Upcoming Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research event:
24 March 2023, 2pm-4.30pm Silverstone Building, University of Sussex. In person but Zoom link an option
A life history and life writing workshop to share and creatively express experiences and histories of Trade Unionism, front and backstage.
From oral histories of the miners’ strike, biopics of the Tolpuddle martyrs, to TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady’s confessions on Desert Island Discs, the lives of Trade Unionists have captured the imagination for their deep revelations about class, power and social change. They have also provided difficult challenges for those exploring an individual life in relation to the collective, and the ideals and compromises at the heart of Union experience.
This workshop will start with short presentations from academics and activists who have sought creative and critical modes for representing Union struggles and identities, including ballads, exhibitions, drawings and quest biographies. We will then share our own ‘Trade Union travellings’ through guided discussion and exercises, including a left-field interview with UCU Sussex President, Dr Jo Pawlik.
Proudly featuring Dr Natalie Thomlinson refreshing the history of women in the miners’ strike, Prof Sundari Anitha on creating comic-form representations of Jayaben Desai from the Grunwick Strike, Dr Christian Høgsbjerg on the lost biography of seafarer’s organiser and black activist Chris Braithwaite, Ros Eyben on the elusive memoirs of her Fire Brigades Union father. Prof Margaretta Jolly will guide exercises and Dr Jonathan Moss will chair.
Booking info here: Trade Union Travellings – your next life writing challenge Tickets, Fri 24 Mar 2023 at 14:00 | Eventbrite
This event has been co-sponsored by the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories at the University of Brighton.
