‘The Hublic Sphere’ is a new podcast produced by early career researchers based in the Trinity Long Room Hub, contributing to the institute’s mission to create new formats for public engagement with arts and humanities research.
Across the 6-part series, the researchers will interview academics, practitioners and activists, to highlight discussions and topics which address the overarching theme of ‘power’.
...it is encouraging to see researchers being so passionate about bringing their scholarship to new formats and new audiences - Director Eve Patten
For the past number of months Dawn Seymour Klos, Siobhán Callaghan, Sahar Ahmed, Dr Claire Moriarty, Dr Lilith Acadia and Elizabeth Foley have been working with the Trinity Long Room Hub team to bring this project together.
TLRHub · TLRH | When Old Streets Speak: In Conversation with the Friends of Medieval Dublin
In the first episode, Dawn Seymour Klos of Trinity’s School of Histories and Humanities speaks with Dr Caoimhe Whelan and Dr Sparky Booker about the Friends of Medieval Dublin (FMD) and the representation of the Middle Ages in popular media and western politics.
Dr Caoimhe Whelan is research fellow at the Trinity Long Room Hub and the honorary secretary of the Friends of Medieval Dublin, known to many for its popular walking tours during National Heritage Week every August. Also a member of the organisation, Sparky Booker is a lecturer in Medieval Irish History at Queen’s University Belfast.
As Dawn writes in the episode’s show notes, “FMD began as a group of activists set on protecting Wood Quay in 1979. Studying history is not limited to reading books. It can be a contact sport. Representation takes many forms.”
Representation matters. The Middle Ages were filled with colour, humour, many languages, faiths, abilities, and sexualities.
Discussing the representation of the middle ages in popular media, Dawn highlights the learnings she has taken from her own research on women’s rights and the rise of feminism under thirteenth-century English Common Law:
“Studying medieval women who litigated without the assistance of men has taught me to never take any assumption for granted. Representation matters. The Middle Ages were filled with colour, humour, many languages, faiths, abilities, and sexualities. It is the responsibility of educators and consumers to demand books, film, television, and video games which give space to diversity.”
Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub congratulated the researchers on the launch, and said “it is encouraging to see researchers being so passionate about bringing their scholarship to new formats and new audiences.”
To listen to the first episode of ‘The Hublic Sphere’, click here.