Welcome
to the inaugural student anthology from the School of the Arts
The 2015-2016 academic
year will be a memorable
one for many reasons,
not least the significant
success the School of the
Arts has had in generating
research income, as well
as improvements to the
student experience, and
the appointment of some
excellent new colleagues,
who I am sure will help the
School to grow in reputation.
Since my arrival in late
2015, I have discovered a
vibrant community of faculty,
students and departments;
a community I am proud to
belong to. This anthology of
students’ work reflects and
celebrates the vitality our
scholarly communities.
As someone who has
returned to the Arts this
year after some 30 years
of
researching
crisis
management and how
organisations learn (or fail to
learn) from crises, I believe
that I can begin to reflect
upon the importance of the
Arts to me. Certain pieces
resonated strongly with my
own personal experiences;
BA English student Gail
Aubrey’s thought-provoking
study of Dickens’s great
eccentrics, for example,
emphasises that the issues
that most concern us in our
personal lives are much the
same as they have always
been. The vulnerability of us
all to trauma and dementia
weaves through Dickens
as it has through my own
family and social networks.
The opportunity to walk
with Vincent Barber-Stones,
a first year Philosophy
student, on his journey
exploring and experiencing
Antony Gormley’s ‘Another
Place’ (see p. 38) prompted
me to reflect on the fact that
I am also in my first year
within the School of the
Arts, albeit in a very different
role. Nevertheless I am
also on a personal journey
of discovery, as I seek to
engage with the variety of
subjects within the School.
I feel humbled in reading
these pieces: at the high
3
quality of the work, the
students’
originality
of
thought, and the simple yet
effective prose. They are the
best indicators of the quality
of the environment that you
- faculty and students - have
created and maintain. Long
may it continue.
Finally, my thanks to Dr
Georgina
Turner
from
Communication and Media,
whose hard work and
tenacity has ensured that
this anthology has been
produced.
Prof. Dominic Elliott
Head of School