Cultural Histories at Kingston

Cultural Histories @ Kingston (CHK) is an interdisciplinary research group based in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University.

Cultural Histories @ Kingston (CHK) is an interdisciplinary research group based in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University. Centred around the concept of the ‘cultural text’, the group includes scholars from the fields of literature, film, media, history, music, dance, performance, and journalism, who are brought together by a shared interest in the way in which narratives – written, visual, and performative – shape and have shaped individual and communal experience, material culture, and everyday life. The group is concerned both by how these diverse narratives describe cultural identities, and the contribution they make to how such identities are formed, engaging both with the role of the cultural text and the conditions of its production. Extending from the past, to the present, and to future culture, the group is engaged in research that historicises cultural practices from Early Modern culture to the present, and that situates current and future practices within the contemporary cultural moment. A particular feature in these terms are concerns for questions of social justice, and how gendered, racial, religious, ethnic and sexual identities are both produced through, and reflective of, texts as cultural forms.

CHK provides a focus for current research as well as providing a forum for the development of new research collaborations and exchange, identifying shared research interests across staff within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and promoting the diverse but related activities pertaining to cultural enquiry represented within the Faculty. It is committed to innovative disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, and its members are engaged in a wide range of research activities, which include collaborative projects, the production of the internationally recognised Cinema Journal, and a number of current and future publications. The group regularly meets to provide a forum for the development of these research activities, including the organisation of conferences, research seminars, and the invitation of visiting speakers.

CHK sponsors these research initiatives and resources within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

- Cultural Histories @ Kingston: The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Lecture Series

- KiSS: The Kingston Shakespeare Seminars
http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/activities/item.php?updatenum=2430
http://www.rosetheatrekingston.org/kingston-shakespeare-seminar

- WIP: The CHK Work-in-Progress Seminar Series

- KWIP Colloquium for Postgraduate Research

- The Centre for the Historical Record at Kingston University
http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/historical-record/

- The Centre for Life Narratives
http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/life-narratives/

- The Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies and Schools Outreach Project
http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/iris-murdoch/

- The Iris Murdoch Archives
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/informationservices/archives/.../iris_murdoch/

- The Sheridan Morley Archives
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/informationservices/archives/.../sheridan_morley/

- The Orange Prize Collection Archives
http://www.kingston.ac.uk/informationservices/archives/.../orange_prize/

CHK is the institutional home two international journals:

Cinema Journal
www.cmstudies.org/?page=cinema_journal
fass.kingston.ac.uk/schools/performance/film-television/

The Iris Murdoch Review
fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/iris-murdoch/review/

Postgraduate Courses

CHK welcomes postgraduate students as members and sponsors work-in-progress and lecture series that encourage presentations of research by PGRs. CHK staff teach on MA courses in areas across the Faculty, including Film Studies, English Literature, History, Music, Dance, Drama, and Journalism. For a full listing of MA courses, see http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/.

All CHK affiliated staff welcome informal queries regarding MPhil and PhD study. For further information on applying to undertake a postgraduate research degree within CHK, visit http://www.kingston.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply-now/.