// Latest Posts

Celebrating Teaching successes in the Humanities. The Postgraduate Teaching Awards 2012

In the latest round of the Postgraduate Teaching Awards, two of the students recognised for their outstanding contributions to Teaching and Learning within the School of Humanities are Helen Wainwright and Peter Watts, both of them doctoral candidates within the School of Humanities. The Postgraduate Teaching Assistant Award recognises and celebrates examples of innovative teaching …

Perambulations with Pevsner: the local art treasures of Wollaton

Gabriele Neher What is a perambulation? Apparently, it’s a leisurely walk with the purpose of looking and seeing. It implies poking about, taking your time, and taking in things to see.  That is the OED definition, but in the hands of art historians, it takes on another meaning, too, and it becomes a recce, a …

Digital Humanities revisited: Public Engagement and the Think Tank Initiative

Amongst many things, Teaching Humanities  wants to celebrate the rich diversity of initiatives, projects and ideas that characterise the lively scholarly community of the School of Humanities. Today’s blog builds on previous discussions of the digital humanities and the rich and diverse links between universities and the creative sector. The author of this contribution  is Helen …

Writing the History of the University

It’s been an interesting morning, talking to Lorraine Blakemore, the research assistant involved in collating information for the next volume of the History of the University. The original publication, written by Brian Tolley and published in 2 volumes, covers the period up to 1988. A lot has happened since 1988, and the decision has now …

Digital Humanities?

One of the stories dominating quite a few Twitter feeds today relates to the recently concluded Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA). In her blog, bit.ly/x5kDJT Jennifer Howard reflects on forces reshaping the historical profession. There is much discussion of a push and pull between traditional history and the ways in which digitisation …

Art History degrees and the US Economy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-art-history-majors-power-the-us-economy/2012/01/06/gIQAUv36hP_blog.html Now here’s a piece of news that makes for interesting reading about the impact (yes, I meant to write that!) of a Humanities degree, and in this case, an Art History degree, on the economy. Even more interesting is the way this article looks at both direct and indirect benefits of a degree which …

Revision time….

Two more weeks, and autumn semester examinations start. Over the course of two weeks, thousands of students will pile into examination rooms and ‘sit exams’. Leading up to that moment when you enter the hall, sit down, turn over the paper and -hopefully- start to write a brilliant, succinct and ‘good’ answer is a strange …

The degree of success in the humanities

http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/the-guide/oh_the_humanities_a_reflection_on_the_year_in_visual_art_1_1522437 This article (above) caught my eye today, as did this second article:http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/education/high_degree_of_success_in_humanities_1_2013560 The second piece seems astonishing, with it’s bald statistics regarding the educational backgrounds of many ‘leaders’; even more astonishing seems the statement that it is at the helm of a universities where you are LEAST likely to find a humanities graduate. Blimey, …

The importance of space

The beginning of a new year invites reflection, and especially so when that date coincides with an important deadline. Oh yes, deadlines for the submission of module handbooks for the forthcoming semester are looming! I like the process of working through my handbooks, and try to make them as comprehensive a guide to my modules …

teaching arts matters

Well, this is my first attempt at writing a blog about some of the issues that matter most to me, and that is how to kindle a passion for the arts. And more, actually, and that is to be enagaged in a process where ‘the arts’ in all their manifestations, whether visual, textual, whether recorded …