All posts by jwbaker

James Baker is Director of Digital Humanities at the University of Southampton. James is a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and holds degrees from the University of Southampton and latterly the University of Kent, where in 2010 he completed his doctoral research on the late-Georgian artist-engraver Isaac Cruikshank. James works at the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and digital technologies. He is currently working on a history of knowledge organisation in twentieth century Britain. In 2021, I begin a major new Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project 'Beyond Notability: Re-evaluating Women’s Work in Archaeology, History and Heritage, 1870 – 1950'. Previous externally funded research projects have focused on legacy descriptions of art objects ('Legacies of Catalogue Descriptions and Curatorial Voice: Opportunities for Digital Scholarship', Arts and Humanities Research Council), the preservation of intangible cultural heritage ('Coptic Culture Conservation Collective', British Council, and 'Heritage Repertoires for inclusive and sustainable development', British Academy), the born digital archival record ('Digital Forensics in the Historical Humanities', European Commission), and decolonial futures for museum collections ('Making African Connections: Decolonial Futures for Colonial Collections', Arts and Humanities Research Council). Prior to joining Southampton, James held positions of Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives at the University of Sussex and Director of the Sussex Humanities Lab, Digital Curator at the British Library, and Postdoctoral Fellow with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. He is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College, a convenor of the Institute of Historical Research Digital History seminar, a member of The Programming Historian Editorial Board and a Director of ProgHist Ltd (Company Number 12192946), and an International Advisory Board Member of British Art Studies.
Caricature, CiC, Conferences, DHums, History, Literature

Cradled in Caricature – the aftermath

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Cradled in Caricature, an exploration of caricature as a social and artistic  device, took place at the University of Kent, Canterbury, on Friday (April 27th).

The day was broken into five sessions. After a some short framing remarks from me, three research students (from University College London, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, and the University of Kent respectively) presented papers on caricature in the eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth- centuries, covering British, French, and Chilean design.

Ernesto Priego at #CiC12

Next up were our two invited speakers, Richard Taws and Ernesto Priego, who offered two very different papers – the first a tight discussion of the meaning of violence in the work of Etienne Bericourt, the second a digital humanities reading of the British Cartoon Archive.

Following a discussion of the nature and meaning of the archive we took lunch, and returned to a panel proposed by two doctoral students and one early-career researcher affiliated with the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. There were plenty of bums and plenty of excrement, but also plenty of insights on identity in Georgian satire and travel literature.

“#CiC12 – bringing social media and whiteboard pens together”

We then moved swiftly onto our keynote. Robert Patten from Rice University dramatically read and reread the meaning of Paul Pry, the umbrella-wielding fictional celebrity of London’s theatres between 1825-6. Patten promised a presentation unfit for the under-18s and over-60s, and he delivered, with a paper packed full of musty melon gags, visual vaginal allusions, and erotically charged postures.

The day ended with a workshop on stand-up comedy led by Oliver Double, Head of Drama at the University of Kent. In pairs and small groups we pulled daft faces, made silly sounds, acted out absurd characters, and told anecdotes. But above all we laughed. This was followed by a discussion of theatricality and performativity, and how these aspects of human experience could be better integrated into our work, before we retired to enjoy wine, dinner, and conversation.

Live audio from the event was broadcast live online (with presentations uploaded so visuals could be followed), and across the day we received a number of questions and comments from online participants. Productive online backchatter was also enjoyed by a number of participants using the #CiC12 hashtag (and a Storify of our discussions can be found here).

All the sessions, presentations, and questions are available for download here.

I would like to thank all those who helped make the day a success, with particular thanks going to Danielle Thom, Emily Dennis, and Tim Keward. I would also like to thank all the speakers and participants for their engaging and insightful papers, and all delegates for their enthusiasm and inquisitive natures.

Now #CiC12 is over the spectre of #CiC13 looms on the horizon. What themes do you want to explore? What media do you want to interrogate under the auspices of caricature? Perhaps #CiC13 could move towards ‘Cradled in Comics’? Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions please get in touch at cradledincaricature@gmail.com.

This event was supported by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Kent, the Department of History of Art, University College London, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and the Graduate School, University of Kent.