It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and I’ve also been a bit quieter on Twitter lately. This is largely down to Third Year Fear – I’ve had to concentrate all of my efforts of late into getting a good draft of my thesis together, at the same time as applying for jobs (I’ve been very lucky to be funded through the last three years, but that’s now finished) and thinking about what I’d like to do post-PhD. There’s still a way to go, but the finish line is glimmering in the distance.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of my recent writing elsewhere. Over the course of my PhD, I’ve become increasingly interested in the politics of history: who it represents, how and why. I really enjoyed writing about some of these thoughts in relation to the fabulous Moving Beyond Boundaries project in an article for History Workshop Online – also fulfilling a longstanding ambition to write for History Workshop!
I’ve also been interested in the history of working-class women in the textile towns of the Pennines (East Lancashire and West Yorkshire) for a long time, and am hoping to build a post-doctoral project exploring their stories. I was delighted to get an opportunity to share some of the fascinating histories of these women in Pear Drop, a new journal for artwork, creative and feature writing. My article features in an issue on feminism, alongside features on the Guerrilla Girls and Brixton artist Wendy Sullivan.
I hope you enjoy reading these pieces as much as I did writing them. While I’m sharing links, I’d also like to heartily recommend the Voices of the People series over at the ever-brilliant Many-Headed Monster blog, which has produced so many thought-provoking articles over the summer that I’m struggling to keep up!
Please do continue to share comments and thoughts on my work here. I hope to emerge, butterfly-like, from the chrysalis of Final Year Doom, before too long!
Ruth's Adventures In Research 