This project is unfunded
Media Memories as Alternative
Historiography: Exploring Identity, Values and
Social Change
This project addresses exclusions prevalent in the writing of orthodox media histories that
depend on institutional sources and that focus on the nation state. The research will, most
likely, use life story interviews. That is, long, semi-structured conversations that generate
accounts of a person’s past where media are a feature but not the exclusive focus.
Resulting recollections would be triangulated with orthodox archival and press sources to
create richer media histories that capture media as phenomena that are simultaneously
global, national, and deeply personal. Moreover, resulting histories would include voices
that have gone unheard to date. They would include experiences of media related to social
class, gender, geography, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, and so on.
The fallible nature of human memory makes life story interviews unsuitable as a standalone
source for the collection of historical chronologies and details. However, the fact that human
recollections are profoundly shaped by personal and social identity makes this alternative
approach to historiography ideal for understanding how media are entangled with identity,
values and social change. The resulting knowledge of how media become part of people’s
habits, and relationships, their knowledge of the world and of themselves, can help us to
better understand media-related behaviours in the present, and anticipate those of the
future.
A prospective student for this project should have a 2.1 degree in a Humanties or Social
Sciences discipline. However, applications would also be welcome from people who have
significant experience in community development, social activism, folklore projects,
community media and so on.
A successful applicant will be self-motivated, organised and have good written
communication skills. Applicants will be requested to supply a curriculum vitae and a brief
research proposal.
This project is unfunded