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.
CiC

#CiC – where is the line?

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Less than a week today Cradled in Caricature would have drawn to a close (though a second larger event is already being planned. Watch. This. Space…). The day will include a roundtable event entitled ‘Where is the Line’, where a panel of four (including myself) will discuss the changing nature of taboo with respect to stand-up comedy, stereotypes, and communities. We are in process of choosing video clips to begin the session, though two names are currently at the forefront of our attentions. The first is Johnny Vegas, an alter ego whose believable presentation as a genuine ‘out-of-control’ drunken comedian allows Pennington to push boundaries of taste in comedy. The second is Emo Philips, a comedian who until this evening I was not aware of. I’m sure you’ll see how in the clip below his peculiar mode of delivery allows for the subtle insertion of material which a wider public might find utterly distastful…

The joke I appropriated for the relevant #CiC theme poster is much less problematic. Nonetheless, it teases out the point about taboo and boundaries rather well (I think). It is also, once more [http://cradledincaricature.blogspot.com/2011/06/cic-adverts-and-taxonomies.html], unlikely to get me in trouble with the campus powers that be…

Cradled in Caricature will take place on Monday 20 June, at Woolf College, University of Kent, Canterbury.

The full programme can be found here.

For inquiries or further information contact me at cradledincaricature@gmail.com or twitter.com/cincaricature.