HRC Postdoctoral Research Fellows 2021-22

David Austin

For my PhD thesis, I put forward a novel account of the way in which a speaker’s say-so can function as a trust-based source of knowledge for a hearer. In doing so, I sought to close the gap between the philosophy of language and the epistemology of testimony on the topic of the speech act of assertion.

During my doctoral studies, I convened my own undergraduate module for the Department of Philosophy, Lies, Bullshit, Perversions, and Propaganda, which explored the different ways in which unreliable speakers mislead trusting hearers. The HRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship will enable me to develop the core ideas from my PhD thesis in light of the recent literature on communicative abuse I curated for my undergraduate module, focussing specifically on the political sphere and the healthcare setting.

My time will be spent writing two articles. One will analyse the ways in which political speakers deliberately use obfuscating jargon under the guise of information dissemination to inhibit political choice. The other will analyse the ways in which the negligent use of metaphorical speech by healthcare experts can affect patient choice.

If you would like to discuss my research in more detail, my contact details can be obtained from the HRC.

Owen Burton

Within the increasingly diverse context of Finnish music, my doctoral thesis examined the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016), one of Finland’s most well-known and influential composers of the late-twentieth century, investigating the inner musical workings and surrounding contexts of his cycle of eight symphonies.

For this fellowship, I will be adapting this doctoral research for a published book that will provide the first detailed introduction to Rautavaara’s complete symphonic cycle for a much wider audience. This “handbook to the symphonies” will offer an evaluation of his ever-growing international popularity, his musical style, techniques and compositional philosophy.

I am excited not only to continue exploring this context of Finnish music, but also to deepen our understanding of the ways in which Rautavaara’s music drew inspiration from and amalgamates visual, artistic, literary and philosophical influences. I could not imagine a better setting in which to consider these connections than the Humanities Research Centre

Jenny Buckley

My doctoral research explored the formative role of the essay-periodical in the development of the novel from 1700–1760. Although periodicals and novels developed at the same time as contingent literary forms surprisingly perhaps the connection between them, and in particular how periodicals deploy fictionality, has not been addressed. Focusing on the role of fictionality within both the periodical and the novel, my thesis examined the cross-fertilization of these two literary genres, paying particular attention to the work of individuals who had successful careers as both periodicalists and novelists, including Daniel Defoe, Eliza Haywood, and Henry Fielding.

During the HRC Fellowship, I will be completing revisions to adapt this work into a monograph and completing work on a forthcoming co-edited collection that explores the relationship between character and caricature in the period 1660–1820. I am also excited to start work on my new project, which focuses on the changing material form of periodical print in the long eighteenth century – a period that I am defining from the appearance of the first daily newspaper in 1702 to the rise of the mass-produced magazine and the foundation of Blackwood’s Magazine in 1817.

Annabell Zander

My academic career has been shaped by my passion for understanding human responses to abrupt climatic and environmental change in the past. My PhD research focused on the most recent historic period of extreme climate change which occurred 11,500 years ago when intensive climatic warming ended the last Ice Age and initiated our current warm phase, the Holocene. In my thesis I have brought together a comprehensive, interdisciplinary dataset derived from across a large area of northern Europe to provide a more nuanced perspective on the changes in human lifeways during this abrupt climate change. The HRC Postdoctoral Fellowship will allow me to develop my doctoral thesis into a monograph, entitled “‘Lost in Transition’ - Tracing human responses to climatic and environmental change in the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in north-western Europe”. This monograph would serve as an important reference work for future pan-European research into past human responses to abrupt climate change.

During the HRC fellowship I also aim to lay the groundwork for a larger postdoctoral project at the University of York, focused on the impact of arts and humanities research on contemporary climate change debates. To date, the results of humanities-based research on climate change are largely absent from assessment reports by intergovernmental panels, which ultimately influence local, national, and international policy agendas around the world. In particular, the archaeological record offers a unique repository of coupled environmental and human information which could offer critical long-term perspectives on human-environment interactions, yet the discipline has played a peripheral role in climate change debates. The HRC postdoctoral fellowship will offer me the ideal opportunity to discuss the potential contributions of archaeology and related disciplines in the humanities to public debates on climate change.

Amanda Doviak

My doctoral research analysed sacred and secular figural imagery of Viking-age stone crosses in northern England to re-assess their perceived ‘pagan’ nature and address their potential Christian frames of reference using a thematic approach. This enabled holistic readings of the iconography of ten monuments that established their Christian nature, something that was further underpinned by considering the conceptual significance of monumentality (of the cross-form, as Christian symbol) and the materiality of stone within the context of religious conversion. By elucidating the potential Christian symbolic significance(s) of the monuments, my thesis provided new insights into the cultural complexities of Christianity in tenth-century northern England.

Since completing my doctorate, I have published research on the Christian imagery of the Gosforth cross and I have begun to develop a new research project. This will consider the phenomenon of the secularisation in ninth- to eleventh-century Northumbria from a comparative perspective, using the often neglected Northumbrian onomastic and sculptural evidence to recover aspects of ecclesiastical organisation, pastoral provision and lordship. By demonstrating that these features resonate with a wider European phenomenon of secularisation, I hope to challenge long-standing notions that the Northumbrian Church was obliterated due to Scandinavian settlement. During the HRC fellowship, I intend to continue developing this project alongside revising my thesis into a monograph and completing work on a co-edited volume, which addresses the concepts of transmission and translation in the medieval world. I will also use this time to present my current and emerging research on the Viking-age stone sculptures from the north of England at conferences in the UK and Scandinavia.