Humanities Research Centre
HRC Postdoctoral Research Fellows 2015
Jonathan Brigg, Music
I am a composer and I think of composing as research in so far as there are questions to be answered (or just to be asked) and experiments to be undertaken. My musical experiments pertain to musical style and the implications – musical, psychological and social – of bringing together different musical styles within the same arena. I try to question assumptions about musical styles within a particular context (an orchestral piece, say) using narrative techniques – ‘characters’ have ‘stories’ and interact to form quasi-narratives in the musical structure. This is hardly a new technique; I just try to present these relationships more self-consciously, reflecting my own concerns about 'what is allowed to happen and why'.
Confirmed research-related projects for 2015 are: a new work for the London Philharmonic Orchestra (as a resident Leverhulme Young Composer); a new work for Dutch contemporary musical ensemble De Ereprijs (as a selected participant in the 2015 International Young Composers’ Meeting) and a new work for chamber choir and jazz band in collaboration with York PhD composer and musicologist James Cave.
Filippo Contesi, Philosophy
I am a philosopher, and in 2014 I completed a PhD in the Philosophy Department at York. My current main research interests are in aesthetics and the philosophy of art and in philosophical psychology (i.e. scientifically-sensitive philosophy of mind). I also have research interests in the history of aesthetics, the history of philosophy and the philosophy of language.
As an HRC Postdoctoral Fellow, I will work on the role of disgust in the arts. This is a traditionally oft-neglected topic in philosophy but has been attracting some more attention recently. In fact, I have already contributed to this disgusting-art renaissance myself, through publications and conference papers. At the HRC I will continue to contribute to the scholarly discussion through publications and conference presentations, as well as engaging with wider audiences. More details about my past and forthcoming work can be found on my personal webpage, at: http://contesi.wordpress.com.
Arlene Leis, History of Art
I am an art historian. My research focuses predominately on collections and collecting, cabinets of curiosities, print culture and the inter-relations between art and science. I also have an interest in portraiture, gender studies, dress, sociability and patriotic consumption in the eighteenth-century.
The HRC postdoctoral research fellowship will enable me to develop my doctoral thesis for publication into a monograph entitled, Sarah Sophia Banks: Femininity, Sociability and the Practice of Collecting in Late Georgian England. The book focuses on the rich and fascinating collection of ephemera amassed by Sarah Sophia Banks, sister to the botanist and President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks. Her collection of over 19,000 articles of print culture now forms an important part of the British Museum's Prints and Drawings Room's foundation collections. I am also revising an article entitled, '"A Little Old China Mad" Lady Dorothy Banks and her Diary at Spring Grove". It focuses on a collection of oriental porcelain wares garnered by Sarah Sophia's sister in-in-law Dorothea. In this article I bring to light the ways in which Sarah Sophia and Lady Banks's collections helped bolster the scientific projects of 'improvement' propelled by the eminent man of science, Sir Joseph Banks.
I will be contributing to the centre's academic life by organising events, including workshops.
Nathan Townsend, Theatre, Film and Television
My work focusses on the issue of transnationalism within the British and Hollywood film industries. In particular, I am interested in the interaction between the creative and industrial determinants at play in the global film business, and their impact on shaping the various versions of Britain and ‘Britishness’ presented in contemporary cinema. Such questions informed the critical approach of my AHRC-funded PhD thesis which presented a business history of production company, Working Title Films and its successive corporate parents, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
As a HRC Postdoctoral Fellow, I have been fortunate enough to have extended my time working both within my department – Theatre, Film and Television – and with the HRC after successfully defending my PhD thesis. During the past year I have been afforded the time and space to work towards the immediate goals of postdoctoral academic life. Foremost amongst these, has been the further development of my research which was made possible by a small research grant from the HRC. This allowed me to, amongst other things, negotiate access to, visit and ultimately digitise a privately held archive of business material relating to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, once Europe’s largest film studio. The subsequent process of integrating this material into my on going research has added a layer of complexity and authority that would otherwise have been unattainable. This step forward has led to the preparation of a larger grant application which seeks to extend this project yet further with the help of the HRC’s dedicated Research and Innovation Development Team. The fellowship has also allowed me to continue teaching within my home department as a Teaching Fellow across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Both activities have been vital in developing the skills and experience necessary to secure a longer-term position within the increasingly competitive HE sector. For all the above reasons, my year as a HRC Postdoctoral Fellowship has been an invaluable entrée into professional academic life that has, I feel, made a substantial difference to my future prospects as both a scholar and teacher. Long may it continue, so that others might have the same opportunities that I have had.
Nick Townson, History
My current research interest is in the thought and preaching of Dominican friars in Italian cities. The focus of my PhD thesis was on academic thought about emotion among Dominicans in Pisa and the Roman Province, as expressed in theology and commentaries on Aristotle and communicated through preaching aids and sermons. It explored how thought was generated in an academic setting and its impact at a local level, that is, the difference it made to the statements about emotion that were intelligible to men and women in Italian cities.
The HRC fellowship will allow me to develop my doctoral thesis for publication as a monograph. I am also planning to research and write on Dominican views on hope and fear in the thirteenth century and the intellectual history of thought about emotion more generally.
The Humanities Research Centre is an extraordinarily welcoming environment, conducive to teaching and research. I am l