Cancelled stuff today and started some research for a project which hasn’t yet accepted me onto its volunteer team. The project’s based in east London and the draft outline looks worthwhile but where was it advertised?
Stepney’s community hub’s doing a research project into the East India Shipping Company. Difficult to commit to meetings but am involved from afar. What is research but reading Wikipedia which is not recognised by some universities as a reliable source?*
The glory is learning new material and being cast into the role as researcher, albeit unpaid. An associate of mine began a two year art and history course. After two years she said to me “I never even knew what research was until I joined the pre-degree course two years ago. (Now I know about tunnelling!)”
*For the record I’m doing my own research but not making it public yet. It involves much interviewing and…art. Wikipedia is pretty useless for my own thing.
The second part of the project I’m applying for is interviewing offspring of women activists in the sixties. They’ll be like 65+, won’t they? I so want some research buddies but no-one will commit or be interested in ‘them feminists’.
For me, how luxurious to have lived through defined times but not taken deep note and then to be older and have the Internet and convictions at my disposal plus an ache to learn. Some ole gals I’ve revisited anyway:-
Joan Littlewood (statue unveiling Oct 4th at Theatre Royal Stratford east. E15
Gingerbread’s staff.
Claudia Jones (neé Cumberbatch) (Check Eventbrite for Black Culture Archives walks and talks)
Barbara Castle
Spare Tyre Company.
Dagenham strikers. (Check Eventbrite for a Parliament venue talk about 1984 strikers at Fords.)
Bernadette Devlin
Upyourstreet's Blog 