applications, short-listed to 25;
success rate of 10%)
TOTAL COST PROJECTS £5.6million
Other programme activities
Apart from project commissioning and direction, other
programme activities have included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Programme database and email updates;
Programme website, www.diasporas.ac.uk;
Workshops for award-holders and researchers;
Postgraduate conferences and other PG activities;
A series of open and invited academic conferences and
seminars in 2008 and 2009;
Events for non-academic partners and stakeholders;
A programme book, programme presentations etc.
Postgraduate activities
Postgraduate conferences
Postgraduate e-mail updates
Opportunities for project
postgraduates to meet
Training opportunities (crossprogramme)
Programme postgraduates
(Benji Zeitlyn, Janine Givarti-Teerling,
Shivani Derrington)
Postgraduate blog:
http://intersections.wordpress.com
Selected conferences
Diasporas, Migration and Identities postgraduate conference, University
of Leeds, December 2006
Encounters and Intersections: Religion,
Diaspora and Ethnicities
(with AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society and
ESRC Identities and Social Action), St
Catherine’s College Oxford, 9-11 July 2008
Diasporas, Migration and Identities: Crossing
Boundaries, New Directions
(with Centre for Research on Nationalism,
Ethnicity and Multiculturalism, University of
Surrey, Roehampton), 10-11 June 2009
Programme objectives
1. High quality research, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary;
2. Theoretical, conceptual, practice-led, empirical study; cultural,
historical and linguistic perspectives and creative practice;
3. Body of theory, methods, case studies; comparative analysis;
4. Connection, communication and exchange between
researchers and those beyond the academy; devt of policy;
5. Contribution to public awareness re arts and humanities
research;
6. International significance and quality;
7. New directions and approaches; DMI embedded in future
agenda of A&H and AHRC.
Academic programme objectives
1. High quality research, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary;
2. Theoretical, conceptual, practice-led, empirical study; cultural,
historical and linguistic perspectives and creative practice;
3. Body of theory, methods, case studies; comparative analysis;
4. Connection, communication and exchange between
researchers and those beyond the academy; devt of policy;
5. Contribution to public awareness re arts and humanities
research;
6. International significance and quality;
7. New directions and approaches; DMI embedded in future
agenda of A&H and AHRC.
High quality research, disciplinary
engagement and interdisciplinarity
(Objective 1)
Academic outputs
The first five years, 2005-09)
• Academic publications produced by programme
participants numbered well over 300. An estimated
150 electronic outputs were produced.
• In the first five years, around 450 academic events
(lectures, workshops, conferences) were held.
• 23 websites or dedicated web-pages have been
produced.
Publications:
Special journal issues












Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
New Cinemas
Research in Drama and Education
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
Forum for Qualitative Research
Irish Political Studies
Diaspora: Journal for Transnational Studies
Journal of South Asian Popular Culture
Fashion Theory
South Asian Diaspora
International Journal of Scottish Literature
Journal of Visual Culture
Books, a small selection:
Small projects, workshops and networks










