Author Archives: admin

Early days with the Professor of Literature

Posted on 24th May 2019 by admin

Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature  When I used to travel to Walton Hall for meetings I was fortunate to have Arnold Kettle, the Head of Department and sole Professor, sometimes invite me stay in the rambling old Kettle house … Continue reading →

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Teaching for the OU – having the time of my life!

Posted on 15th January 2019 by admin

Dr Lynda Morgan, Associate Lecturer It is February 1976. I am 23 years old, recently graduated with a degree in English and a teaching certificate, and I am about to walk into a shabby classroom at Sarah Siddons school, Paddington. … Continue reading →

Posted in Department history | 4 Comments

“What Do We Do Now?” Part 1

Posted on 24th July 2018 by admin

Thoughts on Enright, Academic Travelling and Critical Distance Robert Fraser, Emeritus Professor of English One afternoon in October 1974, I was standing in a somewhat Spartan corridor in the University of Leeds in desultory conversation with a tall, lean, slightly … Continue reading →

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“What Do We Do Now?” Part 2

Posted on 24th July 2018 by admin

Thoughts on Enright, Academic Travelling and Critical Distance Robert Fraser, Emeritus Professor of English Continuing from Part 1 … I returned to Tetouan in 2016 and 2017, and will go back there again this coming October. In the meantime, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching and learning | 2 Comments

How Brexit is driving a rise in the language of everyday racism

Posted on 22nd June 2018 by admin

Philip Seargeant, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics A hostile environment In the aftermath of the Windrush scandal there’s been a great deal of discussion about the ‘hostile environment’ that was purposefully created by the government to persuade illegal immigrants to … Continue reading →

Posted in Language matters | 1 Comment

Scholarship and Research

Posted on 20th June 2018 by admin

Suman Gupta Slightly out of focus The connotations of the word ‘scholarship’ have always been a bit fuzzy, especially in academia. The OED puts it between, on the one hand, ‘learning, erudition; the collective attainments of scholars; the sphere of … Continue reading →

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On Establishing Creative Writing Programmes

Posted on 16th April 2018 by admin

Linda Anderson A Career of Two Halves Although every academic post carries its freight of blood, sweat and tears, I may well have had the two best jobs on offer in Creative Writing in higher education. I spent a decade … Continue reading →

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Reflections on the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics, Belfast, 12-18 March 2018

Posted on 28th March 2018 by admin

Patricia Ferguson I have four days in Belfast and a whirlwind of events, and those are only a dozen chosen from more than eighty on offer, and of those dozen, space available here to discuss only four or five. First … Continue reading →

Posted in Research | 1 Comment

Digital Habitus and Institutional Responsibility

Posted on 21st March 2018 by admin

Suman Gupta Pedagogic Context I continue here with the argument of the earlier posting on Direct and Mediated Contact in Literary Pedagogy. I do so at a similar level of generality, without as yet nuancing the argument along the lines … Continue reading →

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Opening the Curriculum: A brief personal history

Posted on 11th March 2018 by admin

Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature It was the mid 1970s, I’d left South Africa, and was a Research Fellow at Edinburgh University, doing a PhD on Dickens and teaching there to supplement my income.  I had heard about a … Continue reading →

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