Stuart Hall’s Archive

Undergraduate Research Scholarship project 2020

Department of English

Project academic: Dr Asha Rogers

Project summary

Stuart Hall (1932–2014) was a Jamaican-born British intellectual and political activist. As Director of the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, he pioneered new approaches to studying culture, politics, race, and ethnicity. 

In 2019 colleagues from English and History hosted a symposium to mark the arrival of Hall’s archive at the Cadbury. This scholarship invites you to be among the archive’s first researchers. Working with archival and academic staff, you will identify Hall’s connections to the political and intellectual networks, society, and culture of the city of Birmingham (or another pertinent area of interest), prepare a small exhibition of materials, produce a short film, and write research-based blog posts for https://stuarthallarchive.wordpress.com 

The scholarship suits students with an active interest in cultural studies, identity and representation, black British culture and history, postcolonialism, the New Left, or local history. Applications from black and minority ethnic students are particularly welcome.

What you will do 

  1. Work with the Cadbury Research Library and academic leads to identify material in the archive relevant to Hall’s Birmingham connections (or another pertinent area of interest, to be agreed with the academic lead) and engage in relevant secondary reading related to this area.
  2. Work with the Cadbury Research Library and academic lead to prepare a small exhibition/display box of Hall materials.
  3. Make a short film, to be posted online, speaking about how Hall’s Birmingham connections are revealed in the archive, and if willing, conduct a short talk about it to students at the University of Birmingham School.
  4. Write a report on findings, for the use of future student and academic researchers using the archive.

Skills required

  • Candidate should have an active interest in either Stuart Hall, cultural studies, the new left, postcolonial studies, identity and representation, black British culture and history, local history, or archival studies.
  • This post would be well suited to someone with historical interests, but the post is open to all students in CAL.

How will the project benefit you?

  • The post provides excellent training in research practices including archival research, and constructing a bibliography.
  • The post provides opportunities to develop  communication and presentation skills, through participating in a short film to advertise the archive online.
  • The post offers practical transferrable skills in report-writing.
  • The post provides excellent opportunities for working collaboratively with academic staff and archivists.
  • On all these counts, the post is invaluable preparation for planning, researching and writing a dissertation.

Where now?

Colleges

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