2013 SCIS Research Talks and Archive Screenings Media Academy Knowledge Exchange Event
Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Resettlement of Tristan da Cunha (1963-2013) Friday 1st November 2013 Venue: Wellington Suite, Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow
In 1961 the island’s volcano erupted and the entire community were forced to leave Tristan for safety with no prospect of certain return. The plight of the Tristan islanders was a global media event. Their story was one that intrigued and invited comment in terms of our ideas of island living, remoteness and sustainability in the changing times of the early 1960s. These ideas continue to inform how we think and represent island communities today, here in Scotland, and beyond. The Tristanians were offered immediate refuge in Scotland, with Shetland playing a pivotal role, but they were actually ‘settled’ in England where they worked and lived for some two years. In 1963 the islanders eventually returned to Tristan to rebuild their lives on this most remote of islands. Today the community continues to thrive.
This UWS research and knowledge exchange event offers a series of talks and archive film and media screenings which each commemorate this remarkable story from the despair of 1961 evacuation to the elation of 1963 resettlement. It also provides an occasion to focus on the present, the successful rebuilding of a sustainable Tristan da Cunha and to invite reflections on 50 years of change on islands here in Scotland, in Tristan, and elsewhere. Our theme for the day is that of the images, the issues, and the reality of small island community life. Our examples are largely drawn from Tristan da Cunha but also from the island communities of Scotland, including the Hebrides and Shetland. A range of speakers including academics, educationalists, film-makers and island community enthusiasts will share experiences and information together with the audience. For full details of the programme of talks and screenings please link here.
If you would like to attend this UWS Scottish Centre for Island Studies event then please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to reserve your place, or call Dr Kathryn A Burnett on 01292 886482 with your details. There is no charge for this event but please note places are limited. Refreshments and a light lunch will be provided for full day attendees. Alternative lunch for purchase is available on site and nearby. All welcome.
For directions to the venue please link here: http://www.thegrandcentralhotel.co.uk/location/
2012 -2013 (currently under update)
2011 Scottish Centre for Island Studies Research Seminar
Venue: UWS, Paisley Campus, Room G114, Gardner Building
Friday December 2nd 2011 Time: 13:00 – 16:00
In addition to a general update on the previous year’s activity and plans for SCIS this event will be an opportunity to meet other colleagues from UWS and elsewhere with an interest in island studies and island related research. All welcome. Please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to express your interest in attending. The meeting will be followed by a two research papers relating to the work by the current SCIS PhD students and also an update on current British Academy funded research at the centre.
Research Presentation: Kirsten MacLeod, update on Phd research projects relating to community media and creative practice followed by screening extracts from Isle of Bute film project.
Research Presentation: Tristan da Cunha: the Volcano Years 1961-1963 (British Academy Funded Project) Reflecting on a 50 year anniversary of media representations of remote and peripheral island communities. A seminar paper presented by Kathryn A. Burnett & Ray Burnett, Scottish Centre for Island Studies, School of CCI, UWS.
Please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to express your interest in attending.
All welcome.
2011 Scottish Centre for Island Studies Research Seminar
Venue: CCA, UWS Space, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
11th March 2011 14:30 – 16:00
Theme: Creative Media Practice
SCIS PhD student Rachael Flynn will present her paper “Using the written letter as a fine-art source to inform and stimulate a creative practice-led enquiry.” Rachel is due to deliver a version of this paper to the * conference. Rachael is supervised by Dr Kathryn A Burnett and Mr Tony Grace, bother School of CCI, UWS.
All welcome.
2011 Scottish Centre for Island Studies Research Seminar
Venue: CCA, UWS Space, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
22nd September 2011 16:00 – 18:00
Theme: Visual Media Practice & Island Studies
SCIS welcomes visiting academic Professor Suzanne Thomas, University of Prince Edward Island. Suzanne will lead a research seminar on island studies and visual media practice as part of her current residency with SCIS in Autumn 2011. This creative practice research event is open to UWS academic staff, researchers and postgraduate students particularly exploring SCIS related research activity on visual media and island studies but all are welcome. Please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to express your interest in attending.
2010 Scottish Centre for Island Studies Research Seminar
Venue: UWS, Paisley Campus, Room G116, Gardner Building
18th June 2012 September 09:30 – 13:30
In addition to a general update on the activity and plans for SCIS this event will be an opportunity to meet other colleagues from UWS and elsewhere with an interest in island studies and island related research. All welcome. Please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to express your interest in attending. The meeting will be followed by a short research paper relating to current research at the centre.
