Presenting at the Forum

Apologies for the delay in posting, the past few weeks have been rather hectic with work and general "life admin". I've been inspired to get back on the blogging horse by an event I participated in last night, the Trinity College MCR/SCR Forum (in past years the words "for Intellectual Exchange" were tagged on to all of that).

The event was designed to bring senior fellows (tenured academics) together with current graduate students to share their research. The nature of the collegiate system at Oxford meant that this was a truly interdisciplanry affair, the talk I had volunteered to give was sandwiched between an account of a Coptic Monk's account of the Arab Invasion of Egypt in the 7th and 8th centuries CE, and a discussion of NATO's strategy (or, as the speaker argued, the lack of strategy) in the Afghanistan War.

That environment and audience presented its own challenge. When we're trapped in our academic bubbles, certain terms are used so frequently that it's easy to forget that there's no reason why anyone else should know what they mean. In truth, it's rather difficult to give a presentation and talk on Joanna Southcott and Richard Brothers without letting terms like "apocalyptic", "eschatological" and "prophetic" slip in unexplained. The event therefore was a very good exercise in thinking outside of my academic comfort zone and making sure I was able to convey the central tenets of their message and theology in a way which was accessible. Hopefully I succeeded in that, and a room of people went away knowing a little more about these two fascinating figures than they did when they came in.

What was truly valuable about the experience was the feedback and comments I received from the audience. It was a very eclectic bunch of people. There were medical students, experts in French literature and midwifery in the 16th century, historians of Birmingham in the 19th century, Classics students and everything else in between. I learned of a number of possible medical/gynaecological explanations for Joanna's miraculous pregnancy; the difficulties of using modern medical diagnoses such as "manic depression" or "bipolar disorders" to explain away the types of prophetic activity exhibited by Brothers and Southcott; and that the term "Southcottian" was used as a form of invective against social reformers in Birmingham 20 years after Joanna had died. For me, it reaffirmed the value of taking your research outside of the walls of your department. When you allow other minds from other disciplines to access your research, you don't simply receive a list of factual questions you feel obliged to answer; you receive useful, insightful feedback from perspectives you yourself are not qualified or trained to view your subject from. All in all, it was a very inspiring evening.

And yet, if I were to open the window of the room we were in, stick my head out and turn 90 degrees, I would perhaps be able to catch a glimpse of the Sheldonian Theatre. I wonder if the discussions which were taking place inside it would mean that such events and opportunities were only going to be accessible to a wealthy, privileged minority in the years to come.