Literature, Culture, and Place Research Centre, University of Strathclyde
The work of the Centre is about literature and its relationships with geography, space, landscape, travel, architecture, and the environment.
Places: We have a particular focus on certain countries and regions (Scotland, the Lake District, India, Canada, Greece, Italy, Belgium) and on special types of environment (mountain, desert, wilderness, city). Beyond this, we are committed to investigating a range of cultural places and spaces, both global and local.
Activities:
- Masters degree programme, “Literature, Culture, and Place”
- PhD projects: among our numerous current and former doctoral students are Katie Ailes, Katie Ailes, UK-US Fulbright Scholar, working on the performance of authenticity in contemporary spoken word poetry, and recent graduate Stewart Smith, with a thesis on Ian Hamilton Finlay and Alec Finlay.
- Conferences: most recently, “The End of Place as We Know It: Shifting Perspectives on Literature and Place,” held in 2014 with keynote speakers Edward Casey and Timothy Morton), and “Trauma and Gender in Twentieth-Century Literature” in 2016.
- Reading groups: one on “Literature, culture, and place”, run as part of the M.Litt programme, and one on Canadian Studies (supported by the Canada-UK Foundation).
- Visiting scholars: recent international visitors include Dr Victoria Kuttainen (James Cook University, Australia) and Dr Alicia Menendez-Tarrazo (University of Oviedo, Spain).
- Projects: members of the Centre lead or collaborate on a range of projects including the AHRC large-grant funded “Creative Interruptions” (Mahn), a cluster of projects on magazines based in the UK, Canada and Australia (Hammill, Galletly), and a major new Research Companion to Architecture, Literature and The City (Charley, Edwards).
- Research seminars: the weekly Humanities Seminar Series includes a special “Literature, Culture, and Place” event each semester. Past speakers include Ruth Parsons (CyArk), Mia Ridge, Tim Fulford (De Montfort U), Julia Carlson (U of Cincinnati), Patrick Curry (U of Wales, Lampeter), Martin Leer (U of Geneva).
- Training workshops: several of our projects are in the digital humanities area, and the Centre runs training sessions on digital mapping and digital text analysis.
History: The Centre grew from our M.Litt programme “Literature, Culture and Place”, established in 2007, and from a research cluster on the same theme, set up in 2012 with a grant from the University. It is based in the School of Humanities at Strathclyde, and draws on expertise from the disciplines of English Studies, Modern Languages, Architecture, and Drama. We have external members at UK and overseas universities, and partnerships with several external organisations. Our work complements that of Strathclyde’s Institute for Future Cities.
External Partners: We have working relationships with a range of organisations, including:
Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research
Edinburgh International Book Festival
Canada-UK Foundation
Strathclyde members:
Dr Polly Atkin (creative writing, ecopoetics, tourism, Lake District)
Dr Eleanor Bell (Scottish literature, the Scottish Sixties)
Dr Jonathan Charley (political, cultural and social history of architecture and cities)
Dr Sarah Edwards (architectural humanities, Edwardian and neo-Edwardian writing)
Dr Thomas Furniss (geological travel writing, Romantic-era Scotland)
Dr David Goldie (early 20th-century Scottish and British literature and popular culture)
Dr Churnjeet Mahn (travel writing and heritage, race and sexuality)
Prof Faye Hammill (Canadian literature, early 20th-century print culture)
Dr Katharine Mitchell (cultural, literary and gender studies in the Italian context)
Dr Richard Niland (European and Latin American literature; Argentina in British literature)
Dr Beatriz Caballero Rodríguez (20th and 21st century History of Ideas in Spain and in exile)
Mrs Marion Sheridan (movement and space analysis in theatre, site-specific theatre).
Dr Caroline Verdier (French and Belgian literature, francophone identities)
External Members
Dr Kerri Andrews, Edge Hill University (literary networks in Romantic-era Bristol and Bath; cultural history of walking)
Dr Sarah Galletly, James Cook University, Australia (Canadian and Australian literature and periodical cultures; mobility and travel)
Dr Rune Graulund, Center of American Studies, University of Southern Denmark (travel writing in desert and wilderness environments, empire, globalization and urbanisation).
Dr Anouk Lang, English, University of Edinburgh (literary modernism in the Anglophone world; digital humanities approaches, especially geospatial technologies)
Dr Angela Bartie, History, University of Edinburgh (arts in society, cultural policy, and arts festivals)
We also have student members, consisting of doctoral candidates and students on the masters programme. They are invited to all events and meetings, and have access to funding and support for their own activities.
Contact:
The current directors of the Centre are Professor Faye Hammill and Dr Richard Niland.
Our address is: School of Humanities, Lord Hope Building, University of Strathclyde, 141 St James Road, Glasgow G4 0LT
fayehammill 