“Portaying the Hebrides: the irresistible lure and the irredeemable legacy” seminar paper presented by Ray Burnett & Kathryn A. Burnett Scottish Centre for Island Studies, School of CCI, UWS
2010 Scottish Centre for Island Studies Research Seminar
Venue: CCA, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Thursday 9th September 2010 13:00 – 15:00
The Scottish Centre for Island Studies in association with the Small Islands Film Trust is hosting a small research focussed event of film screenings and related discussions on the 9th September 2010 in the UWS space at the CCA, Glasgow.
Geopolitics: Political Spaces – Cultural Spaces
Two different factual documentaries providing accounts of the history and communities affected by the establishment of the ‘Rocket range’ – RA Hebrides on ‘Uist’ in 1957 will provide the basis for a research seminar exploring themes of geo-politics, peripherality and cultural representations. This will be followed by a discussion of iconography and identity: place and non-place and a screening of the Ealing classic Rockets Galore!
Screenings: Trusadh Series Deserting Uist (2010) MacTV; Na Rocaidean (2008) MNE TV Rockets Galore! (1957) Dir: Michael Relph
For information contact Dr Kathryn A Burnett, School of CCI, UWS (kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk)
Research Meeting and Seminar
June 18th 2010
University of the West of Scotland, Paisley Campus, Room G116, Gardner Building 09:30 – 13:30.
In addition to a general update on the activity and plans for SCIS this event will be an opportunity to meet other colleagues from UWS and elsewhere with an interest in island studies and island related research. All welcome. Please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to express your interest in attending. The meeting will be followed by a short research paper relating to current research at the centre.
Portaying the Hebrides: the irresistible lure and the irredeemable legacy
Ray Burnett
Kathryn A. Burnett
Scottish Centre for Island Studies
Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Scottish Centre for Island Studies
Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Screening and Research Event
Venue: CCA, Sauchiehall Street Glasgow
Thursday 9th September 2010
The Scottish Centre for Island Studies in association with the Small Islands Film Trust is hosting a small research focussed event of film screenings and related discussions on the 9th September 2010 in the UWS space at the CCA, Glasgow.
The CCA is screening the celebrated Ealing comedy Whisky Galore! at 7pm as part of their wider Distant Voices programme and SCIS at UWS has taken this as an welcome opportunity to position this classic film text from within an island studies perspective as well as inviting comments drawn from related disciplines such as film studies, history, social anthropology, critical geography, media and art practice. The event will take place on Thursday 9th September 2010 SCIS as a research informed programme primarily consisting of screenings of both English and Gaelic language productions (English Subtitles), with an opportunity for participatory discussion throughout the day facilitated by research staff at the Scottish Centre for Island studies.
Participants are invited to engage with ‘filmic’ and creative responses to socio-economic and geo-political realities of islands with particular reference to the Outer Hebrides and the ‘Whisky Galore!’ narrative and related textual accounts including the later ‘sequel’ film ‘Rockets Galore! The event is designed as an introduction to a broader ‘island studies’ perspective including some reference to ‘geopolitical’ commentaries that may pertain to the texts and the interplay between literature and film, fiction and factual accounts. With specific reference to the work of Compton MacKenzie, this event is therefore offered as a ‘critical’ reflection and informed response to the CCA evening screening of Whisky Galore! and is designed to offer an extended backdrop to one of the ‘iconic’ film texts of ‘British’ cinema and its continuing and pervasive legacy.
We would be delighted if you could join us.
The day is informal and participation is particularly invited from undergraduate and postgraduate students, more established researchers with related interests and those individuals with a general interest in island representations, the Hebrides, and Scottish cinematic texts.
If you wish to attend this Scottish Centre for Island Studies UWS research day then please email your name and contact details to: kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk
Programme:
10:30 Screening Islands: Island Studies
11:00 Creative and Critical Practice: History, Media and Representation
Screening: Am Politician (1991) – 2 parts MNE TV
This two part documentary chronicles the real story behind the mystical romance surrounding the sinking of the SS Politician on February the 5th 1941 off the island of Eriskay in the Western Isles of Scotland. Part 1 tells the story of the sinking and salvage of the ship and part 2 focuses on the Jamaican currency on board.
12:30 Break
13:30 Geopolitics: Political Spaces – Cultural Spaces
Screening(s): Trusadh Series Deserting Uist (2010) MacTV
Na Rocaidean (2008) MNE TV
Two different documentaries providing accounts of the history and communities affected by the establishment of the ‘Rocket range’ – RA Hebrides on ‘Uist’ in 1957. Extracts will be shown from both.
15:00 Iconography and Identity: Place and Non-place
Screening: Rockets Galore! (1957) Dir: Michael Relph
17:00 Close/Break
19:00 CCA Screening: Whisky Galore! (1949) Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
NB: Please Call Box Office on 0141 352 4900 to book your tickets if you wish to attend the CCA Distant Voices screening of Whisky Galore! http://cca-glasgow.com/home