Charlotte Mallinson, a 1st year history PhD student at the University of Huddersfield, writes about Unofficial Histories 2014 – not your average history conference …
Unofficial Histories 2014 is coming to West Yorkshire. Now in its third successful year, the two day conference, which has already been hosted in London (2012) and Manchester (2013) is coming to The University of Huddersfield on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June. However, don’t be fooled! Although the conference itself is hosted in the wildly eclectic architectural setting of Huddersfield University’s town centre campus – the event itself is not strictly an academic one.
Fiona Cosson, the event organiser, stresses the ethos behind Unofficial Histories is to provide an arena where contributors from all backgrounds would be welcome to present all kinds of “alternative stories from the past.”
Emphasising that this year is no exception, she says, “We’ve been impressed by the diversity of our contributors’ subject areas which range from the radical pasts of cities as diverse of Glasgow and Lancaster, contested heritage in railway conservation, the question of historical accuracy in costume design, the lost gay language of Polari, history in comic books, graphic novels and blogging, and alternative stories from the Great War of 1914-1918 in this the year of the war’s centenary.”
At Unofficial Histories you will get the opportunity to hear the types of histories which tragically get overlooked at more mainstream events. This is definitely ‘history’ in the wider sense.
Day one of this two event is structured in a way that allows the audience maximum control in compiling rheir own programme. So whatever your interests maybe – digital histories, unofficial readings, mythical pasts, or politics and public histories – you peruse the timetable, attend the sessions which interest you, and voilà, there you have your very own taillor-made programme.
Saturday’s other temptations include a sumptuous Malaysian lunch (included in the ticket price) and an after-hours trip to a nearby CAMRA pub – after all, it’s well documented that this history stuff is pretty thirsty work …
The second day of the event offers entirely different approaches to historic/heritage storytelling. Professor Paul Ward of the university explains that to enable Sunday’s proceedings, “students, staff and associates of the university have developed a day of Historytainment, which draws on the town’s rich past.”
This Historytainment includes a ‘radical history’ walking tour of Huddersfield, a bhangra workshop, which will invite all to participate (or just watch) in this folk dance from the Indian sub-continent, and finally, following a West Indian buffet provided by Huddersfield’s very own Barrington Douglas, the weekend’s run of events will end with a showing of “Sound System Culture.” This film is a voyage into Huddersfield’s renowned black music heritage – with a mixture of oral histories and archival footage the screening will be a very fitting end to what promises to be the most unofficial of history conferences.
For further information and booking details please visit unofficialhistories.wordpress.com/