Muslim-Jewish Dialogue in a 21st Century world (Ansari and
Cesarani)
Golden (Notes) (Lok)
Materialising Exile (Dudley)
Risorgimento in Exile (Isabella)
Music, Spirit Possession and Alterity in Tunisia (Jankowsky)
European Cinema in Motion: Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in
Contemporary Europe (Berghahn and Sternberg)
Citizenship Acquisition and National Belonging: Migration and
Membership in the UK and Beyond (Calder, Cole and Seglow)
Moving Subjects, Moving Objects: Transnationaliism, Emotions
and Cultural Production (Svasek)
Writing British Asian Cities: From Diaspora to Multi-Locality
(McLoughlin, Gould, Kabir and Tomalin)
Embodied Sporting Practices: Regulating Bodies (Woodward)
Visual Arts
Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies
Philosophy
Music
Modern Languages
Media Studies
Linguistics
Librarianship, Information and Museum Studies
Law
History
History
English Language and Literature
Drama and Theatre Studies
Design
Dance Studies
Cultural Studies
Cultural Policy, Arts Management & Creative Industries
Creative Writing
Community Arts
Classics and Ancient History
Art Theory
Art History
Architecture
Archaeology
Diasporas, Migration and Identities: Apportioned Applications by Subject
(157 applications with no subject recorded)
40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
Awards
Unsuccessful
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
Interdisciplinary
research themes
The programme has covered the full range of arts and
humanities disciplines (applications from 24 disciplines and
fields, awards in 18, many interdisciplinary). Its themes are,
• migration, settlement and diaspora: modes, stages and
forms;
• representation, performance and discourse;
• languages and linguistic change;
• subjectivity, emotion and identity;
• objects, practices and places;
• beliefs, values and laws.
Interdisciplinary research themes
To what extent were these themes addressed by award-holders? Using data from initial
application forms for successful large grants, networks and workshops, the following
picture emerges. Most focused on more than one theme.
•
•
•
•
•
•
migration, settlement:
modes, stages and forms
(22%);
representation,
performance and discourse
(21%);
languages and linguistic
change (7%);
subjectivity, emotion and
identity (22%);
objects, practices and
places (19%);
beliefs, values and laws
(9%).
Interdisciplinary engagements
Workshops & Networks
• Migration in the first millennium
• Manchester Migration and Diaspora
Cultural Studies Network
• From Diaspora to Multi-Locality:
Writing British Asian Cities
Cultural, historical and linguistic
perspectives and creative practice
Objective 2
Some historical projects:
Early migrations
• Workshop series, ‘Migration in the first
millennium’ (Heather and Hamerow)
• Large project, ‘A Long Way from Home:
Diaspora communities in Roman Britain’
(Eckardt, Lewis, Mülder)
• ‘Viking Identities Network’ (Jesch, Carroll
and Carrow)
Some historical projects:
From the 19th century to the present
• Small project, ‘Graveyard memorials,
texts and symbols in Ulster, North
America and Australia’ (Mytum)
• Network, ‘Early cinema and the diasporic
imagination: Irish in America 1890-1930’
(Bell)
• Large grant ‘Fashioning diaspora space:
Textiles, pattern and cultural exchange
between Britain and South Asia, 1880s,
2000s’ (Crang, Breward et al)
Some historical projects:
From the 19th century to the present
• Small project, ‘Graveyard memorials,
texts and symbols in Ulster, North
America and Australia’ (Mytum)
• Network, ‘Early cinema and the diasporic
imagination: Irish in America 1890-1930’
(Bell)
• Large grant ‘Fashioning diaspora space:
Textiles, pattern and cultural exchange
between Britain and South Asia, 1880s,
2000s’ (Crang, Breward et al)
Chatterji and Alexander
Findings and achievements: historical perspectives
Hunter
Small grant, Susan Pui San Lok
Large project, Helen Scalway
Network: Desmond Bell
Small grant, John Baily
Network, Maggie O’Neill and local artists
Workshops, Maruska Svasek and artists
Large project, school children
Creative practice
Findings and achievements: creative practice
Gardner and Mand
Body of theory, methods,
case studies
Objective 3
Diasporas:
Concepts, Intersections, Identities
Kim Knott and Seán McLoughlin (eds)
Zed Books, 2010
Findings and achievements: participatory methods
Procter
International significance
and quality
Objective 6
International collaboration and
participation
AHRC Diasporas, Migration and Identities has sought to develop
links with programmes in Europe and beyond, including




SSRC programme on ‘Religious Lives of Migrant Minorities’, US
Max Planck Institute for Ethnic and Religious Diversity, Germany
SSHRC programme on cultural diversity, Ottawa, Canada
Religion and Migration clusters at National University of Singapore
The Diasporas, Migration and Identities conference held in 2009
attracted participants from 32 countries.
Findings and achievements: International significance
Dudley
Findings and Achievements
The award holders